Being a stage manager puts me in a unique position that a lot of 9-5ers don’t find themselves in often – I am constantly applying for jobs.

Because my mind is always partially on the next gig, it’s easy for me to stay on top of things like my resume, website, and LinkedIn account because the vast majority of my career, there’s been a countdown timer running till the next time I’m unemployed starting Day 1 of each new contract.

However, I realize others might not be in the same position. They might have a sweet resident gig or work in an entirely different industry. In which case, you may be playing catch up on pulling your resume together and job hunting tools thanks to the events of this year.

I feel like LinkedIn often sparks a debate of is it even worth it?

My short answer is yes.

My medium answer is yes, and please make sure your profile doesn’t look like trash.

My long answer will explain why.

As someone who does some hiring, I am absolutely checking you out on LinkedIn. You won’t necessarily lose points for not having one, but it’s an opportunity to gain some points.

Your profile pictures and banner indicate a little about your personality, and banner pictures with photos from previous gigs or  pretty paperwork are a plus.

Your profile as a whole shows me if you can communicate your career in a coherent way. There are a lot of different ways to do that, so as long as I walk away from viewing your profile with a clear idea about your career path, that’s a win. It also gives you an opportunity to put little wins, details and skills gained related to each job in a more detailed way than you’re restricted to in your resume.

If you’re a strong contender for the job, I’m carefully reading your whole profile, which means you get a little boost from people who have left you reviews, because I actually am probably reading them.

If you have piles of certifications but had to narrow it down to the most relevant for your resume, I have a chance to see that and to appreciate that you knew how to put only the most relevant info into the application you sent me.

And I have a chance to see if we’ve worked with any of the same people. So on that note, if you’ve worked with someone and it didn’t go well, you might not want to friend them on LinkedIn.

If any other employers use LinkedIn in other ways or are looking for specific things on a job candidates profile, feel free to leave those tips in the comments.

What I really like about LinkedIn is it also gives you a chance to be proactive in your interview process.

If you have the interviewer’s name, you can look them up. Be aware, that if you’re signed into LinkedIn, it might show up that you looked them up. Personally, I would be impressed that you put effort into preparing for the interview (I hope you also look up basics about the company too though).

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You can also use LinkedIn to look up people who already have the job you want in a company and see what their background is.

This isn’t 100% effective because you can’t always see a full profile, but a lot of times you can still see people’s previous jobs and education. If any of the people are 2^nd connections (meaning you both have a connection in common but don’t know each other), you can see their full profile.

This is useful to see how your experience stacks up or may be lacking.

This is also really useful for if you have a long term dream job goal – track what these people have in common and start working towards their skill sets.

One of the coolest things about LinkedIn is that if you meet someone at a networking event and ask them what they do, they’ll tell you what they do right now. If you look at someone’s LinkedIn profile, you get a glimpse of the roadmap of how they got there. You might not be ready for that job yet, but looking a few steps back in their career might point to what you should be looking to do next to get there eventually.

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Finally, if you’re applying for a job with a company, you can put the company into LinkedIn and see if you have any 1^st connections who already worked there or 1^st connections who have worked with the person who would be your supervisor. You can reach out to them to ask about how they liked the company or working with that person to gain some more info.

While I don’t recommend you ask that 1^st connection to do this, a lot of folks, if they are on good terms with you and good terms with the company/supervisor, might reach out after chatting with you and put in a good word for you.

Another useful thing about LinkedIn and connections is that when you use their job search function, it will let you know if any of your connections or people in your work or school networks already work at that company.

So if you’re been putting off making a LinkedIn profile, I’d say it is worth the effort.

How do you use LinkedIn?