When you fill out your LinkedIn profile, you might be tempted to cut and paste the information from your resume because you think your LinkedIn profile information should be a carbon copy. This is a major job search mistake! Finding a job in engineering is no different from any other profession, and experts say that 80 percent of the top-tier jobs are never advertised. Here are four ways to craft your LinkedIn profile so that it stands apart from your professional resume.

Your LinkedIn Profile Is More Personable

That’s why LinkedIn is such an important all-encompassing showcase for your skills and your professional accomplishments, and why your LinkedIn profile cannot merely be a photocopy of your standard resume. For starters, the resume format rarely speaks in the first person,  but on LinkedIn in you’re talking directly to other members, so it’s acceptable to use “I”.

LinkedIn Gives You More Breathing Room Than Your Resume

LinkedIn allows endless links to your brilliant work samples, special skills and videos that define you. A paper resume, on the other hand, is limited to one or two pages. Take the opportunity to fill out your LinkedIn profile with pictures of your work, videos, PowerPoint presentations or any engineering-related writing you’ve had published. A head shot, which rarely appears in resumes, is the first thing LinkedIn visitors see.

Your LinkedIn Profile Is A Branding Statement

One of the main advantages of LinkedIn profiles is that it prompts you to describe yourself and your assets in a brief blurb (up to 2000 characters) atop your profile summary. This is a great opportunity to define your own personal “mission statement” and toot your own horn. Many resumes are crowned with an introductory statement, but that almost always amounts to a simple re-hash of your work history bullet points. The difference is that LinkedIn branding statements are meant to summarize you, not your resume.

Your Resume Is Very Targeted – LinkedIn Is A Broader Brushstroke

It’s no secret that most job applicants customize each resume they send to best mirror the needs of the organization they’re applying to, and there’s nothing wrong with tailored resumes. However, your resume is only going to be seen by one person at a time, and focused on their requirements. On LinkedIn, your profile is searchable, and available to be viewed online 24 hours a day by any other LinkedIn members. You may be contacted for positions that you didn’t even know existed, positions that you qualify for based on your whole profile package.

For more help in finding your next engineering job in Atlanta, contact Engineering Search Partners or fill out our Career Wishlist. Good luck!

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Last month, 11 categories in the 2014 Global Best Projects Awards by Engineering News-Record were honored at the ENR+Dodge 2014 Global Construction Summit held in New York City. These projects were selected as examples of the challenges, risks and rewards of designing and building internationally. The judges examined projects in many markets, looking at safety, innovations, challenges and design and construction quality. They also placed special emphasis on the diversity of the projects as well as the project teams and teamwork.

There were four judges, industry veterans carefully chosen based on their knowledge and leadership:

• Ahmad Abdelrazaq, Senior EVP at Samsung C&T Corp
• Geno Armstrong, International Sector Lead, Engineering and Construction at KPMG
• Avery Louise Bang, CEO, Bridges to Prosperity
• James B. Porter, Jr, Founder and President, Sustainable Operations Solutions

The Project Winners

Halley VI Antarctic Research Station was selected unanimously as the Project of the Year and Best Education/Research project. Here are the rest of the winning projects:

Bridges, Tunnels – Dragon Bridge – Da Nang, Vietnam

Cultural – Canadian Museum for Human Rights – Winnipeg, Canada

Government Buildings – Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse – Long Beach, Calif.

Green Project – Center for Sustainable Landscapes – Pittsburgh, Penn.

Manufacturing – Superabsorbent Polymers Project – Jubail, Saudi Arabia

Office – The Place, London

Power/Industrial – Al Khairat Gas Turbine Power Plant, Karbala, Iraq

Renovation Restoration – Repairs to 10,000 Quake Damaged Houses, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Residential, Hospitality – Curundu Urban Renovation Rebuilds Community, Panama City, Panama

Retail, Mixed-Use Developments – Shams Abu Dhabi Gateway Towers, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Water, Wastewater – Panama Wastewater Treatment Plant, Panama City, Panama

We are excited to see how these winning projects open up new doors for the engineering industry and what the future holds for the engineering sector.

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When it comes to finding the perfect fit for a particular job, hiring managers and recruiters should ideally work together to build a strategic partnership. Both parties need to be on board when looking for ideal candidates. Creating a symbiotic relationship not only helps both the hiring manager and the recruiter, but it ultimately helps the candidate as well!

10 Reasons Hiring Managers Should Hug Their Recruiters* 

1. They’ll make the most important thing you need to do easier.
2. They’ll save you time during the hiring process.
3. They’ll help you define the job.
4. They’ll help you raise the talent level of your department.
5. They’ll help make you more productive.
6. They’ll minimize the need to waste your time trying to motivate the unmotivated.
7. They’ll prevent the hiring of 90-day wonders.
8. They’ll help you achieve all of your department goals.
9. They’ll help you become a better manager.
10. They’ll help you get promoted faster.

Relax, Be Calm, Call your Recruiter!

*The Adler Group, a company known for creating performance-based hiring, uses a process that includes four phases: sourcing, recruiting, interviewing and closing. Their CEO Lou Adler is a frequent blogger on the social networking site LinkedIn. We found one of his most recent articles called “10 Reasons Hiring Managers Should Hug Their Recruiters” and enjoyed the article so much that we wanted to share a snippet here on our blog.  Click Here for a Link to the Original Post.

When it comes to a symbiotic relationship, Engineering Search Partners is dedicated to working with hiring managers to find the right candidate for your needs. Don’t hesitate to contact us so we can start the process of finding your perfect candidate.

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Hello and a warm welcome to the Engineering Search Partners blog.  Engineering Search Partners, Inc. is a recruiting firm that specializes in the engineering recruiting of structural, electrical and forensic engineers. Our founder, Pat Batchelor, has 25 years of Engineering Consulting and  Recruiting experience and has worked extensively with executives at all levels, with particular strengths in the civil, structural, electrical and forensic engineering sectors.

How is Engineering Search Partners Different?

We know engineering, and we specialize in helping firms locate and hire the strongest engineers on the market with our five-step method, which includes:

• Defining the Need

• Sourcing

• Qualifying

• Interviewing and Screening

• Hiring

Our goal with this blog is to connect you with important information regarding job markets for structural, electrical and forensic engineers.

Finding Talented, Qualified Engineers to meet your Company’s Talent Needs is our Specialty.

If you’re interested in seeing how Engineering Search Partners can help you find those “HARD to FIND” Engineers,  don’t hesitate to contact us. In addition to our weekly blog, we invite you to connect with us on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter!