How to Make 500+ LinkedIn Connections to Get a Job
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March 22, 2021How to Make 500+ LinkedIn Connections to Get a Job
Written by Austin Torres
Video Production by Keanu Pounds and Ariana Garcia
Graphic Image by Mykel Perdue
How about 2000?
To find a job with 500+ LinkedIn connections, these are the steps you will need:
- Make an All-Star Profile
- Search for LinkedIn connections and add 500+
- Turn your new connections into your personal network
The problem is that not everyone thinks it necessary to have so many. You may think right now, ‘Why would I need so many? Who has so many connections, anyway?
“If you don’t have 500+ connections, then guess what. No one’s going to find you.”
Super Julie Braun, Founder of Super Purposes™
What Super Julie means is that LinkedIn has a limit on how many connections a profile shows in numbers. Once you hit 500, a + shows for the very next connection. It doesn’t matter how you find them or what about them appeals to you as a connection. Recruiters will notice you with those 500+ LinkedIn connections.
It may sound challenging to get so many connections, but the same goes for anything ambitious. How else could an author publish their work? Or an indie film premiere at the Sundance Film Festival? Or your grandmother earn a Black Belt in American Kenpo? Just keep at it. Keep going when it’s past your dinner time. Now let’s sit down and start scrolling. Here’s how to make 500+ LinkedIn connections to get a job.
An All-Star Gets All The Connections
Before you start, you need to know how to build a LinkedIn profile. You know how on Instagram, everyone shows off their best side with great lighting, duck lips, photoshop, and all that? The same thing applies here. When using the search bar, everyone looks for a professional, good-looking profile, especially recruiters.
This is why an All-Star Profile is essential. You need a professional cover photo, a good headline, a great summary, and plenty of relevant skills with the right education and experience. Without them, employers and others you want to network with won’t think you are serious. No one thinks you would make the effort for a career if you don’t make it for something as personal as a profile.
A ‘pretty please with a cherry on top’ doesn’t get you far either.
Once you have that mouth-watering profile, you can start sending connection requests to friends, family, and everyone else you remember meeting twice.
How Do You Search For LinkedIn Connections?
Now that you’re ready for that first connection, it’s time to learn how LinkedIn works. Think of it as a hybrid of search engines (Google or Bing) and social media sites (Facebook or Twitter). Speaking of search engines, it’s easy to think, ‘just type in the bar and click on whatever looks good for your career goals.’ But LinkedIn is so much more than that!
LinkedIn is a great service to every generation looking for the best future. It’s a medium for professionals around the world to show what they have and how they can build on it.
Since you already have a LinkedIn account (reading this far), the first thing is to click on the search bar. Then, find anyone with the same career path, or start with your friends and family. No need to bother your second cousins or the neighbor you don’t normally talk to.
To save valuable work time, employers only type certain keywords (i.e., content writer) so they can skim over results and reach out to the most impressive profiles. As a job seeker, do the same thing. Find one word that best suits your idea of who to connect with on LinkedIn, like your career goals. Put it in the search bar, and then click on every name that comes up. Easy as pie, right?
How Do You Make Those LinkedIn Connections?
After clicking on a name, click the connect icon next to it. The process onward should be that easy peasy. Unfortunately, it’s not.
There is one last thing to do before for how to build your LinkedIn network: personalize your connection request. Add notes on how they catch your eye and what it is about them that makes for great LinkedIn connections to get a job. Don’t let them think you’re just playing a numbers game and you’ll forget about them. You’re looking for connections, not the highest follower count—unless you’re Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google.
When sending requests, the two most important things to have in your invite are your ‘Why’ and ‘Call to Action.’ The ‘Why’ is about why you want to connect. The ‘Call to Action’ is about when and how you want to connect. Don’t leave your message open-ended with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, or demand they at least respond. Instead, use it to ignite a spark. Let them feel that natural connection with you. Otherwise, they’ll take too much time, or they won’t respond at all.
Have Enough Connections? Good!
If you worry about which step will take too long, you can take a step back. Start over if you think it’s necessary. Check your All-Star Profile for a first-rate impression. After that, use your best keyword and start searching for connections again. Don’t forget that for a personal network, each request to connect requires a good ‘Why’ and ‘Call to Action’, or the best ones you can write.
We hope you enjoyed these tips to make 500+ LinkedIn connections to get a job. For more appetizing tips, check out the excellent resources on our homepage.
Have a Super Day!
