Category Archives: LinkedIn

3 more ways LinkedIn is the perfect place to tell your story–part 2 of 2

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LinkedIn-is-the-PerfectThe first part of this series began with a story of “The Perfect Place,” a spot beyond my childhood neighborhood that’s vivid in my memory. It was, as I describe it to my son, an oasis for the 10–or was it five–of us kids, where we often spent endless hours of our summer vacation doing the crazy things kids do.

This story is analogous to how we tell our story on LinkedIn. A successful job search includes your stories in your written and verbal communications–stories resonate with employers.

In part one of this two-part series I talked about how to tell your story on LinkedIn with your Photo and in Summary and Experience sections; but there are three more places you can tell your story.

Strut your stuff with Media. You don’t need to bring your portfolio–at least most of it–to the interview because recruiters and employers can see it on your profile. In your Summary, Experience, and Education sections, you can show off images, video, audio, presentations, and documents.

This is a feature more people should take advantage of, as it allows you to tell–no show–your story. The Media section replaced many of LinkedIn’s applications, including Answers; and while many were not in favor of the move, this section proved to be beneficial to people who want to display PowerPoint or Presi presentations, YouTube videos, and more.

You can tell your story through visual representation, which can be extremely effective. Take a look at one of my connections, Anton Brookes, who links to YouTube to strut his stuff. Although he doesn’t use Media–he uses Projects–it’s still a great example of how one tells his story using LinkedIn.

What are your interests? “What?” you say, “I don’t include my interests on my résumé.” That’s right, you don’t; but this isn’t your résumé, is it? Your profile is a networking document–albeit online–that needs to encourage people to get to know you better. You can achieve this goal by talking about yourself in the Interests section.

One of my contacts says he’s into sailing and hiking. In my Interests section I mention the fact that I coach soccer, that I spend far too much time on LinkedIn, and other personal things about me.

Another one of my connections uses the Interests section for SEO purposes by listing her services and accomplishments. This might be the smartest way to use your Interests section if you’re looking for work and trying to attract the attention of employers. Nonetheless she’s telling her story.

Note: When you click on a link in this section, you will be brought to a page where other people have the selected words on their profile. This is a neat way to connect with other LinkedIn members. Teaching the love of soccer to energetic youth is one of my interests. Go ahead and click on it.

Recommendations tell your story. Perhaps the best people to tell your story are those who supervised or worked with you. Their words carry more weight than your own when you’re looking for work. Request recommendations from those who supervised you to strengthen your story. And write recommendations for those you supervised to help them tell their story.

The Perfect Place will always be a fond memory and story I’ll continue to tell about how we sat and watched cows graze in the fields, climbed trees, and unsuccessfully tried to build a tree house–but had fun doing it. And, of course, I’ll always remember that wild dog who chased us for miles–or was it more like a quarter of a mile?

3 ways LinkedIn is the perfect place to tell your story–part 1 of 2

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My son loves to hear a story I tell about the “Perfect Place,” an isolated area with climbing rocks and meadows that seemed to span for miles. He is taken by how 10 of my neighborhood friends—probably more like five—would journey to The Perfect Place and hang out to watch cows graze, climb trees, and how we once tried to build a tree house.

LinkedIn-is-the-PerfectThen there was this time when we saw a wild dog and ran from it until we reached our homes miles away—more like a quarter of a mile. My son likes this part of the story the most.

What does my Perfect Place story have to do with the LinkedIn profile? Everything; LinkedIn gives us the opportunity to tell our story. If done right, it will capture the visitors’ attention and keep them on your profile. But done poorly, it will send them away.

Your photo is the first place to tell your story. I appreciate a person’s photo, especially one that is professionally done. Not a “selfie” like my daughter is constantly taking with my phone. Professional or business casual photos are acceptable as long as they contain only you. A nice head/shoulder shot helps me recognize my connections.

In addition, a photo tells visitors about a person’s character. It tells whether the person is sensitive and caring, serious, authoritative, friendly and outgoing, creative, reflective, etc. The eyes can say it all in many cases, or maybe it’s the wide grin. Note: I read that profiles with photos are 7 times MORE LIKELY to be viewed than those without.

Your story continues in the Summary. The LinkedIn profile Summary puts your story into words, and the limit on words—2,000 characters—isn’t all that restrictive. An interesting story is told in first person. While some prefer third person, most agree it makes the Summary seem stiff and unfriendly.

My workshop attendees ask me what constitutes a story, so I ask, “What is your passion? Tell me about your accomplishments. Where do you want your career to go? How do your combined skills contribute to your career? What is your philosophy? What are your greatest areas of strength?” These are just some of the topics you can discuss.

My Summary starts with: “Bob, I landed a job. Thanks for your knowledge and moral support.” These are words I hear often. Do I hear them enough? No. I’ll be happy when increasingly more people land jobs and tell me the words I live to hear.

Continue telling your story in the Experience section. Begin each job with a statement that describes your role or mission at that position. Why were you hired or promoted to the position? What makes you unique and better than the rest? Do you have a unique selling proposition (USP)? to state in the first paragraph?

I begin my story in my current position with a statement about my role: “I’m more than a workshop facilitator; I’m a career strategist who constantly thinks of ways to better market my customers in their career search. My goal is to provide the career center’s customers, as well as the staff, with the latest career-search strategies.”

These are just three places on your LinkedIn profile where you can tell your story. Although not as dramatic as the story I tell my son about the Perfect Place, your story will be authentic and keep your viewers on you profile. Read the next post that addresses the Media, Interests, and Recommendations sections.  

6 reasons why you still need to network after finding a job by using LinkedIn

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linkedinCongratulations, you landed a job. You used LinkedIn to get introduced to the hiring manager at one of your target companies. Although no job had been advertised, she called you in for a preliminary discussion.  This was after perusing your LinkedIn profile.

At the meeting she indicated that they needed to fill a marketing position that would require your level of social media experience. She said she’d be in touch. When the company decided to fill the position, you were called for a “formal” interview.

You answered every question they asked to their satisfaction and even demonstrated your understanding of key issues the company had, and how you would solve them. The VP and hiring manager offered you the position on the spot.

LinkedIn played a large role in getting the job. Now you can take a breather from networking on LinkedIn, right? Wrong. Now you need to maintain and even ramp up your activity for six very good reasons.

  1. Don’t abandon your connections. Some of them were instrumental to your job-search success (especially the woman who alerted you to the unadvertised position). Keep your ears to the pavements for those who were also looking while you were. Reciprocate by introducing them to the people who can help them get to the decision makers.
  2. Build on your expertise and strengthen your brand. Continue to  contribute to your groups and join other groups to share your knowledge with industry leaders. You’ve become well-known in LinkedIn circles; you’re respected for your knowledge and are in prime position to further brand yourself as a social media expert.
  3. LinkedIn was part of your routine. You were on LinkedIn on a daily basis, connecting with new people, using the Companies feature to locate and get introduced to decision makers (remember the one who granted you the conversation?) Of course you attended personal networking events, but LinkedIn added to your overall networking in a big way.
  4. LinkedIn became a community. You met some great people who welcomed you to their network, exchanged messages with you, and encouraged you during your job search. Why would you give this up? LinkedIn is a community consisting of professionals with the same goal in mind, sharing information and social capital. You built some outstanding relationships.
  5. Your new company understands the importance of LinkedIn. The VP of marketing wants everyone in your group to be on LinkedIn to connect with potential business partners and customers. He also wants to enhance the image of the company. A company with employees who have great profiles is a company that means business. He’s looking to you to share what you know about using LinkedIn–you’re his expert.
  6. Continue to build your network for a rainy day. You were looking on LinkedIn for a job almost every day for the last three months, attending networking events, and connecting with people on a daily basis. Your online and personal networks are strong and served you well. Now, more than ever, you want to continue to build your networks for future job search activity. How does that saying go? The best time to network is when you’re working.

When you began your profile, struggled with making it strong, increased your activity, and really began to see its benefits; you never thought it would get you this far. You never thought you’d buy into it and be an evangelist of LinkedIn, spreading the word of its great attributes. Even though you landed, you still need to network on LinkedIn.

How to make your mark on LinkedIn by providing great content

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shareSo you’re looking for great content to share with your LinkedIn connections and Twitter followers because sharing content is what good networkers do, right? Sharing content that is pertinent to your community educates them, inspires them, makes them think. True. However, some people misunderstand the purpose of sharing articles on LinkedIn or other platforms. They think the more they share, regardless of content, the better. Not true.

A Forbes article, Become A Leader On LinkedIn: 4 Steps To A More Active Profile, shared by one of my LinkedIn connections inspired me to write this post. Hank Boyer is one of those people who shares information worth reading. The Forbes article is one of the many articles he’s distributed to his LinkedIn connections and the groups he’s in.

The article advises first to publish your own content on LinkedIn. Which seems like a no-brainer if you want to be known as the authority in your industry, a leader on LinkedIn. But let’s face it; not everyone has the time, writes well enough, nor has the inclination to write on a regular basis. Some people, one of my customers attests, simply like to read what others write. My feelings on this are explained in this post.

If you’re not a writer, share the writing of others.

Share an updateIf you’re going to share the content of others, you must be an active reader. Read and understand what the author is saying, then share it on LinkedIn and Twitter–if you’re on Twitter–and write a word or two about said article in the “Share an Update” box. I feel comfortable sharing a post only if I’ve read it and have an intelligent comment to add.

In my LinkedIn workshop when I’m teaching the participants how to post an update, I show them how to share an article with their connections. I make it clear that they must write at least a brief comment, but to do this they have to read the entire article. In order to demonstrate this I have read the article prior to the workshop begins so I can write something intelligent about it during my demonstration.

The Forbes article also suggest becoming a groupie. Find someone who shares content you find extremely valuable and then follow that person. There are a number of my connections who share valuable content of interest to me and my connections. Some share content of other writers in the groups we’re in, while others share content to the public on LinkedIn.

These are my connections who I trust enough that whatever they post on LinkedIn, I’ll open an article and read it in its entirety. That’s how much I trust these folks. I’ve already pointed out Hank Boyer, but others who come to mind are Sabrina Woods, Hanna Morgan, Rich Grant, Greg Johnson, Pat Weber. The list goes on. These people are prolific readers and they also write great stuff.

Make sure what you share will add value. I say this with seriousness. Nothing can hurt your leadership status than posting articles that are poorly written, off target, in some why insulting to your readers, or are used as a platform for venting. Some LinkedIn members read the titles of articles and simply hit “Share.” I understand people want to appear as leaders, but this is irresponsible. They can’t possibly know if the article is valuable if they haven’t read it.

Reciprocate. I’ll add this advice, as it’s important to develop relationships with fellow writers. Reciprocate by sharing articles of writers who have shared your articles, but only if they’re worthy of reciprocation. When you share an article that is poorly written just for the sake of reciprocity, you are soiling your reputation as a leader on LinkedIn.

When my workshop attendees ask me what they update status they can share, my first response is sharing an article. I’m sure to tell them that whatever they share will be a reflection on them as a professional. This is an important message for them, as well as all professionals on LinkedIn.

 

One example of how a photo effectively brands a person

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AntonOne of my LinkedIn connections, Anton Brookes, sports a photo on his profile that prompts me to say to my LinkedIn workshop attendees, “Now this is a kick ass photo.” They give pause and nod in approval. Previously I told my folks that there are acceptable photos for a LinkedIn profile and there are others that are not.

Acceptable photos, I’d tell them, are ones that are highly professional or business casual; after all, LinkedIn is “the world’s largest professional network.” Unacceptable photos are everything else.

Anton’s photo is neither highly professional or business casual, but it proves as an excellent example of how the photo can catapult your personal branding.

I’m not the photo Czar–never claimed to be–but I feel strongly about how one should display his/her image on their LinkedIn profile. And I certainly believe that a profile without a photo is like a car without wheels.

Your photo serves to make you memorable and can reveal a lot about your personality. Further, it has been quoted that people trust photos and are seven times more likely to open a profile that has a photo. I agree with this statement, as I rarely open profiles that lack a photo.

The photo in question says a lot about this photographer whose branding headline reads: Owner | Fashion/Lifestyle and Street Photographer at Mock Turtle Moon. It describes what he does, while his photo supports more of the street photographer side of his business.

Homless woman

Anton’s photo speaks volumes about his expertise as a street photographer. It tells us that he’s for real and living his job, comfortable in his setting. It’s gritty and by no means pretty. It transports us to the streets of New York City. But most important, we get the sense that this photographer is knowledgeable of his trade.

A suit and tie or a button-down shirt wouldn’t have the same effect; it wouldn’t brand him nearly as well as the one he sports on his profile. Not by a mile.

I’ve told Anton that his photo helps me point out to my LinkedIn workshop attendees the importance of having a photo that brands a person, and for selfish reasons I hope he doesn’t change it. But if he decides he needs to portray himself as some one else, I’m sure he’d know how to do that.

If you’d like to see a short documentary on Anton Brookes filmed by Aljazeera America, click this link.

The most obvious differences between the résumé and LinkedIn profile–Part 5

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resume linkedinPreviously we looked at the differences between the Experience sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile.

In this final entry of a series about the differences between the résumé and LinkedIn profile, we’ll look at the overall purpose of each document–the most obvious being that your profile is an integral part of your online networking campaign, whereas your résumé is specifically designed to secure a job.

It goes to reason that more people will see your profile than they’ll see your résumé, unless of course you’re blasting your résumé to every employer in the world. Bad mistake.

Years ago I came across a poll on LinkedIn asking which document the participants would give up first, their résumé or profile. The majority said they’d give up their résumé before the profile. I tell my workshop attendees I would do the same.

Maybe this is because I see the profile as more dynamic than the résumé. Maybe this is because the profile provides more room to expound on your strengths and accomplishments.

Previously we looked at some differences between the two, such as the photo and Branding Titles; Skills/Expertise and Core Competency sections; Summary sections; and the Experience sections. Most are dramatically different (you don’t include a photo on your résumé), while the Employment sections show the most similarities. To follow are the glaring differences between the résumé and LinkedIn profile.

You use your profile to network online, but people want to see much of the content you would have on your résumé; although not a rehash of it. Even those in business must sell themselves to prospective business partners by showing their relevant experience and accomplishments. Keywords and phrases are also essential to include on your LinkedIn profile and résumé.

The profile is more dynamic than the résumé for many reasons. Call them bells and whistles, but there are features on the profile that you wouldn’t or couldn’t include on your résumé. Here are lists of features that are exclusive to the profile, that lend well to networking:

Activities allow visitors to see how you’ve been utilizing LinkedIn to network. Have you been sending updates with information about your industry and/or occupation? Maybe you’re attaching an article you found interesting and valuable to your network. Show people that you’re active on LinkedIn by commenting on updates.

Media can be positioned in your Summary or Experience sections. Show your connections PowerPoint presentations, YouTube clips, or, like me, a link to your blogsite. The introduction of Media is at the expense of many applications LinkedIn deemed unnecessary perhaps, some think, for business purposes.

Information-rich Skills/Expertise with Endorsements are a nice touch. You can post up to 50 skills or areas of expertise, and your connections can endorse you for each one. Endorsements is LinkedIn’s way of keeping networking active and paying homage to your connections.

Recommendations have always been a favorite of LinkedIn members and recruiters and employers, as recommendations allow them to see the favorable comments you’ve received, as well as the recommendations you’ve written for others.

Additional Info like Interests and Personal Details are normally missing from your résumé, unless the hobbies and interests pertain to the jobs you’re pursuing. A nice touch some people may not be aware of is Interests hyperlinks that take you to potential connections and groups.

Connections and Companies and Groups you’re following further encourage networking by showing visitors with whom your connected, which companies you’re interested in, and the groups to which you belong. You can chose not to allow people access to your connections, but that seem counterproductive if you’re trying to network effectively. Hopefully people will send you a note saying, “I see you’re interested in Kronos. I know the hiring manager for engineering there.”

This being the last entry in this series ends with, it may seem, a large boost for LinkedIn. I said I would choose the profile over the résumé, but I also stated that each has its own purpose, the former for a targeted job search and the latter for job search and business networking.

 

The differences between the Experience sections of your résumé and LinkedIn profile–Part 4

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resume linkedin

In part three of this series, we looked at the differences between the Summaries of the résumé and  LinkedIn profile. In this part of the series we’ll look at the differences and similarities between the Experience sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile.

Similarities between the two documents.

Although there are differences between the Employment sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile, there are some obvious similarities, namely accomplishments and keywords.

Excellent résumés and LinkedIn profiles will include quantified accomplishments in their Experience section–#’s, $’s, and %’s are what speak loud and clear to recruiters/employers. People who are determined to show only the duties they performed at their previous organizations, rather than prove their potential value through showing their accomplishments, lose out in the battle for interviews.

Another serious consideration are the keywords and phrases that match a particular job description. The proper and frequency of keywords propels your résumé to the top of the pile that an applicant tracking system (ATS) deems worth reading. Similarly, keywords are essential to being found by recruiters/employers culling for talent on LinkedIn.

The format of both documents is chronological. How you are required to list your title, company location, and dates of employment on your LinkedIn profile, may be different than how you chose to treat this information on your résumé. LinkedIn wisely chose the chronological format as the structure for the Experience section; but if you want to use a functional profile, the skills area will be placed in the Summary.

Three differences between the Employment sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile.

1. While some LinkedIn pundits believe you should copy and paste the contents of your résumé Experience section to the profile; others, including myself, feel that the LinkedIn Experience section should focus solely on a handful of accomplishments. The purpose of doing this is to show recruiters/employers what is most important, your accomplishments. Another sentiment is to provide them a different look than what they see on your résumé. Why be redundant?

2. The second strategy, treating the Experience section of the LinkedIn profile like the résumé, serves to provide recruiters/employers a full sense of the important duties you’ve performed and accomplishments you’ve achieved. In other words, copy the contents of your résumé to your profile.

If recruiters/employers are searching through LinkedIn for talent and not calling for résumés yet, they will get a good sense of what you’re capable of doing. This being the case, you will rely on them to sift through the content and glean what is most important.

Note: Another important point to make for this approach is the potential for more keywords in this section–thus, the potential of being found.

3. The third way to treat your LinkedIn Experience section is by doing nothing with it, as is the case with many executives I’ve seen on LinkedIn. I think this is a mistake. CEOs and Directors should at the very least describe what their company/organization does, giving visitors an idea of the breadth of scope of their responsibilities.

Executive résumé writers will tell you that every section of the résumé should be maximized with accomplishments and keywords. Why then should the LinkedIn profile Experience section not do the same?

Executive Resume Writer, Laura Smith-Proulx believes the more relevant information, the better; particularly when you’re trying to differentiate yourself from other executives. She writes: 

“The key to a strategic message in your CFO résumé is to do MORE with the details – taking the hard facts of budgets managed, teams directed, or cost savings achieved to fold in personal brand messages.”

The differences between the Employment sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile are not as noticeable as the differences between the Summary, but it is important to take this section seriously, if not for citing your accomplishments and keywords. To create effective inbound marketing, you must help potential employers find you.

Finally we’ll look at the most obvious differences between the resume and LinkedIn profile.

The differences between the Summary sections of your LinkedIn profile and résumé–Part 3

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resume linkedin

In part 2 of this series, we looked at the differences between the résumé’s Core Competency and LinkedIn’s Skills and Expertise sections.

One of the most noticeable difference between the résumé and LinkedIn profile lies in the Summary. Simply copying and pasting your résumé’s Summary to your profile without any further action is poor laziness and cheating yourself of a great opportunity to show your value to visitors and potential employers.

As well, this is a great opportunity to tell your story, express your passion for what you do, and show your creativity.

Today’s résumé’s Summary is taking on a more concise, yet informative, presence.  This is due, in large part, because people who are reading a large volume of résumés value brevity over verbosity. Whereas the LinkedIn Summary grants you 2,000 characters, the résumé’s Summary is usually no longer than 500 characters, preferably shorter.

Your Résumé. Brevity without fluff and clichés are key to the success of your résumé’s Summary. As the cliché goes, “You must say more with less.” The goal is to express your overall value and promise for future success. Consider the following Summary that is three lines on paper and approximately 280 characters:

Senior Accountant with cross-functional expertise in all phases of accounting, including electronic processes
Manager—up to 18 staff—increasing productivity through clear communication and expectations
Operational skills in high-volume environments; consistently increases annual discounts taken in excess of $100K 

Some believe a Value Proposition should replace the typical Summary. Here is an example of a Value Proposition that immediately states one’s value.

Throughout my career, I’ve been hired to increase productivity by at least 50% at companies that required someone who identifies problems and attacks them with an eye on a quick and effective resolution.

My leadership style is fair, while also placing a demand for excellence on those who embrace a cooperative environment. Those I mentor have commented on my ability to see opportunities and act with conviction. (412 characters)

LinkedIn Summary. The LinkedIn Summary allows you more real estate to tell your story and/or state your immediate accomplishments. It’s your decision whether to enjoy the complete space allowed (my Summary is 10 characters short of the maximum) or be more concise.

I reiterate,  it’s a mistake to simply copy and paste your résumé’s Summary to your LinkedIn profile, as it should be:

  1. More creative and personable; remember LinkedIn is for networking and should read almost like a conversation.
  2. Be written in first or third person point of view, though first is preferred by most.
  3. Written with paragraphs, resembling a story format—or bulleted statements, resembling quantified results and easier to read.
  4. May be the only major section fully read by visitors, if your Experience section simply states your title, company information, and dates of employment.

One of my favorite examples of a LinkedIn Summary is from Louise Kursmark, a professional résumé and LinkedIn profile writer. Her paragraph format begins with:

I wear a lot of “hats” in the résumé/careers field, having honed my expertise during a long career as a résumé writer, career consultant, speaker, author and trainer.

►EXECUTIVE RÉSUMÉ WRITING – My expertise and my passion! I work with executive clients worldwide, creating highly strategic career-marketing documents that communicate credibility, expertise and value.

►WORLD-CLASS RÉSUMÉ TRAINING – As founder and director of Résumé Writing Academy, I have guided dozens of professionals through a rigorous training and testing program to sharpen their strategic thinking and writing skills. Our students truly EARN the prestigious ACRW designation!

Louise continues to use most, if not all, of the 2.000 characters allowed for a profile Summary. The content of this excerpt  begins with an overall statement of her career achievements and talks about her accomplishments in her writing and worldwide training.

On the other hand, Martin Yate, author of the Knock em Dead series, prefers a bullet-formatted direct impact approach to writing his LinkedIn profile Summary. Here is an excerpt of his Summary:

► DOCTORS SAVE LIVES, I MAKE THEM WORTH LIVING, this what is I do, this is my life:
✔ I have been delivering résumés, job search and career management advice for 27+ years; and LinkedIn profiles and SEO for the last three years.
✔ I’ve helped people get their first jobs after graduation and helped them climb to V.P. level in Fortune 100 companies and now I’m helping their children climb the same ladder of success. If you want better control of your career I can help.
✔ If you are facing career challenges, I write the most effective résumé/LinkedIn profile you could ever own, and I GUARANTEE you’ll get INTERVIEWS IN 30 DAYS.
✔ 80% of companies use LinkedIn to recruit, so your profile needs to tell a convincing story and it must rank high enough in recruiters’ database searches, to be found. I can create a profile that is both credible and visible.
✔ PROVE THIS TO YOURSELF: Do LinkedIn searches for LinkedIn coach, Linkedin profiles, Linkedin profile writer, LinkedIn SEO, LinkedIn writer etc and you’ll find me at the very top in every one.
✔ Do the same test for a variety of résumé writer or career coach terms and you’ll get the same results…. at the very top in every one.

Unlike Louise, Martin has a little space left in his Summary, but both Summaries far exceed the character count you’d find in a résumé Summary. One thing for sure is that their Summary style effectively describes their story and expertise.

Readers of résumés want quick and easy. Visitors of your LinkedIn profile want a networking document, not a rehash of your résumé. Don’t disappoint the readers and visitors on any count. In the next post, we’ll look at the differences between the Experience sections of the résumé and LinkedIn profile.

The difference between the résumé’s and LinkedIn profile’s skills sections–Part 2

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resume linkedin

Part one of this series addresses the differences between  LinkedIn’s and the résumé’s first impressions; the photo and Branding Statements. This post will address the differences between the résumé’s Core Competency and LinkedIn profile’s Skills and Endorsements, which are distinct in their own way.

LinkedIn enthusiasts create profiles that are dynamic, while others who don’t understand the purpose of LinkedIn, simply copy and paste their résumé  to their profile and call it a day; done, complete, finito.

That’s not enough if you want to attract visitors to your profile, including potential employers. If you believe your LinkedIn profile is your résumé, you are mistaken; there are distinct differences.

Of the résumés I critique on a daily basis, I notice that many people neglect to include a Core Competency section. This is a mistake, for this section provides an ideal place to highlight the must-have skills for a position, as well additional skills that can be a tiebreaker.

If you’re sending your résumé to large or mid-sized companies that uses an applicant tracking system (ATS), the Core Competency section is a great place to include those keywords. Skills that are easy to scan by human eyes and keywords that will be captured by the ATS are the goals for this section of your résumé.

Here’s an example of a Core Competencies section from an operations manager’s résumé:

Strategic Business Planning ~ Project Management ~ Cross-Functional Team Building ~ IT/IS~Human Resource Issues ~ Employee Benefits ~ Risk Management ~ Hiring, Training & Coaching ~ Negotiations ~ Research & Analysis ~ Financial Modeling ~ Business Modeling ~ Portfolio Management ~ Acquisitions & Divestitures ~ Policies & Procedures

LinkedIn places a great emphasis on skills/areas of expertise as evidenced by its Skills and Endorsements area. This section allows you to list as many as 50 of your strongest skills. In addition, your first degree contacts can endorse you for any of your skills with a simple click. (The jury’s still out on the value of Endorsements).

The most obvious difference between the résumé’s Core Competencies and LinkedIn’s Skills and Endorsements is the quantity you would include on your LinkedIn profile vs. your résumé. The example of the operations manager’s above lists 15 core competencies, a good number for someone in that position.

On the other hand, the Skills and Endorsements example below lists close to 50, which would be far too many for a résumé. This is LinkedIn’s attempt at encouraging its members to tout their skills and expertise, as well as increase the keyword count.Skills and Endorsements

Another noticeable difference are the tidbits of information provided under the covers of LinkedIn’s Skills and Endorsements feature. If you click on a particular skill or expertise, you will be brought to a page that suggests jobs you may want to pursue, people with whom you could connect, and groups to join. I find this particularly useful if I want to connect with someone who has experience with LinkedIn, as well as other expertise.Information from Endorsements

I think you’d agree that LinkedIn’s Skills and Endorsements feature is interactive, whereas the résumé’s Core Competencies
section is not. This adds to Linked”s dynamism.

The next post will address the differences between the résumé’s and LinkedIn’s Summary statements.

2 differences between the Résumé and LinkedIn Profile–Part 1

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resume linkedinI tell attendees of my Advanced LinkedIn workshop, “Your LinkedIn profile is not your résumé.” It’s important for me to say this, as some of their LinkedIn profiles resemble their résumé. I can spot a copy-and-paste a mile away.

A LinkedIn “résumé” gives off a generic look rather than a unique document that makes LinkedIn a powerful tool for the job search. Potential employers are not looking for a rehash of your résumé; they’re looking for more, another look.

Let’s examine two differences between the résumé and profile.

The most obvious difference between the résumé and LinkedIn profile is the Photo. Because LinkedIn is a networking application and the résumé is a job search document, here is one major difference. A photo on your LinkedIn profile is necessary, as it enhances your brand. It may tell visitor you’re creative, sincere and compassionate, a leader, ambitious, serious, etc.

As well, a profile with a photo is more trustworthy and memorable. A recent statistic states that a profile with a photo is seven times more likely to be opened.  I for one will not open a profile if it lacks a photo, unless it’s someone I know.

I tell my attendees that despite their fear of age discrimination, a photo is necessary to network. Imagine attending a networking event where people walk around with a paper bag on their head. Not very personal.

The headline is second on the list of differences between the résumé and LinkedIn profile. An Advanced résumé must have a branding headline that immediately tells potential employers that you are the right person for the job. The headline is a simple line or two of what you do and some of your areas of strength. Here’s an example of a position-specific branding title:

Marketing Specialist 

Public Relations ~ Vendor Relations ~ Staff Supervision ~ Web Design ~ Event Coordination

Look at another branding headline that is written for a similar job:

Marketing Coordinator

Social Media | Trade Shows | International Travel | Increased Production | Graphic Design

Your LinkedIn profile has a branding headline that is similar to your résumé’s headline, save for the fact the profile isn’t written for a specific job. It needs to include more general skills/keywords. You may choose to use a branding statement instead. The same position may resemble this:

Marketing Specialist with expertise in Public Relations, Trade Shows, Vendor Relations, Web Content,
Event Coordination; leading to increased visibility and profitability for your company.

Furthermore, the branding headline adds to the keyword count for those whose résumé will be sent through an applicant tracking system (ATS). As well it makes being found on LinkedIn more possible with key skills of your occupation and industry/ies.

In the next post, we’ll look at the differences between the résumé’s Core Competencies and the LinkedIn Skills and Expertise sections.