LinkedIn is a great social platform to invest some time in if you are looking for a new role or just starting out in your scientific career – all of our recruiters, and our company page are regularly active on LinkedIn, sharing relevant industry news and the latest jobs we have available – feel free to connect with us (we love a good comment, like or share as well!)

We’ve already covered setting up your LinkedIn profile in our blog Top tips to get graduates started on LinkedIn. So, if you haven’t given that a read yet – that’s step one for you.

If you’ve already got yourself all set up then it’s time to start thinking about filling up your profile with content – and this brings up all kinds of questions on such a professional-facing platform:

How often should you post content?

Well ideally we would recommend that you should be posting or commenting on others posts daily (yes daily!). This gives you the best chance of getting your profile recognised in the right circles by the right people to give you the best possible chances of getting employed – and means you’re really making the most of everything that LinkedIn has to offer.

What kind of content should I post?

Your posts need to most importantly be a) relevant and b) varied – but where do you get content inspiration from?

DO: take a look at what others are writing about on LinkedIn – give posts a like that you feel are relevant to you and share and comment on posts that you feel you can positively contribute to the conversation. This is a good way to build up your confidence to then starting to share content on your LinkedIn page.

DO: keep up to date with current affairs – both industry news and the news in general, from reliable sources such as the BBC or The Guardian. Depending on how brave you are, your content can be as controversial or as generic as you like – often the more controversial the post the more conversation you have the potential of generating – the more conversation, the more attention your profile will then receive – but ALWAYS make sure that you respect the fine line between controversial content and offensive content.

Generating Ideas for your posts

Answering one or more of the following questions will always provide you with good quality content ideas.

1. How did an event/conversation/meeting/interview/any life or day to day event make you feel?
2. Why did you feel that way?
3. What did you learn?
4. What would you tell future generations about your experience?
5. Why should people do/not do the same as you?
6. Why did this impact you in a negative way?
7. What was the positive outcome if it was a negative situation?
8. What was the downside if it was a positive situation?
9. Would you advise others to do the same as you did?
10. How did this affect you in your day to day life?
11. Did this experience make you a better person?
12. What impact has this had on your life/business?
13. What would you have done differently?

Still stuck for inspiration?

If it’s the subject matter that is challenging you – then these are worth considering:

www.bloglovin.com

Add the blogs you want to follow and you’ll get all of their new posts in a feed – set up ones for industry related content and other topics that are aligned with the sector you work, or wish to work in.

Alternatively, you can share and make your own comment on a post from another LinkedIn user – this can be a good way to get you started if you are nervous of writing your first LinkedIn content, as although the hard work has already been done for you, your name will still get put into the right circles if you share and comment on the right people’s posts.

Google Alerts

You can pretty much set these up to notify you either daily, or less frequently, about news items again in your industry. Same as above – its more for ideas for your own content – not just sharing a link to the article written by someone else as LinkedIn prefers you to post your own content.

Industry related online alerts

There are a whole range of scientific related publications that you can set up alerts for – this will ensure that you see their daily news and articles, which again can be a great source of inspiration for your own content.

How long should my posts be on LinkedIn?

There are three different types of post lengths that you can use (long, medium and short) – try to mix these up to keep your content fun and interesting. A rough estimate of a good split of post types over 3 weeks (15 posts) is as follows:

• 4/15 long form
• 5/15 mid-size
• 6/15 really short

We’ve shown some examples of each of the post types below:

Long Form post

LinkedIn allows you to use up to 1,300 characters (including spaces). A longer form post should be made up of:

an opening hook line

a story

and conclude with an open question (see below):

I now have 20 years’ recruitment experience under my belt -so what next? The start of a new and exciting journey into running my own business!

In that 20 years, I’ve worked for a diverse range of companies and recruited for roles at every level across a wide range of sectors. Most importantly, it has allowed me to: 

• Collaborate with a variety of great people from all sorts of backgrounds.
• Develop a great network of contacts
• Expand my knowledge of a vast and wonderful range of disciplines within science related industries
• Hone my recruiting skills to adapt to any type of recruitment challenge
• Develop my confidence so that I’m now ready to set up my own business

All those years ago I would never have dreamed I would be here now, sitting in my office in Newcastle, and looking forward to exploring what that journey brings. But here I am and it’s an exciting time.

In three bullet points – what has your career to date given you?

The post is 939 characters and, most importantly, didn’t at any point sell anything. It has an hook (the first question), then a story and finishes with an open question – so ticks every long form post requirement.

Mid Size post

Although this is shorter and less detailed than a long form post, the principles are basically the same:

a hook

a bit of detail rather than a story (so it still needs to tell them the ‘why’ of the post)

and finish up with an open question (see below).

Tomorrow I am going right out of my comfort zone!

As part of setting up my new business, I’ve been advised by other business owners that I need to get a professional photo to use on my social media and my soon to be live website, so I am going to be taking part in a personal branding photo shoot.

I’m nervous, excited but I am told that once it starts, I will enjoy it.

What’s the one thing with your work that will take you out of your comfort zone this week?

Short post

This style is the easiest but no less powerful in terms of getting engagement with your connections – an example of a short but effective post is:

What is the worst business book you’ve ever wasted your time reading?

That’s it – a short, simple question – you could add another sentence but no more is needed for this style of post. Often these can be effective, as those going for a quick skim of LinkedIn during their lunch break will engage with this form of content, rather than the longer posts that are (for obvious reasons) more time consuming.

Good luck– it’s a bit of a challenge sometimes to get started, but the more you post, the more interaction you’ll get and the easier it will become! Struggling to find a new position on your own? Why not get in touch today to see how our specialist recruitment service can help you – 0191 477 4733.