What LinkedIn Newsfeed Posting Strategies are Most Effective for Your Job Search?

Last week, our newsletter discussed whether or not a LinkedIn posting strategy is effective for your job search. It's worth reiterating in case you missed it: LinkedIn is one tool of many; posting on LinkedIn is probably not the answer to all your job search troubles. But if you do decide to post, you want to make sure you're doing it in a way that increases your visibility and may lead to interesting networking opportunities. There's no one-size-fits-all strategy, but there are some types of posts that can give your job search a boost and some that can backfire. We’ve outlined a few here. Note that this advice is for job seekers and may be different from the strategies that might be effective from those trying to prospect clients or grow their profile for thought leadership opportunities.

Some of the bigger trends on LinkedIn are to aggregate job postings, provide "insights" (whether helpful hints or angry rebukes) into hiring practices, or write cringe-worthy diary entries. Sure, you could mimic these trends to get visibility, but they won't move the needle in your job search. The worst offender for job seekers is the negative job search post, which also tends to get a lot of engagement. You know the one: the person who writes about the 100+ jobs they've applied for in the last 6 months at their dream company, which happens to be a huge industry leader, only to get 0 interviews. Comment after comment flows in with similar stories, anger at corporate America, tips from experts, etc. This post is great for LinkedIn -- negative posts on social media elicit more engagement, people like to comment on posts with high visibility because that makes them more visible, and it's a cycle that keeps everyone who participates active on the platform, which is their goal. But it's not your goal as a job seeker, so this type of post is not great for you! 

This kind of post indicates a) the person is unfocused and doesn’t know what they are qualified to do, b) the person is not resourceful enough to find a real human who can connect them to the company, and/or c) the person’s network is weak or uninterested in referring them. Imagine if you were a recruiter or hiring manager and saw that person’s resume, then checked LinkedIn only to see them dump all over your company. An automatic pass. 

Another thing to avoid? Any post that's clearly AI or following a template. We've seen posts announcing that someone is open to work, but they've left the template prompts blank, or are super vague in their responses. That's not helpful, and it showcases to your network that you're not as invested in your own job search as you'd like them to be for you. Not a good look.

So what does work? The answer is: it depends on you. Not just because you want to attract a particular audience that will resonate with your posts, but because algorithmically, it actually depends on you.

Whether fair or not, LinkedIn prioritizes different kinds of posts differently depending on a person's work history. If you've worked for an industry titan (think: major studio or network), your thought leadership content will be widely visible (if you share more than just links -- and it's better to keep external links to the comments), which can help people in the industry see you as an expert. But thought leadership posts don't work as well for freelancers or people who have worked at smaller companies, so if that's you, a more effective posting strategy is to share a story that offers personal insight and a key learning (without veering into overshare territory). That'll be more likely to show up in people's feeds, especially if you invite engagement. 

Our best advice when posting is to show up in people's feeds with purpose. You want the people reading your posts to understand what you bring to the table professionally and that you're looking for a (specific!) job. It's helpful to post about your work every so often, whether that's a freelance project you completed while looking for your full-time gig, sharing a small win from your job search, or a reflection you've had about what you want to do next. If your posts are clear and intentional, you may even hear from old friends or contacts who reach out to make intros, share job postings, or pass your resume along to open roles. As with all our advice for using LinkedIn -- the more you can use the platform to build your relationships offline, the better.