How to announce your potential in LinkedIn

You’ve all heard or been the person telling the story about the poor headhunter who desperately wanted you to take precisely the same position in a different company with about the same salary. At the same time, you felt nice to get the attention and disappointed while it was “just the same position.” Why would I retake the exact same position?

Calculated move or Saturday night lottery

While LinkedIn is an excellent and convenient career site, it still gives just a glimpse of the candidate. I have done my share of scrolling back and forth on different roles and candidates and can honestly admit that trying to guess the next step for someone’s career is like picking numbers for Saturday night Lottery.

Either I have totally missed it, or LinkedIn doesn’t really have this kind of “these are the skills or competencies I’d like to use in my next role” section. It does have an About- section, but not that many actually use it to tell what kind of things they’d like to do in the future. For example, I describe what I have done, where I think I’m at my best, but not a word about what I’d like to do next… Maybe I should.

The only way is not up

I know some people just love what they are doing and have realized what’s their profession since their early childhood. Also, there are people have found their true passion and source of joy or just a job they like and like to do until they retire. Then some people enjoy the change. All are equally essential parts of teams and units.

The tricky part is to match the person’s motivation to your offering. I have, for example, open positions as a Developer and as a Solution Lead. At the same time, I’m looking for a person who would fit the team, would have the personality to contribute to team dynamics, who would be interested in having the position and sees that as a step to their career, and yeah, finally, would also have the background of being able to take over the role. I don’t mind having someone who wants to stay in that role until retirement. I also don’t mind giving a possibility to a person who wants to grow and someday (sooner or later) will continue their ways towards new positions.

How could I help myself to find that future dream job

The one thing I have learned anything during my recruitment, it’s the fact that makes your future desires visible. If you’re dreaming about a specific career, let it show on your LinkedIn page. There’s no shame in saying what you’d like to do next, even though it’s something completely different you’re doing today. One day, when your dream job is open somewhere, there might be that lucky headhunter contacting you since you published what you’d be interested in!