The magic sauce jobseekers must use on LinkedIn

A great sauce makes a meal come alive, bringing extra flavour and texture.  Same with job hunting you need something extra to get noticed.  This blog looks at the magic sauce jobseekers must use on LinkedIn.  

The inspiration of this blog came this week as I took to media on the back of the  2025 Meat & Livestock’s  summer Lamb advertisement ‘The Comments Section’.   In this years campaign Sam Kekovich wants Aussies ‘to get out of social media comments and ‘into the cutlets’ and real life’.  Click the image below to watch the cracker TV advertisement.

The campaign brilliantly draws attention to how we are stuck in the comments section on social media ‘fighting over and complaining about anything and everything’

As I wrote in my Ad News piece, Lamb campaign wants Aussies out of the comments section. But jobseekers should jump into them ‘everyone wants to weigh into opinion BBQs and fry people. But like most things, there are good, bad, evil and brilliant elements. And right here on LinkedIn it is exactly the same.

I saw the campaign as a brilliant opportunity to draw attention to what I have been advocating jobseekers and my clients to do for many years.  And that is:   Jump into the comments section on LinkedIn to raise your visibility, build conversations and show your professional chops

But few job seekers and career changes are using the magic of the comments section and they are losing out on opportunities.

Conversations, enquiries and reputation builds from great relevant comments on LinkedIn.  I know this personally as do my clients who have jumped in to the comments and added their 2 cents (or 4 ha).

And in a job market where it is essential to raise visibility and reputation well before an interview the missing secret sauce is adding comments that showcase your backstraps.

This is particularly relevant for people over 50 who are hiding in the shadows when they should be championing their value and debunking hiring stereotypes.

Who are you on LinkedIn?

Mid career & executive jobseekers on LinkedIn generally sit in one of 3 categories?

a/ Lurking Larry’s & Timid Tina’s  – love reading everything but never comment or add their thoughts.  Maybe a reaction here and there

b/ Negative Nancy’s & Whinging Wally’s – do comment but only to complain (ha the lamb campaign was right).  It may be about not finding work, being ghosted or other topics.

c/ Contributing Colin’s & Proactive Pam’s – jump in and share their comments of thoughts, support, suggestions etc.

And guess what?  The vast majority of professionals and executives publicly or privately seeking a new role sit in the a & b camps.  And this is losing them great opportunities to be seen, appreciated and networked with.

And for those currently employed, many are white knuckle terrified that adding professional comments will be a red flag to their employer they want out of the building. I say here:  Take charge and hold your nerve. It’s not just what you comment, but how and why

The secret sauce on LinkedIn when job hunting is contributing in comments in a meaningful way that aligns with your personality and knowledge.

You cannot just rely on sending applying online to job advertisements, having coffees with your existing networks. You need to do more and get noticed with relevance.

Do’s & Don’ts

DON’T use AI or automated commenting plug in tools to write your comments. You just look like a total twat and everyone can tell you are lazy. And the comments themselves are rehashed boring long regurgitated nonsense.

DON’T whinge about how hard job searching is and how many applications you send out and were rejected/ignored.

DON’T be publicly nasty or divisive on people’s posts. This will be detrimental to your reputation. If you want to offer a different point of view, that’s ok.   But for the love of good food, do it in a respectful, just and fair manner. Never play the person, but the topic with intelligence.

DON’T go over the top with gushing, cult like admiration. Check your intent and genuineness.

DO add more than ‘great post’ or any other 2 or 3 word comment of appreciation. Write why and what you enjoyed. You want the creator to appreciate your comments and reply after all.

Think of the famous words of Oprah – ‘Did you hear what I said and did it mean anything to you?’

DO show your personality and humour when you can. Look there are lots of difficult topics and we need more light and shade.

DO commit to the purpose of commenting and be consistent. If you just lurk you are not helping your search and career

DO search for companies and leaders of interest and their posts and topics. Add to those. Then if not connected, an invitation to connect is appropriate. Doors do open this way.

DO Use LinkedIn and other relevant social media platforms to shine a light on your career chops (meat, vegan or vegetarian). Use comments section for good not evil.

Radio Interview

I was invited this week to talk about the campaign and my article on Nova in Adelaide and had a great chat with the Morning host Graeme Goodings.

 

So if you want to really make a mark and get your name and professional chops known to more employers and wider networks be a Contributing Colin & Proactive Penny.

Success and wellbeing means getting out of your own way. It encourages us to do everything at our disposal (ethical of course) that is both comfortable & uncomfortable to reach the goals and jobs sought.