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16 LinkedIn pros talk about creating a powerful LinkedIn About section

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What happens when you get 16 LinkedIn pros together to talk about creating a powerful LinkedIn profile About section? You get an variety of incredible answers. You might think all of the answers would be similar. Not so.

One of our pros advises not to write a boring About section. Blunt as this might sound, it makes sense; don’t use your 2,600 characters to write a whole lot of fluff.

Don’t write a “wall of words,” another pro emphasizes; meaning keep your paragraphs short.

Your resume is 2D but your LinkedIn profile is 3D, suggests a third pro. It contains your inner world and outer world. Read what he means by this.

Yet another pro writes, “Think of your About section as a sandwich, the top slice of bread makes a personal connection, the middle is the meat, and the bottom slice ends with a personal morsel.” Yum.

A recruiter among the group stresses the importance of keywords. If you want to be found, know where to place them.

These are only six of our pros weighing in. There are 10 more who have different, yet valuable, advice to impart.

What makes the About section hard to create for some people? One person who’s been active on LinkedIn told me he didn’t know what to write, so he doesn’t have one. Apparently, this sentiment applies to many people. I’ve seen many profiles without About sections.

If you are one of those people who don’t have an About section, or if you want more ideas on how to make it better; read this article. It’s long, but you’ll get plenty of great ideas. The authorities who contributed to this article are the best in their trade. You won’t go wrong.

Hook the reader and demonstrate value

Virginia Franco, VirginiaFrancoResumes.com

Taking a page from journalism, I liken your LinkedIn About section to a lead (lede) paragraph in a news story that gives the reader a sense of what the story will be about. Can you imagine a news article that skips this critical section? You’d probably skip reading it altogether. Same goes with your LinkedIn About section.

Contrary to popular belief, powerful and descriptive adjectives aren’t what make your LinkedIn’s About section powerful. While adjectives may be effective in telling the reader something, they don’t really show them anything of value.

Instead, a powerful About section tells the reader about the types of problems you solve while also sharing some detail about what makes you tick and be successful. It also hooks the reader within the first two lines and compels you to want to keep reading.  Here’s an example of an About section intro designed to inform and propel further reading.

When pharma companies need sales strategy and leadership to drive transformation, turnaround, launch new products or markets, or catapult teams from good to great – I am brought in.

The results? Plans that convert customers, bring new products to market and unseat the competition.

In addition to including details about your story, I often recommend including an email in your LinkedIn About section – which provides an interested party with an easy way to reach out without having to do extra clicking to find your contact info on your profile.

Avoid these three mistakes

Susan Joyce, Netability.com

I see three very common errors in the LinkedIn About section.

The first error is an empty or very short About section. Why is this a mistake? Wasted opportunity!

The solution? Summarize your qualifications for the job you want in your profile’s About section. Highlight your relevant accomplishments, and demonstrate your ability to communicate clearly.

The second error is what I call the “wall of words” mistake. The wall-of-words mistake is an About section with one or two very large paragraphs of content. Why is this a mistake? Because it looks like a wall of words and is not easily scannable! We are all in a hurry now.

So, recruiters and anyone else looking quickly to learn more about you, especially if they are looking at your profile on a smart phone (which more than 50% of them are), are not going to take the time to carefully read each dense paragraph.

The wall-of-words solution? Bulleted lists of short sentences, preferably highlighting your relevant professional accomplishments, quantified if possible to demonstrate your positive impact. Copy and paste LinkedIn “eye candy” (a.k.a. imoji) into About as bullets in your bulleted list to draw attention to them.

The third error is omitting contact information. Anyone not currently connected to you (like a recruiter) will not be able to read what you have posted in your “Contact info” section at the top of your profile. Even if you are the perfect candidate for a job, opportunities lost!

The solution? Add a sentence at the bottom of your profile which includes your permanent, professional contact information (NOT your current work or home contact information). My recommendation is to use Gmail and Google Voice, both of which can be re-directed to your current email and phone numbers.

Don’t write a boring About section

Shelley Piedmont, ShelleyPiedmont.com

Too many About sections have nothing in them or are boring. I read the first few sentences, and my eyes glaze over. It is such a wasted opportunity. When I ask why the person hasn’t focused on this section, they tell me they don’t know what to say.

So here is my advice. First, who is your audience? What do they need to know about you? Write it for them, not yourself. If you are a job seeker, what would an employer find of value about you? Focus on that. Likely, they will want to know about your knowledge, abilities, experiences, and accomplishments.

The About section is not your resume, though. You want to tell a story about what you have done but also who you are. What motivates you? What makes you stand apart from your peers? This is an opportunity to give a glimpse of the person behind the results.

It would be best to have SEO in mind as you are writing, so the search engine selects your profile as relevant. Ensure you sprinkle this section with keywords used to search for someone in your field or industry.

Make sure your about section is concise. Every word you choose is important. Does it bring value and tell your story in the best way? Likely you will need to edit your About section a few times to get it right. I have. And if it makes it easier to read, feel free to use emojis if your audience appreciates them.

Lastly, do not think that the About section is written once and never touched again. You should once a quarter review your LinkedIn profile and make updates as needed. That may mean adding or deleting information from your About section, depending on the changing needs of your audience.

A.C.E. your About section: Be authentic, captivating, and effective

Shea Ki, UpGradeMyInterview.com

The LinkedIn Profile About section can be our career momentum’s greatest friend or foe. So much can work against us including writer’s block, keyword or industry jargon overload, and too much copycatting someone else’s format. If you notice any of these issues about yours, I encourage that you inner-view yourself first to turn things around.

Reflect on: Why are you attracted to the work you are doing or want to do?
What stories might other coworkers, bosses, or colleagues share if asked about your contributions? Which accomplishments professionally, personally, and academically are you most proud of?

Depending on your career goals, several parts of your answers can be included in the LinkedIn profile About section.

Be sure to evaluate this section every 3-6 months to confirm it is serving you well. Here is a communication strategy to help you ACE your About section on LinkedIn or upgrade any message about your professional value:

A = Authenticity     

Does it sound like YOU? Do what you can to provide a sense of what matters to you or activates your values when you are at work. That makes you stand out in a positive way from everyone else. 

C = Captivating     

Are you targeting your ideal audience (those you want to read your About section the most)? Address a problem or need they have and describe what you offer to improve their situation. That is how you hold their attention to read more and take action to connect with you further. 

E = Effective     

Is it getting the results and impact you want?  Gain clarity of what outcomes you are aiming to achieve so you can measure how it is going. That will make it clear what changes to make or if it is time to get more support with it. 

Throw out the “Old-School” About section

Sarah Johnston, BriefcaseCoach.com

Old School” LinkedIn profiles were told in the 3rd person and were more biographical. (Example:  Mark is an executive leader who works globally with senior management.  He has demonstrated strengths in helping companies make sense of their numbers; passionate about educating and sharing the story with the rest of the organization….). “Old School” profiles are known for feeling less personal and more jargon-y. 

 The “New School” or modern profile is engaging and tells a first person story and draws the reader in with a hook. With “new school” profiles, readers are more likely to read and remember the summary. Which is one of the main goals of personal branding: to differentiate yourself and be known.

The About section speaks to your “inner” and “outer” worlds

Nii Ato Bentsi-Enchill, AvenirCareers.com

If your resume is a 2-D representation of your candidacy, consider your LinkedIn profile to be your 3-D representative. The About section of your profile is really where your professional persona can truly come to life by sharing your bigger story. 

The best stories make readers feel something. Your About section has the ability to accomplish this by weaving together a tapestry of your inner and outer worlds. Your inner world comprises your deep seated beliefs, values, & passions, which represent the steady, animating forces of your career path.

Your outer world are the achievements you’ve consistently made throughout your career that are the manifestation of your internal drivers. By weaving these two core elements together you’re able to not only show what you stand for but also how you uniquely impact the world around you.

In addition to these two core components, it’s crucial to articulate what’s unique about you and/or how you do things. You’re not the only person with your job title or level of experience, so it’s critical to ensure that you stand out by honing in on an aspect of your career journey, background, or way of using your skills that will help you stand apart from the crowd.

If you’re in leadership, take the opportunity to define the type of leader you are and how you help create the conditions for success, and bring out the best in those on your team.

Finally, don’t forget to invite people to connect with you who are similarly aligned with your values and career interests. A powerful About section will serve as a rich conversation starter by giving your audience ample opportunity to connect to an aspect of who you are that sparks curiosity or emotion in them, and compels them to reach out to learn more.

Your About section is like a professional/personal sandwich

Loren Greiff, PortfolioRocket.com

The P&P (Personal & Professional) Sandwich. 

First,  imagine the start and end of your About Section as two slices of bread. The middle is the filling.

  • The top slice or up-front portion is where your story begins and your personal connection is established.  
  • Allow some of your personality to come out, writing how you speak in the first person, using. 
  • Create a “hook” to grab your readers’ attention,  with what makes you tick. 
  • Include keywords without overstuffing and steer clear of too much jargon. 
  • Remember you want them to be engaged and read until the end.

For the filling, it’s about quality meat (skip the cheese) to capitalize on your professional impact. 

Sprinkle in some metrics, without reporting data. 

Share quick examples of your career wins, a cool client you worked with and/or a memorable nugget not captured on your resume. 

Keep them captive.

The bottom slice and end should offer some parting personal morsels.

  • A few little known facts. 
  • Call to action. 
  • Contact information, making it easy for them to reach out, pronto. 

No matter what, avoid treating this section as regurgitation of  the same information on your resume. 

This is a rare opportunity for those who don’t know you, yet to get a peek inside and find out more about you outside of the required hiring documents. You can still be buttoned up and deliver outstanding value without being boring or cliche. 

Lastly, know that this takes time to construct, revisions and some finesse to strike the right tone. 

Have others read it. If it doesn’t sound like YOU, have another go until it does. 

Decision makers read the About Section and this is a piece of the hiring process you can control so 

deliver excellence, to attract excellence. 

Consider these 4 tips when writing your About section

Lezlie Garr, ResumeLezlie.com

Start with a hook

With your About section, you want to catch the reader’s attention right away. You have a limited number of visible characters before the See More, so make them engaging.

You can start by telling an interesting (relevant) story about you, showcasing an impressive achievement, or outlining the most important pieces of your professional brand.

Present a concise, consistent brand

Speaking of your professional brand, your About section should present your brand in a cohesive, concise way that is consistent with your resume and other job search documents.

You’re not looking to make an exact replica; just make sure the message you present about yourself and the major highlights, achievements, and skills you showcase are consistent from your resume to your LinkedIn profile.

Include targeted keywords

The About section is (like most other profile sections) keyword searchable by the algorithm, so incorporate the most relevant and important keywords for your target roles. This will help increase your ranking in search results for those keywords.  

Set your content apart

While the platform doesn’t offer many native options for formatting your content, there are two options to add a unique look that will make you stand apart from your competition.

Emojis – While it’s important not to over-use these, a few well-placed emojis can make a big difference in the engagement-factor of your content.

Yaytext – Yaytext.com (not an affiliate link) is a web-based tool that converts plain text into styled text (bold, italic, etc.) which you can then copy/paste into your LinkedIn profile.

The About section is like the back cover of a book: 10 best practices

Kevin Turner, TNTBrandStrategist.com

Imagine your LinkedIn [Profile] like one Book in a massive Bookstore of 760M+ Professional Stories. The [Top card] is like the spine of the Book; [Profile photo], [Headline], graphic [Background photo], and small details may be what gets someone to pull your story from the shelf. Once that interest is initiated, we all know the back cover turns the browser into a buyer; this is your [About] [Summary].

The Most Successful [About] [Summary]s contain the following:

Captures interest in the first couple of lines to get that browser to dig in deeper

Stands out, in a sea of competition, a little different can make all the difference

Recognizes People buy from People, so make it Personal

Knows the Buyer and speaks to solve their needs

Avoids too many adjectives, complicated word salads, and unfounded statements

Goes for impact by bringing in the proof metrics

Implements Internet best practices by presenting in short paragraphs

Stimulates the reader visually between paragraphs with 3 to 5 concise, hard-hitting bullets backed with business-appropriate emojis: 🔘, ►, ✓, 📱, ✉ , 🌏, 6σ

Closes the deal with a ‘Call to Action’ and provides a way to buy in; list your contact, so it’s recognizable but not scrapable by Bots. Example: ✉ Kevin @ TNTBrandStrategist .com: 📱 +1.214.724.9111

Presented in a Mobile Friendly way, so we maximize all our customers

If you build that [About] [Summary] correctly, you will drive your [Profile] browser to devour the chapters within your work & volunteer [Experience], dive into your proof of knowledge leadership [Activity], understand the categories you serve in your [Skills & endorsements] and be further sold by your written [Recommendations]. Hope these thoughts help you, Market, & Book Your Own Success!

Your about section answers, “Tell me about yourself”

Hannah Morgan, CareerSherpa.net

LinkedIn provides every user with the opportunity to write a summary about themselves. What is it you want someone to know about you?

You have up to 2,600 characters to answer the question “tell me about yourself?” This is time when less is not more! This is your chance to explain who you are and how you work.

You want to highlight your professional skills as well as your motivation and personality. There isn’t a one-size fits all formula or answer. Pick and choose what you want to include from the options below:

  • What got you started in your field or career
  • Why you love what you do
  • Your top achievement and why it’s significant
  • Work processes or procedures you enjoy
  • Certifications, degrees, memberships that are important to you and the industry
  • Problems you solve and who benefits
  • Breadth or depth of industries you’ve worked in
  • Why people like working for you or with you
  • A hobby or interest outside of work that’s important to you

How you string all this information together and structure your About section is equally important. Make your content skimmable by writing in shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.

Writing your About section will test your writing skills as well as you creative thinking. Enjoy the process of detailing what you want to be known for!

Write in 1st person and explain what you can do for employers

Erin Kennedy, Exclusive-Executive-Resumes.com

Want to know a secret about how to get readers stop in their tracks when they read your LI profile?

Write your About section like your story, not like a biography!

Gone are the days when we would write our About sections like a formal, third person, boring biography.

Hiring managers and companies want to learn more about you by the way you write about yourself. Think of your About section as your story intertwined with your brand, specialties, and accomplishments. Write it in first person as if you are talking to your reader. Consider these ideas when writing it:

What problems do I fix?
What do I bring to the table?
How do I make a difference?
How do I contribute to team goals?
What are my leadership strengths?
What are my top contributions?
What is my value statement?
What is my communication style?
What am I known for?
What am I passionate about?

You can also break up and organize different sections of your About section with emoji’s like arrows, dashes, stars, etc. This is a great way to showcase your different skill sets into mini stories with headlines like:

BUSINESS & TECHOLOGY PROCESSES
ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION
LEADERSHIP STYLE
TEAM LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS STORIES

One thing to remember is to keep your reader in mind when writing your About section. They are thinking, “How can this person help us? How can they fix our pain points? What makes them different from everyone else in this role?”

Once you’ve completed the content, don’t forget your call to action! Offer an invitation to connect or follow, remind them to check out your portfolio of projects, work, or events in your Featured section, suggest a virtual coffee with people in your industry, or put a link to your website for more information.

There is so much you can do with your About section that will help it jump out and draw the reader in.

Make sure to list your skills; recruiters are looking for them

Ed Han, Job-Hunt.org

Despite its popularity with recruiters and omnipresence in hiring, LinkedIn is first and foremost a networking platform.That’s why Reid Hoffman created it in his living room in 2002. When viewing your profile, people want to know whether you are someone with whom they would like to network. 

But you’re not here reading this installment of Things Career Related because you just want to network. You’re reading this article because you’re in the job search and want to be found be people like me.

As a recruiter, when I am finding talent via LinkedIn profiles, I conduct a search based on keywords. Keywords can appear anywhere in a LinkedIn profile, but it’s easiest and most natural for them to appear in either the member’s 220 character headline or the 3000 character About section.

The specific keywords I might search are those based upon my understanding of the need that will unearth the most relevant candidates. 

For example: if I am seeking a senior information security professional, I might search CISSP, a well-regarded certification for such professionals. I might also search for specific experiences or skills (e.g., threat or vulnerability management or pentesting). CISSP, threat management, vulnerability management, pentesting…all of these are keywords.

Personally, I avoid focusing on job titles. This is because I learned long ago that titles issued by employers can be non-intuitive. I’ve seen marketers with the job title of technical writer, VPs who are individual contributors (looking at your financial services industry)…heck, I’ve been an editor who didn’t actually edit anything.

For a powerful About section: talk about specific skills you have, the experiences you have had, the things that set you apart. That’s how you will be found by recruiters.

Show your greatness with your About section

Bob McIntosh, ThingsCareerRelated

When I talk with my clients about their LinkedIn profile About section, I tell them it should tell their story. But that’s too vague. There’s more to your About section than this simple statement. Another way to explain this section is that it should encompass your overall value.

“Encompass your overall value?” you may wonder. People who understand what it means to encompass their overall value take the time to write compelling prose that clearly states their greatness. Yes, they don’t save all of their accomplishments for the Experience section; they present some of them upfront.

There’s more than showing your greatness to consider when you’re writing this important section for the first time or revising it. To read further about 8 general tips and some ways you can write your About section, click here.

Your About section should sell you to the reader

Austin Belcak, CultivateCulture.com

The About section of your profile is your chance to really sell your reader. There are many ways to optimize it, but the two most important things any job seeker can do are:

  1. Lead with a highly relevant introduction

Your entire LinkedIn profile should be geared towards your target audience.

If you’re a job seeker, that means you’re writing it for the recruiter or hiring manager at your dream company who might read it. What do those people care about? They care about finding someone who matches the criteria for their roles. A winning About section opens with that.

I like to include a line that covers my background, how many years of experience I have, and a pitch of the value I bring to the table. For example:

“Award-winning sales executive with 8+ years experience driving $10M in new business for early stage cloud-based SaaS companies.”

If a recruiter or hiring manger needs a competent sales person in the SaaS / cloud space, you just checked a lot of their boxes! Relevance is key.

  1. Provide supporting evidence of their experience with results-based “Case Study” bullet

Now that you’ve introduced yourself, you want to back up your intro with some specific case studies of your best experience.

I like to include ~ 5 of these bullets that cover the full range of experience and results that my target audience is looking for. Continuing on the example above, I want to include some bullets that speak to my ability to drive $10M in new biz:

• Generated 5 deals worth $12M at [Company] in my first 16 months as an Account Executive
• Won “OneTeam” award for largest deal of the year ($8.7M) in 2021 at [Company]

These bullets should speak to specific wins and include measurable / tangible outcomes that make your value clear.

If you leverage both of these strategies in your LinkedIn About, you’re going to be off to a great start!

Think of your About section as a sales pitch

Ana Lokotkova, CVLabs.ca

Before diving into what a powerful LinkedIn profile About section is, let’s start with what it isn’t: it is NOT a word-for-word copy of the summary paragraph from your resume.

Imagine you’re browsing for a book on Amazon. A few books happen to match your search criteria. You click on them, and your eye immediately goes to the book description on the sales page (aka the short blurb you’ll likely find on the back cover) where you can skim through a short summary.

Just like the ‘About’ section of your LinkedIn profile, this short book description usually plays a key role in the book’s marketing by enticing you to buy the book. Same principle applies here: think of your About section as a powerful self-pitch.

What makes a compelling pitch for the About section? First of all, your pitch should reflect who you are and what makes you unique without giving away too much. Take an objective look: if your About section makes you want to read more, its core mission is accomplished. If, however, it reads as boring, overwhelming, and cluttered, then it’s definitely time for a revamp.

Writing the About section is my favorite part of crafting LinkedIn profiles for my clients. This is the perfect place for the core parts of your value proposition, i.e.:

  1. Summarizing who you are and what you do (what would you say during a handshake introduction?)
  2. Showcasing what sets you apart from your competition (what is your secret sauce?)
  3. Telling your target audience what’s in it for them (why should they keep reading?)
  4. Letting people know the easiest ways to get in touch with you (you might want to include a couple of options, such as your email and Twitter)

Think about S.H.A.R.P. acronym when writing your About section

Adrienne Tom, CareerImpressions.ca

When creating a LinkedIn About section, think S.H.A.R.P:

Searchable: Build your profile around your value offering and strategically integrate select words and language that support your offering and relate to your industry/role. What keywords and language are common for what you want to be found or known for (as a job seeker or professional)? Do some research to find out.

Hook ‘em in: Make the opening count. If a person lands on your profile, will the first few lines of your About section pull them in and entice them to read more? Ensure the first ~250 characters of your About section are interesting and relatable to the types of individuals you want to attract. Be unique.

Action-oriented: Write your profile with an active voice and share a few career wins or measurable achievements that support your brand and offering. Be specific about who you are and the outcomes you have generated. Metrics can really pop off the page.

Robust: The About section allows up to 2,600 characters – put these characters to good use to fully maximize all the above and more. A few paltry sentences won’t cut it. Just remember to focus on the quality of content versus quantity. 

Personalized: Write the About section in the first person to create more connection with readers. Be authentic and consider using the space to tell a story. Outline who you are as a professional, what makes you unique, and the value you have to offer. 

Well, here you have it. If you read to this point, skimming or reading every work, thank you for taking the time to do it. Every point to make about the About section has been covered. Or are there other points that haven’t been made? If you can think of any, let me know.

Photo by George Milton on Pexels.com

Eye Candy Adds ❃ Interest ❃ to Your LinkedIn Profile, Posts, and Comments

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Guest writer Susan Joyce.

Well, now I have a name for what I referred to as simply “color” that peppers my LinkedIn profile. Online job search and SEO expert, Susan Joyce, calls it, “Eye Candy.” This makes sense, as color is sweet to the eye. It draws visitors’ attention, makes the profile more attractive, and emphasizes points you want to make.

Read her awesome article here.

When I show eye candy on my profile in the form of colorful images of a trophy 🏆, fist 👊, and arrows ➡️; I wonder if the LinkedIn community likes them or are annoyed by them. It’s of no consequence to me because I like them.

I also have black and white eye candy on my profile like stars (★) for my accomplishments in the About section and hollowed out dots (❍) for accomplishments in my Experience section. I decided against color in these sections because…I thought it would be a little too much.

(These black and white eye candy are not as stunning as the colorful eye candy, but they beat the hell out of the hyphens (-) and asterisks (*) and small dots (ŸŸ•) which are transferred when you paste your Word doc to LinkedIn.)

The majority of people on LinkedIn don’t know about eye candy and are content with the basic symbols that replace the laborious formatting in their Word file.

Today I’m presenting an article from Susan Joyce, one of a few people I host on my humble blog, who explains why and where to use eye candy and provides more than 100 examples of eye candy.

Click here to read her article.

PS. Susan provides examples of LinkedIn members who utilize eye candy on their profile. I’m included! 👍

Photo by Karley Saagi on Pexels.com

👍

5 areas on your LinkedIn profile you absolutely must nail

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No matter how you slice it, there are five areas you must nail on your LinkedIn profile. People’s opinions vary on the order of importance, so the best I can do is give you my take on this and why I list them in my order of preference.

In a poll I conducted a year ago, of 1,189 people who voted, 46% chose the Headline over the About and Experience sections. I was in the minority and chose About (24%). The runner up was Experience (30%).

I’m not going to rehash this poll other than to say I’ve changed my mind in terms of how I rank the sections. (Hey, if politicians can change their minds, why can’t I?) Were I to vote again, I would place the Experience above the other two.

Experience

I’m not trying to be contrary here. The reason why I think Experience is so important is that this is where you hit recruiters over the head with the accomplishments. Stick with only the accomplishments and chuck the mundane duties. This is how you nail the Experience section.

Many recruiters will skip the LinkedIn profile About section and leap to Experience. This is similar to how they treat your resume; they go directly to Experience because—quite honestly—the resume Summary is often filled with fluff, whereas you can’t fake the content in Experience.

I want to bring up one of my pet peeves. I see too many C-level job seekers make the assumption that their visitors know what they did/do at their positions. They simply list the company name, their title, and months/years of experience. By doing this, they’re robbing readers, namely recruiters, of valuable information. It also comes across as arrogant.

Here’s how it should be done from one of my former client’s job summary:

“As the Director, Marketing Communications at ABC Compnay, I planned, developed and executed multi-channel marketing programs and performance-driven campaigns, using digital marketing principles and techniques to meet project and organization goals.”

Notice how he used first-person point of view? Use first person point of view for your accomplishments as well. Take, for example, an accomplishment statement from a resume: “Volunteered to training  5 office staff on new database software. All team members were more productive, increasing the team’s output by 75%.”

The same statement on the LinkedIn profile sounds more personal: “I extended my training expertise by volunteering to train 5 office staff on our new database software. All members of the team were more productive as a result of my patient training style, increasing the team’s output by 75%.”

To read a more in depth article on the LinkedIn profile Experience section go to 5 reasons why you shouldn’t ignore your LinkedIn profile Experience section.

Headline

The Headline is my second choice of areas where you must nail one of the five sections. I’ve read thousands of LinkedIn profiles—this is a fact I had to double check—so I’ve seen the good, bad, and the heinous.

A Headline that meets the heinous criterium would be “Seeking Next Opportunity,” and that’s it. This adds absolutely no value to a potential employer; rather it simply tell them the job seeker’s situation.

Meg Guiseppi, Personal Branding Strategist says this about the Headline:

“I always want people to reinforce their personal brand by getting some personality in their headline. But I feel packing it with keywords is more important. For the most part, save the descriptive adjectives for your About and Experience sections, and elsewhere.”

Here’s an example she gives:

CFO, Senior Finance & Operations Executive – Alternative & Mobile Payments Pioneer, Global Monetization, E-commerce, M&A

Keywords are important, especially if you’re in the job search, but I also like to see a short, impactful tagline. Take Lezlie Garr’s Headline that includes a tagline following her keywords:

Career Change Advocate | Certified Career Transition Coach & Resume Writer | LinkedIn, Interview & Job Search Strategist | I help ambitious professionals shift out of soul-sucking work and into meaningful careers

About

Not to dwell on that notorious poll, but this section was my first choice a year ago. As I said earlier, people are allowed to change their mind. This said, About can be impactful if done correctly. But many people don’t put in the effort to make this section great.

To nail About you have to tell your story. Story, you may wonder? What does Bob mean by this. This is where you can describe what drives you to succeed or problems you face in your industry and how you solve them.

Here’s a brief example of a client of mine who’s baiting readers by asking them in the first paragraph if they need his services.

Are you looking for someone who can increase your ROI? With my product development, sales management, and channel management experience, I am a triple threat and will add great value to your company. I am a sales/product leader and global channel manager with a demonstrated history of working from startup to large… see more

Another LinkedIn member uses the body of his About section to explain his experience in product management/marketing with a brief caption below. He lists five areas of expertise in all to tell his story.

►DEEP PRODUCT/TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES: My roots are in product management/marketing. This strength has enabled me to understand and market complex technologies. I have had success with a wide variety of innovative B2B and healthcare products, including data analytics, data prep, data integration, cybersecurity/compliance, telecommunications, and IoT platforms.

There are various ways you can conclude your About section, one of which is to list a call to action where you list your contact information. You can also reiterate your value to employers or, in my case, tell readers that you see the bigger picture.

𝗜 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗜𝗧

If you’re unemployed, you don’t need to be told that being out of work can be challenging, both emotionally and financially. I know because I’ve been there. So I’ll be the last person to tell you to not feel bad. However, I will tell you that it’s temporary. I’ll also tell you not to go it alone.

A recent article I wrote goes into greater detail on how to write a killer About section: 8 tips on how to write your LinkedIn profile About section, plus sample text

Activity

Why do I list Activity as one of the sections you need to nail on your profile? It’s simple; you demonstrate one of the most important components of a LinkedIn campaign, engagement. If I see no pulse in someone’s Activity section, I assume they posted their profile and just let it sit there.

This article is about the LinkedIn profile, but you have to look at the big picture. It’s not worth writing a stellar profile if people don’t know you exist. There are four simple ways to engage with your network:

1. Start by following LinkedIn members

You might want to start following people before connecting with them. You will still see their content in your feed, but you won’t be able to communicate with them directly unless you have a premium account and use Inmail to send them a message.

2. Actively search for content from LinkedIn members

Hopefully your first- and second-degree connections, and the people you’re following are like-minded and produce content that gels with you. For example, if you are in Supply Chain and want to read, view videos, or hear podcasts on this topic simply type “Supply Chain” in the Search field at the top left-hand corner of any page. Then select Posts.

3. Search for content companies produce

LinkedIn allows you to select hastags (#) which categorizes content. Instead of spending time on your feed searching for your desired topics, type in the Search engine #(topic). For example, if you want to read articles on digital marketing, type #digitalmarketing and select Posts.

4. React and comment on what others write

Once you’ve chosen who to follow or connect with, their content will be displayed in your feed. However, LinkedIn doesn’t show all of the content that LinkedIn members you follow produce. You’ll have to actively search for it. This might seem like a needle in a haystack.

3 reasons why your Articles & Activity section is important

Education

If you’re wondering why I list Education last, it’s simple. This section is the last one before Licenses and Certifications, and it can’t be moved like in days past. This is one reason why Education comes in last place.

More so, LinkedIn members dismiss this section by treating it like their resume. What I mean by this is that most of them simply list their school, location, and degree. But there’s so much more a person can write about their experience in school. Madeline Mann is a great example. Here’s what she writes:

University of Southern California
Master of Science (M.S.) Field Of Study Organizational Development – Applied Psychology Activities and Societies: Phi Kappa Phi

• Part of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society – only top 10% of the program selected for this honor
• Served as the sole student representative on the program’s admissions board

Relevant coursework:

Managing and Developing People, Strategy and Organization Consulting, Statistics, Organizational Psychology, Facilitation Design, Research Methods, Group Dynamics and Leadership.

The program turns psychology insight into business impact with a rigorously applied curriculum that combines research focused material in Dornsife College with MBA courses in the Marshall School of Business.

Do you see how well she uses the description area, rather than leaving it blank. This goes to further nail her profile.

You are probably wondering why Skills & Endorsements and even Recommendations weren’t included as areas you need to nail on your LinkedIn profile. And this is a fair question. Here’s the thing, these two sections have taken a serious nosedive in recent years.

Think about the last time you were endorsed for a skill. Are you being endorsed on a regular basis? Are you endorsing others? Now think about the last time you wrote someone a recommendation or received one. I think this makes my point.

Further, these sections are buried so low on the profile that people rarely look at them. I only visit these two areas on someone’s profile when I’m doing a LinkedIn webinar or training. And this is simply to say that one of my connections has 99+ endorsements for many skills, and that he hasn’t received any endorsements since.

3 reasons why your Articles & Activity section is important
3 reasons why your Articles & Activity section is important
3 reasons why your Articles & Activity section is important

8 Tips on How to Use the LinkedIn Mobile App

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It’s estimated that at least 60% of LinkedIn members use the mobile app. Further, a poll I conducted on LinkedIn showed that 65% of the participants use the the app more than their computer (desktop or laptop).

Those who chose the app claimed convenience as their reason; where as those who chose the computer platform enjoy the ease of use. Case in point: if I’m waiting for my daughter to get out of soccer practice, I’ll be on my LinkedIn app. If I’m writing a long post, I’ll be at my computer.

I’m going to dive into eight major LinkedIn features on both platforms. I’ll discuss how some of features differ between the mobile app and computer platform, so you can understand the advantages and disadvantages of using both.

1. Homepage/Feed

There’s no better place to start than the home page. It isn’t very sexy on the app, but what do you expect from a device that’s approximately 6″x3″?

This is where you’ll usually land if you’re opening the app for the first time in the day. Otherwise you’ll land on whichever page was opened last. This is also where your (ideally) relevant conversation is streaming.

There are many features located on the home page that aren’t obvious to the average user. The features that are easy to find are: Home, My Network, Post, Notifications, and Jobs; although they’re in a different order than the computer.

Rest assured that the mobile app contains many of the features the computer provides. It’s just a matter of finding said features. For example, to find Groups you need to type in the name of the group you’re looking for. The same applies to Companies, a very important feature in my opinion.

The computer platform lays out the features like a landscape canvas. The icons (Home, My Network, Jobs, Messaging, and Notifications) are listed at the top of every page. Groups is conveniently hidden in the Work drop-down. Note how they’re listed in different order.

Nice information at your fingertips on the computer platform on the left-hand side are Your photo, complete Headline, Who Viewed Your Profile (within the past 90 days) Views of your posts, and Your Groups, Recent Hashtags, and others.

2. Search

This feature is extremely powerful. With it you can search for—in this order—People, Posts, Jobs, Companies, Groups, Schools, Events, Courses, and Services. You’ll have to swipe left to find Schools, Courses, Events, and Services.

Everything feature you’ll find on the computer (image below) is available on the App, save for All Filters, which we’ll get to shortly.

Doing a search. If you’re searching on the App for people, simply type in an occupation like “program manager” and you’ll have the option to continue your search for the occupation in People, Services, Jobs, Posts, Groups, Schools, Courses, Events, and Companies. Why LinkedIn lists the items in a different order beats me.

Note: Services is a new feature for people who are offering services in various categories. If you select it, you’ll get a drop-down that shows categories like: Consulting, Coaching & Mentoring, Marketing, Operations, Business Consulting. You can also select Add a Service and you’ll get a drop-down of a plethora of services like Financial Analysis, Accounting, Advertising….

Using Search on the App is not as easy to navigate as it is using the computer, but you can find almost all you need with Search.

Filter people by or All filters

LinkedIn can’t seem to make up its mind on what to do with this awesome feature. On the left on the toolbar (image below) there’s the funky icon that is best described as three lines with a nob on the ends, and on the right are the words All filters. They both lead you to the same destination. Go figure.

This is a powerful feature within Search. If you select People as your search preference, you’ll see a symbol you’ve probably never seen before. It resembles three nob and tubing wires (boxed out on top left of this screenshot).

Not as powerful as the desktop version, it still allows you to narrow your search by: Connections degree, Connections of, Locations, Current company, Past company, School, Industry, Profile language, and Open to.

The computer version provides more features than the app, and Filter people by is way more friendly on your computer than your phone. There are a couple of more options to find people with the computer platform, which include Service categories, and Keywords.

3. Share a post

To start a post, you might have to look hard to find it. In the top image, the icon resembles a white cross in a grey box. Clicking on the icon gives you the option to Write a long post of about 1,200 characters but as I said above, writing it with the app can be difficult.

Other features that come with starting a post are: Add a photo, Take a video, Celebrate an occasion, Add a document, Share that you’re hiring, Find an expert, and Create a poll. The app separates itself from the computer with the Take a video feature. It’s not possible to do on the computer while easily done with the app.

Somewhat related to Start a post is a new feature that hasn’t rolled out for everyone. It’s called Cover Story and allows you to record a 30-second elevator pitch. At this writing I haven’t recorded my elevator pitch, but I’ve seen some very good ones.

The computer platform doesn’t allow you to take a video, rather you have to upload it to your hard drive. With your app, you can create a video straight from it.

4. Messaging

The most noticeable difference between the mobile app and the desktop for messaging is that the app’s version is truncated (see below). Only by clicking on your connection’s message can you read the stream of conversation. On the desktop you can see multiple connections. But this is expected, as the desktop has a larger surface.

Both the mobile app and the desktop allow you to search by Unread, My Connections, InMail, Archived, and Blocked, albeit in a different order. (Are you getting the sense that the desktop platform is becoming more like the mobile app?)

With both mobile app and the desktop, you can respond to Inmails by choosing some buttons, such as Interested, Maybe later, No thanks and other intuitive short responses. Obviously LinkedIn considers this lazy way of responding to be intuitive and clever. I will admit that that I’ve taken the shortcut.

One noteworthy difference is that the mobile app has a feature that suggests an opening verbiage for messages, such as, “Hi (name), I notice you’re also connected with (name).” This feature  is akin to LinkedIn’s default invite message. No thanks.

5. My Network

If you’re looking for the My Network icon, it’s migrated from the top to the bottom of the screen. Clicking on the icon brings you to a the ability to Manage my network, which shows your number of connections. It’s interesting that my number of connections is different from my computer (4,705) and the app (4,046). I wonder which is correct?

Other tidbits of information are: People you follow, #Hashtags you follow, Companies you follow, and other minor details. You can also check out how many Invitations and Sent invites that are pending.

Note: If you want to locate someone by occupation and other demographics, you can use All filters.

Also important to keep in mind is that LinkedIn will suggest people you know (to right). Don’t simply hit Connect, as the invite will be sent without giving you the opportunity to personalize it. Contrary to what many people believe, you can send a personal invite from a LinkedIn users full profile.

6. Notifications

This feature allows you to see what your connections have been doing:

  1. Who’s mentioned you in a post
  2. Liked your post, liked a post that mentions you
  3. Is starting a new position; and
  4. Commented on (someone’s ) post

The differences between this feature on the app and desktop are negligible and hardly worth mentioning. However, there is one major difference: the desktop seems to lag behind the mobile app. In other words, the streaming is slower on the desktop than the app.

7. Companies

Like the desktop, you have to use the Search to access your desired companies. The most important reason to use Companies is to locate people who work for your target companies, which is a bit more cumbersome with the mobile app than the desktop.

To do this you must type the company name into Search and choose People, and then use the Filter tool (boxed out on the image to the right). You can filter by:

  1. Connections (degree)
  2. Connections of
  3. Locations
  4. Current companies
  5. Past companies (not shown)
  6. Industries (not shown)
  7. Schools (not shown)

The only benefit the desktop version offers is the ability to search by Keyword. The other filters are superfluous. Such as Profile language and Nonprofit interests.

In my opinion, this is the most important feature LinkedIn provides, whether on the desktop or mobile app. This is where real online networking happens. In fact, I written an article on the Companies feature.

8. Jobs

You can search for jobs using Search just as easy as clicking on the icon. You avoid a step by using Search.

The Search feature allows you to find jobs, say in Accounting, and then narrowing them down to Location (allow your device to identify your location, if you like), and if you want to take it further, filter by:

  1. Most relevant
  2. Most recent
  3. Determine how many miles you are willing to travel
  4. Only show jobs with which you can apply Easy Apply
  5. Date posted
  6. Company
  7. Experience level
  8. Job type
  9. Industry
  10. Job function

When you’ve chosen a job to investigate, you’ll notice—because of the limited surface—the mobile app is not as robust as the desktop version. Some similarities are:

  1. Number of first degree connections
  2. Number of alumni
  3. Job description
  4. The person who posted the job
  5. Jobs people also viewed
  6. Easy Apply

When you open the LinkedIn app on your smart phone, you’ll see the power, albeit limited, it has to offer. You’ll also see that the desktop version closely resembles the mobile app. If I were to choose between the two, it would be a difficult choice. However, the prospect of opening up the laptop 10 times a day isn’t very appealing.

Photo by Ono Kosuki on Pexels.com

62% of LinkedIn members say “LinkedIn Fatigue” is real

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This article is based on a poll I conducted on LinkedIn in which 2,885 people voted.

This past Sunday was a lazy day. It rained in the morning after my daily walk, so there was no yard work to do. I powered up my laptop to check out what was happening on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Not much.

It’s not every Sunday that I have the opportunity to just sit and use LinkedIn. Like many people, I rarely (this word is relative) use social media on the weekends. These two days are dedicated to family, light travel, and getting things done around the house.

The day in question, I read some posts on LinkedIn and really had no desire to comment on any of them. I definitely had no urge to write a post. You could say I wasn’t feeling it.

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲.

This is a real thing, folks. We develop a routine for using LinkedIn and when we veer from it, it seems strange. We strive for consistency without overdoing it; three or four days a week of engagement at the minimum.

And maybe this is the proper amount of time to be on LinkedIn. I don’t prescribe to this limit; there have been numerous times when I’ve said and written that I’m on LinkedIn everyday. This means 365 days a year. I’ve also seen some common faces using LinkedIn as frequently as me.

In another poll I conducted on LinkedIn, I asked how often members use LinkedIn. The options were approximately once a month, once a week, four times a week, or every day. Of the 5,040 people who voted 65% said they use LinkedIn every day. Four times a week came in second at 22% and the remainder of the voters were negligible.

One voter wrote, “Maybe not 365, Bob, but definitely high 300s. I typically spend multiple hours every week day, and less time on the weekends….”

For me, contributing to being on LinkedIn everyday is probably due to the mobile app. Using LinkedIn on the mobile app can definitely contribute to LinkedIn fatigue. We don’t see the app as a real device on which we use LinkedIn, but it is.

I think about the times I used the app while waiting for my kids to be released from their activities—soccer, dance, other school events—as well as checking it at work, outside waiting for the grill to heat up—basically anywhere. LinkedIn doesn’t escape from us, just like any social media platform come to think about it.

Some of my LinkedIn connections say the last thing they do before retiring for bed is check out their LinkedIn feed or Notifications. So, it seems there is no way to escape the beloved LinkedIn. Here is what some of people who suffer from LinkedIn wrote in the comments:

Kevin D. Turner: Absolutely Bob McIntosh, CPRW, I learned many years ago to schedule at least one bi-weekly #DigitalReprieve (a Day without Digital) and it’s helps.

Celeste Berke Knisely, MTA: The fatigue is real. It often strikes me when I see content from people who seem to be posting on top of one another – posting to post or get likes. I usually give it a good eye role, walk away and come back when I feel like it. No one can be on all the time with witty and thoughtful commentary.

Sometimes, we just need to stare out the window.

Hannah Morgan: Glad you’re sharing this and opening up a discussion. I used to post once a day on LinkedIn. Now I post twice a week. It’s a lot of work. And harder today to create good stuff!

Jeff Sheehan: I get overall social media fatigue. It’s not just limited to LinkedIn. The last year has been challenging with very little IRL interaction. Social media simply is not comparable to meeting face-to-face with people.

Maureen McCann, Executive Career Strategist 💎 (She/Her): I definitely had it last year. We had moved across the country and I just couldn’t get myself to sit in front of the LinkedIn screen trying to uplift others when I was mentally and emotionally drained. So I didn’t. I took a huge break. I don’t think anyone noticed.

Erin Kennedy: I hit Yes but am pretty good about boundaries. I definitely stay off of it on weekends.

Austin Belcak (He/Him): Absolutely! I’ve learned to listen to my body and trust that. If posting that day feels like a real chore, I won’t do it. If it feel that two days in a row, I just give myself permission to take a few days off. Being here should be fun, if you push past that it’s not leading to anything good.

Paula Christensen CPRW, CEIC, CJSS: I answered yes and I blame COVID. Over year+ I have had a lot more time for social media. I am getting tired of staring at glowing rectangles.

🍊 Madeline Mann 🍊: Content creation can be absolute blissful, but it also can really take it out of me sometimes. If you have a commitment to post a certain number of days, I use the tip from atomic habits. Allow yourself to break your habits, but never two days in a row.

Shelley Piedmont, SPHR, SHRM-SCP: I don’t think this is only with LinkedIn. Sometimes you just aren’t feeling it. Better to acknowledge it and move on to something else. Maybe on Sunday your time was better spent reading or taking a walk?

Ashley Watkins, NCRW, NCOPE: It’s cool to step away and return when you’re refreshed and energized. I don’t believe in posting just because. You need to be intentional and thoughtful in your messaging at all times.

Adrienne Tom: I get social media fatigue a lot. Whenever I do, I break from it. Usually just for short stretches. It can be a bit up and down…back and forth for me, but I’ve learned to embrace how I’m feeling and do what works best for me.

Virginia Franco: I get fatigue in general twice a year that absolutely extends to this platform. I also refer to it as “seasonal dementia,” as I tend to grow increasingly scattered! It happens as the end of the school year draws to a close (5 weeks for us) and from Thanksgiving until New Years!

Wes Pearce, Professional Resume Writer: Absolutely. Social media fatigue in general. When I feel this way, I just try to step away for awhile and come back tomorrow.

Honestly staying on screens and social media isn’t even natural for us to do, so it makes sense we get fatigued easily.

Ana Lokotkova: I definitely had it a few times not only in regards to LinkedIn, but all social media for that matter. As always, balance is key.

Matt Warzel, CPRW, CIR: Any and all social media can be fatigue-worthy. If I am annoyed, hungry, tired, or upset, the last thing I want to do is put that feeling in the form of a post or message out there. I love me some breathers and no-screen time when it’s needed. Solid poll question bud!

Laurence F. Smith:, In my opinion, there is too much content on LinkedIn to be of any value. Because of FOMO, there is an inclination to want to ingest everything on the platform. LinkedIn used to be a professional networking platform with relevant content communicating career and related educational opportunities, company/business news and business strategic planning. Now it is a platform with “Facebook-like” content (family videos, college or high-school graduation pictures, constant sales pitches, etcetera).

So it is easy to become fatigued from LinkedIn content. I do not use LinkedIn as much anymore and I suspect other professionals and job creators we all want to connect with may feel the same way.

Nilofar Shamim Haja: Interesting observation! I believe more than fatigue, many of us feel uninspired while using LinkedIn. It’s now cluttered with too many polls, news re-shares, and personal updates (or rants) that have impacted the platform’s value proposition. Sure, we live in a markedly different time today than when LinkedIn was launched, however, the core needs of professionals remain the same: networking, connecting with mentors and peers, job opportunities, and learning about industry updates. It’s just become that much more difficult to find the value in the midst of all the fluff.

Shelley Piedmont, SPHR, SHRM-SCP: Over this past weekend, I really tried to limit my social media intake on all platforms. It is good to do something else, anything else at times. In my daily journal, one of my prompts is how could you have made the day better. Often, I write about partaking in less social media.

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3 Tips for using LinkedIn’s Companies feature to find a job

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LinkedIn’s Companies‘ feature is a treasure trove of information if you’re searching for people with whom to connect. It’s of more value if you have a reason to connect with said people, namely they’re on your company target list (but this is a whole article in itself).

Many job seekers I speak with are unaware that the Companies feature exists. This might have to do with the fact that the feature isn’t highlighted as an icon to the right of Search. In addition, they don’t have a company target list. I strongly suggest they create one consisting of 15-20 companies.

Let’s look at how to find people at your desired companies

For our purpose we’ll assume you have an idea of who you need to find, such as the people on your company target list.

As stated above, the Companies feature is not listed on the toolbar. At one time, this feature was highlighted along with other features, but LinkedIn decided to “hide” it along with Posts, Groups, Schools, Events, and Courses.

To find the button for Companies, place your cursor pointer in Search and left click. You’ll see the drop-down shown below. When I click Companies LinkedIn shows 58,000.000 companies that have a company page.

You can simply type in Search the name of the company. The company for which I’ll search is Avid, a mid-sized company in my area. I know someone who works there, Debra, but not too well. My goal is to connect with a decision maker/s in the marketing department.

I could click People to find the decision maker/s, but I want more options, so I’ll click the number of employees who work there, 1,614. This will give me access to All Filters (see below).

In All Filters I select 2nd degree connections, the Greater Boston Area, and I type in Keywords “manager, marketing.” This gives me three people from which to choose. Rachel and Maria are two people who seem like ones to contact, so I visit their profiles.

Reading their profiles carefully, I look for commonalities between myself and them. Rachel and I went to the same university, and Maria and I have a mutual connection who will gladly facilitate an introduction.

To connect or not connect

You might be wondering why I want to connect with people on my target company list. Fair question. The idea is to penetrate the Hidden Job Market. In other words, get known by people at my desired companies before jobs are listed. Once jobs are listed it’s often too late. I’m building my foundation, if you will.

At this point I’m trying to build my foundation at Avid, as it’s a company high on my list of target companies. I figure there’s a 50/50 chance of one of the two connecting with me. Rachel would be my first choice because she’s managing content writers, which is my area of expertise.

But Maria would also be a bonus connection. Once I connect with Maria, chances are good I’ll be able to connect with Rachel. In both cases I won’t simply send a default invite. No, I’ll have to write a sincere, thoughtful message to both women.

Hint: There’s no reason for either women to connect with me simply because I’m interested in the company for which they work. I’ll have to write a compelling invite message that will entice them to connect with me.

First smother them with kindness

I can take the following steps to impress my possible connections at one of my dream companies. LinkedIn only allows 300 characters* for an invite, so I’ll have I’m limited in terms of the tactics I can use below.

1. I could show Maria and Rachel that I’m simply not connecting with them for the heck of it. I’ll show them that I’ve read their profiles and, of course, mention our commonalities.

2. If either of Maria’s and Rachel’s teams are responsible for doing something notable, I could mention that in my invite. People like to be complimented regardless of what they say. I won’t use shallow platitudes; I’ll point out facts showing I’ve done my research.

3. I could demonstrate that I’ve done my research on Avid and talk highly of it. People also like to know that others admire the employer for which the work. If they don’t, they’re not made long for their position.

The invites

I’ll start with the long shot first. This would be Rachel. She and I don’t have a strong common connection. Debra, who’s my first degree connection displayed on the front page of the Avid’s LinkedIn page, is not one of Rachel’s first degree connections. I’ll go with the cold invite.

Reminder: LinkedIn allows 300 characters for an invite. This is why you might want to follow up with an email.

Hello Rachel,

I hope this connection request finds you well. I’ve always considered Avid to be a great organization that helps directors produce great movies, one of which for me is Ocean 8.

I notice you and I went to UMass Amherst. Were you as excited as I to see them win the Hockey National Championship?

Bob

The invite to Maria will most likely be more successful because we have a strong common connection. When I ask our common connection, Brenda, if I can mention her as a reference, she gladly agrees. She even offers to write an email to Maria as an introduction. I’ll take her up on it if my invite doesn’t come to fruition.

Hello Maria,

You and I are both connected with Brenda (last name). I know her from our days in marketing, where I was a MarCom writer and she was in public relations at Company ABC. She strongly suggested that I invite you to my network. She believes I would be a strong attribute to your team.

Bob

I’ve described how to write an invite from a basic account. If you have LinkedIn’s Career premium account, you can send an Inmail message containing 2,000 characters*. People have varying reactions to Inmail; some appreciate them while others aren’t fond of them.

How you choose to send invites to people on your target companies list is up to you. You should make it a goal to send four to five invites a week, and don’t be afraid to send multiple invites to a target company.

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6 ways LinkedIn makes networking easier for introverts

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Preface: this is not an article that asserts introverts use LinkedIn more than extraverts and vice versa. Nor do I assert introverts are more skilled on this platform.

Whether you’re networking via video platform or in person, at some point LinkedIn can play a huge role in your success. I’ve witnessed this with my clients who have forged relationships with other job seekers, mentors, coaches, people in their target companies, and hiring authorities.

As an introvert, LinkedIn has made networking easier for me. It has helped to form solid relationships, generate business for a side hustle, and been a means to share my expertise. I’ve accomplished this, in a large part, by expressing myself through writing, which comes natural to me.

Introverts prefer writing

LinkedIn is a networking platform that is written-based. Written communication can include sending messages to your connections; writing long posts, including polls; and commenting on what others post. Of course, LinkedIn members can express themselves through video and audio.

Written communication is of great comfort for introverts. My valued connection and extravert, Edythe Richards, is a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and EQ trainer, as well as a podcaster. She explains introverts’ preference for writing this way:

“Introverts may prefer writing to speaking because they have ample time to gather their thoughts and edit their words, check and cross-check, before putting them out there into the world. They can also work alone for several hours, which is often harder for extraverted types to do.”

Another authority on introverts, Jenn Granneman and author of Introvert Dear, describes introverts’ preference for writing:

“Even if you’re an introvert who doesn’t write for a living, you probably prefer texting and emailing over big in-person meetings or talking on the phone.

“How can this be? Again according to [Marti Olsen] Laney, writing and speaking use different pathways in the brain. These writing pathways simply seem to flow more fluently and easily for introverts.“

I’m not naive enough to claim introverts own the rights to the written word; that all introverts are great writers and all extraverts are lousy writers. Introverts are not the ruler of the writing hill. Extraverts can write with the best of them. However, introverts are more comfortable writing than speaking.

The voice message feature is pretty cool

I’ve used this feature on LinkedIn’s mobile app only a handful of times, but when I did I planned what I would say and re-recorded a message a few times. Here’s how my botched attempts might go, “Hi Brenda ‘comma’ this is Bob McIntosh ‘period‘ would you like to Zoom with me ‘question mark….'”

The point is voice messaging precludes the need for introverts think on their feet in face-to-face situations. We can do retakes. Small talk isn’t one of our strengths, as it takes thinking on our feet processing our thoughts quickly.

Marti Olsen Laney, The Introvert Advantage: How Quiet People Can Thrive in an Extrovert World, mentions in her book that introverts don’t process information as quickly as extraverts. I know, as an introvert, this is hard to stomach.

With writing and voice messaging, we have more time to think about what we need to convey, and this makes networking with our connections easier.

You can reach out to many people with LinkedIn

Are you a LinkedIn Open Networker (L.I.O.N)? If you are, you’ve probably reached your 30,000 connection limit. I don’t admire L.I.O.Ns for this feat, but I don’t dislike them because of it. My point is that you can reach out to and connect with more people than you’ll ever know.

I am not ashamed to say I have a little more than 4,000 connections and that I probably truly know only 150 people (according to Dunbar’s law of 150). I can safely say I am acquainted with 25 percent of them. I can write to a connection to ask if they’d like to start a conversation.

Rarely am I denied a request to engage in a conversation with my desired connections. I also don’t deny a conversation with someone as long as it fits in my schedule. My preferred way to talk is to do it when I’m walking. I call it “walking and talking.”

LinkedIn is great for soft introductions

Have you ever wanted to meet a person who could change your life, or at least help you in a significant way? If I want to meet anyone, my friend Brian Ahearn would gladly introduce me to whomever I’d like to meet.

Other than the fact that I root for the Patriots and he roots for the Steelers, we’ve grown a LinkedIn relationship of trust and liking (one of the six components he talks about when influencing others). This means that if I want to meet one of his connections he would facilitate the introduction, no questions asked.

The same trust and liking I have with Brian applies to more of my connections than I can list. Have I met these people in person? I’ve met Brian in Boston, but there aren’t many LinkedIn connections I can say with whom I’ve “pressed flesh.” This is the power of the soft introduction.

Key point: once you have been introduced to someone, it is on you to follow through to solidify the connection. You might be the one to send an invite to the person to whom you’re introduced or vice versa. In either case, don’t let this new connection sit; build a relationship as discussed next.

LinkedIn encourages relationship building

Reaching out to many people and getting to know them better through soft introductions is at the core of networking on LinkedIn. Did you know that LinkedIn was developed for business as a way for companies to network to develop leads? Job seekers saw LinkedIn as a way to network and develop leads.

This said, leads are leads until they amount to something. I mentioned above that I’ve developed some great relationships on LinkedIn. This wasn’t done overnight, especially with my preference for introversion. Introverts by and large seek deep, intimate relationships, where as extraverts have a friend in every port.

I would love to get together with many of my close connections; however, distance is a deterrent. For example, one of my connections lives in Los Angeles. Another one lives in Maine about a three-hour drive. And a close connection lives in Belgium. These are a few of the thousands of connections I’d like to reach out to. You get the idea; LinkedIn is a global relationship maker.

Kenneth Lang, another valued connection, adds:

“After connecting with someone, send a follow-up ‘Thanks for connecting,’ email with some CTA (call to action) – such as scheduling a virtual cup of coffee to learn more about what you each do and how you can support them.”

But we’re not done

I am constantly saying to my clients that to form a bona fide relationship with someone, you need to reach out in a personal way. Phone and Zoom are great ways to communicate, but there’s nothing like meeting someone for a coffee, a beer, or dinner. Networking is at its best when you gather in person.

Unfortunately the pandemic has put the kibosh on most in-person networking in the state in which I live. But pre-pandemic I enjoyed attending networking events to meet up with contacts or speak about LinkedIn to groups. It was great to see them in person and be able to shake their hand.

You’ve set yourself up for in-person meetings by writing to your connections, sharing content on LinkedIn, using LinkedIn’s voice message feature, and asking for soft introductions. These are all acts that introverts find comfortable with. Is LinkedIn the first step in the networking process? I think it is.

Back to Introverts and writing

It would be unkind of me to share what Edythe Richards shared in her message to me regarding the Introvert’s preference for writing:

“I’s may prefer writing to speaking because they have ample time to gather their thoughts and edit their words, check and cross-check, before putting them out there into the world. They can also work alone for several hours, which is often harder for Extraverted types to do.

“Some people – regardless of personality type – may prefer writing due to a real or perceived fear of judgment, social anxiety, or they’re just really good at writing.

“With this said, not all I’s may prefer writing to speaking, and not all E’s may prefer speaking to writing. There are nuances, shades, and blends of what we think of as a typical Extravert or Introvert. It could be situational as well – we may prefer writing to certain people and speaking to other people.

“Take me for example. I’m an Extravert, but I’ve spent years cultivating Introverted qualities. I prefer listening to other people’s stories rather than talking about my own. I cherish my few very close friends. And yes, there are many, many times that I prefer writing to speaking.

“My significant other identifies as a Very Clear Introvert. Though he will surely disagree with me, he is an eloquent speaker. And in true Introvert style, he usually chooses not to speak. But given the choice between speaking and writing, he will choose to speak.”

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3 tips on how to get LinkedIn users to see your recommendations

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By Bob McIntosh


Raise your hand if you visit a LinkedIn user’s profile and get as far as the Recommendations section. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t. Rarely do most LinkedIn members travel that far down another member’s LinkedIn profile. I usually don’t.

Now raise your hand if you feel the recommendations you proudly tout on your profile are helpful or essential to your business. I don’t blame you if this request gives you pause. After all, the Recommendations section is anchored in the basement of your profile. It’s likely that even you have forgotten about this section. We tend to forget what we don’t see.

There was a time when Recommendations was one of the most valued sections on the profile. That time was so long ago that I can’t remember when this was the case. My LinkedIn historian, Kevin Turner, reminded me of when Recommendations were banished to the cellar of our profile, and we lost our ability to move all our sections about:

“Recommendations were banished to the bottom of the profile around 04.07.2018 when the New Look was established.  Around ~03.2017 we lost the ability to reorder, having the corresponding [recommendations] under each job, and the ability to pull it to the top of the profile.”

I believe there is a segment of the LinkedIn community who still believes in the value of Recommendations, particularly business folks who use them as testimonials. I recall some of my connections who would move their recommendations to below Summary—as it was called then—to highlight the excellent services they provided.

But I also believe recommendations on a job seeker’s profile is also of great benefit. Think about how some hiring authorities might be more interested in a candidate’s recommendations and not so interested in their skills and endorsements. Reading some stellar recommendations could lead to a telephone call and subsequent conversations.

So, how do you direct visitors to your Recommendations section? I put forth three solutions.

First solution: mention Recommendations in your About section

Given that your About section draws the attention of visitors, doesn’t it make sense to point your audience to Recommendations within this section? Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the ability to post links to Recommendations—similar to the links to our Current Employer and Education—so words will have to do.

Matt Warzel has this simple statement in his About section: “I’ve earned 740+ LinkedIn recommendations.”

Or you might want to give your visitors a taste of your recommendations by including a few excerpts from them. This is how I do it:

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗬 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗦𝗔𝗬 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗘 (𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗣𝗧𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 MY 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦)

“Bob’s expertise regarding LinkedIn is second to none. He is always looking for ways to leverage the platform for the benefit of his clients and his approachable style makes it easy to work with him and understand what he is saying.”

“Bob is the real deal. With his consistently published articles, super actionable tips and daily dose of inspiration here on LinkedIn, Bob is really the King of all Things Career Related. He made an appearance on my weekly live broadcast a few months ago, and the audience loved him. No surprise why.”

There are two other excerpts from some of my recommendations I list in About . Following the excerpts, I direct visitors to my Recommendations section by writing: “⬇️ 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 ⬇️”

Second solution: point visitors to your recommendations in Experience

If you want to include excerpts from your current or previous positions, they’ll make a splash as worthy accomplishments. As I tell my clients, “What others say about you weighs heavier than what you say about yourself.”

“Susan took our marketing department to greater heights with her advanced knowledge of product marketing. She and her team increased revenue over the course of 10 years to the tune of $400 million dollars.“

You can point your visitors to your Recommendations section in the same manner you use in About. Susan’s excerpt can be followed with: “To read additional testimonials, visit my Recommendations section.” Again, it would be nice to have a link bringing your visitors to recommendations.

Third solution: point people to your recommendations in Volunteer Experience

By this point, your visitors have traversed a great distance on your profile, but why not direct them here as well? I will read a person’s Volunteer Experience section if I want to know more about the work they’ve done. And yes, volunteer work is experience.

Again, the process is the same as it is in your About and Experience sections. Take another example of someone who has volunteered to perform duties for his alma mater:

“Jason put in endless hours developing the University of Massachusetts license plate initiative which has exceeded expectations by 30,000 participants. There are hundreds of thousands of cars donning UMass license plates. This is special.”

Jason writes: “To the full recommendation from the director of Alumni, scroll down to my Recommendation section. Can a say it again? It would be nice to have a link to Recommendations.

It’s unfortunate that you can’t move your Recommendations section to the top of your profile — like you could on your resume—or LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to link to it. For some people like Matt Warzel, he displays hundreds of recommendations to prove his work. I wonder if he would want to reorder his Recommendations section.

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6 major reasons why it’s painful for me to read your LinkedIn profile

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By Bob McIntosh

I’ve written or critiqued hundreds of LinkedIn profiles in my role as a career coach. Whether this impresses you matters not. I only mention this to let you know I’ve seen brilliant, so-so, and downright terrible profiles. In this article I’m going to address what makes a profile terrible.

You don't want to write your LinkedIn profile so it's painful to read. Here are 6 tips on how NOT to write your LinkedIn profile.

Don’t be offended if your profile falls under the following faux pas; not everyone has the gift to write their own powerful profile. Nor do they have the resources to hire a professional resume/LinkedIn profile writer (the two are mutually exclusive).

Let’s start at the top.

A painful background image

I experimented by searching for a Project Manager to see what the first profile would have for a background image. Much to my dismay the first one at the top of my list had the default one LinkedIn provides (below).

I say “dismay” because the person whose profile sports this background image presents an outstanding photo, which I’d show you if I weren’t afraid of retribution from said person. Why didn’t this person finish the job? Said person could have Googled “LinkedIn background images” to find a free one.

A painful photo

There are numerous photos that I find painful. Here they are in no particular order:

  1. The imposter. This photo is 10 to 20 years old. Come on, we al realize that people age. I’m not satisfied with the photo that depicts my age, but it is what it is.
  2. The over-the-top photo. You know these photos of people who are trying too hard to impress us with their creativity.
  3. The group photo. Not really a showing the group but someone who has an arm draped over their shoulder.
  4. The blurry photo. I can’t make out who the person is. This shows they don’t care about quality.
  5. The selfie. I’ve seen photos of people shooting selfies in their car.

These are only a few of the photos that make reading a profile painful. Trust me, it’s worth investing some money in your photo; it’s part of your personal branding.

A painful Headline

Some will tell you that the Headline is the most important section of your profile. In a poll I conducted on LinkedIn, 46% out of 1,176 voters concluded that the Headline is more important than the Experience (30%) and About (24%) sections.

I wouldn’t neglect this section if I were you. This is prime real estate that is weighed heavier than others in terms of keywords. Read this article if you need ideas on how to write your Headline: Is your LinkedIn profile Headline memorable? 5 ways to write it

A few painful Headlines include:

  1. Unemployed statement. Writing that you’re Unemployed, Seeking Employment, Open to New Opportunities, etc. do nothing for your branding. Save that valuable space by using the Open to Work badge LinkedIn provides.
  2. Your title and current employer only. If you have enough remaining space to show your value, it’s fine to state this. But it’s more important that you have keywords that help others find you. A branding statement is helpful, as well.
  3. The scatter-brained Headline. This Headline gives readers no idea what you do or want to do. Visitors must have a clear vision of your career direction and areas of expertise at least.

Here’s one from Elise Finn which is nicely written*

Director and Co-Founder of Nkuzi Change – helping large organisations unlock the potential of Middle Leaders through Coaching | Leadership Coach | Senior Exec in FTSE 100 Companies | She/Her

And read some of the best Headlines here.

A painful About section

Although the poll mentioned above might indicate your About section isn’t as important as the other two, it is extremely important. So don’t fudge on this one. The About section is read by people who want to know your story; it’s where you can describe your passion, excellence, and voice.

A painful About section looks like this:

  1. It’s your resume’s Summary. Enough said on this. I can see a person’s resume Summary a mile away. It’s short and devoid of first-person point of view and sometimes is full of cliches.
  2. It’s too brief. I wouldn’t assume that your About section should be as long as mine, but I will advise that it provides some value. Some visitors find this section to be of most interest, so don’t disappoint.
  3. It’s too dense. When I see a paragraph that’s 10 lines long, I ignore it. If I want to read something that long, I’ll read Moby Dick.
  4. There are too many keywords. Some people like to cram as many keywords in their About section in order to be found by recruiters who are looking for particular skills. It’s best to sprinkle them throughout your profile to create a flowing document.

I wrote a recent, comprehensive post on what a strong About section looks like, so I won’t go into great detail about what to include in yours.

A painful Activity section

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it means you’re not using LinkedIn for one of it’s greatest assets; allowing you to be heard. This is where I like to see that people have shared long posts, commented on what others have written, created polls, maybe written articles.

Read an article I wrote on 10 easy tips on how to communicate with LinkedIn members. In it I explain how to make your voice heard on LinkedIn through the aforementioned paragraphs.

A painful Experience section

This section is one of the most neglected ones on a LinkedIn profile. And I don’t understand why. Here’s where you can really tout your greatness through accomplishments that are hopefully quantified. If not quantified, you can qualify them using first-person point of view.

A painful Experience section looks like this:

  1. Only includes the bare basics. This means one’s title, place of employment, and months and years of tenure. Come on, show me the money! Give me some description.
  2. Like About, it’s the resume’s Experience section. Here’s where you want to include only the best of the rest. In other words, highlight the accomplishments and the accomplishments only. If you have mundane duties on your resume, no need to mention them here.
  3. It shows no character. Start creating your profile by copying and pasting your resume content to it, but then personalize it with, you guessed it, first-person point of view.

    For example, “The team I lead keys into the business priorities, builds learning experiences to amplify the superpowers of the organization, and crafts engagement experiences to retain and celebrate the employees who achieve incredible results. We have such a blast making Inspire a place where people feel connected and are stretched to reach new heights.” ~Madeline Mann
  4. You don’t utilize keywords. This is similar to your Headline where you simply write, “CEO at ABC Company.” Boring. Instead, write, “CEO at ABC Company ~ New Business Development | Global Strategic Relationships | Marketing and Sales“

This article explains why you should ignore your Experience section.

A painful Education Section

Yes, your Education section can be painful. Many assume that LinkedIn wants you to write this section like it would appear on your resume. Wrong. You want to put some detail into it.

This is painful:

University of Massachusetts
Bachelor’s Degree, English

Here’s my colleague Stacy Thompson‘s profile’s Education section, which is much better:

Boston College
Bachelor of Arts Field Of Study Sociology, Pre-Law
Activities and Societies: Undergraduate Government of Boston College, AHANA Leadership Council-Event Planning Director, Voices of Imani Gospel Choir

Member of the Undergraduate Government
AHANA Leadership Council Member
AHANA Leadership Council Assist Director Event Planning
AHANA Leadership Council Director, Event Planning
Voices of Imani Member, Leadership Role

In case you’re wondering, AHANA stands for: African, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent. I’m proud to say that Stacey is a member of our city’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee.

A painful Recommendations section

I include this section because Recommendations (section) doesn’t get the respect it deserves. I recall when this section was considered to be one of the most popular among recruiters. Now it’s anchored in the basement.

Skills and Endorsements took its place as one of the criteria to have an All Star profile. Now S and E is also in the basement. There’s justice for you.

A painful Recommendation section looks like this:

  1. Poorly written recommendations. There are multiple typos and grammatical mistakes. Sharing them is just as much your mistake as the writer’s. You have the ability to send them back for revision.
  2. This section is all about you. So you have 20 recommendations. Great. But how many have you written for others? Are there crickets going off in your head?
  3. You got nothing. You’re so afraid of asking for recommendations that you literally have none to show. Which leads to….
  4. They’re old. The recommendations you have were written for you when you last looked for work, which was 10 years ago.

You might hate me for pointing out the faults of your profile, but I’m not writing this article for love. I’m writing it to make you better. When you write a strong profile–or have someone do it–it makes you think of your greatness. You need to think about your greatness.

*Elise has changed her Headline after this writing to include a tagline at the beginning of her Headline.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

10 Easy Tips on How to Communicate with LinkedIn Members

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By Bob McIntosh

Most people have a hard time engaging with the LinkedIn community, according to a poll I’m conducting on LinkedIn. Although the poll’s only on its second day, it reveals that 42% find it difficult to engage and 21% feel it’s somewhat difficult. Only 37% have no difficulty engaging with the LinkedIn community?

As someone who engages on LinkedIn on a daily basis, I find it hard to believe that others find it hard engaging with the LinkedIn community, but I’m the exception to the rule. This article is for job seekers (career advisors might learn a thing or two) and goes over the tips that will make it easier for them to engage with other members.

The first thing job seekers need to do is change their mindset and understand that engaging with LinkedIn members is no more than starting and nurturing communication with them. Think of engaging as conversations you gradually become immersed in.

Note: Don’t confine communication to your 1st degrees; communicate with your 2nd degrees, as well. Doing this can result in connecting with your 2nd degrees who could potentially be your best relationships.

Why it’s important

I’d be remiss in not telling you why it’s important to communicate with LinkedIn members. You know the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” This is a good way to look at it. You want to stay top of mind, not be forgotten. In addition, recruiters and other hiring authorities will see you in their feed.

Follow these tips on how to make communication easier.

1. Start by following LinkedIn members

You might want to start following people before connecting with them. You will still see their content in your feed, but you won’t be able to communicate with them directly unless you have a premium account and use Inmail to send them a message.

Another benefit of following someone is getting on their radar for potentially connecting with them in the future. Some of the best invites I receive are those that say a person has been following me and enjoys my content. Would I like to connect with them.

Note: If you see a Connect button on their profile, click on the More drop-down and choose Follow. In some cases, people will prefer that you follow them and won’t be notified that you’ve started following them.

2. Actively search for content from LinkedIn members

Hopefully your first- and second-degree connections, and the people you’re following are like-minded and produce content that gels with you. For example, if you are in Supply Chain and want to read, view videos, or hear podcasts on this topic simply type “Supply Chain” in the Search field at the top left-hand corner of any page. Then select Posts.

I found 525 results for this topic, which is way too many to consume. By going to All Filters, one can select, Date posted, Sort by, Author industry, and Author company. I chose Past Week, Top Match, and typed in Pharmaceuticals. These filters garnered 21 results, including videos, posts, and an invite to join a webinar.

3. Search for content companies produce

Assuming you have a list of target companies, you can find content by visiting their LinkedIn page. I’m going to go to Fidelity to see what kind of content they’re producing.

On their page I see options for Posts which include All, Images, Documents, Videos, and Ads. Under All, there is a link for an article titled: Markets, emotions, and you. Currently there are 53 reactions and zero comments. This is your chance to react and comment on the article. (More on this later.)

Out of curiosity I select Videos, where I see that one was produced three months ago. It’s titled Mastering Stability Amid Change. I decide to watch it and am pleased that it’s only 31 seconds long. It’s obviously an advertisement. There are 138 reactions, five comments, and 5,190 views.

4. Use hashtags (#s) to find content

LinkedIn allows you to select hastags (#) which categorizes content. Instead of spending time on your feed searching for your desired topics, type in the Search engine #(topic). For example, if you want to read articles on digital marketing, type #digitalmarketing and select Posts.

How are hastags created? When people share content, they can choose existing hashtags or write their own within a post or at the end of it. Additionally, LinkedIn allows you to choose existing hashtags by clicking Discover More on the left of your homepage.

5. React and comment on what others write

Once you’ve chosen who to follow or connect with, their content will be displayed in your feed. However, LinkedIn doesn’t show all of the content that LinkedIn members you follow produces. You’ll have to actively search for it. This might seem like a needle in a haystack.

When you happen upon a long post, article, video, or podcast you read or listen to, choose one of the reaction buttons. They are: Like, Celebrate, Love, Support, Insightful, and Curious. Don’t leave it at that, though, write a thoughtful comment on something that resonated with you.

Here’s an example of a comment from someone who read one of my posts:

All are good points about resumes, Bob. I would say more important than anything about your formatting is the content. That is what the reader cares about above all else. Tell a compelling story that explains what value you bring to the employer. That is what will get you an interview.

Notice that my name is highlighted in blue and underlined. This commenter tagged me so I would be alerted in Notifications of her comment. More on this later.

6. Share articles of interest and comment on them

One of the benefits of using LinkedIn is that you can read, see, or hear content that is relevant to your occupation or industry and, in effect, learn from it. Many of my clients will share a post, podcast, or YouTube video with the people in my job club.

I began an assignment by sharing an article I read and asked the members of the group to do the same. There were two stipulations. First, they had to share the content with everyone. Second, they had to react and comment on what they shared.

Like commenting on a post, this is one of the easiest ways to communicate with your network and followers. I suggest to my clients who are just starting on LinkedIn that they do this on a regular basis. When they tell me they don’t have time to research topics on LinkedIn, I tell them it’s one of the best ways for them to use their time.

7. Write posts of your own

Once you’re use to commenting on other LinkedIn members’ posts, it’s time to write your own. I know what you’re thinking, “I’m out of work. What do I have to add?” You have a lot to add. Did you forget your expertise in marketing? No you didn’t. You are still an expert in your field.

My valued connection, Hannah Morgan, came up with a list of what you can write. She’s titled it: 25 Inspiring Ideas for What To Post On LinkedIn. Here are just a few of the ways you can communicate with your connections:

  • Industry insights
  • Tips and hacks
  • Ask question
  • Share what other LinkedIn members wrote (and comment on it)
  • News about companies (mentioned above)
  • Commenting on a photo
  • Producing a video (for the more advanced)

These are just a few ways you can communicate with your connections. It’s up to you to determine at which level you want to go.

8. Tag people

There’s nothing I dislike more than coming across a comment or even a post in which I’m mentioned but not tagged. I’ve had people share my articles without letting me know. It’s like people talking behind your back.

When you comment on someone’s post, for example, do the following: type @Bob McIntosh. Before you write my last name, I’ll appear in a drop-down of names. Simply click on my name and I’ll be inserted into your comment.

As soon as you do this, I’ll see a number appear on my Notifications icon. I’ll click on the icon and see that “(someone) has mentioned you in a comment.” Thus begins the conversation with whomever tagged me in a post or shared article.

9. Be consistent

I was told years ago that the way to gain a following is by being consistent. So, what I try to do every week—I’m not always successful—is create a poll on Monday, publish an article on Tuesday, write a long post on Wednesday or Thursday, and publish what I call “Blast from the past Saturday.”

By no means am I saying you should do what I do. What you should do is try to communicate with your connections at least four days a week. Whether it’s commenting on posts or articles, writing your own posts, or even writing articles and producing video—it’s your call.

10. By no means, be negative

This should go without saying, but I’ve seen some pretty nasty comments on posts. My thought is that if you read something you don’t like, keep scrolling until you find something you do like.

This is not to say you can’t disagree with something someone wrote. Just do it in a diplomatic manner. You could write, “You make some excellent points, Bob. However, I don’t agree that the #resume Summary should be written in bullet format.”

I would be more likely to respond with “I can see your point, Cheryl. I just feel that too many bullets will confuse the reader.” No harm, no foul.

There you have it. My final tip is to simply do it. As I mention above, if you want to stay on your connections’ radar, you must communicate with them. I know if might be intimidating at first, but once you begin the process and maintain consistency, it’ll be come second nature.

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