- A close friend is good
for a lot of things, but helping you find a new opportunity isn't one of them. According to one of the most influential research papers on sociology, 84% of respondents got their job through a "weak"
relationship, myself included. In this video, I show you three LinkedIn
tips you can use today to connect with relevant
LinkedIn professionals, you have a "weak" relationship with, but who are more likely to help you than your close connections in getting your next job. So, let's get started. Hi, everyone, it's Jeff from Google. If you're new here, this channel's all about practical career and interview tips. So if you're a current
student or young professional consider subscribing for
more actionable content. I'm living proof that the
strength of weak ties, a concept first explored by
Mark Granovetter from Stanford, is a real thing. His research revolved around the idea that people whom you
spend a lot of time with swim in the same pool of
information as you do. So, we depend on friendly outsiders to bring us information
beyond our immediate circles, which makes a lot of sense. My buddy at Akash, who's an amazing human being helped me land a job at
Google four years ago. And although we're tight now, or at least I think so, back then we were acquaintances at best. So, how do you find these
useful "weak" connections on LinkedIn and more importantly, get them to help you land
a new one opportunity. Tip number one, use a Filter feature to find alumni working in specific fields. Connecting with a fellow
alumni as a no brainer, but make sure to take it a step further by being very purposeful in your search. If you go to the LinkedIn
page of your college, you then click the alumni button to see everything one who
has associated their profile with the school, yes, they're all your alumni, and you already had that
in common with them, but instead of blindly
sending requests to everyone, you can use a filter feature
to narrow your search. There are three ways to
use this search field. Number one, you already know the general
field you wanna be in, and you wanna find someone
who's more experienced or knowledgeable, so, you can learn more from them. Let's say, you know,
you want to be in sales. Then you might wanna
type in account manager in the search field, and LinkedIn will output a list of alumni who have account manager
in their current title, or in their previous job experiences. The second way to use a search field, is when you want to learn more
about a position and company, and you wanna connect with
someone who is familiar with the role that you're applying for. Let's say you're in retail and applying for a
marketing position at Nike. In that case, you'll
type in Nike marketing, separated by a comma, and you'll see a list of alumni who are currently working
at or have worth at Nike. Finally, if you're
looking for inspiration, or just generally curious, as to where your fellow
alumni have ended up, you can click to expand
where their work section, to see the companies with the
most alumni from your school. Pro tip, this filter feature works for company alumni as well. Simply go to your company page and click on People to run similar filters to and even more relevant connections. Have you found this first tip helpful? Let me know by dropping a
like and commenting down below which industry you wanna learn more about using this feature. Tip number two, anyone on LinkedIn without being
directly connected to them. As you probably know, you're only able to message
someone directly on LinkedIn, if they're a first degree connection, or if you have a premium account. Fortunately for us, the LinkedIn Groups feature provide us with a small loophole. For example, if I go to the EY group, a group I'm part of because I used to work at Ernst and young, I can click the See All button here and message any one of them without being connected beforehand. So, if I wanted to apply to Accenture, I might just message this
person right here directly. Of course, this only works if
you're already in the group, if you're a current student, I highly recommend you join
your school's official group and any related alumni groups. If you're a working professional and you wanna branch out to other areas, I definitely don't recommend
you disguise yourself as another company's employee, but rather join a group where
you share similar interests and background with existing members. For example, for me, I might search up product
marketing in groups, and request to join this group I see a few of my first degree
connections are already in. Hopefully the admin
will see my current role is in product marketing
and approve my request, and then I'll be able
to network and connect with product marketers
who have since moved on to other roles I may be interested in. Pro tip, other than using
the group to message people you're not yet connected to, you can also post a
request for career advice, but be specific about
what you're looking for. For example, I recently saw a post from a current senior at Emory University saying that given the
whole COVID situation, he's very interested in pursuing a career in business continuity consulting, a very niche field of consulting, and what classes he should
take to prepare beforehand. And within 24 hours, he got multiple responses from alumni, even though it's a very niche vertical. And guess what? He's just expanded his network
by posting this question, because if he follows
up with those alumni, he'll probably end up learning
about specific opportunities. By the way, I have a community of my own, a Facebook group where I
post exclusive weekly tips. Consider joining if you haven't already I'll link it down below. Tip number three, connect by sending out
custom thoughtful request. So, whether you're connecting with someone you found through tip one, or messaging someone directly via tip two, you wanna craft a thoughtful message in order to get an engaged response. In my experience, three types of messages help
you leave a strong impression on the other person. Number one, you write something relatable. Number two, you compliment them. Number three, you try and add value. If you look at this message
I received a few weeks ago, "Hi, Jeff came across your
Q and A video on YouTube, "I've really enjoyed learning
about career trajectory, "especially about the EdTech
from management consulting part "I'm an Education student, "interest in exploring
opportunities in consulting. "Would love to stay connected." So not only do I feel good
she watched my YouTube video. But she mentioned something
very specific from that video and relates her career directory to mine. Or take this other example
from a high school friend who I haven't caught up
with up until a month ago. "Jeff, been viewing
your videos on YouTube, "hope you keep up the good work, "sending you greetings from Korea. "Also a thought. "I think you could also
try content on LinkedIn "and job searching. "Tried and true topic, see
if your audience likes it." If you're watching this video, you know that I took his advice. He didn't come off as a nodder, but as someone who
genuinely wants to help me and he definitely has. Pro tip, if you're using
a LinkedIn app on mobile, you have to click the More
and Personalized invite to send a custom connection requests. So, definitely don't use
the default Connect button. Finally, you wanna make
sure your LinkedIn profile is ready to passively receive traffic when these people check you
out before they respond. So, make sure you check out
my LinkedIn profile video as well to fully optimize
your LinkedIn presence before sending out those
connection requests. For example, one of my tips
was to use free online tools to create a more
professional profile picture and LinkedIn banner. After following the
step-by-step instructions, one of our viewers, Connor,
actually took it a step further and added his own tagline to
his new and improved banner. This is the before, and this is the after. As you can see, he states
his value proposition in a concise and easy to understand way to grab the attention of potential employers and clients. And there you have it. Three practical tips you can use today to leverage your weak
connections on LinkedIn. Of course, if you find success with this, don't forget to pay it forward when someone reaches out to you as well. I hope this video helped, subscribe if you haven't already, and comment down below,
if you have any questions, see you on the next video, in the meantime (clicks) have a great one. (soft music)
