PTPA #001: How to Attract Recruiters and Hiring Managers to Your Profile

Read Time: 4 minutes

In order to attract recruiters and hiring managers to you, it's critical that you shift how you think about building your online presence.

I've spent the last 3 years networking, interviewing recruiters for my YouTube channel, and helping people to find jobs. At the same time, I've watched other people struggle with finding a job using the same approach every single day and struggle.

One of the main reasons is that they don't make a compelling case for why a recruiter or hiring manager should reach out to them.

There is no perfect way to create your online profile (LinkedIn) and your application materials (resume and cover letter), but I want to share how I approach mine.

The process starts with making sure you have a complete LinkedIn Profile, and you'll see why below.

Your profile should reflect where you want to go next, not where you are today.

I've reviewed close to 1,000 resumes in the past 2 years and more than 500 LinkedIn Profiles.

Unfortunately, so many people focus only on sharing skills and accomplishments that are relevant to themselves, and not to the job they want to get.

Your LinkedIn Profile and resume are your one-time first impression with recruiters and hiring managers. Use them to tell the right story:

• Complete your profile
• Don't describe your job
• Write about transferrable skills
• Write keywords relevant to the next job
• Write accomplishments relevant to the next job

Check out how LinkedIn Recruiter works.

Recruiters will search for keywords, and look at your photo, your skills, your education, and your header. Optimize for this - It's your one chance to catch their attention.

Job descriptions are like cheat sheets for attracting recruiters and hiring managers. Use them.

What's the best way to know how to write your summary, your accomplishments, and your resume?

The answer is in the job description!

Look at many job descriptions of the job you want and look out for patterns of keywords, skills, and requirements.

Job descriptions are like cheat sheets. Employers are telling you a detailed description of what they need - look at the Required section and try to write as much as you can related to it.

Focus on completing your profile and your resume with relevant experience. Everything else you've accomplished is important to you, but not as important or relevant to them.
Remember that your profile and resume should be built for recruiters and hiring managers.

Let's break down each section of your LinkedIn profile so that you can see how to apply this.

1. Update your photo. It's more important than you think.

Whether you like it or not, your photo is important and it's the first impression with anyone who wants to visit your profile, recruiters and hiring managers included.

Step up your game with your profile photo:

1. Upload your photo to pfpmaker
2. Select a neutral color or effect that makes you stand out
3. If you need a new photo, stand in front of a white wall. Upload it and pfpmaker will take care of the rest.

2. Use the top banner in your profile to tell your story

When someone looks at your profile, the first 2 things they see are your photo and your banner on top.

Think of the banner as real estate for advertisement. Advertise yourself.
Most people either don't use the banner or have a photo of a city. This is wasting an opportunity to "sell yourself" to visitors on your Profile.

Here's how to significantly step up your self-advertisement game in 3 simple steps.

1. Go to Canva and search for "LinkedIn Banner"
2. Choose a template that best describes your style and the story you want others to see.
3. Add keywords that describe who you are and what you do

3. Write a headline that tells a story

Your headline is one of the most important things about your profile. Think of it this way:
- Look back at how LinkedIn Recruiter works. Your headline will be the one thing recruiters will read about you.
- Every time you post or comment, your headline is the one thing people read about who you are.

So let's not waste that opportunity. Here's a template you can use to write a great headline:

[Role] | [industry or hard skills] | [Unique Value or Transferrable Skills]

Here are two examples on how to use it:

• Current Product Manager: SaaS Product Manager @ Company | e-Commerce | Scaling e-Commerce solutions to 10M users
• Aspiring Product Manager: Business Analyst @ Company | FinTech | Helping teams launch new financial digital products as an apprentice Product Manager

Now you know how LinkedIn recruiter works and the importance of the headline.
Imagine you were looking for a new digital marketer for your team and you saw these 2 profiles, which one would you visit?

4. Write an amazing "About" section and add keywords/skills

Your About section is an opportunity to tell a story of who you are and where you want to go next.
This is where you can show recruiters and hiring managers that you have the skills they are looking for.

Here's how to make your About section meaningful and impactful:

Use job descriptions of the next job(s) you want to have to look at keywords and requirements.

1. Write a few lines about your current experience (job or school) that are, ideally, related to the next job you want.
2. Write some of your best accomplishments or side projects that:
   • Include the impact you had (numbers, %s)
   • Are related to the next job you want
3. Invite your readers to reach out to you through either your email or a Direct Message on LinkedIn.

Recruiters and hiring managers care about the skills and experiences found in  the job description. Sprinkle these keywords in your About section, Jobs and LinkedIn Skills.

5. Engage and create content

Don't underestimate the power of commenting. A great comment can generate tons of new profile views!

Here's how to make sure your comments reach thousands of people:

1. Find people in the industry you want to get into that have a large audience
2. Turn on the 'bell' in their profile to get alerted when they post new content
3. Comment something insightful like what you learned the most or post questions
4. Repeat the process for several days

Here's an example from one of my posts. If you were one of the first ones to comment on this post, you had an opportunity to be seen by a portion of the 31,704 people who saw the post, out of which 3,662 were Product Managers.

Imagine what these numbers could do for you with an insightful comment, a good profile photo, and a captivating tagline.

TL;DR

1. Your Profile should highlight skills and accomplishments about the job you want next.
2. Use Job Descriptions to learn what recruiters and hiring managers are looking for.
3. Optimize your LinkedIn profile for how recruiters use LinkedIn Recruiter.
4. Engage and create content to funnel people into your profile.

Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Crush your Product Manager interviews and get an offer here. (300+ students!)
2. Schedule a 1:1 session with me for Mock Interviews and Career Guidance here.