How to find jobs in Instructional Design
and get found by recruiters
Instructional Design jobs go by a bunch of names because the job skills overlap so much. There is a difference between design and development (overly-simplistic example: design is creating lesson plans and storyboards using adult learning theory, while development is creating facilitator guides, eLearning modules, and job aids using software. Again, overly-simplistic example, lots of overlap in the real thing). But most of the job descriptions I've read treat the two as interchangeable (even though they're not).
Read the job description carefully, but you're looking for titles like:
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training coordinator
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L&D assistant
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instructional designer
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instructional systems designer
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learning designer
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training specialist
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curriculum developer
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eLearning developer
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learning experience designer
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L&D specialist
Sometimes these roles have different levels of experience required (for example, you can get your foot in the door with a job that has "assistant" in the title). But read the job description because they actually list the number of years of experience they're looking for, and it varies by company.
Instructional Design jobs are super competitive, and a lot of people apply for the same roles.
That being said, you can skip the line in two ways:
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If a (real!) recruiter contacts you first. Watch out for scams, emails from email addresses that don't match the real company's domain name, and too-good-to-be-true offers. If you're not sure, or if the conversation doesn't feel right, reach out to the real company's HR department and ask them to verify. (One thing to note: I don't know about international hiring, but recruiters recruiting for roles in the US usually do have to ask for your date of birth (month and year) and the last 4 digits of your social. It's legit. Just a heads-up!) For recruiters to see your LinkedIn profile, it has to be up-to-date and have your desired job title in your headline. (Here's a quick video on how to recognize scam emails.)
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If you spot a role on LinkedIn that just opened up, apply and then reach out to whoever posted it with a friendly, professional note to say you applied and are interested, and attach your resume and contact info. You're more likely to get a call back before they're swamped with applications. (Which sounds discouraging, I know, but I believe in you!)
You can get recruiters to contact you first by being searchable on LinkedIn and other places online.
If they search "Instructional Designer in [your location]" on LinkedIn, you want your profile to pop up in their search results. You can do this by keeping your LinkedIn account up-to-date, and by engaging on LinkedIn to the extent that you are comfortable with, whether that's leaving a thumbs-up on your coworkers' announcements, writing thoughtful comments on posts that you like, reposting useful information, or writing posts and articles yourself. That boosts your visibility by telling the LinkedIn algorithm that you are an active user of their website.
Another way is to keep your portfolio up-to-date and include relevant information that a recruiter might be searching for, like the city you're trying to find work in, and anything you specialize in. If the recruiter types "L&D Developer with experience in manufacturing", and that's you, you want your site to pop up in their search results. But you have to include the information on your site so they can find it.