LinkedIn for Building Products Sales Professionals. Part 7 of 7.
Most people find a job through people they know.
Not through job ads. Not through recruiters. Not through Easy Apply buttons. Through their network. Someone they worked with. Someone they met at a trade show five years ago. Someone who remembered them when a role came up.
Yet most people don't use LinkedIn to stay connected with the people who are most likely to help them find their next role. Former colleagues. Ex-managers. People they built relationships with at previous companies.
The best person to ever know whether you're right for a role is someone who's worked with you before. They've seen how you operate. They know what you're good at. They know whether you'll fit a team. That kind of reference carries more weight than any CV or interview performance.
This is why my company works. I've worked with my colleagues Tom and Aaron for over eight years. We know we can trust each other. That didn't come from a LinkedIn connection request. It came from years of working together. But LinkedIn is how you maintain those relationships after you've moved on.
If you're a salesperson in building products and you're thinking about your next move, or you might be one day, this post is about using LinkedIn properly when that time comes.
Not sure where to start? Take the 5-minute readiness check.
Your profile should already be ready
If you've followed Part 2 of this series, your profile is already in good shape. Clear headline. Detailed About section. Achievement bullets under every role. Accurate timelines. Recent photo.
The worst thing you can do is wait until you're actively job searching to update your profile. The sudden changes are obvious. A headline that shifts overnight from "BDM at Smith Roofing" to "Open to New Opportunities in Building Products Sales." An About section that gets rewritten from scratch. Experience bullets that appear out of nowhere after years of an empty profile.
Recruiters notice. Hiring managers notice. Sometimes your current employer notices.
If your profile is consistently maintained, there's nothing to change when you start looking. You're already visible. Already searchable. Already presenting your best self. That's the whole point of keeping it updated year-round.
The Open to Work setting
LinkedIn has two versions of the Open to Work feature. The green banner that everyone can see, and a setting that's only visible to recruiters.
The recruiter-only version is worth turning on if you're even passively open to a conversation. It makes my job easier. When I'm searching for candidates, I can filter for people who've flagged themselves as open. It puts you on my radar without broadcasting it to your current employer or your entire network.
Plenty of people have it switched on and aren't actively looking. They're just open to hearing about the right opportunity if it comes along. There's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean you're desperate or unhappy. It just means you're keeping your options open.
The visible green banner is a different decision. It's a clear public signal that you're looking. That can be helpful if you're between roles and want maximum visibility. But if you're currently employed and quietly exploring, the recruiter-only setting is the smarter option.
How to reach out to a recruiter
If you're going to message a recruiter on LinkedIn, make it easy for them.
A good first message is clear and direct. This is what I'm looking for. This is my experience. This is how to contact me. Phone number or email. Done.
That's it. You don't need a long introduction. You don't need to explain your life story. You don't need to attach your CV in the first message (though it helps). Just tell me what you want and how to reach you so I can follow up properly.
The bad messages aren't terrible. There's no single thing that makes them a waste of time. But the good ones make it significantly easier to manage and follow up. When I get 20 messages in a week, the ones that give me clear information get actioned first. The vague ones sit there.
If you're reaching out to a specialist recruiter, make sure what you're looking for is actually in their niche. I recruit sales talent for building products, lighting, and A&D. When someone messages me about a marketing role in tech, it tells me they haven't looked at my profile for more than two seconds. That's not a great start.
Job ads vs recruiters vs your network
Here's an honest take on how candidates find roles in building products.
Job ads on Seek and LinkedIn. They have their place. For certain roles, they pull in reasonable candidates. But for senior sales positions in niche markets, the best candidates often aren't scrolling job boards. They're busy doing their current job well. That's partly why specialist recruiters exist. The ads don't always attract the right people. A recruiter will go and find them.
Easy Apply on LinkedIn. I don't use LinkedIn for job advertising, so I can't speak to the candidate experience from the other side. What I can say is that the easier it is to apply, the more applications you get, and the lower the average quality tends to be. Hiring managers get buried. Good candidates get lost in the noise.
Recruiters. This is what I do, so I'm biased. But the value of a specialist recruiter is that they know the market, they know the companies, and they can tell you things about a role and a culture that a job ad never will. They can also tell you if it's not worth your time, which saves everyone a wasted afternoon.
Your network. This is the one most people underestimate. The person who recommends you for a role isn't always a recruiter. It's often someone you used to work with. A former manager who moved to a new company. A colleague who heard about an opening. A contact who thought of you when a conversation came up.
LinkedIn is how you stay connected to those people. Not by messaging them every month. Just by being in their feed. Visible. Present. So that when something comes up, your name is the one they think of.
The passive job seeker
Most of the best candidates I work with aren't actively looking. They're performing well in their current role. They're not on job boards. They're not sending out CVs.
But they're open to a conversation if the right thing comes along.
You can tell when someone is in this mode. They're willing to have a chat and listen, but they're going to stay put and hold out for what they want. They won't jump at anything. They're selective. They know their value.
That changes when circumstances change. Someone gets a new manager they don't click with. The commission structure gets capped. A restructure happens. The product range shifts. Or they're simply between roles and the urgency is different. That's human nature.
If you're in this position, the smartest thing you can do is make sure the right people know you exist. Keep your profile updated (Part 2). Stay connected with former colleagues and industry contacts (Part 1). Post occasionally so your name stays visible (Part 3). Turn on the recruiter-only Open to Work setting.
You don't need to do anything dramatic. You just need to be findable when the timing is right.
What recruiters actually see
A few things candidates don't always realise about how recruiters use LinkedIn.
I can see when you've recently updated your profile. LinkedIn flags recent activity. If your profile was dormant for two years and you've suddenly added new experience bullets and changed your headline, that tells me something.
I can see when you've applied for jobs. LinkedIn shows recruiter accounts which candidates have been active in job searches. If you're applying for roles, that activity is visible.
I can see your engagement patterns. If someone who normally never posts suddenly starts liking every job ad in building products, that's a signal. It might be subtle to most people, but a recruiter who spends all day on the platform picks up on it.
Your profile can be downloaded as a PDF. As I mentioned in Part 2, a well-maintained LinkedIn profile can serve as a stand-in for your CV. I've used downloaded profiles to present candidates to hiring managers when time is tight. If your profile is detailed and current, you might be put forward for a role before you've even sent me your resume.
None of this is something to be paranoid about. It's just worth knowing that LinkedIn isn't as private as most people assume. Keep your profile ready, and these signals work in your favour rather than against you.
Stay connected with the people who matter
This is the simplest and most important advice in the entire series.
Stay connected with people you've worked with. Former managers. Former colleagues. People who've seen you work and can vouch for you. People who've moved to other companies in the sector and might hear about opportunities before they're advertised.
Most people let these relationships drift after they leave a company. They don't stay in touch. They don't connect on LinkedIn. They don't maintain the relationship in any way.
Then when they need a new role, they start from scratch. Applying to job ads. Cold messaging recruiters. Competing with hundreds of other applicants.
The people who find the best roles fastest are almost always the ones with strong networks. Not the biggest networks. The strongest ones. People who know them, trust them, and think of them when something comes up.
LinkedIn makes maintaining those connections effortless. You don't need to message people every quarter. You don't need to schedule catch-up coffees with everyone you've ever worked with. Just stay connected. Post occasionally. Comment on their updates. Be present in their feed.
When the time comes, they'll remember you. And that's worth more than any job ad.
Quick action checklist
1. Make sure your profile is already updated before you start looking. Don't wait until you're actively job searching to make changes.
2. Turn on the "Open to Work" recruiter-only setting if you're even passively open to conversations.
3. When messaging a recruiter, be clear. What you want, your experience, and how to contact you. Phone or email.
4. Stay connected with former colleagues, managers, and industry contacts on LinkedIn. These are the people most likely to help you find your next role.
5. Don't rely on job ads alone. Your network is your strongest asset. LinkedIn is how you maintain it.
6. If you're passively open, you don't need to do anything dramatic. Just keep your profile current and stay visible.
7. Download and review your own LinkedIn profile PDF. If it reads well as a standalone document, you're in good shape.
For a deeper dive on preparing for interviews, check out the Interview Preparation Guide on my site. And if you want to track your job search properly, there's a free Job Search Tracker available there too.
Already signed a new role? The companion post - what to do with LinkedIn after you accept the role - covers the week between signing and day one.
I'm a specialist recruiter for the building products industry. James Bowesman runs Specified Select, a boutique recruitment consultancy based in Melbourne.
If you're a sales professional in building products thinking about your next move, or a hiring manager looking to build your team, get in touch at james@specifiedselect.com
This is Part 7 of a 7-part series on LinkedIn for Building Products Sales Professionals. Part 1: Clean Up Your Network | Part 2: Your Profile Should Sell You Twice | Part 3: What to Post and What to Stop Posting | Part 4: The Phone Still Wins | Part 5: Stop Broadcasting, Start Engaging | Part 6: When to Take It Offline | Part 7: LinkedIn for Job Seekers | Part 8: After You Accept a New Sales Role