This post is part of a series featuring some of the best virtual sessions from our annual RelishConnect Virtual Career Conference. Each post will summarize one of our presentations and panels from the event, and written summaries are accompanied by select, easy-to-watch clips from the recorded broadcast.
With a hiring landscape is constantly changing, it’s important for MBA and MS students and alumni to understand how to target their career search. To help, we’ve brought in career search expert and former LinkedIn staffer Jeremy Schifeling to talk about some ways to leverage LinkedIn’s platform to drive your job or internship search.
In his presentation, Jeremy demonstrates how to figure out what skills are being sought after for your target position, how to obtain those skills, how to find and network with alumni from your university, how to network as an international student, and more tips and tricks to help you get your dream job.
Where are alumni from your school working?
When searching for a job post-MBA, it’s important to use resources you have access to in order to narrow your search and better your chances of getting the job you want. Jeremy demonstrates how to use Linkedin to your advantage to connect with alumni by creating your own hiring crystal ball. By using this method, you will be able to view data regarding where alumni from your school are working and filter this information by grad year to keep up with the latest hiring trends. You can also narrow search results by using keywords specific to your degree and interests.
After researching data on where alumni are working, it’s important to connect and network with these alumni. You can use your hiring crystal ball to find specific alumni to network with by searching for the industry you’re interested in and selecting the locations and even companies you prefer. Simply scroll down to the “people you may know” section to view the list of potential networking contacts.
What’s the best way to break the ice on LinkedIn?
When connecting to alumni on LinkedIn, it is important to send a well structured message with your connect request that mentions where you attended school in order to relate yourself to the person you are connecting with. In this message you should also include a brief statement on why you are interested in connecting and ask if a quick phone call or zoom meeting can be set up to talk further.
While it’s helpful and important to network with MBA grads who went to the same university as you, you can also expand your network to include other professionals as well. Desiring a career change is a main reason why candidates pursue an MBA but the journey from one career path to another can look vastly different depending on which industries you are interested in. Linkedin can be a helpful resource for finding professionals who have made the jump from one career path to another. Simply search the name of the industry/ job title you have previously been a part of, then click “all filters” and scroll to the bottom to type in the title of the job/ industry you wish to switch to. This way you can find professionals that have made the change you desire and network with them to get advice on how to successfully make that transition.
How do you figure out which skills are most sought-after for your target positions?
Every job description includes a section of required and sometimes desired skills needed to perform the job well. Many of these skills may be learned and mastered through your MBA courses and some skills you may not have acquired yet. It can be confusing to identify which skills are most important to obtain and succeed at working your dream job but Linkedin can provide some insight. Through the new “Future of Skills” tool, you can search your country, industry, and/or job title to view the data on which skills are most important for the jobs you want. If you find that you are lacking in some of these skill areas, Linkedin Learning is a great tool to help you learn and master new skills and it’s free through either your university or many local public libraries.
How can international students best use LinkedIn?
Searching for jobs and networking can be difficult in general, but international students may face a variety of specific challenges. It can be hard to navigate the waters of visa sponsorship but learning which companies sponsor and hire candidates from your alma mater can help narrow your search. Linkedin can help you obtain this information by using your crystal ball to search alumni from your school and select “United States” as the location to narrow these search results. Here you can see which American companies are hiring internationally and even view profiles of alumni who work for these companies.
While many international students search for jobs in the United States, there’s a whole world of opportunities available for MBA graduates. If you’re interested in creating a Linkedin profile in a second language in order to expand your job search, Jeremy can teach you how to do that! Go into your Linkedin profile and click “add profile in another language” on the right side of your screen to get started.
You can learn more about Jeremy by visiting his LinkedIn profile, of course.