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

6 Replies

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.

7 approaches to Customercentric Marketing in the job search

Leave a reply

imagesWhen I first heard Jim Grenier’s voice-over on his topic of customercentric marketing, I thought, “Bingo.” I was drawn to the message about customer focus, and I saw a parallel to to the job search. It also helped that my good friend Jim has a smooth. alluring voice. Jim’s a college instructor but has had extensive experience in business.

Customercentric in the job search means satisfying every need of the employer, beginning with an accomplishment-rich résumé that shows a complete understanding of the job and the organization. The résumé sings to the employer, “Hey, this guy understands my needs,” and makes the employer think she is a valued customer. The employer, in my mind, is the focus of your job search. She is your customer. Six other components of the job search include:

  • The cover letter. Sent with the résumé, it expresses your enthusiasm for serving the customer and adds a dimension to your candidacy.
  • The approach letter. This is your introduction to a customer who hasn’t advertised the job and doesn’t yet know he’ll need you.
  • The LinkedIn profile. Your profile should shout out your skills and accomplishments. The customer sees other dimensions to your ability to serve her needs.
  • Networking. Here’s how you form relationships that precede your contact with the customers, forming a solid foundation for your written communications and the interview.
  • The informational meeting. Part of your networking, this is a valuable tool to get known by the customer, breaking through the Hidden Job Market.
  • The interview. The big ballgame. Your big chance. Don’t neglect to make the customer know your customercentric attitude and practices.

Every step in between the résumé and job offer must also center upon the customer, the employer. I often ask my workshop attendees, “Who is the buyer?” To which they say, “The employer.” Better put would be to ask, “Who is the customer?” There’s a distinction. In my mind, the buyer is someone to whom you sell your product–you–the customer is someone to whom you offer the best possible solution, regardless of the sale.

Listen to Jim’s message on customercentric markeing. I promise you’ll relate to it, and I think you will see the customer and employer as one.

Newsflash–a new test finally makes résumés obsolete

1 Reply

The new argument for the death of résumés (will it ever end?) is not LinkedIn or any other online profile that will cause its demise; no, it’s a personality test called Cream.hr, which guarantees to make the hiring process flawless.

It takes more pressure off hiring managers, recruiters, and human resources. What a wonderful thing; no more résumés and less decision making from hiring authorities.

An article in Wired.com  called Kill Your Résumé: What about Using Science to Hire asserts that this test “can unearth the perfect job candidates even if they don’t necessarily have the most relevant work experience or college degree on paper.” The test can even select executive-level candidates worth interviewing, assuring hiring authorities they have what it takes.

According to Cream.hr the most essential skills are “task management skills, work ethic, intelligence, and what it calls the “Big Five” personality traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.” And this test will nail down all these traits without a single résumé having to be read. Simply wonderful.

What makes this tests even more amazing is that it’s hard for applicants to fool it, as opposed to a personality test that many companies use, Unicru. The way Cream.hr accomplishes this is by asking similar questions multiple times to assure consistency in answers.

For example, one question gives you a list of five personalities traits including “I am the life of the party” and “I am always prepared,” both of which sound similar to the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator. The first example determines extraversion, while the second speaks to a preference for judging.

(Maybe what’s really got me riled is the fact that extraversion is a preferred trait for candidates. After all, introverts can’t possibly be considered among the “perfect” candidates, can they? I think most of my introverted colleagues would disagree whole-heartily with this assumption.)

It’s possible that résumés will finally become obsolete, which means jobseekers will no longer have to labor over writing them and, most importantly, employers will no longer have to read them. This is a big selling point for the Cream.hr; for a mere fee ranging from $99.00 to $499.00, companies will no longer have to read tons of résumés.

I have some questions about the effectiveness of this wunder software, such as, does it identify a candidate’s accomplishments, or reveal one’s ability to write succinctly, or show the jobseeker’s understanding of the position? Will it make companies lazy as they rely on a test that has as much human element as…a robot.

The hiring process is never a sure thing but to use a test to determine that best candidates, no matter how accurate, is simply that…a test. If all companies rely on a test such as this, our job as career advisors will be to teach our clients to answer the questions the way employers want them to. We’ll see how this argument goes.

Introverts, come to peace with who you are

7 Replies

As an introvert I often admire–no envy–people who seem totally relaxed with small talk and “working the room.” That’s not me, however.

I know the importance of small talk and mingling, and I do my best to oblige the members of a party or networking event. But I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not all that great when it comes to this small talk stuff.

That being said, I don’t want you to pity people like me. Where we lack the gift of gab, we excel in thoughtful rhetoric. Could you say we’re deep? You could, but that’s really missing the point. We enjoy conversation as much as the next person, just not at a supersonic rate.

In other words, we are who we are. Introverts are people who could care less about mastering small talk; we’re more inclined to speak at length with someone…maybe the whole night. We engage, listen, engage, listen, etc. An article called The Problem with Networking illustrates the often futility of working the room, yet the benefits of honing in on one or two people who will later prove to be useful connections. I quote the authors of the article, Stephen and Sheree Van Vreede:

“….My point is that I have watched job seekers work a room, build large social media communities, and network, network, network like the best of them, all with very little result. Many of these people are extroverts, love mingling, and are the life of most parties, but that’s where it ends….At the same time, I have seen other job seekers, introverted techies with small communities who like to sit in the corner at every party, hone in on the top handful of contacts and turn almost every one into a possible job lead.”

Don’t take this as an invitation to talk at us and expect us to listen without wanting to express our thoughts; we have thoughts, you know. We offer the courtesy of hearing you and then building on that conversation. We like to ask questions to generate conversation. We also like to be asked questions and complete answering your questions. Allowing us the time to process shows you’re truly interested in what we have to say.

It is said that at an event we enjoy developing a relationship with people with whom we feel connected. If we are talking with one person the whole time, we’re not bummed out. We don’t consider this a loss. On the contrary, we feel satisfied. Do you think this weird? We’re not, like, into collecting 15 business cards, most of which we’ll deposit in the circular file cabinet. We want real connections.

That’s part of connecting with fewer people–it’s easier for us to keep track of them. I’ve been at networking events where I’ve met 10 people or so, but only two or three were memorable. These were the ones I followed up with, the people with whom I developed a relationship. As they say, less can be better.

If you’re an extravert and thinking, “This guy’s a freak. This guy’s a hermit,” that’s fine. Think what you want. This is who I am, not who I’m not. There ain’t much I can do about it, not if I want to feel comfortable and fulfilled in my networking endeavors. And, no, I’m not here to offer you introverts hollow advice on how to be more like extraverts….I’ve come to peace with who I am.

Recent college grads, join LinkedIn Groups and learn from the experts

1 Reply

Are you a recent college grad and wondering if you should join LinkedIn? While you’re wondering, there are many college grads who are making the commitment to engage in a serious online networking campaign. It’s time that you make the commitment.

One of the most respected job search experts in the field, Martin Yate of the Knock em Dead series, discusses one among many good reasons to join LinkedIn–join and participate in LinkedIn groups. Take the time now to read, How recent grads can build useful networking and mentor relationships.

In his article Martin writes about how to utilize the Discussions feature of industry/occupation-specific groups.

“You can make useful contacts at all levels by joining the special interest LinkedIn groups relevant to your profession and becoming a visible part of those groups by contributing to the conversations and adding the contacts you make this way to your network,” he writes.

He suggest that you 1) read group discussion posts and add comments, 2) post discussions of your own, 3) post questions of your own. This is very sound advice, but take it a step further; join LinkedIn before you graduate and get a head start on your competition.

A better solution to a tired question; are résumés obsolete?

2 Replies

I can’t express in words how tired I am of hearing the questions, “Are résumés dead” or “Are résumés obsolete?” I’m almost as tired of hearing this than I am of hearing my daughters arguing over a pair of jeans.

It’s as if people are asking and writing about whether the  résumé is obsolete to create a self-fulfilling  prophesy that will bring on its demise. Personally, I think the  résumé has a good deal of life in it.

So you can imagine my annoyance when I came across a recent article from my much admired LinkedIn connection, Martin Yate, titled Are Résumés Obsolete? Résumés vs. Social Media; and then my pleasure when he states that both are needed. So the LinkedIn profile, as a passive document that requires employers to type keywords to find you; and the résumé, as a tailored document you send to target companies, which will also look for the requisite keywords in order to find you in their databases.

Martin writes: You are going to need both a résumé and a social media profile for your job search, and they are both going to need search engine optimization to be productive.

Bottom line: jobseekers need both the résumé and LinkedIn profile in order to compete in this tight job market; and they need to create strategic documents that succeed in landing them an interview. In other words, there’s no reason to choose between the two. I hope this ends the debate, because I for one am tired of hearing it.

Quantity versus quality on LinkedIn

Leave a reply

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?

Job interviewers, 10 things you need to know about your candidates

Leave a reply

In a US News Money.com article titled 10 Things You Should Know About Your Interviewer, Alison Green enlightens job candidates on what interviewers are thinking during the hiring process. Interviewers are human too and have their own struggles. Her 10 statements are below.

But job candidates have their own struggles. Let’s look at it from the candidates’ points of view, according to what jobseekers have told me.

1. We want to find the best person for the job. Many job candidates want to be that person but are passed over for a number of reasons, such as they don’t perform we at the interview…regardless of their qualification. There are other reasons why candidates don’t qualify as the best person for the job, but should nerves be one of them?

2. We’re busy. Candidates get that and value your time. But keep in mind, the best candidates will take a great deal of time preparing for the interview, sometimes more time than some interviewers.

3. We might have our hands tied by human resources. HR is the gatekeeper and makes it difficult for candidates who just want to deliver their résumé and cover letter to the person who will make the decision. So interviewers shouldn’t complain; candidates have it tough from the get-go.

4. We’re afraid of making the wrong hire. Job candidates don’t want you to make the wrong hire either. They want you to hire them as long as it’s going to be a happy marriage and won’t end poorly. In this case, it’s not “better to love than love at all.”

5. We want to hire someone we get along with. Ditto.

6. We’re trying to figure out what you’ll be like to manage. Most candidates want to know what it will be like being managed, as they might have had difficult managers. It’s a two-way street, as they say.

7. We want you to help us figure out why we should hire you. That’s fair. Don’t ask them a bunch of stupid questions like what kind of tree they’d like to be, or where they’d like to be in five years, or what is their greatest weakness and strength. Take some time to figure out how to get the best answers out of them, not the answers you’d necessarily like to hear.

8. We won’t always tell you what we really think. Now why wouldn’t you? If a candidate is daft enough to tell you he hated his last boss, or seems more concerned about the length of lunch time, or seems completely insincere; he deserves to hear your thoughts ASAP.

9. We’re wondering what you’re not telling us. Ditto again.

10. We hate rejecting people. Jobseekers don’t want to be rejected either, but they hate being put on hold more. If you’re not going to hire the candidate, and you know this very soon in the game, have compassion and tell him as soon as possible.

It seems, according to what Alison says, there is a lot of angst over hiring the candidates to fill positions, and it’s refreshing to hear some honesty. What it comes down to is making the best hiring decision. The process isn’t perfect–some say as high as 60% of all hires don’t work out–but who’s to blame for that?

3 things that lead to success or failure in the job search

5 Replies

During one play in my son’s last soccer games, he had the opportunity to pound a goal into the net; but one of his teammates beat him to the loose ball and netted the goal. Losing the opportunity was not as heart wrenching for me as it was for “Motor”—as his coach calls him.

When Motor gets down about not scoring his requisite goals, my response is to tell him, “The goals will come.” I still believe this because he’s been a prolific scorer in the past; he has a nose for the net. But as the season nears the end, it’s become increasingly clear that scoring more goals is diminishing with each game.

There are a number of factors standing in his way. First, he’s playing amongst a group of more experienced players who understand the nuances of scoring at this level. Second, he’s not hungry enough for the ball. Third, opportunities like the one I described haven’t presented themselves as much as he’d like.

Motor’s missed opportunity is similar to the job search for the three reasons listed above.

It’s rough out there. Like the nature of competition in youth soccer, the competition for jobs is fierce and the playing field is uneven and favors some more than others. Jobseekers need to realize this for a number of reasons. They need to understand that extra effort and ingenuity are necessary to land an interview and then a job. Many jobseekers who aren’t qualified for the jobs they land are succeeding due to their ability to perform well at an interview. The solution to this conundrum is to even the playing field by preparing for interviews and come across as polished. Then you–the qualified applicant will get the job.

Ya gotta be hungry, really hungry. Motor sometimes goes through the motions when playing on the field. Some jobseekers do the same. They tell me that they’ve spent a full-day’s work of the job search looking on line at job boards like Monster, Dice, Simply Hired, Indeed, etc.—and are satisfied with their job search activity. Activities like networking and sending tailored résumés and cover letters to employers take effort that will eventually lead to earning an interview. I see the look of hunger in some of my jobseekers’ eyes–it’s unmistakable and leads me to believe they won’t be out of work long.

Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way. Had the ball been on his strong foot (left) he may have had the jump on his teammate; but, hey, that’s how the ball bounces. Even when the job search is done properly, you’re not guaranteed a job, let alone an interview. There are variables that stand in your way. When I tell my son that goals will happen when they happen, I mean that he can’t give up. Giving up will ensure that he never scores. I also believe that when the time is right, jobseekers will start getting more interview opportunities than they can handle. Continuing to work hard will lead to success; giving up all hope will ensure failure.

Next year is a new year for Motor. He will be a year older and a year stronger. He’ll not dwell on a prior year of hard work with no gratification. Next year he will play his feisty, hard-nosed style of play and the goals will come, and come, and come.

If you’re going to blog, do it right (Guest blog post by Pat Weber)

2 Replies

You know the type who take but don’t give? My friend Pat Weber, staunch Supporter of Introverts, author and speaker, makes bloggers aware through her article Do you blog more like a diesel engine or a bottle rocket? that blogging isn’t a one-way street. To me, she is the epitome of a giver.

If you blog to gain a business edge or to reach your employment goals, you have to do it right. I confessed to Pat that I’ve been doing it wrong. I’ve been more of a bottle rocket than a diesel engine. Henceforth I will try to be more of a diesel engine. See what I mean by reading Pat’s article, and please comment on it.