A former coaching client reached out with this question: Is it okay to connect to a prospective employer on LinkedIn?
A former coaching client reached out with this question: Is it okay to connect to a prospective employer on LinkedIn?
The short answer is, “Of course!” LinkedIn is a professional networking site, and your contact at the prospective employer is a burgeoning professional relationship. However, the broader question is about staying in touch with prospective employers. This client shows reluctance similar to what I hear from other jobseekers around staying front of mind with prospective employers. There is the fear of appearing too aggressive, too desperate or too forward. Whether to connect on LinkedIn is just the tactical part of a more strategic issue: what is the best way to stay connected to prospective employers without being a pest.
The first step is to establish the reason to stay connected. This is why it’s so important to focus the interview on establishing a relationship that will lead to more conversations, rather than trying to close on a specific job. The strength of the relationship, even if it’s a starter relationship, gives the prospective employer the desire and the rationale for staying connected (via LinkedIn) or otherwise. Did you give your contact good reason for wanting to stay in touch?
The second step is to understand the best way to stay connected. Does your contact use LinkedIn? If they are a recruiter, they most likely will be active and welcome a connection. If they are a senior executive and many levels above you, their LinkedIn connections might be more privately held, and you might want to first connect via email and phone. At the interview (or mixer or wherever you met), ask how best to stay in touch. Ask explicitly if they’d like to connect via LinkedIn.
Finally, when you do connect, the third and subsequent steps are to follow up, follow up and follow up. This is not about checking in on openings. This is about expanding and deepening the relationship by focusing on their needs: ideas for business solutions; referrals to helpful people; congratulations when you hear good news about their company. These are just some of the many connection-focused touches that demonstrate your expertise, reflect your generosity, and have the added bonus of allowing you to stay in touch.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
