Lately, I’ve noticed a trend on LinkedIn. A person posts a job and there is a flurry of comments that simply say “I’m interested” or “I’m interested. Please look at my profile”. Sometimes there will be over thirty or forty such comments.
Job seeking is about selling (yourself). While Social Media has redefined some of the ways that people interact, getting a potential employer interested in you may require some “old school” relationship building. Saying “I’m interested” probably isn’t going to attract much attention for three reasons.
First, saying “I’m interested” shows almost no interest in the job. You’ve spent about five seconds more in your response than someone who has no interest. You’ve basically told the person posting that this job isn’t worth much of your time, attention, or effort. You may also cause him or her to wonder if you are the type of person who generally tries to get by on the least amount of effort. Show your interest and initiative by talking about what interests you about the company and/or how you see yourself fitting in.
Second, you’ve given the person posting more work. Successful people find ways to reduce other people’s workload not add to it. People naturally follow the path of least resistance. Put yourself in the job poster’s shoes. If you had thirty people express interest, who are you more likely to consider
a) the people for whom you have to go out and research or
b) the people who gave you all of the information you needed to make a decision
People are busy. The more time and effort they have to put in to considering you and your qualifications, the less likely they are to do so. This is especially true when there are other candidates who have already done the work for them. In addition, you might have foreshadowed another possible issue. If you are shifting the burden to them during the recruiting process, they might assume you’ll continue to do that once you get the job. Show them that working with you will make their life easier, not harder. Make it easy for them to select you.
Finally, you missed a key opportunity to differentiate yourself. Your two-word answer is exactly the same as the other thirty people’s two-word answer. Why would someone pick you over those other people? You’ve also shown the recruiter that you might be someone who just follows the crowd and doesn’t bring a lot of original or innovative thinking. This is not the time to blend in. Use this opportunity to make yourself stand out.
Don’t leave your future to chance. Even if you have a great profile, you don’t know where people might focus (or if they’ll even bother to go look). This is your opportunity. Make sure people see you in the way that you want to be seen.
Getting a job is first and foremost a sales process. Any good business person knows that the first rule of selling is to make it as easy as possible for people to obtain the product.
If you are truly interested in a job, make it as easy as possible for the person making the decision to choose you. Build a relationship. The comment box in LinkedIn is not the place to do that. Send the person a private message and engage them in a conversation. The harder you make it, the less likely you are to be selected.
