Tag Archives: LinkedIn

By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter

An executive job seeker recently inquired: “How important do you think it is for me to have a LinkedIn profile?”

I replied: VERY!

I explained that recruiters, hiring decision makers and other executives and board members with influence and hiring authority are sleuthing around LinkedIn daily. More than 135 million professional members subscribe to LinkedIn!

Some who are recruiting feel LinkedIn is THE best tool for locating candidates. I personally think it is a KEY site for visibility and in which to engage (via Groups, etc.) – one of only several that must not be overlooked in any professional job search.

Once you’ve embraced the idea that LinkedIn is vital to your career, the next step is creating a new, or enhancing your existing LinkedIn profile. Most profiles I view are incomplete, plain vanilla, lackluster and quite frankly, boring. The likelihood, I fear, is LOW that your current LinkedIn profile maximizes the opportunity to market your value and engage the reader.

The first question, and several follow-on questions you must know the answer to before delving into a revamp of your LinkedIn profile follow:

Question 1: Is there a difference between what’s on LinkedIn and what’s in your resume?

Answer: YES – in fact, the LinkedIn profile should not be considered a mini-me resume; you should not simply funnel your current resume into the LinkedIn walls.

Question 2: But why?

Answer: Several reasons exist why pushing your resume content into the LinkedIn profile is a no-no.

1. If your resume is content-rich, you will run into character-count barriers. LinkedIn limits the number of characters that can be included in each section. For example, if you try to push more characters into the Summary section than allowed, your career summary will cut off midstream, creating an incomplete message.
2. LinkedIn is a terrific resource for hiring decision makers, recruiters, executives, human resource professionals and other influencers to locate you and learn a bit more about you.

However, the likelihood is HIGH that they will request of you a Word-formatted resume once you are communicating outside of LinkedIn. To send them an exact duplicate of your LinkedIn profile is redundant.

Add value in each and every document you create for your job search whether on or offline. This particularly holds true with the Resume versus LinkedIn debate.  Though their message and content may cross over, they are distinctly different communication channels. Leverage them well, and effectively. Differentiate yourself with each message.

Question 3: HOW do I distinguish the content in my resume versus my LinkedIn profile?

Answer: Initially, the most powerful area in which to distinguish yourself is via your LinkedIn Summary. My tack is to create a first-person narrative that weaves your personality into your concrete value proposition, spurring an emotional appeal. In other words, knit warmth and passion into your factual, and bottom-line focused message.

Depending upon your target audience, ways you may speak to that passion and trigger reader emotion could be to write about your leadership attitude and style; your committed behavior and risk-taking nature as it relates to surmounting mountainous obstacles; or your creativity in sculpting strategies for team initiatives. These are just a few examples. Brainstorm to drill down what makes YOU unique.

An example of an Operations Executive client’s LinkedIn Summary that I recently wrote follows. Note that this content complements, versus, duplicates, his Resume Summary:

In a future post, I will expand upon the other critical sections of your LinkedIn profile and my thoughts on the best practices of HOW to populate those areas, compellingly extending your value proposition!

Guest Blogger Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, a member of the Glassdoor Clearview Collection, is chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend. Collaborating with professionals in career transition, or those individuals who desire to ignite their existing careers, Jacqui is one of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally and holds a BA in Writing. An intuitive researcher, she unearths clients’ compelling story details and applies an inventive approach to career positioning documents and social media profiles.In addition to being interviewed for television and radio stories, Jacqui has written for the Career Management Alliance Connection monthly newsletter and blog, ExecuNet’s Career Smart Advisor, The Kansas City Star, The Business Journal and The Wall Street Journal. As well, she and her husband, “Sailor Rob,” host a lively careers-focused blog over at http://careertrend.net/blog. In addition, Jacqui is a power Twitter user listed on several “Best People to Follow” lists for job seekers.

The Glassdoor Team is a small yet seasoned group of individuals looking to provide greater transparency into one of the most important aspects of our lives – our jobs. Contributions to the blog are designed to present a unique perspective on current events, offer commentary on the inside workings on specific jobs at a multitude of companies, and provide details on the latest happenings from within Glassdoor.

By  Meghan M. Biro

Changing Careers?
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…Resume writing has always been fraught with difficulty. It can be tough to be objective and positive about your skills when you’re looking for a job, especially if your current workplace has a toxic culture or, worse, if you’re out of work.

Problems multiply for older workers. While many career coaches focus on Gen X and Y – the majority of whom have scant work experience – the people most in need of advice, IMO, are pre-Millenials and baby boomers – anyone who’s been in the workforce for more than 15 years.

You’d think experienced workers would have lots of resources and connections, but they are battling several negatives:

•Age – Let’s face it, we live in an ageist culture. No one will say this, but it’s a fact. Grey hair and beards are a no-no in certain workplace cultures. Visible body hair is icky while tattoos are fine. More experience = higher salary expectations. All of these details can play into this equation.

•Less experience with social media as a job search tool – Monster started the change but LinkedIn has cemented it. Social profiles are now an essential job search tool.  Resumes are only as valuable as your social profile. More on that later.

•A tendency to see a career as a linear progression of positions, assignments and accomplishments: It used to matter that your career showed a steady upward progression, that you stayed in a job 5+ years, that you could list all the things you’d learned and done at each job and show personal and professional  growth. Now, not so much.

So what to do in this shallow new world where good jobs are few and far between?

•Adopt LinkedIn and social media: As Mark Babbitt notes on 12 Most (see #9), lack of a social media presence labels one as old. The recruiter’s first tool is Google. If you don’t show up on a Google search, you won’t get the first phone call.

•Rethink the resume: Babbitt has good advice here as well (I love #1 on typefaces), but resume issues go deeper. A real deal breaker is the Objective Statement – too passé for words. Make things easy on yourself and build a social profile first, then align your resume with that – much more efficient.

•When you revise your resume, try not to list everything in precise order – instead think about how your skills match a job’s requirements and play up those angles.

•Learn how to really use LinkedIn. Check out the great how-tos here and here. Simply posting a social profile isn’t enough; you need to constantly update your presence to take advantage of the platform.

•Investigate LinkedIn Everywhere, the new job application app. And while you’re at it, check out Google+.

Today job hunting is more about what you can do for an employer, and less about who you are and the skills you bring. Obviously you still need skills, and you still have to be a genuine person with a great work ethic, but that won’t be enough to open the door. Be prepared for phone screens and Skype chats with recruiters. Drop the ‘References Available’ line on your resume and ask well-connected LinkedIn folks for online recommendations. Build a solid presence on Twitter and LinkedIn. Be very careful on Facebook – I recommend using Twitter with business friends and Facebook with real friends and family (and privacy settings on stun.) Start blogging if you have something to say; have a skilled editor or someone with an abundance of common sense review your blogs before they’re posted. Know who the influential bloggers are in your industry and keep up with sites like ReadWriteWeb, Technorati and Mashable.

Even if you’re not feeling particularly social, craft a credible social presence. It won’t be comfortable initially, but it will give you an edge in a very competitive job market.

 Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community offering a free inside look at jobs and companies with access to millions of job listings. Glassdoor enables employees, job seekers, employers and recruiters to simultaneously see – for the first time – unedited opinions about a company’s work environment along with details on salaries, company reviews, CEO approval ratings, job interview questions and reviews, and office photos as well as career advice.

By Vickie Elmer

If your LinkedIn profile is sitting there, as untended as most farmland in January, you’re missing out on some powerful opportunities to harvest connections and positive impressions.
So let’s use the month of March to shine it up, to plant new seeds – and get rid of the deadwood on your profile.
Start by taking out most or all of these tired descriptions, which were identified by LinkedIn analysts as the most overused terms: Extensive experience; innovative; motivated; results-oriented; dynamic; proven track record; team player; fast-paced; problem solver and entrepreneurial.
 Then head for these seven steps to a more powerful LinkedIn profile:

1. Add some gloss and zest. Take one section a week and polish it up, add some passion and fresh material.  Use words smartly and show your style, expertise and thoughtfulness in what you say about yourself. If you aren’t sure what to add, check out a half dozen others with similar work histories to see what they use. (Your material must be drawn from your career and experience – no fabrications.) After you’re done, run each section through spell check.
2. Add a very professional photo. Get one taken – it will come in handy in other ways too. Smile and look hopeful and energetic. This has impact and shows a little personality. It also makes people feel they are connecting with you, and seeing your humanity and style. It was one of the most suggested ideas in a recent LinkedIn question on improving your profile.
3. Spiff up your summary. This area gives you room to fill in some color and detail on who you are, what you stand for and what you’re the best at. It’s a place to shine and share awards and highlights and whet people’s appetites to learn more about you.
4. Show with specifics.  Resume writer and author Susan Ireland suggests pointing out your successes with profit and loss, teamwork and innovation. “Give a prime example,” she said. “For example ‘First manager at ABC Bank to do such-and-such’.”  Details and specifics make it stand out. However, you want to avoid specific years of experience if the total makes you “look like a dinosaur in your industry,” Ireland suggests. In that case, just say more than 10 years experience, or whatever number shows up often in job listings for openings you seek.
5. Add stand-out stats and solutions.  Evolution Career Business Leadership Development founder Joseph Mullin said he wants his accomplishments to bring him recognition. So he answers three questions:  How do I make or save time? How do I make or save money? And, how do I solve problems?  The first two need dollar signs or percentages attached.  “This is a way to tell them what I can do for you,” he told members of a LinkedIn job search group. Not sure your results are impressive? Talk to a friend. “If it can wow a friend, then it needs to be put in,” Mullin said.
6. Obtain fresh enthusiastic recommendations. Seek them out from newcomers to your circle and career. If all of them come from jobs you’ve held three or more years ago, people may wonder why you’re not wowing current clients and bosses. “The more the merrier!” writes social networking expert Neal Schaffer in his new book “Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn.”
7. Add content that feels relevant to you and your career goals. Avid readers may share their favorite books with an Amazon.com widget. Post a video of yourself performing or speaking. Upload your resume and make it available to recruiters if you’re actively job hunting – Ireland has a blog post that tells how. Check the LinkedIn blog and the “Using LinkedIn” Answers sections for other ideas on neat or new features that could be valuable.

After you’ve finished all the polish and updates, give yourself a moment to appreciate your spiffed up online person. Then put a reminder on your calendar – and do it all again in six or nine months.

Also don’t forget to do “small good deeds.” In her post on making the most of LinkedIn, ambassador Lindsey Pollak suggests you congratulate contacts on a new job or share your expertise and ideas in the Answers section by replying to questions.  Make sure though that you read through others’ answers first so you differentiate yourself and add value to what’s there, Schaffer reminds. “Be thoughtful and add supplemental evidence,” he writes. Then have your answers show up on your home page – to show you’re actively engaged in building community and lending your expertise.