How to Search for a Job on LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers tools that can help you look for a job. The most direct way is to search for open positions on LinkedIn’s job board. After all, someone is getting hired when a company runs a job listing, so why can’t that candidate be you?

When you search for a job on LinkedIn, you can see what skills and positions companies are hiring, which you can keep in mind as you refine your job search and LinkedIn profile.

When you’re ready to search for a job opening, just follow these steps.

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Click the Jobs drop-down arrow, and select Advanced Job Search.

The Advanced Job Search page appears.

Enter keywords in the Search For text box.

To be more precise in your search, you can enter additional criteria in the sections below the Search For text box, such as location, specific job title or company, or job function or industry.

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Click the Search button.

You’re taken to a LinkedIn Jobs results screen, where you see the basic components of the job listings, like Title, Company, and Location. What’s unique to LinkedIn (compared to other job listing sites like Monster.com) is the last column: Posted By. This column shows you who within that company posted the job, and it provides a link to view that person’s LinkedIn profile. Furthermore, if the job poster is in your extended network, you see her name and degree of connection to you, and she is automatically sorted to the top of the list.

If you want to expand your job results, click the tab labeled The Web next to the LinkedIn Jobs tab above the table of job titles, companies, and so on. This shows you the results of searching all job listings that have been aggregated from all over the Internet through a company called Simply Hired.

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Click a job title.

You see the detailed write-up on the next screen, where you can find out more about the job and the job poster. If the person who posted the job is in your network and has opted to show her name, you can click the See Who Connects You link to find out how to use LinkedIn to reach that person.

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When you see a job you want to apply for, click the Apply Now button.

In most cases, LinkedIn takes you to the job application form, as shown here. (In some cases, you’re taken to the company’s specific applicant tracking system — for instance, any job from Google does this. In those cases, simply follow the instructions displayed to apply for that job.)

Write a cover letter.

You should write a brief summary of why you feel you are qualified for the job in the text box provided. If you like, you can update and reuse an older cover letter you’ve used to apply to a similar job: simply open a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word), find the letter, copy the contents, and paste it into the text box on LinkedIn.

If the job poster is in your extended network, read her profile to see what common interests you have, and incorporate that information into your cover letter. If you have the time, approach that person first with an Introduction or InMail to get some more information about the job posting before you apply.