How to Find Professional Services Jobs on LinkedIn

Stop Applying and Waiting—Use the 2-Step Method Instead It’s not enough to apply for a job and hope for the best. And mass-applying—whether manually or with an AI tool—won’t get you hired faster. Instead, use the 2-Step Method to stand out and gain an advantage. 🔹 Find a job → Find a contact 🔹 Find a contact → Find a job By taking this approach, you’ll not only differentiate yourself from other applicants but also gain the support of an insider who can help your resume get noticed. Step 1: Apply Strategically This part is straightforward. ✔ Find a job online. ✔ Tailor your resume to highlight your most relevant qualifications. ✔ Write a thoughtful cover letter that explains why you want to work at the company—this means doing real research beyond just knowing their name. Step 2: Find an Insider This is the step most job seekers skip—but it’s the game-changer. Find someone who currently works (or previously worked) at the company and reach out. Yes, it takes effort, but securing an internal advocate, ally or informant dramatically increases your chances of getting noticed. This is called an employee referral, and it’s one of the most powerful ways to land an interview. 💎 Reversing the 2-Step: Start with People, Then Find the Job 💎 If you have a list of target companies, begin by identifying people you know who work there. Reach out and reconnect—even if there’s no job opening at the moment. Why? ✔ They may know about a job before it’s posted. ✔ They could refer you when something opens up. ✔ They might introduce you to someone hiring elsewhere. Not everyone will respond, and not every lead will pan out—but what if just one does? That’s all it takes. Use LinkedIn to Find Insider Connections LinkedIn is the best tool for this. 📌 Visit a company’s LinkedIn page and see who works there. 📌 Check your connections—first-degree contacts are ideal, but second-degree can be valuable too. 📌 Use your college/university alumni network to find former classmates at your target companies. AI can’t replace human-to-human connection. And while this takes effort, the hard work can pay off. Try the 2-Step Method for a few weeks and see how it changes your job search.

Most job seekers wait for roles to appear on job boards before applying. But by the time a job is posted, hundreds—if not thousands—of applications are already in. The best hires often happen before a job ever goes public. Internal Referrals Come First –> Hiring managers often ask their teams if they know anyone who would be a good fit before opening the role to the public. Recruiters Are Always Searching –> Companies proactively look for talent on LinkedIn and through networking before opening applications. Some Jobs Never Get Posted –> Leadership might identify a need for a new role, but instead of creating a public listing, they fill it through recommendations. So how can you get hired before the posting goes live? + Engage with Hiring Managers on LinkedIn – Search for posts that mention hiring, team expansion, or job openings. Comment, provide insight, and start conversations. + Use LinkedIn’s Search Bar Strategically – Instead of searching for job postings, look for phrases like: “We’re hiring a data scientist” “Looking for an analyst to join our team” “Expanding our tech team” Filter by Posts to find real-time hiring discussions. + Reach Out to Employees at Target Companies – If you know a company is growing, connect with people on the team. A simple conversation can lead to an opportunity before the listing goes public. + Let Recruiters Know You’re Open to Work – Make sure your LinkedIn profile is optimized with relevant keywords and job titles so recruiters can find you first. By the time you see a job posting, the real competition has already started. The smartest job seekers position themselves ahead of time—so when hiring happens, they’re already in the conversation.

Here's how you can leverage LinkedIn to find companies & product or design opportunities that are most relevant to you through referrals of people you're connect to on LinkedIn. Getting a referral for a position is going to increase your chances of getting an interview exponentially. Especially in the market that we're in now where there is a flood of applications for every new position. LinkedIn doesn't make it super clear how to find companies where you have connections. So in some recent conversations with others I gave this advice on how to get to a short list of higher potential jobs where there were people they knew who worked at companies with openings in hopes they could refer them. 1. Put cursor in search bar and hit enter. (This will do a blank search) 2. Select "Companies" 3. Filter by your location 4. Filter by "Software Development" 5. Through "All Filters" select "Job Listings on LinkedIn" and "1st Connections" 6. Select a company 7. Select jobs (They surface the most relevant jobs to you first) 8. Select "[#] connections work here" 9. Select "Message" and it will auto write a message to your connection asking for a referral. (Send or edit to your desire) If you have a particular size company, that will also narrow down the results to the size of company you'd prefer where to work. This will narrow down a short list of companies you can look into so see if there are jobs at companies in your city with people you know that work there. One benefit to doing this way is you can remove the "Job Listings on LinkedIn" filter and there may still be companies that have openings that are just not on LinkedIn since not every company posts there job openings on LinkedIn. So it will still give you a list of companies with people in your network that you can reach out to. This seemed very helpful to the people that I shared it with so I thought I'd share it here for others. Adding a screen recording of how it works for me. Do you have any tips and tricks you use for job hunting?