The business-focused social network claims to have 500 million users, alongside over 10 million job postings. Therefore using LinkedIn to benefit your job search is a modern-day necessity.

Here’s how to use LinkedIn to benefit your job search:

Jobs you may be interested in…With a dedicated area on the site for jobseekers, LinkedIn lists various opportunities that are relevant to the details on your profile. This includes previous job roles, industry experience and location. Furthermore, you will receive alerts of jobs you may be interested in via your profile notifications and email.

Although this feature brings relevant jobs to you, do not solely rely on this and utilise various job boards such as CV Library and Reed, alongside LinkedIn.

Change your privacy settings

When using LinkedIn to apply for jobs, checking your profiles privacy settings is a must. After all, if you are job hunting you want to get noticed by recruiters and potential employers, right? However, default settings are keeping you out of their view.

LinkedIn gives you the option to share your full profile to the job poster once you have applied for a vacancy. This is a great way to give a great first impression, showing you want to showcase your professional network, experience and expertise. Alongside this, the function allows the hirer to put a face to the name once they’ve received your application.

Make recruiters aware you are lookingAnother great feature within the LinkedIn privacy settings is that you can openly let recruiters know you are looking for new opportunities! Users can change this privacy setting to enabled. Once enabled you will appear in recruiter searches which match your career interests.This option can be risky, especially if you are looking for jobs without your current employers knowledge. However, enabling this option can make your job search easier. Allowing recruiters and hiring managers approach you, showing your relevance to the role and an initial interest in you.

If you are a jobseeker looking your next role, the above LinkedIn features can be particularly beneficial. Prior to enabling the above features it would be best to ensure your profile is presented in the best light. For handy tips about how to make your LinkedIn Profile attractive check out our beginners guide.