Top job tips from a LinkedIn career expert

Initial jobless claims for the week ending on May 25 rose to 219,000, above analyst expectations. LinkedIn career expert Andrew McCaskill joins Wealth! to explain how to use the platform best to secure your next job.

“We are in an incredibly competitive job market right now,” McCaskill explains. However, it’s not as dismal as it may seem, as 32% of all jobs on the platform are entry-level.

He says job searchers should prioritize networking: “Your network will save you sometimes when your resume won’t.” He adds that they should also be open-minded about their career opportunities, highlighting sectors like education, government, and construction that are actively hiring.

When it comes to networking, McCaskill stresses, “busy people need specificity.” He says that when messaging people on the platform, be specific about what you’d like to talk to them about, as it’ll most likely get them talking rather than having a general conversation.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

Initial jobless claims for the week ending May 25th rose to 219,000.

That is above what analysts had expected.

Now, it is an increase of 3000 claims from the prior week’s revised level.

That means more people filed for unemployment benefits last week than the week prior and the four week moving average for claims is the highest it’s been since September.

So if you’re out there looking for a job, we’ve got you covered here with the perspective on the job market and some tips is linkedin career expert, Andrew mccaskill.

Andrew, great to speak with you.

Great to have you on the program here.

You got a lot of folks out there that are trying to evaluate this broader labor market and understand where there are opportunities and where even they should be reskilling here.

But first and foremost, let’s start with what’s perhaps top of mind if someone does lose their job or if they voluntarily leave, where should they begin that career search?

Listen, we are in an incredibly competitive job market right now.

I’m just gonna be honest with you.

Um linkedin hiring rate is down 9.5% year over year and that was in April, but it’s only down 1% since January.

And it’s really competitive right now largely because you’ve got early career starters.

It’s graduation season.

People are in the market.

But we also saw that 32% of Gen Zers said that they are, they plan to change jobs this year and they’re going to be competing for those roles too.

I mean, but it’s not all doom and gloom.

Story continues

Right.

I think that they’re, despite, you know, the competition, there’s still entry level jobs and companies are still hiring literally 32% of the jobs on linkedin right now are for early careers or entry level.

The number one thing I think you’ve got to do is you’ve got to prioritize networking, your network will save you sometimes when your resume won’t.

So if you got to think about your network is oftentimes way bigger than you think it is.

Reach out to that fraternity brother or that sorority sister or the person that you used to work with, get in the group chat and say, hey, who do we know that’s hiring or who do we know at this company where I’m interviewing?

Because you’re three times more likely to get a job at a company if you know someone there, even if it’s not a work bestie.

Right.

The second thing is you gotta be open minded and go where the opportunities are.

Education is hiring.

Right.

Now government is hiring construction is hiring.

We’re seeing the job market begin to stabilize a lot more right now.

And a lot of that stabilization is being led by tech information and the media sector.

They’re leading that hiring stabilization.

And while the overall us hiring rate has slowed 7.3%.

Since July 2023 the hiring rate for technology information and media has accelerated 7.2% within the exact same time frame.

So there’s a lot of opportunity that’s still out there.

But you’re gonna have to be really strategic to get it.

Andrew.

I wanna give people some actionable tips because you actually conjured up a thought of mind that I have when I get to any type of networking event, I I, you know, follow this one, Instagram page.

Introverts are awesome and it’s like I get to these events and I forget how to speak English.

I don’t even know if it’s my first language at a certain juncture.

So for people who show up and might have these thoughts rushing through their head of where do I even start a conversation?

How do I make sure that it’s giving me the opportunity to set up a network so that I can find that next role that next career?

What are some actionable tips that they can deploy?

Sure.

And you don’t have to always think about networking as cocktail parties and after work mixers, right?

If you look at a a platform like say linkedin, I’m gonna say this, even though I work there, it’s like it’s a great opportunity for you to expand your network.

So we have tape tools embedded in um linkedin that are A I tools that will help you sort of get that warm introduction email together.

So that I would say start to do your research where the company you want to work for um think, start following those companies, start looking for people who actually work at those companies have a game plan, right?

Think about what your skills are and what your superpowers are.

So if you get into that sort of networking scenario that you can start to talk to people about what, what industries you’re interested in, what you’re really good at, talk to them about connecting with them on linkedin, doing a follow up to say, hey, we met at this function, we had a conversation, keep your eyes open for opportunities in this industry or there were um opportunities for this type of work.

You’ve got to do that follow up.

If you’re not good in person, then maybe you’re better on an email and you can use A I tools to help you with those emails.

The number one thing I think you’ve got to do is tap into your current network to expand your network so that I know you and I may be interested in someone who having a conversation with someone who works at another company.

I don’t know that person but I know you and you know that person, I reach out to you and I say Brad, hey, I’d really like to meet this person.

Could you make a warm introduction for me?

That is how networking and it gets done.

That’s how people say, oh, Brad says that I should have a conversation with Drew.

Let me have that conversation and do not ask people to pick their brains.

Like take that out of the lexicon.

This is one of my biggest career advice.

Um pro tips is busy.

People need specificity.

If you, you’re gonna reach out to me and say, hey, I’d like to have a conversation with you about something be specific.

So even if I’m not the person that can best give you the best sets of information for that, I can point you to someone who does.

But if you ask me to pick my brain, I don’t know what to do with that.

Yeah, my brain is tapped sometimes after we get off these shows honestly.

Um But you know, all that aside, you got a lot of fresh college graduates out there that are trying to figure out, OK, after I’ve got this four year, five year college degree that I’m ready to deploy, ready to put into action, who might not know anyone, they might not have a network even though they pro we should because they just got the degree or got the trade, uh, certification, all of these things considered it comes back to, ok, what is the wage?

What’s the salary that I should feel comfortable negotiating?

What are some negotiation tips as well for fresh grads who might not know anyone but they know what they just learned, they know what they just came out of.

I think that what your information is currency.

So take a look at knowing, try to figure out what the market will bear.

You can get information from professional organizations if there’s a student uh version of a professional organization like like young engineers or um young journalists associations, things like that can be really helpful, tap into the um into those folks.

People love to help students, right?

The other thing is do not leave that college campus without having a conversation with your alumni affairs organization and talk, go in there and say to them, hey, I wanna work in government who are four or five alums who are in government right now and you tell me who those folks are and I can get an introduction to those people in that way.

Think about it like this, that your professional networks are just not people that you hand out business cards to.

These are people who are rooting for you to win.

It is your community.

So tap into your fraternity and sorority to get um information.

Do your research online?

Ask people now um as you’re starting the beginning of that process.

How do, how should I be thinking about these roles?

What are the current, uh what does the market bear for these roles?

The other thing that I would say is really important for folks to do is go and start looking at those jobs that you’re interested in and start looking at job descriptions so that you can match your skills against them.

But also you can start to look at what some of the salary ranges are for some of those jobs because in many states, it’s required to have a sal a salary range and that will give you a really good idea of what some of these roles and some of these jobs are, are paying the other.

The thing is, is you should have someone in your peer group or your community um that you can rehearse with negotiation is a performance art.

Interviews are a performance art and you need to rehearse before you get into that interview.

You need to rehearse what you’re gonna say in a salary negotiation before you get into that place.

Right?

I think those just those things alone can really help somebody get from.

I’d really like to get there.

I think I could get there to that number to, I got to that number and I asked for more and got that too.

Andrew, great actionable tips there for a lot of folks who are tapping into the job market and part of the workforce participation.

Andrew.

Great to see you.

Thanks so much for hopping on with me, man.

Absolutely.

Andrew mccaskill linkedin, career expert, joining us here on wealth.