Advance your law enforcement career with LinkedIn
Whether you’d like to advance to a new role within the field of law enforcement or transition to a career in the private sector, LinkedIn is a valuable tool that can help you reach your goals.
Utilize the investigative skills you’ve developed throughout your law enforcement career on LinkedIn by collecting facts and paying attention to detail as you build your public professional persona. Put your experience to work to help you find the right opportunities and make sure that the right employers can find you on LinkedIn.
Find opportunities
Use your research skills to find the companies you’d like to work for, the positions that best fit your professional needs, the people who can connect you, and the details you’ll need to succeed during your job interview.
- Set your goals
Think critically about the role, industry, and setting that meets your needs, then make a prioritized list of your top choices. This list will be the basis for your fact-finding research on Linkedin.
- Start with who you know
Make as many connections as possible. Take a look at Linkedin’s suggestions and start sending connection requests. A personal note will significantly increase the chance that your request will be accepted. Linkedin can also pull in contacts from most popular email platforms. Every connection you make increases the chances that you’ll know someone at the company you’d like to work for. Your connections can provide an invaluable source of referrals to help you land your next role.
- Investigate your target companies
Use the LinkedIn search tool to gather details about the companies you’re interested in. Search results will connect you to the company’s LinkedIn page, open positions, and people you know who work there. Follow your target companies to get a sense of their culture, priorities, and news, all details you can use in an interview. Take note of any first or second-degree contacts you have who work there. Reach out to those first-degree connections and let them know of your interest in the company they work for, or even ask to meet with them to learn more about their company and role. Send connection requests to second-degree contacts mentioning your common connections and your interest in the industry.
- Investigate open positions
Utilize the search feature on LinkedIn specifically for jobs, an option available when clicking in the search box. LinkedIn will automatically show you positions sorted by relevance based on your profile information. You can filter the opportunities by date posted, company, or experience level. You may also save jobs you’re interested in so you can find them easily when you’re ready to apply.
LinkedIn also offers features that show jobs at companies where you have network connections or there are less than ten applicants. Even if you don’t find a job you’d like to apply for, reading relevant job postings will help you identify keywords, skills and experience requirements that you can add to your profile where applicable. Job descriptions can also give you a sense of any additional training or certifications you may want to seek out in order to reach your goal.
- Investigate your hiring manager and other department leads
Once you’ve landed a job interview, learn as much as you can about your future boss and any others who you are likely to meet during the interview process. Learning more about key players can make you feel more comfortable when you meet them, help establish rapport, and demonstrate that you took the time to prepare for your interview.
Help employers find you
Paying close attention to detail will help you demonstrate that you’re best-suited for the position.
- Optimize your profile
Take advantage of all the features that your profile has to offer. Use a professional photo, which will make you 14 times more likely to receive page views than those without a photo. Add your relevant skills, which will make your profile 13 times more likely to get views. Make sure that your experience is up to date and create a custom URL for your profile so you’ll be easier to find. LinkedIn offers a profile strength check that can help you address any gaps.
- Build a compelling headline and summary
After studying your target companies and job postings for similar roles, you’ll have a sense of the most sought-after skills and frequently-used keywords. Use these keywords in your headline and summary, which will help you appear in searches and shows potential employers that you speak their language. Keep in mind that your headline appears in searches along with your name and photo, so make sure that it’s relevant and compelling. If it’s appropriate to let the world know you are looking for a job, you can make that clear in your headline. Your summary can be a bit longer, so use it to demonstrate authenticity and personality.
- Align yourself with your goals
Be an active user on LinkedIn to demonstrate that you have expertise and interest in the role you are looking for. Posting helpful content and joining active professional groups will help build your network and may even connect you to your future employer.
- Tailor your endorsements and ask for recommendations
Endorsements and recommendations allow others to validate your skills and experience, which adds an element of trust and authority to your profile. Invest some time to endorse or recommend others, and don’t be afraid to ask for their support in return. Those you’ve developed strong relationships with over the course of your career will likely be happy to assist you in taking the next steps in your career. If you are looking to make a career transition, be specific about the transferable skills and experience you’d like them to highlight in your recommendation.
Every action you take on LinkedIn will bring you one step closer to finding your perfect job.
If your research shows you that you’ll need additional training, Norwich Pro can help! Learn more about our flexible, online certificate programs that prepare you for career growth.
