In other words, where can I make a job seeker profile where recruiters are likely to e-mail or call me? I remember LinkedIn was useless for this.
Don't mean to burst your bubble on passive job seeking but if LinkedIn was useless for this, then you likely either do not have enough marketable skills and experience, or your LinkedIn profile is crap. This means other job sites will likely be almost as useless. You will have better luck using a temp/recruitment agency like I saw you were suggesting in your other thread. I did this for my first (brief) job out of college, starting salary was ~$40K a year and they took ~10% cut of that while I remained on contract with them (with good performance it only lasted for 3 months till the firm hired me on). They got me the interview, I did the rest.
Upper-level recruiters typically don't take a cut directly, they will get paid by the company for filling the role. But I am sure there are 100 different business models, so I can't speak too confidently about recruitment firms.
Sample size of 1 = with only 4 years of solid experience in sales/marketing, I get on average 1 call/message a month from headhunters who found me via my Linkedin profile or contacts through Linkedin. If you are able to play the game and get a promotion with a couple years of working for a company, or even a cross functional move and show it well on Linkedin, recruiters will call. This of course requires finding a company you want to stay with...sorry for the chicken/egg.
I was going to reply much the same as @SustainableHappiness. I think LinkedIn is more useful once you have some experience. But it doesn't hurt to keep a profile up and keep it up to date. I too get contacted regularly via LinkedIn for new opportunities. I actually am working for my current employer via an outside recruiter that contacted me via LinkedIn. I view LinkedIn as roughly the Facebook for business. I also regularly get sent opportunities that are clearly not for me (across the country for 6 month contract, technical requirements very different from my background, etc). But so far, as much as LinkedIn rubs me the wrong way in some aspects, it has been overall good.
I think once you have some experience that can match the roles that recruiters are seeking to fill, then you will see more recruiters contacting you. It's definitely chicken and egg. But it is not a bad idea to respond to each contact as often that recruiter will be looking for other positions too. I don't do that anymore as there is just too much coming in but I have when I've been actively looking for a new position.
All my jobs after the first (currently in my fourth employer) have came through connections made via LinkedIn.
So it definitely worked for me, but it's not like I'm getting contacted every other day.
What makes you say it was a failure? Zero/no contacts? In how much time?
Tips for a more attractive LinkedIn profile
Some are basics in common with a "how to keep a good CV"
- keep it tidy
- display only useful information
- keep it readable (= succinct, if you have two years experience and your profile is two pages long, you're doing it wrong)
- have a full profile (fill in all the blanks)
- update regularly. Years ago (so this may not be the case today) I was told by an insider that in searches, all else being equal, the most recently updated profile shows up first.
Another is going to professional development events for people in whatever field you're targeting.
For example, as a project manager in software development, I might go to agile meetup, a quality assurance meetup, the local pmi chapter meeting, the PMI global Congress, or a tech event like live 360.
Talking to speakers and attendees, expressing a genuine interest in the field, opportunities abound. They are much more likely to be good ones.
Your school alumni network is another source superior to job boards. You come from privilege now, leverage it.
I wouldn’t assume that another job is going to solve your problems. As someone who has had a lot of jobs, my conclusion is that all jobs suck. Thus, I would rather just stick it out in a high paying job and retire sooner.
What is it that motivates you to ere? For example, the things I don’t like about working are universal accross jobs- social pressure to drink + eat junk food, lack of sunlight, being in front of a pc 8 hrs a day, boredom.
So, I’m my case getting a new job wouldn’t solve any of my problems with working.
I’ve also had ‘fun’ jobs - like working at a summer camp and honestly they’re weren’t that fun at all. If I could go back I would skip the fun jobs and opt for more pay.
All I’m saying, is stick it out for atleast a year before you pull the plug, 4 months isn’t very long at all.
