Roadmap 2 - LinkedIn - Use Your Profile To Attract...

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aptoJobSearchSuccess|[How

touseLinkedIntoAttractEmployers]


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LinkedIn has changed the job search forever.

A decade or so ago, LinkedIn didn’t even exist, but today, it is a major player in

career networking strategies and a fundamental piece of any serious job search.

There are other social networks that offer value to the job seeker, but for the

white‐collar professional, LinkedIn is THE one.

Almost all employers and recruiters regularly search LinkedIn for great

candidates. If you’re not there to be found, you are absolutely missing out on

some amazing opportunities. A LinkedIn profile is completely, totally,

unconditionally NECESSARY for you to have.

WhatisLinkedIn?Basically, LinkedIn is a networking website for business‐related purposes.

Facebook does the same thing for social ties and friendships. But LinkedIn is all

business. It is a fantastic place for

professionals to connect, and I love,

love, love it!

WhyisLinkedInsofantastic?LinkedIn is a powerful resource for you

in all kinds of ways. You can build a

solid career network, keep on top of

industry trends, research companies,

keep tabs on the competition, access


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the hidden job market, and contact hiring managers when you’re looking for a

job.

No more getting blocked by HR gatekeepers. You can go right to the decision‐

maker who can give you the job.

LinkedIn is like a telephone directory but with names, job titles, company names,

job histories, faces, who they know, who they’ve worked with before, just

everything. It’s been called a “rolodex on

steroids.”

If you want to work for a particular company, you

can probably find a manager at that company on

LinkedIn and contact him. It doesn’t matter if it’s

a big company or a small one. They’re on there.

If you want to get in touch with a recruiter who

specializes in the kind of job you’re looking for, it’s

not that hard to do. Recruiters are on LinkedIn.

You can find just about anyone you need to on LinkedIn. And it’s free.

LinkedIn does offer a premium membership that they charge for, but in no way do

you have to have that membership to have a successful experience. Get the basic

membership and you can do everything you need to get the job you want.

LinkedInProfileBasicsThe first thing you have to do is join LinkedIn and establish a profile. A profile is

like your resume, but it’s posted on the site. It’s a way for you to get your

information in front of people. So it’s very, very important that you create one

that represents you well.

You have your name, your photo, and where you work—that’s basic. You don’t

have to put your email address on it, because you’ll have a LinkedIn inbox where

you can send and receive messages—but if you’re in the job search you’re going


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to want to put your email address on your profile somewhere. Then you add in

your job history, so that people who have worked with you before can connect

with you. Some people just upload their actual resumes, but I don’t recommend

it. You just want to hit the highlights so that a reader can skim and get the gist of

whom and what you are very quickly. The ideal situation is that your profile

entices them into asking for your resume.

YourSummaryOne of the most important things about your profile is your summary. That’s

what will get noticed first when others view your profile. It’s just what it sounds

like: it summarizes who you are and what you do. You must have a good,

powerful summary that includes keywords that are important for your job (or the

one you want). When hiring managers and recruiters do searches for candidates,

those summary words will pop up in those searches, and it’s the first thing they’ll

read about you. So make it good.

YourLinkedInPhotoYou would never put a photo on your resume, but you should always include a

photo on your LinkedIn profile. A resume acts as an application for a job, and so a

photo is a no‐no because it raises discrimination issues. But LinkedIn is for

networking. People want to connect and contact other people. A photo makes

them more comfortable with you, because they can put a face to a name.

But it’s important to remember that your photo will be detrimental to your profile

if it isn’t a professional representation of you. Don’t post the picture of you and

your dog, or you and your kids, or worse, you with your beer out on the lake. You

don’t have to go out and have a professional photo done, but you do have to get


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a head‐and‐shoulders photo that is business‐appropriate and represents you well

as a candidate.

YourHeadlineYour headline is what appears with your name, whenever it pops up anywhere.

LinkedIn automatically puts your current job title there, but if you happen to be

unemployed and looking, you can put in anything you want. Just make it

something that introduces you. You can say what you do, what you’re looking to

do, what your special area of expertise is, or whatever. Make it short, but

interesting enough for someone to want to see your profile.

MakeYourStatusUpdatesWorkforYouStatus updates are meant to be very brief comments about what you’re doing, or

what you’ve done lately. When you post one, it pops up on the pages of people

you’re connected to.

“John just updated his resume.”

“Mary spoke about ABC at the XYZ conference.”

“Jerry read a really great book for sales: Spin Selling.”

It keeps you fresh in people’s minds, lets them know what you’re doing without

you having to tell them, and might just spark someone into contacting you.

Let’s talk a little more in‐depth about the different ways you can use LinkedIn:

NetworkingonLinkedIn

You know how important a good network is. A well‐maintained business and

social network will serve you well throughout your life, and I would never

discount the power of old‐school person‐to‐person connections. But LinkedIn

exponentially increases your networking opportunities by providing an avenue for


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making connections in a much bigger arena than you’d ever be able to create on

your own. Remember, there are millions of people on there. Because those

connections are built on introductions and recommendations, they are regarded

as legitimate, credible business contacts. And, because people tend to keep their

information up‐to‐date on LinkedIn, you don’t lose track of them.

As much as you are able, try to personalize your message when you ask to connect with someone, just like you would do if you were meeting them in real life.

JoinGroups

Another way you can make connections and grow your network on LinkedIn is by

joining groups. There are groups for everything. Find groups that are relevant to

your career, join them (there are buttons to click your way through… it’s very

easy) and join the discussions. If you’re

making quality contributions to group

discussions, it will make others more

interested in knowing you and creating a

connection.

If you’re new to the field and you don’t

have anything to contribute yet, ask

questions! I’ve seen some really great

LinkedIn discussions packed with

valuable information for rookies.

JobSearch

I can’t say enough about how LinkedIn benefits your job search. If you’ve taken

the time to build a network while you’re still employed, you’re already ahead of

the game. More than 80% of employers and recruiters search for candidates on

LinkedIn. The more connections you have, the much more likely it will be that

you’re contacted by one of them. (How nice would that be, to be contacted by


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someone interested in offering you a job?) By keeping an up‐to‐date profile,

you’re putting your best foot forward, and setting yourself up for success.

When you are actively searching for a new job, you can use LinkedIn to find the

hiring managers you need and contact them directly about working for them. It’s

a proactive and very effective way to land interviews.

You’ll increase your chances of success if you’ve been building your connections,

participating in discussions, and getting your name out there. When that

manager goes looking for you to find out more, you want him to find great things

in what you’ve been putting out there with your comments, discussion insights,

and status updates.

InterviewPreparation

When you do land the interview, LinkedIn is an absolute gold mine of information

to help you nail it. Your ability to research the company will be a valuable

resource for creating your 30‐60‐90‐day plan, which is a written outline for what

steps you’ll take to get up to speed and become a

contributing member of the team–it’s VERY impressive.

Checking out the LinkedIn profiles of people you’ll be

interviewing with will give you a better idea of who they

are and what their focus will likely be, and will maybe

even show you something you have in common that will

assist you in creating rapport.

ResearchingonLinkedIn

At the top of your LinkedIn page, there is a bar that includes links to your profile,

your contacts, groups, jobs, your inbox, companies, news, and more. Each of

these tabs performs a different function for you.

Use the “Companies” link at the top of the page to find companies in your

particular industry, along with an enormous amount of information about them—


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current employees, former employees, market size, location, website address,

jobs they have posted on LinkedIn, and stock information. Remember—

candidates who get the job offer usually have done more research into the

company and the job than other candidates. Some candidates contact former

employees of a company they are interviewing with to get an “insider”

perspective as to what it was like to work there—that’s pretty strong research,

right?

Use the “Jobs” tab to view jobs that have been posted directly on LinkedIn. If you

use the “Advanced job

search” you can see LinkedIn

job postings and web job

postings. The web job posting

is an aggregation of all jobs

posted online. [Tip:

Remember to check out the

job posting areas of the

Groups that you join. These

postings don’t cost the members (like the ones that are in the “Jobs” section) and

they can represent great jobs that have just come open or available.]

The “Groups” link leads you straight to a search page for groups. You can search

Groups by industry, function, college alumni specific, or company alumni

gathering spots. Those can be a great way to reconnect with colleagues.

Use the “People” link to search for people that you want to connect with on

LinkedIn. Think about co‐workers, clients, service providers, mentors, and other

relevant contacts (both at present and in the past). Send them an invitation to

connect. If they accept your invitation you will be able to see their profile as well

as what people they are connected to in the network. [Tip: If someone invites you

to connect that you don’t know or don’t want to connect to, just hit the “Archive”

button.]


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RecommendationsLinkedIn recommendations are like

references. They are testimonials

from others about you. They

reinforce the details on your profile

as well as help build trust about your

work ethic—making them very

powerful for you. Great

recommendations are very

reassuring to recruiters and hiring

managers. [Tip: You get to choose

what recommendations you show on

your profile. If the ones you have

aren’t strong enough or persuasive enough about you as a great employee don’t

use them.]


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How many do you need? I think that 2‐4 recommendations for most people are

plenty. The most important thing you should keep in mind is that your

recommendations should be strong and really speak to who you are and how

good you are at your job.

Good recommendations don’t have to come from just your bosses. It can make a

powerful statement if you have recommendations from customers, clients, and

colleagues, too.

[Tip: If you write a few recommendations for people, they will very likely

reciprocate.]

WhatifmybossseesmyLinkedInprofile?

I get questions from candidates all the time who worry about even having a

LinkedIn profile. They say, “What if my boss sees my profile? He’s going to know

I’m looking for a new job. I could get fired.” That is a concern. Bosses generally

don’t look kindly on employees who are looking for greener pastures.

But…you’ve got to remember that LinkedIn is primarily a networking site. Not all

of the millions of people on LinkedIn are looking for a job.

And you’re never going to SAY that you’re looking for a job on LinkedIn if you are

already employed. You are going to have a very professional profile that says

quite a bit about you, and you can put any spin on that you want if you’re

questioned about it:

“My customers need to be able to find me on LinkedIn.”

“So many people are on it now; I thought I should be, too.”


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“I thought I should be keeping up with the latest trends in marketing and

technology.”

“I am a representation of our company, so I thought I should be doing that in a

professional way on LinkedIn.”

You never have to connect with anyone in order to contact them through

LinkedIn. You can message them….and your boss will never be able to see that, or

have access to it, or have to know about it. As a recruiter, I speak to people all

the time on LinkedIn who are uncomfortable publically connecting with me. And

that’s OK.

The last thing you need to know is that unless your boss has a whole lot of time

on his hands, he’s not going to have time to police everything you’re doing on

there. Unless you send up a red flag by posting that you’re looking for a job,

you’re not going to have any trouble.

5LinkedInProfileErrors

Forgetting to proofread – proofread your profile just as carefully as you

would proofread your resume.

Posting unflattering pictures – The photograph should be an attractive,

professional, head‐and‐shoulders shot of you in business attire—clear, with

a plain background.

Not being specific ‐ Make sure that you provide enough details in your

LinkedIn profile. Do not simply indicate general information such as “went

to graduate school” or “attended a seminar”. Indicate the names, dates,

and places that will give potential employers, clients, or customers an idea

of what you are about.

Not being truthful ‐ Don’t think that you can get away with lying or even

exaggerating on a LinkedIn profile. Employers have an amazing array of

tools, including LinkedIn itself, to check the truth of your claims. And they

will. Avoid the awkwardness and almost certainly career‐damaging effects

of being caught in a lie by sticking to actual facts in your profile.


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Writing your life story ‐ Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need to

put everything you’ve ever done on your LinkedIn profile. Stick to details

that are most recent and pertinent to the industry that you want to work

in. If your profile is too busy, people tend to simply ignore it. Just like a

resume, your LinkedIn profile should be clear and easy to read.

There’s definitely a right way and a wrong way to create a LinkedIn profile. The

wrong way will probably get you passed up, overlooked, and ignored, at best—

but the right way will pay off in a solid network of powerful resources that will

serve you well throughout your career.


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Additional Resources for You:

Job Search and Interview Training Webinars

http://careerconfidential.com/training‐webinars/

Career Confidential Products

http://careerconfidential.com/job‐search‐tools/

Peggy’s Personal Coaching

http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress/interview‐coaching/

Total Access Club (TAC)

http://careerconfidential.com/total‐access‐club‐product‐reviews/

Roadmap 2 - LinkedIn - Use Your Profile To Attract...

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