PART II – OPTIMISE YOUR PROFILE

In the previous article on how not to miss the best job opportunities, I had covered the basics of getting your Resume right. In this second part, I will share how you can make use of professional sites and optimise your profile so that you don’t miss the best job opportunities in the Indian travel industry.

Social media is an undeniable part of our lives. Professional networking and brand building in the travel industry is now happening on platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook more than ever. Opportunity may appear anywhere and being alert can work in your favour. An incomplete profile can jeopardise your chances of grabbing that dream job opportunity. While LinkedIn tops the list of professional networking sites, Indiatraveljobs.com stands out as the only portal in India focused on jobs in the travel industry.

What exactly should you be doing on LinkedIn?

Optimise your profile

Your profile on LinkedIn should be a quick copy and paste of your resume. Spend time to optimise per their platform. Ensure that your headline suggests that you are looking for an opportunity and with the specific area of specialisation that you are open to. Upload the same professional photo that you use on the resume. Update the open to work section with your preferences.

Write your summary

I have noticed profiles that use the summary automatically suggested by LinkedIn. Any active user of LinkedIn can easily point out the similarity in profiles. It would be ideal if you can write a summary in your own words and take the help of friends in your network to review and improve upon the same.

Select companies / Education institutions from the LinkedIn pages.

When you update information such as experience, ensure that you link the exact company page on LinkedIn, if available. Similarly, link the LinkedIn page for the educational institution from where you have achieved your qualifications. This adds credibility.

Select relevant skills

You can select 3 skills which feature as the top skills, so choose them carefully as this is what will highlight your expertise. Did you know that you can get an endorsement for your skills from your connections? In fact, this could be an important aspect of ensuring you don’t miss out on the best job opportunities

Get recommendations

Recommendations can be asked from anyone who is your 1st connection, however, I suggest requesting from those connections whom you have good personal interactions during your professional career.

TIP: When asking for a recommendation, you can suggest to them which skill or skills do you wish to highlight in the note. Remember, you can also give recommendations to connections in your network. Use them to build rapport.

LinkedIn is a powerful platform that can help in your efforts for a job search. Recruiters will find it convenient to browse through your complete profile and it can expedite the recruitment process. Besides a well-crafted profile helps to build a strong network within the industry and increase your chances of finding relevant job opportunities.

What exactly should you be doing on Indiatraveljobs?

Update your profile for job search

If you had registered on Indiatraveljobs for the eLearning platform, you must log in and update your profile for the job search so that you can upload your resume. Update your most recently created resume. You must do this for any other job portal as well.

Update preferences for job function and job location

You can choose multiple job functions and up to 5 preferred job locations. This helps the portal to suggest your resume to a recruiter using its auto-match facility.

When a recruiter advertises a job post in a location of your preference and matching any one of your preferred job functions, your profile appears in the list of their auto-matched job seekers. Furthermore, the recruiter can instantly access your resume and get in touch with you if they feel your profile matches their requirements. How exciting will it be to get a call from a recruiter even without applying for the job!

It is vital to review your profile on these platforms at least every week and update if required. This preparation keeps you ready even before the best opportunities come your way and speeds up the hiring process quicker for both the recruiter and you.

Contributed by Rajesh Nambiar

Cover image from photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels