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LinkedIn is a great tool for enriching your professional journey, whatever that be.
It can be used to find new work opportunities, expand your network, discover new events or trainings and follow colleagues, influencers and companies that interest you. LinkedIn is often a core component of any job search, as most employers review your profile after you’ve submitted for an open position or even require a link to your profile as part of the application.
One of the most useful features of LinkedIn, which could easily be overlooked for it’s full potential, is your LinkedIn Feed.
Your feed is where you will see posts from the people and companies you follow (as well as suggested content or advertisements). It can be an ongoing source of inspiration, connection and information whether you are navigating a job search, career change or looking to boost your skills in an existing role. However, much like other social media platforms, your feed can become cluttered with content you do not want to see. If you are experiencing chemo brain, information fatigue or the high-pressure of needing to find work as soon as possible a cluttered feed can be more than just an inconvenience, it can be a waste of your valuable time and energy, even a source of burnout.
But did you know there are things you can do to curate your LinkedIn feed so you see more content that you want to see and less content that you don’t?
In a recent article, LinkedIn shared details on how they filter or promote the content for each user. Below are a few tips to curate your feed so you can make the platform work for you.
- Engage with posts. Responding to a post on your feed with an emoji or a “like” does more than just notify the person who originally posted it. Each post you interact with teaches LinkedIn to show you similar content. Be intentional about what you respond to. For example, if there is a company you follow that you hope to one day apply for a job with: Like their posts so more show up in your feed.
- Follow companies, pages, people…. and hashtags! Clicking the “Follow” button, which shows up on the main page of any LinkedIn profile, is a great way to add relevant content to your feed. But just like engaging with posts, it does so much more. LinkedIn will make note of everything you follow and use that data to suggest similar content. A great example of how you could use this to your advantage is following companies and people in an industry that you may be looking to move into. Similarly, you can also follow hashtags to discover new content. Whenever you see a post you like, make sure to expand it and scroll to the bottom. There you will typically see a series of clickable hashtags. If you click one, you will then be taken to a page which shows recent posts that share that hashtag. You will also see that you have the ability to “Follow” that hashtag. This can be used to your advantage! Hashtags like #JobSearch, #HiringNow, #WorkFromHome may help you keep up with new job postings. Following #CareerAdvice, #CareerCoach, or #JobTips could provide great inspiration. And the more you explore the system, the more likely you are to find hashtags that share the content, industry news and specific job opportunities you are interested in.
- Hide the content you do not want to see. Did you know you can hide content from your LinkedIn feed? Any post that appears in your feed will have an icon in the top-right corner that looks like three dots. If you click this icon, you can choose to Mute someone (which removes their posts from your feed without unfollowing them), Unfollow them entirely, or if you select “I don’t want to see this” it will teach LinkedIn that this kind of content isn’t something you want to see and you will see less of it. Another way you can clean your feed is by going to the Manage My Network section, which will show you everyone you follow. From there you could easily unfollow sources you don’t want to see anymore, and follow new profiles that LinkedIn suggests based on your interests.
While LinkedIn is designed for professional growth, it is still a social media platform, and can take some work to clear out the clutter. Hopefully these tips can help you refine what you see so you feel more energized and empowered, wherever you find yourself in the job market.
And as always, when using any social media platform, remember to be mindful of your decisions around disclosure and online privacy.
Be sure to check out the original article for written tips and video directly from LinkedIn.
For more tips from CAC on using LinkedIn, visit: