Category Archives: LinkedIn

Don’t neglect this part of your LinkedIn profile; the Experience section

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Previously I wrote about the LinkedIn Summary section and how it should contribute to your branding. Today we’ll look at the experience section of the LinkedIn profile.

When asked which section of your résumé is most important, most people will say the work history. This section should clearly describe your duties in a brief job summary (paragraph format), followed by bullets that highlight your quantified accomplishments—how much you were able to increase profits, reduce costs, save time, enhance procedures, etc.

Your work history is the meat of your résumé. Some attest that the same holds true for your LinkedIn profile. I recently saw a poll that asked what people thought was the most important part of the LinkedIn profile, the title, summary, work history, or applications feature. A resounding number of people considered the work history section to be one of the most important sections. (The title was also favored highly.)

Let’s step back and consider the major differences between the résumé and the LinkedIn profile. The résumé must be tailored for a particular position. The LinkedIn profile is not.  (It is, however, inaccurate to call your LinkedIn profile a stagnant document because you will update it regularly with the update feature; however, the work history will generally remain the same.)

You have two options when creating your LinkedIn work history.

The first option is to keep it brief and list three or four accomplishments. Choose what you consider to be your top accomplishments at each position, and describe them with quantifiable results. Remember, numbers, dollars, and percentages speak loud and clear. This approach is similar to an accomplishment-based résumé.

Benefit: Your résumé will describe the duties you performed and, most importantly, the accomplishments you had at each company. You will not be repeating the same information that’s on your résumé. Think of the facts, just the facts. It will make the employers ask for more if they haven’t seen your résumé.

The second option is to pour your soul into your LinkedIn work history and present it as a complete profile of your work history. This means you will describe as many duties and accomplishments as possible.

Benefit: If 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 employers to sift through the content and glean what is most important to them.

The question you must ask yourself, “Will I better brand myself by only mentioning my most outstanding accomplishments in my LinkedIn work history, or should I dump the whole unadulterated story into it?” Further, at this point in your short career, can you substantiate a long work history that reveals all, or would a more poignant story draw an employer’s attention?

From an expert: Chris Perry, founder of CareerRocketeer.com and MBAHighway.com, summarizes the work history in his book, Linked up: The Ultimate LinkedIn Job Search Guide: “Include as much of your current and past work history as appropriate for your desired career path. Highlight your key accomplishments from each position and quantify as many as possible to enhance your value proposition. Also, optimize your descriptions with keywords and phrases.”

Note Chris’ mention of keywords and phrases. No matter which way you decide to present your work history, make certain there occupational-related words. The expert says you can use Indeed.com or other job boards to identify the keywords.

My opinion is to keep the work history brief and tell your story in the summary section. Does this mean the summary holds more weight, or is more important than the work history? Certainly not. It simply means that you are presenting a fine three-course meal, rather than an endless buffet.

I’m thinking of résumés I see which are comprised only of accomplishments—I call them accomplishment-based résumés. They effectively bait the employer to invite the jobseeker in for an interview, where questions about their duties can be asked. It’s up to you as to which way to go with your work history. No matter what you decide, make sure you have strong accomplishments to brand yourself.

Quantity versus quality on LinkedIn

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In an article by NPR, “Don’t Believe Facebook; You Only Have 150 Friends,” it challenges the viability of having more than 150 friends on Facebook. The article cleverly relates a story about Bill Gore, the founder of Gor-Tex, who became so frustrated with being unable to name or recognize all of his employees, that he capped the number of people to 150 at each of his company’s locations.

Although I know little to nothing about Facebook, I see a comparison between this social networking application and the extremely popular professional networking application, LinkedIn. I firmly believe that the more contacts you have on LinkedIn, the more your network resembles your group of Facebook friends; they’re hard to keep track of.

British Anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, who is quoted in the NPR article, as well as in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, for her theory on the number of people you can actually know. Like Bill Gore, she caps it at 150.

“The figure of 150 seems to represent the maximum number of individuals with whom we can have a genuinely social relationship, the kind of relationship that goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us,” she is quoted in The Tipping Point.

There has been a debate brewing among LinkedIn users over quantity versus quality contacts. Some who argue for quantity ask are you fully utilizing LinkedIn’s effectiveness by accepting only the people with whom you have developed a relationship, people you trust?

Others argue that building trust and long-term relationships is what networking is about; it’s a slow evolving process. Only after you have contacted a person seven times, some believe, will your contacts become true connections. (Seven is also a mystical number.)

For those who strive for quantity, the argument is a valid one. The more people you catch in your net, the better the possibility of starting something new. Who knows if one of the people you meet will turn into someone valuable? Business people bank on making as many connections as possible, as the more often their face appears on your home page, the more you’ll think about the products or services they sell.

Quality contacts are those with whom you have a relationship. In relationship building, LinkedIn can be an excellent tool for reaching out to people (contacts) that you’d otherwise not know about; but as the proponents of knowing the people who are in your network say, you have to follow up and reach out to them in a personal way. Then they become connections.

As a job search trainer, I recommend quality over quantity. Throwing out invitations like chum line may yield you some success reeling in fish; but having a focused networking strategy is far more effective.

If you’re a business person, quantity might be your thing. But as a jobseeker, showing 500+ contacts might show desperation or lack of focus.

You jobseekers should heed Bill Gore’s story and ask yourself, if a successful business owner, who employs thousands of people, understands the importance of a focused group of employees, shouldn’t you take the same approach to your networking strategy? What are your thoughts on this?

The confession of an idiot…or be selective about who you invite to join your LinkedIn network

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That would be me. Here’s why. You see, I was approaching 400 connections on LinkedIn and started getting greedy. I wanted more connections. Not too many; I just wanted about 1,000, not 10,000 or anything like that. So I joined a service that promises to generate thousands of connections for me. This service lived up to its promise.

You’re probably thinking, “Why did you join this service if you knew what you’d get?” And you’re right. That’s why I’m an idiot. That’s why I want the invites to stop pouring in, more than 30 a day sometimes, often from people who lack a photo, have a hellishly weak headline that reads, “Looking,” or are scammers who are hoping for a sale. Or a combination of all three.

If you’re wondering what I do with the bazillion invites, I Ignore the ones mentioned above–which accounts for 95% of them. At the end of the evening, I clean my Inbox (because I hate clutter) and await the next day when the barrage of invites start again.

I know some of you are muttering right now, “What an idiot” right now. This is why it’s called a confession. I’m confessing to making a mistake and possibly disappointed thousands of people who want to be connected with anyone they can, any person with a heartbeat. Otherwise, I can’t think of why they’d like to connect with me. To those who simply want to collect connections, I apologize.

There’s a great article from a woman named Mildred Talabi (now, she’s someone I’d like to connect with) titled Why You Should Reject LinkedIn Requests, which I think is inappropriately titled; it should be titled: Why You Should be Selective and Not Join a Service that will Flood You with Unwanted Invites. But that’s not the point. The point is that she makes a real good argument for being selective.

There are two camps on this issue as far as Mildred explains. First, having a huge number of connections increases your visibility and potential for getting a job offer or business, e.g., business owners who want to reach as many potential customers as possible.

Second, with so many connections, it’s impossible to keep track of them and maintain a healthy relationship. (After all, we only have the capacity to know, really know, 150 people). This is where I now stand, and have always stood, until I joined that service in a moment of insanity.

Well that’s how I took her reasoning, and I hope I didn’t screw up her great argument.

So what do I do now? I guess I apologize to all those people who wanted to be one of my connections—although I don’t see why they would—and buck it up for a year. Yeah, I paid a year’s fee in advance. Go ahead, call me an idiot.

When your LinkedIn profile says practically nothing; 8 key areas

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I recently read an article by Laura Smith-Proulx, Quick Fixes to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile, that addresses the “Minimal-Effort Profile.” She writes, “Here it is—your name, college education, and current job. Wait – where’s the rest?”

While Laura points out the profiles that show little effort on the user’s part, I’m going to talk about the profile that contains practically nothing. You wouldn’t think it possible, but I’ve seen and immediately abandoned such profiles. I bet I’m not the first either.

Has no photo. This makes me wonder, “Are you faceless?” Can’t you see how a photo can make you easily recognizable and say more than thousand words about you? When I see a photo, I see possibilities–a person who’s a manager, a caring therapist, an established resume writer, a CEO, an aspiring actor.

Lacks a branding, keyword-rich title. Laura nicely states it this way: “This is where you make your opening statement. The key in altering your Headline is to use terms that will trigger your hit rate for both your job target and current position (and potentially your industry).” I say, “No branding title, time to move on.”

Is devoid of a story-telling Summary. Can you believe I’ve seen summaries that…don’t exist? Not even a heading. Why? Because the person hasn’t gotten around to writing one? Here’s where you get to explain your professional experience, state your aspirations, tout your accomplishments. Write in first person if it suits you. Explain why you’re looking for a new career and how your transferable skills make this possible.

Contains no descriptive Experience section. Essentially it says the person has done nothing, accomplished zilch. It says, “I worked as a Graphic Designer at ABC company from 1996 to 2012, and this is all I want to share.” This is where you can dump the content of your résumé or highlight four or five accomplishments. I prefer the latter. How far do you go back? My opinion is stay consistent with your résumé–10-15 years.

Has nothing in the Education section. If you went to college or just high school, you must list it. Not only that, list the activities and societies to which you belonged. In Additional Notes list the most relevant courses and internships in which you partook. You interned at the New York Times? My god, boy, that needs to be said.

Doesn’t make use of Applications: A great way to brand yourself. Do you blog? Show your expertise and writing abilities by starting a blog. WordPress is free (this is not a plug) and there are others. Excellent work to show, like a PowerPoint presentation on the 10 Must-Haves to Be a CEO. This can be placed in Box.net Files. These are just a few.

No Skills section. This is a fairly new LinkedIn feature that requires at least three skills on your way to 100% completion. It is essentially replacing the Specialties feature. Show visitors, including employers, the skills you demonstrate, as well as increase your SEO potential. Check out the bells and whistles this feature provides. People with whom you should connect and projected growth of a skill are just a couple.

Haven’t requested and written recommendations. The last section I’ll address is recommendations, which do a tremendous job of telling visitors who you are through the eyes of your former supervisors, colleagues, vendors, partners, etc. Ask for and write at least five or six recommendations. A profile without recommendations tells employers 1) you haven’t taken the effort to request them and 2) no one will write one for you.

It’s frustrating for me when I see a profile that is bare and demonstrates no effort. My reaction is to move on. And if I’m sent an invite from someone whose profile contains practically nothing, I click “Ignore.” I don’t think I’m superior–I really don’t–but I see a bare profile similar to meeting someone at a networking event who doesn’t talk. Says nothing….

I have become lazy on LinkedIn

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No, I haven’t been slacking off at work or not taking out the trash or neglecting my children. I’ve simply been replying to LinkedIn invitations with a simple Accept, and that’s it. No thank you note; not even something as basic as, “thanks for connecting with me.” Trust me, I feel awful about this.

In my defense, I’ve joined OpenNetworker.com, a service that provides its members with a list of thousands of LinkedIn users. I did this on a recommendation from one of my connections who knows I’ve been yearning to grow my network on LinkedI, so I figured I’d follow her advice and see where it leads me.

OpenNetworker.com has come through on its promise to grow my network; I get at least 100 invites a week. At this writing there are 27 people waiting to be accepted, including someone who is a gun-loving  pit-bull breeder. I’m thrilled to get this volume of invites; but as I mentioned above, I’ve become a lazy slob.

I used to thank everyone who invited me to their network with a quick little note like, “Ed, thanks for inviting me to be in your network. I hope we can collaborate on projects in the future. Bob.” But now I do nothing after I hit Accept.

The reason why I don’t write a thank you note (thanks to OpenNetworker.com) to the slew of invites I receive is because they arrive with the impersonal LinkedIn default message, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” Not to sound dramatic, but It’s like returning from a hard day’s work and not getting a kiss from my wife or being ignored by my kids. Where’s the motivation to write a thank you note, I ask you?

What did I expect when I joined OpenNetworker.com—that everyone would take the time to write a personalized invitation to me? No, that would be too much to expect. I know people who use OpenNetworker.com are limited by the technology. They copy and paste a ton of e-mail addresses, separated with commas, in the Add Connections field and blast them off.

So you can imagine the crossroads I’m at. On the one hand I want to grow my network to gain more exposure, but I also want to feel the love that one does when he receives a special note inviting him to join a network. I guess I can’t have it both ways.

I think what we have here is an agreement of mutual laziness. I guess I can live with that. But for those of you who want to invite me to your network and take the time to write a special invitation to little ole me, you darn tootin’ can expect a personalized thank you in return.

Don’t neglect these components of your LinkedIn profile; the Photo and Title

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Jobseekers and professional should know by now how much a powerful LinkedIn profile can impact their job search, as well as how a poor profile can be detrimental to their online networking success.

According to Jobvite, approximately 89% of recruiters/employers use LinkedIn to cull talent on LinkedIn, so it doesn’t take a genius to know that your online footprint can make the difference between being hired quickly and languishing in limbo. Those who don’t get a second look are jobseekers that ignore the importance of every component of their profile.

So what components of your LinkedIn profile should you focus on most to avoid the disapproval of recruiters and employers? This is a trick question for eager jobseekers. All of them! Rule number one: every single piece of your LinkedIn profile is important, from your photo to the Personal Information section. This series will look at the components of your LinkedIn profile that make it a winner, not one that drives visitors away.

Component #1, your photo matters for two reasons. First, it is part of your personal branding. Visitors will recognize you and feel comfortable opening your profile. Every time you post in update, your attractive mug will appear on your first degree contacts’ home page. If you’re worried about age discrimination, let go of your reluctance.

Second, the alternative is displaying a default, ugly light grey box. This is a turn-off, and I personally don’t open profiles without a photo. Because the majority of today’s profiles sport a photo, recruiters are suspicious of profiles that don’t have a photo.

What should your photo convey? Your photo must look professional. You’re not posing for friends at a family picnic, standing with your wife and three-year-old daughter, hiking in the mountains, raising a pint in an Irish pub; nor should it be an animation or caricature. These are signs of immaturity and unprofessionalism.

Most experts agree that your photo should be a tight shot of your face and upper shoulders. Please don’t use a photo that misrepresents you; such as a high school or college photo, while in fact you’re in your forties or fifties. This will only cause you embarrassment and further suspicion.

Component #2, your title needs to describe you effectively in 128 characters or less. Don’t worry, that’s plenty of space for you to tell your story. It can neither be too brief and general nor lengthy and contrived. It must accurately describe the value you’ll provide to an employer by explaining who you are, where you sit in the labor market, and the return on investment you’ll bring to companies looking for outstanding skills and accomplishments.

Poor title: Financial Analyst

Better Title: Financial Analysis | Predictive Modeling | Internal Consulting | Millions Strategy | Millions in Cost Savings | Bottom-Line Results

You’ve also been told that keywords are important to being found by recruiters and employers. Your title, therefore, must be rich with keywords. Carefully scan the job descriptions you run across and note the keywords and key phrases employers use. Your photo and title are the first components of your profile employers will see.

If you are curious as to what a powerful title looks like, type in the Search field financial analyst, business development, certified project management, marketing manager, or any occupation that fits your interests. Chose the ones that you’d like to emulate, and the ones that contain the keywords which match the jobs you’re pursuing. You’ll get a good sense of how you should structure yours by doing this.

We’ve looked at just two components of your profile. One hundred and twenty million people are on LinkedIn; more than one-third are jobseekers. With this kind of competition, you can’t afford to present a poor image in just two components of your profile. Next we’ll look at the summary section of your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site; don’t over-share

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When you hear LinkedIn being called a “social media site,” do you hear fingernails scratching the blackboard? If you do, I’m glad. This means you’re onboard with those who see LinkedIn as a professional networking site. Facebook and Twitter are social media sites and mighty fine ones at that.

What makes LinkedIn a professional networking site are rules of etiquette that are followed by most of its members, one of which is not disclosing too much information or the wrong type of information.

I was delighted to see an article, Are You Over-Sharing on LinkedIn? written by one of my LinkedIn contacts, Laura Smith-Proulx,  that backs up this assertion. Laura does a great job of covering three areas of which you should be cognizant:

  1. Posting negative comments about your job search in a LinkedIn group.
  2. Issuing Status Updates that are unrelated to your professional image.
  3. Misusing LinkedIn Answers – revealing confidential data or using the site for non-professional queries.

Please read Laura’s article if you’re wondering about how to effectively network on LinkedIn for business and the job search without over-sharing.

3 Ways to improve your job search with LinkedIn Updates

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One of the things LinkedIn users might take for granted is the Updates feature which can be found on your home page and profile. In short, this is where jobseekers and business people can use LinkedIn to network and heighten their brand awareness.

Updates answers, among other questions: What have you been up to? What skills do you have to highlight?  How can you tell potential employers about your expertise and professional activities? How can you stay on recruiters’ and employers’ radars?

Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW, CIC, and executive director of An Expert Résumé, writes about three uses for updates in an article published by Examiner.com. I particularly like reason number 2:  Updates offer a glimpse of your professional interests and expertise. Here is a snippet from it:

Just like any other flow of information, your Update strategy is an integral part of your brand message—and it’s one that can strengthen your reputation as an expert in your field (and promote your credentials as a candidate).

Think about it: if you’re reading someone’s Profile (and admit it, you do), consider the impact of that Update at the top (the one that mentions how they’re finding a renowned industry book to be relevant in their work). You’ll easily be able to perceive this connection as staying on top of his or her field.

Read the rest of Laura’s article. It explains why using the Updates feature is so important to your networking endeavors. I’m in the habit of telling my LinkedIn workshop attendees to update at least once a day, and if I’m feeling boisterous I tell them to up the ante to four times a day. Think of updating as having mini conversations with your network and, of course, a way to better brand yourself. Read my article on updating on LinkedIn.

Don’t neglect this component of your LinkedIn profile, Skills section

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Have you seen the Skills section on LinkedIn? No. It’s really cool and something you should take advantage of. I’ve listed 25 skills that are associated with my job as a career trainer. And it’s a feature of LinkedIn that I show my workshop attendees as part of their online branding. They are usually taken with the Skills section.

Key words are essential to being found on LinkedIn. They should be included in your branding title, Summary, Specialties section, Experience—essentially everywhere on your profile. This is yet another place on your profile where you can highlight your valuable skills. From Edit Profile, you simply click Add Skill and go crazy.

Here is what you’ll see when you create your list and click on one of the skills. I chose MBTI as an example of one of my skills.

  1. Related skills, including other self-assessments and skill areas—such as SDS, mock interviews, Strong Interest Inventory—allowing me to click on these additional skills to build my list, thus enhancing my search-ability. More key words.
  2. Description of the skill. LinkedIn starts off with a short description of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is linked to a full-blown Wikipedia description.
  3. People with whom you my like to connect—In my case, people who have MBTI on their profile, e.g., title, summary, work experience, groups, etc. MBTI experts who can provide you with information.
  4. Groups you might like to join. I’m a member of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® Assessment and there are three other groups I could join if I were so inclined.
  5. Relative growth relative to other self-assessment tools. Strong Inventory shows 12%, whereas MBTI shows only 5%. Bummer.
  6. Related companies—I am shown a list of companies that produce materials for the MBTI.
  7. MBTI jobs—jobs at those companies.
  8. Related countries—People who have worked in certain companies—London, for instance.

If you haven’t added your skills to the Skills section, take some time to do it now. Formulating your skills list will give you a better sense of what you’ve accomplished by using your skills. It will also increase your likelihood of being found by employers and potential networkers.

Don’t neglect this component of LinkedIn, post updates

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The last article I wrote on the LinkedIn series discussed the (work) experience section. Prior articles talked about the summary and branding headline. Something that’s not discussed enough is the importance of posting updates on LinkedIn to better network with your connections.

This feature allows you to inform them about matters such as which events and seminars you’ve been attending, share information and advice that pertain to your industry, talk about training courses you’re taking, plus much more.

Share an Update from your homepage or Post an Update from your profile page are two places where you can share any news you find worth mentioning. There are some things to keep in mind when updating.

Do it often: I advise my jobseekers to update at least once a day. This may be too infrequent to effectively network, however. Your network should hear from you at least four times a day. You may not have news about seminars you’re attending, or training courses you’re taking; but this doesn’t mean your input is invaluable. Become a source of information by posting blogs written by industry pundits; even post your own blogs. Simply “liking” a statement someone posted is keeping your presence alive.

Keep it professional: For jobseekers and professionals alike, it’s important to keep your updates professional. An update that would not be appropriate on LinkedIn is, “I just had an interview that didn’t go too well. Oh well, I’ll try it again.”  This is more like it, “I had an exciting interview at a great company. Time to write thank you notes.” You could write an inspirational quote, if you’d like. “Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish results that last.” Hamilton Holt

Attach a URL to a blog article: Part of networking is sharing information, so what better way than suggesting an article you found informative and pertinent to your network? If you blog yourself, it’s always great suggesting other bloggers’ articles as a way to network. Click the link “Attach” and copy and paste the article’s URL; LinkedIn will compress the lengthy address like tinyurl.com does.

Give tips: Here are some examples of tips you might update to your network. “Your résumé should sell you and prompt employers to invite you in for an interview.” “A great job search book is What Color is Your Parachute.” “I ran across a great webinar series on the job search, ‘How to Brand Yourself in a Down Market.’ Check it out.” Remember to keep them pertinent to your network’s interests.

Make enhancements to your profile: Your networking efforts can be as simple as making improvements to your LinkedIn summary, experience, or education sections; and writing or receiving recommendations. Be sure your settings for activity broadcasts are on. However, you may want to turn off your activity broadcasts when you are in the process of building your profile.

Participate in group discussions: Every time you comment on a topic in your group/s, the news is delivered to your network. You may not blog or answer and ask LinkedIn questions, so joining group discussions shows others that you’re willing to share information and give advice, both of which are essential aspects of networking.

This topic came to mind when an article I wrote on being on LinkedIn and making use of your time was discussed in one my group’s discussions page. The respondent commented that one should update often to better make use of LinkedIn, to better network. I was remiss in not mentioning sharing updates in that article. Clearly this is one feature of LinkedIn that deserves more attention.