Person job hunting on a jobs website similar to LinkedIn.
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How to take control of the job hunt: LinkedIn’s tips for jobseekers

22 Jan 2024

LinkedIn is introducing features aimed at people who want to find new career opportunities in 2024, including courses and personalised recommendations.

Last week, we looked at LinkedIn data that showed many Irish workers are on the hunt for a new career, with some even job hunting during their working days.

As 73pc of Irish workers consider a job change, LinkedIn is rolling out some new features, which it says will enable workers to take control of their career and set themselves up for success as they seek new jobs.

First up, the platform is introducing a feature whereby users are recommended different new opportunities based on their preferences and the information they share. They will receive personalised recommendations for jobs across a variety of industries, specialities and companies, such as remote jobs or jobs at start-ups. Each recommendation will include information on how the job is a match for a user.

LinkedIn has also unlocked some of its courses for job hunters until 1 July of this year. Some of the learning paths on offer include: A Career Strategist’s Guide to Getting a Job, Recession-Proof Career Strategies and Navigating Your Career Through Restructuring, Layoffs and Furloughs.

For jobseekers with a Premium paid account, LinkedIn has rolled out some features that will enable them to signal their interest directly to prospective employers. They can use the Top Choice feature to indicate to a recruiter that they are interested in a role and increase the likelihood they hear back from hirers. Premium account holders can also hone their search and save time by narrowing the People search to see those who are actively hiring in or outside their network. They can also filter their jobs search to see roles where they would be a top applicant.

These new features seem fairly modest and underwhelming by themselves, but coupled with LinkedIn’s recent efforts to improve the platform with AI features, job hunters may notice a difference in how much easier it is to find the right role.

LinkedIn first announced it was rolling out generative AI tools for jobseekers last March. These new features included personalised profile writing recommendations and free AI skills courses.

You don’t have to have a Premium account to benefit from a lot of these new features either. As Sue Duke, Ireland country manager for LinkedIn said, “Ultimately investing in building your profile, highlighting how your skills are relevant to the job you want and staying on top of industry trends will improve your chances of finding the right opportunity.”

She also said that new technology will bring about new career opportunities for applicants with the right skills. The top 10 fastest-growing jobs in Ireland for 2024 include cybersecurity analyst, security engineer, site reliability engineer, anti-money laundering analyst, technical programme manager and field services engineer. The top four jobs were all non-IT; they were account representative, tax associate, customer care and sales development representative.

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Blathnaid O’Dea
By Blathnaid O’Dea

Blathnaid O’Dea worked as a Careers reporter until 2024, coming from a background in the Humanities. She likes people, pranking, pictures of puffins – and apparently alliteration.

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