How to Use LinkedIn to Find Freelance Work

Want to learn how to use LinkedIn to find a job? Use these tips to help you find freelance work on this professional social media network.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social media platform designed for professionals. It allows you to network in a digital space. Your LinkedIn profile is like a digital resume and cover letter that you can share with potential employers and colleagues.

Out of all the search engines available for seeking out jobs, LinkedIn has been my personal favorite. The platform allows you to filter out jobs by title, level of experience, location, industry, and much more! Filtering out these job factors is important to organizing your job applications and resumes.

The way to navigate the LinkedIn job search is simple. I have four easy strategies to help boost the number of jobs that interest you! Here’s what I do to get the job search rolling:

1) Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date

Your profile should be thorough and be the best representation of your professional career. Think of it as personal branding; you’re trying to market yourself for potential recruiters!

Searching for jobs through LinkedIn will be a waste of time if potential employers aren’t impressed with what they see on your profile.

2) Download the LinkedIn Jobs app

This app was so useful to me when I was looking for a job! The app allows you to save searches, and you can also set up an alert that lets you know when new jobs are posted within LinkedIn’s database.

Say you were looking for a digital marketing job in Washington D.C. If you save it on the app, and set up an alert, your phone will notify you whenever LinkedIn has job postings that includes the keywords “digital marketing.”

3) Use keywords to seek out specific jobs you’re interested in

Depending on what kind of work you want to do, the possibilities can be endless in choosing particular keywords.

For example, I knew I wanted to work in public relations, and the keywords I saw repeatedly in job applications were “social media” and “graphic design.”

So I plugged those words into LinkedIn’s search engine, and poof! They were the magic words that helped me find dozens of jobs in the field I wanted. 

4) Research your LinkedIn connections

It might feel odd searching through your friends’ or colleagues’ profiles and seeing what kind of jobs they have, but you never know what you might find! I have found out about companies I never heard of before by using this strategy.

It’s also given me new perspective into all the types of jobs and internships that are out there. Because I did this, I found out about companies that existed in the city I live in. I was then able to do further research on each company’s website to find out if they were hiring. 

5) Look up your favorite companies and see if they are hiring

There’s so many businesses that are posting their jobs on LinkedIn now. And even if they aren’t, they more than likely have a link to their website to show you what jobs are available.

This is also a good way to learn more about a company and to find out if you have any connections that work there who can “introduce” you to the right people.

I also found it useful to see what similar companies are listed on the right-hand sidebar. Again, you never know what you might come across!

It’s true what they say: LinkedIn is the social network for professionals. Don’t wait for recruiters to come to you. Start searching today, and reach out to them!

If you’re looking for more marketing tips, check out these articles:

• How to Network in Facebook Groups
• How to Become a Pinterest Manager
• 11 Things You Need to Have on Your Business Website

Have you been successful in finding a job through LinkedIn?

This article was originally published in May 2016. It was updated in May 2021 with current best practices for marketing on LinkedIn.