Don’t write ‘Looking for new opportunities’ when looking for a job

Here is why having ‘Looking for new opportunities’ as your professional headline is a bad idea:

1. It doesn’t say anything about your skills right away (‘Who is this guy? Is he a doctor? Or a designer? How the hell do I know?’, and they scroll away)
2. Therefore, it doesn’t create an immediate impact on the recruiter’s or employer’s mind (‘Oh, she is an IT marketer. We are looking for an IT marketer. I need to connect with her’)
3. The recruiter or employer has to make an extra effort (visit your profile) in order to find out what job you are after (‘Yeah, like I have time for that’)
4. It doesn’t differentiate you from others
5. It means you are reactive and not at all passionate about finding a new job (and again, you are making other people make extra steps for you to find a job; what does that tell about you?)

Examples of Good Unemployed Professional Headlines

To increase the probability of you being noticed, think keywords such as job title and industry:

• Looking for a job as an editor
• .NET developer seeking work
• Experienced retail marketer looking for a job

Don’t wait for a job to come to you, go get it.

If you are from the IT/tech industry and you need to revamp your LinkedIn profile, reach out to me for help.