Forging Your Career Path – New LinkedIn Features For Job Seekers and Recruiters

After Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016, the professional networking site has seen some changes. As expected with anything run by new people, everything has changed on the site. But, all these changes, like a change request form, are for the better. The redesigning of the desktop mirrors the appearance of the app on mobile devices.

As one of the leading professional networking sites, it has more than 465 million members; it is the ideal site for you to grow your networks and to improve your employability. So, which are the newly introduced features?

A homepage feed

LinkedIn has introduced a new homepage feed thanks to efforts by human editors and algorithms. As a result, you will note that LinkedIn will feature more content instead of status updates. You will also realize that your homage deed will start suggesting more of sponsored, organic, plus native advertising. Basically, you’ll come across more content you’d love to read.

But, that isn’t all. You will also get to follow the trending topics more.

Search features

Thanks to the refining of the search capabilities, you can finally search through the entire LinkedIn in a single unified search experience. All you need is the right set of keywords.

You can also toggle between different search categories relating to search terms without having to move between the various categories in LinkedIn. Previously, you’d have to search for the People, Jobs, or Companies categories only. The advanced search feature was removed too.

Chat-like messaging

You no longer have to send emails to chat. Instead of the Chat InMail feature, you can no chat on the app. Also, you don’t have to navigate through to the panel to send a private message. Now, you will be able to send a direct chat message without having to leave the LinkedIn homepage feed.

Analytics

The new changes include the introduction of an analytical feature which lets you know how other users interacted with the content you shared. LinkedIn is now more than the number of views on your profile or the number of likes on your posts. You get to finally see not just who saw your content but also the companies they work at and their roles.

There also is an InMail analytics feature that simplifies visualization of your team’s performance. There also is a performance summary report that lets you know how to make the most out of the LinkedIn products.

The blogging interface

Blogging is the in-thing, for all the right reasons. It is the simplest way for you to share knowledge and your nuggets of wisdom. The new sleek publishing platform, your brand easily gets more attention growing your popularity on LinkedIn. If you are a marketer, you should be rejoicing in this feature that is ideal for sharing original content about your brand and for increasing your brand’s awareness.

Other features include:

• The new spotlights which let you identify candidates who are open to new opportunities, and the ones that are most likely to respond
• The contractor targeting that enables you to identify the specific talent for the open positions.
• The Apply status which helps in getting in your applications faster
• The New Jobs tab on the mobile application improves the number of viewed jobs
• The Next-Gen LinkedIn career pages help showcase your talent brand with the new media-rich pages

Conclusion

We should laud LinkedIn for these efforts which are making job searches, recruitment processes, and brand awareness simpler.