Being Findable Online

When job seekers engage in an active job search, they fill out applications, submit resumes and contact employers. Meanwhile, passive job searches happen when employers seek out viable candidates for jobs. Make yourself more available to potential employers by making yourself "findable" online. The results can lead to opportunities beyond your wildest dreams.

The trick is to make it easy for employers to discover your personal brand, employable skills and qualifications. Being findable online is more than just creating social media profiles and posting regularly. You need to update your skill set, clearly state what you can do for an employer and fit these elements together to create an overall picture of your qualifications for a position.

One main reason for making yourself findable online is to adapt to the evolving ways companies hire new people. As many as 80 percent of HR professionals surveyed in 2016 said passive job seekers, or those already employed but not seeking another job, become more effective employees. Having a network of referrals helps, but you also need to prove you have the skills necessary to fulfill a job's qualifications. Three basic strategies help you become more visible to companies seeking the right talent.

Using Keywords

Companies use keywords to try to match the best candidates for a position. Skills and qualifications posted in a job description form the basis for keyword searches an employer uses to find someone online. As you create your online presence, think about the kinds of roles you want to fill within a company. Look for job postings that match your ideal position.

Become more findable online by placing keywords from these postings within your online profiles. These profiles include social media, your professional website, blogs and LinkedIn posts.

Presenting Skills and Accomplishments

Don't neglect your skills among your online outlets. Make your profile and resume as readable as possible. Put your skills and accomplishments in sections with bullet points, a brief career biography and short paragraphs. Sell you skills with a readable format and by using quantitative aspects of your experience as opposed to qualitative; tout yourself using provable, hard facts, such as awards, sales figures, improved performance scores and certifications.

Staying Active

Remaining findable online means staying active across all of your channels. Update your LinkedIn profile with blogs, list skills you have and make connections. Companies look for people who follow the company on LinkedIn, expanding the search from the LinkedIn profile to your official website, your posted resume, and any websites or articles you link to outside of social media. All of these aspects show you remain an active presence within your industry, which makes you a more viable candidate to companies trying to mine the best talent.

Becoming findable online may take some legwork at first, but once you get the hang of it, you may see job offers without really looking. That's the beauty of maintaining an active presence coupled with the right strategies for online job searching — employers seek you out rather than you reaching out to them.

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