With the ever-changing and evolving landscape of the Learning and Development (L&D) field as well as our recent economic shift, it’s more important than ever to know how to market yourself to hiring managers and recruiters when looking for new opportunities.

Branding yourself as a subject-matter expert in your field is becoming increasingly important as competition rises and expectations increase. Below, I’ve compiled a list to help you make the most of your Instructional Design job-seeking process, whether it’s active or you are just looking for ways to increase involvement in your line of work.

Create an online portfolio

Making an online portfolio or personal website not only allows you to organize some of your best work in a modern way but also makes it easier for people to locate you online, view your samples and contact you about positions or freelance projects.

Tips for your portfolio:

• Use a portfolio as an opportunity to share your most engaging and versatile work, but also be sure to include a section or tab with your resume, contact details, top skills, whether you are accepting freelance projects, or even just list your hobbies and interests to let the viewer get to know you.
• Most importantly, make your work samples easy to locate online and easy to navigate. Hyperlinks are always easier and preferred over DropBox portfolios or other files that often require software updates or are too large for us to upload to our clients’ portals.
• Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to create your own web page using help from Wix, Weebly, Squarespace and other website builders. You can make a password-protected website if you don’t want your work samples or contact information to be exposed. Use this extra downtime while working from home to create the website you have always wanted, but never had the time to make!

Let a recruiter do the work for you

Find a trusted recruiter who you can rely on and who is familiar with the L&D and training space. Recruiters are generally the first to know about new roles before they have even been released and can be leveraged as a great resource to find out about current and upcoming teams that are hiring.

Share your resume and samples with them as well as your goals, desires, likes and dislikes. And be honest with them about your job hunt! Whether you’d like to find a new role in two weeks or six months, they are there to help and make recommendations no matter what timeline you’re on.

Leverage your LinkedIn profile

Making the most of your LinkedIn profile will give you maximum exposure and could open the door to learning opportunities. Below are a few ideas to help you do just that:

• Fill out and detail your LinkedIn profile as if it were a public resume for maximum exposure to recruiters and hiring managers.
• Utilize it to apply to job opportunities or join different groups that resonate with you.
• Connect with other L&D professionals in your industry to grow your network.
• Post status updates as frequently as possible to increase traffic to your page.

Start your own e-learning blog

This will take more of a commitment to maintain and update, but it could be something that really gets you noticed amongst your colleagues. Publish articles and blog postings on your personal website or your LinkedIn page discussing trends in the industry or new tools that you have been loving or wanting to try. This will help to build credibility and your personal brand, making you stand out to potential employers.

Think outside the box

Recently, it’s been more important than ever to focus on creating content and a curriculum that transitions well into a remote workforce. Our new reality consists of mostly virtual, web-based training and ideally, the Instructional Designers of today will learn to adapt and thrive in this new environment. When it comes to designing content for your client, think digital, engaging and interactive and use methods of learning like quizzes and gamification to keep the user’s interests piqued.

Instructional jobs are hot right now. So, if you’re interested in this area, feel free to reach out to us to get started with your job search today!