Thanks to the internet and social media, job searching is now more competitive than ever before. As skilled candidates jostle for attention in a fast-paced market, how do you make sure that employers see you and see your potential?

We’ve put together these tips for increasing your visibility and maximising that exposure to land the roles you want.

Lift your LinkedIn game

Recruiters scour LinkedIn for excellent candidates, and it’s become an essential platform for professionals to promote themselves. If you’re not using LinkedIn well, you’re doing yourself a big disservice, so if you know your profile needs work then get stuck in now!

Do these things and you’re off to a great start:

• Put your best foot forward with a clear, compelling headline.
• Use a professional headshot.
• Write a brief summary that tells your story and highlights your most relevant experience.
• Give examples and quantify your achievements with specific facts and figures where possible. Show how you made a difference in the organisations you’ve worked for.
• Get endorsements. An easy way to do this is to endorse others; they’ll often return the favour.
• Get recommendations. Be specific when asking a connection to write you a recommendation; give them an idea of what you’d like covered so that it’s relevant to your job search.

Do research

Find out all you can about companies you want to work for. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to keep up with their news and gauge their key concerns. Then use this information to make yourself an appealing candidate.

Cultivate relationships

The importance of networking can’t be overstated. Hiring decisions are often the result of referrals, so if you have contacts who can suggest jobs for you and introduce you to employers you should capitalise on those relationships. Signing up with a recruitment company (like ours!) that specialises in your field is also a great way to find opportunities that are right for you.

Also, stay in touch with people after interviews – even if you didn’t get the job. Think strategically about building relationships that could be lucrative for you in the long term.

Be a positive presence

People want to hire positive people – let this guide the way you present yourself online. Whether on social media or your own website or blog, avoid airing grievances about jobs and be cautious about negative comments generally.

You can cultivate your professional brand by:

• developing a clean, error-free website of your own that includes an online resume
• using consistent branding across your website, social media and business cards
• liking, sharing and commenting on industry articles on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Make friends with Google

Make your website or blog rich in keywords in order to rank well in Google search results. Look for common terms in job descriptions for your industry and then incorporate them into your online resume. Also make sure to write acronyms out in full the first time you use them on a web page. Improving your searchability means you’re increasing the number of people seeing your credentials, so it pays to pay attention to keywords.