Weekly LinkedIn Action Plan For Job Seekers

Balancing a job search with a full-time job or the rest of your life can be quite a challenge these days. Related: 7 Steps To Building Relationships With Recruiters On LinkedIn To help, consider using or adapting the following weekly LinkedIn action plan if you’re already in or considering a full-time job search for new employment.

---

Day 1

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations. While you don’t have to accept and respond to all invitations, be strategic with regard to those you do.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails. I have found that some LinkedIn messages don’t get forwarded to or land in my inbox – if the same is true for you, I suggest you view your LinkedIn inbox at least once a day.
• Post a status update. Share your update with everyone unless doing so would endanger your current role.
• Source 10 new people to connect with in target companies and industries. If you are in active search, never assume your LinkedIn network is large enough. Always add new connections in target firms and industry sectors.

Day 2

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations. Right click on links to profiles of those who are sending you invites to connect to quickly affirm that their LinkedIn presence appears genuine.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails. Keep sample content in a Word or Google Docs file so you can copy/paste messages and a “signature” into such communications.
• Skim LinkedIn Group discussion posts and find several to comment on or post original or repurposed content. Focus most on discussion groups that are industry or key word-related. There is less value to be gained from posting in job search groups.

Day 3

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations. Even a short reply to invitations is enough to begin building a relationship with someone you don’t yet know.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails. Look for astute ways to advance each relationship, such as asking questions or sharing a resource.
• Post a status update. If you have a Twitter account, you can choose to share your update to LinkedIn and Twitter at the same time with a single post.
• Source 10 new people to connect with in target companies and industries. Sift through industry LinkedIn Groups you’re a member of to identify valuable new folks to connect with.

Day 4

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations. Craft a short personal commercial to introduce yourself to each new person you connect with, even if they initiated the invitation.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails. A quick review of the profiles of those who are communicating with you may give you ideas about questions you can ask or points of similarity between their backgrounds or your own.
• Skim LinkedIn Group discussion posts and find several to comment on or post original or repurposed content. Find relevant blog posts online and provide links to them along with you comment, question, or opinion about the original post.
• Submit a long form post directly on LinkedIn. Different (and longer) than a status update or discussion post, these posts provide you with rich thought leadership opportunities on LinkedIn.

Day 5

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations. Feel free to ignore invitations that do not align with your LinkedIn strategy. At the same time, be careful not to keep your connection strategy too narrow.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails. Aim to reply to all such messages within two business days of their receipt.
• Post a status update. Use Google Alerts and other apps and software to have relevant content delivered to your inbox.
• Source 10 new people to connect with in target companies and industries. Comb through the LinkedIn company pages of firms you’re targeting to identify people you want to connect with. Remember that if you’re a second- or third-level contact with someone, there is value in elevating that relationship to a first-level connection.

As you can see, following this schedule will help you to stay on top of LinkedIn connection invitations and messages while enabling you to proactively share your career brand within industry groups, your network, and the wider LinkedIn network 5 days per week. It will also aid you in finding 30 new connections each week in targeted companies and industries. Repeat this action plan for each week of your search. If, on the other hand, you are working full-time and only have time for a part-time job search, this abbreviated action plan may be easier to manage.

Day 1

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails.
• Source 10 new people to connect with in target companies and industries.

Day 2

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails.
• Post a status update.

Day 3

• Accept and respond to LinkedIn connection invitations.
• Reply to relevant LinkedIn messages and InMails.
• Skim LinkedIn Group discussion posts and find several to comment on or post original or re-purposed content.

This part-time search plan will only generate 10 new contacts each week and two opportunities to share your brand each week, but it is a much more realistic workload to balance with a job. All of the activities showcased above are fairly quick and simple actions that can be executed in short periods of time. While they by no means represent everything a job seeker should be doing on LinkedIn, they do offer a great place to start. Would you find it helpful to have all of the above in an easy checklist? Stop by my blog for full-time and part-time LinkedIn action plans – complimentary, of course.

Related Posts

Q&A Quick Tip: Include Keywords In Your LinkedIn HeadlineYour Essential LinkedIn Guide: Harness The AwesomenessLinkedIn Cheat Sheet: 5 Tips For A Professional Profile

About the author

A 15-time, award-winning resume writer, Cheryl Lynch Simpson serves mid-career to senior executives as a credentialed resume writer (ACRW), LinkedIn strategist (COPNS), and Get Clear, Get Found, Get Hired (G3) coach. Like her advice? Check out her website, ExecutiveResumeRescue.com for a complimentary copy of her popular Polish Your Profile LinkedIn presentation, or follow her on Twitter!   Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.Photo Credit: Shutterstock