Any serious job hunter these days has to be clued up on sites like LinkedIn. This applies to any industry but can be very useful for discovering travel jobs, whether in specific locations such as London, UK wide travel jobs or international travel roles. From an executive to director level inthetravel industry, you’ve just as much to gain.
So where to start? Well I’ve pulled out what I feel are the top 10 most useful things your can do with your LinkedIn profile to help raise your professional profile and help you find your next travel job.
Optimise your profile
Put as much information as you can and list key achievements. Make sure you list your key skills in your specialities section of your personal summary. For example, if you have experience in corporate travel or have worked for a tour operator, make sure you highlight this. Potential recruiters can search by keywords so you don’t want to miss out on your next travel job.
Connect to as many known and relevant contacts
Connect to as many relevant people as you can, even if you’ve only worked with a former colleague briefly but have a trusted relationship. Add a short personal message so the invite doesn’t feel cold as it will also increase the chances of that person accepting. It’s not advisable to accept invites or invite people you don’t know or haven’t had dealings with. It’s a great way to keep in touch too – think of it as your virtual business card folder that you can’t ever lose!
Show a professional photograph
As well as how you write about and portray yourself in your profile, you can and should upload a professional photograph. You can still be smiling, but one showing you in a suit would be more appropriate for an executive level travel role as opposed to you on a recent night out!
Request recommendations
Now you have built up some contacts it’s time to ask past line managers, colleagues and external business contacts to add a short personal recommendation. Again it’s a great tool that recruiters use to gain some insight about a potential candidate. You have the ability to accept or reject what is written about you so don’t worry that anything inappropriate will go live.
Join groups
Once you use LinkedIn more often you will see what other groups your contacts have joined as it will be revealed in the news feed. To get started simply click on the top navigation link ‘Groups’ and click the ‘Groups you may like’ option. When you sign up you are presented with a list of options that you can opt in and out of such as receiving group digests by email for example.
Actively take part in groups With a free account you are limited to join 50 groups. It takes no time to use up your quota. A few groups you may be interested in would be:
Travel & Tourism Industry Professionals Worldwide
Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Group
Then join in discussions, raise talking point or vote in polls to name just a few things that you could do.
Integrate social media e.g. Twitter
If you’re active on twitter and you use it mostly for professional purposes, then you should connect the account to your LinkedIn account so any tweets you make are also displayed in your LinkedIn newsfeed. It’s really easy to do – simply click on your name in the top right-hand corner and then click ‘settings’, you’ll then see ‘Twitter Settings’ listed under ‘Profile Settings’. It makes you appear active and can demonstrate your passion for the travel industry.
Give something back
When people write recommendations about you it is widely viewed that you should write one back. It may not always be appropriate, but when it is, don’t ignore the opportunity- this contact may be able to recommend you for a travel job in the future. If you have your twitter account linked to your profile try to provide useful snippets of advice research and any other useful travel industry related information. You’ll be surprised at how much you gain when other contacts do this.
Research companies and follow them
Simply search for companies in the LinkedIn search box (top right of the screen) and click the ‘follow’ button that appears on every company profile. Then you’ll see relevant information that may help you through the interview process when trying to secure your next corporate travel or business travel job. You’ll often be inspired by what your fellow contacts are doing so again, keep your eye on your newsfeed.
Take your recommended jobs seriously
When you log in to LinkedIn you will see a box on the right-hand side of the page that lists jobs it thinks you’ll be interested in – basically those with appropriate keywords such as corporate travel jobs or business travel jobs. Take the time to go through the list and dismiss them if they are not relevant. You’ll then start to receive an email about these relevant jobs, which you will find invaluable in your search for your next travel or airline job.
Finally, try and log in at least once a day to get the most out of LinkedIn. It really is an invaluable tool to use in your search for your next online travel job, whether it be a corporate travel job, tour operator role, business or sales travel role. Good Luck!
