LinkedIn - a valuable tool for international job seekers in Denmark

When looking for her first fulltime job, Chrissy applied for a lot of jobs within HR, recruitment, and talent acquisition. That was the field that she was most interested in working in, and also the field in which she had relevant work experience from her 9th semester internship.

LinkedIn proved to be a very useful and resourceful tool in job searching.

“I almost exclusively used LinkedIn for job searching (and a few other sites, like Jobindex) because it seemed many jobs in these fields were posted there, when they might not be on other sites. I was also working on growing my LinkedIn network with relevant contacts consistently, too.”

"Whether it was after messaging someone or before an interview, I would say 99 % of the time, the person I was going to speak to or meet with checked out my LinkedIn profile – and I felt confident it gave a good impression."

 

Research and a message on LinkedIn turned into a job interview

“I actually first saw the job ad for my position on LinkedIn. I’ve always been interested in working at this company, so over time I had naturally made a few contacts there, and I believe one of them had shared the post. The job ad had my manager’s name on it, too, so I checked out their profile to learn more before sending a message asking if we could have a call so I could ask a few questions – I ended up being invited to a first interview during that call, and it went from there.”

“While I might have eventually seen the position on another site, LinkedIn was especially helpful for research when writing my application and when preparing for the interviews – I looked at the company page, team members’ skills and experience, and thought of how I could best contribute to that.”

 

Your LinkedIn profile and how to use it

Chrissy’s best advice for international students who want to pursue a career in Denmark is:

"Although, it’s not enough to simply have a profile; you need to fill in all of the key areas, keep it updated, and engage on it a bit – comment on other people’s posts, share your own posts, etc. I really recommend spending some time on developing your LinkedIn profile. I don’t mean mass adding people, but focus on the quality of your own profile.”

But how do you actually use LinkedIn to network? Chrissy explains:

“Communicate with your network and engage with others’ content as well as possibly sharing your own. You could share content such as graduation, passing a language exam, certifications, etc. Similarly, consider adding to the Skills section and asking certain connections to endorse you for them, or asking a former manager to write a personal recommendation.”

"I’d also suggest connecting with recruiters or talent acquisition professionals in industries, companies, or locations that are of interest, as they’ll often post not only about opportunities they’re involved with, but also will share from within their networks too."

If you’re hesitant to engage, Chrissy recommends that you work on having a strong profile which is updated and professional.

“Having a profile alone can help broaden your network and even help you find opportunities you might have otherwise missed. Exchange some of your time scrolling through Instagram for scrolling through LinkedIn!“

“In my position now, I help to post jobs on LinkedIn and work closely with recruiters. Therefore, I see the importance of having solid profiles, especially when recruiters are sourcing for roles that are hard to fill. Try to use strong (and accurate) key words to describe your skills, for example.”

 

Get in touch with people and what to be aware of

“Besides using it to search for jobs and grow my network, I could easily see on LinkedIn if I had any contacts at a company I either was interested in or wanted to apply to, and could ask them a few questions.”

“A lot of ads will also include a contact person, and it is key to get in touch with them. Even if you think you don’t have questions to ask, think of something worthwhile as it will help you to stand out. But that said, if you make contact with someone who could hire you, be sure your profile is filled out and updated and that your questions are well thought out.”

She advises you to contact people:

“Consider reaching out to people, whether to ask about their company’s culture or what their job is like or what skills are required. Most people will be willing to give some insight and even advice.”