Get Visible with Recruiters: 12 LinkedIn Groups for Job Seekers

LinkedIn Groups are the "happy hunting ground" for recruiters. Many recruiters join groups for the specific professions and industries that are relevant for their clients or employers. They also join the groups that cover job hunting in general. For job seekers, LinkedIn Groups are a two-fer: you get information and you become more visible to recruiters. The good news is that you can join up to 50 groups, and you can very easily leave a group that isn't working for you (or after you've found a job). This way, you can test different groups to see which ones work best for you. This list will get you started, but don't stop with these groups. Join LinkedIn Groups for job searching and also for your profession, industry, college, grad school, current/former employer, location, hobby and any other interests.

Job Search Groups With Special Benefits

Hiring for Hope and JobAngels Program ~19,000 members Run by Hiring for Hope, a 503(c)(3) public charity, this group offers free career-management resources, which sometimes include free help from career angels (volunteer career coaches). Veteran Mentor Network ~19,000 members Group rules are posted, and the group is open to veterans and non-veterans who wish to serve as mentors. The biggest bonus for participating in this group is the free one-year job seeker subscription upgrade available to all member veterans who apply, courtesy of LinkedIn.

10 More Top Groups for Job Searching

These are only 10 of the many groups helping people with their job hunt. The first five groups are general job search groups, and groups six through ten are intended for niche industries. 1. JOBS: Job Openings, Job Leads and Job Connections ~1.6M members, probably the largest LinkedIn Group Here, moderators have posted very specific rules. Discussions should be "entirely self-contained," and should not send members outside of LinkedIn. This group has 20 subgroups based on location or specialty, and several of them are quite large. 2. Career Explorer ~46,000 members Most of the members of this group are categorized as "Entry" by LinkedIn, and the 20 subgroups are based on colleges, so this is likely a useful group for recent graduates (although the discussions are relevant to general job search topics). No group rules are posted, but the group seems to be managed efficiently. 3. A Job Needed — A Job Posted ~44,000 members There is a strong warning in the rules against posting spam, and LinkedIn dubs most of these members as "Senior". 4. Indeed.com ~33,000 members Run by Indeed.com, the largest source of job postings in the world, this group has no rules posted, but moderators manage it to minimize spam and reduce inappropriate participation. Membership is fairly evenly divided between "Senior" and "Entry" members. 5. Job-Hunt Help ~12,000 members Run by Job-Hunt.org, group rules encourage members to "offer or seek advice and support for job hunting — helping, not selling." It appears as if members keep the discussions in line with those regulations. 6. Engineering Jobs, Construction Jobs, Oil and Gas Jobs around the World ~60,000 members Run by reengineeringjobs.com out of the U.K., this is a relatively new group (founded in 2012), but clearly attracts many LinkedIn members. No group rules are published, but the group discussions seem to be orderly and well-managed. 7. Management Consulting Jobs 43,000 members Run by BrainGainRecruiting.com, this public group's membership is predominantly "Senior" or "Manager" level. Group rules are posted, and most discussions are job postings. 8. Internships and Interns ~40,000 members Run by Internships.com, no rules are posted. As expected, the group strongly skews toward "Entry" members, and the discussions focus on internships. 9. Encore.org ~3,000 members Not surprisingly, this group is run by Encore.org. Group rules are posted, and the focus of discussions is job searching for people who are at the "encore career" stage of their lives. In other words, this is a great group if you're looking to inject more passion into a later-in-life career. 10. Job Interview Mastery ~1,400 members No rules are posted, but the group is well-managed and on-topic, run by theInterviewMastery.com staff. Join both the general and appropriate niche LinkedIn Groups to get the greatest benefit from both the information provided, and also increase your visibility with recruiters. Don't forget to join the groups that are not focused solely on job search –- i.e. groups for your profession, industry, location and more. When you are in job search mode, it's useful to leverage all opportunities to attract recruiter visibility.