I'm going to also post this on my group message board for Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Professionals. While many have heard this message in various forms, including my networking blog http://brandingandnetworking/ or have come to me for a one on one networking consultation at the Sandy and Riverton employment centers, I'm continuing to learn how best to maximize your LinkedIn professional networking. The real success is to get away from the computer and network with people but LinkedIn (LI)helps you manage better that search. These suggestion are not necessarily in any order.
1. Get a professional LI profile which is key word rich. I've discussed in another blog how to look at 3-5 jobs that you can extract from an Indeed search to then find those key words. In addition, you can look at the profiles of those in your network or advanced people search. Typically this would be people who know how to market themselves. At the same time make sure that your resume is up to date using all the key words, accomplishments and taglines to get your resume in front of hiring managers. Don't forget to do the back door approach to your resume promulgation (directly in person or via email - providing the hiring manager with a copy of your resume and accomplishments). They will probably direct you to still use the on-line application process but at least you may have a better shot at getting the resume added to the top list of applicants. Some have suggested that by using 5-10 job announcements imported into Wordle.net will provide a keyword cloud. I find my extraction method about as good.
2. As a follow-up to 1., after getting your profile optimized with key word content, include a LI link on your resume just under your contact information. Make sure you customize that link to say your name. A good profile should be 100% complete including a professional picture and your 3-5 recommendations. Keep your picture and tagline consistent in your electronic communications via LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter, and any personal website or blog. The typical job hunter may not want to spend a lot of time on Facebook & Twitter unless he/she has been doing this previously to job transition and wants to import connections into LinkedIn. You will also want to include your tagline on your business card (VistaPrint is one company you can use - only charges a minimal amount for delivery costs (about $10 dollars for one sided cards, a little more for 2). I suggest you include your "me in 30" on the back side and pay the extra printing cost. I have a card that is two-sided and in color so the costs were higher. But if you have a color photo, a logo and branded message on the card, they might forget your resume but probably won't forget your card. I also have an Excel program to do your abbreviated marketing card for your information or networking interviews (contact me for the templates). You can design your own logo and include it on your communication strategy.
3. As a follow up to the first 2 points, go to the "more" applications on LinkedIn and look at how you can add additional applications to LinkedIn. The one I've found most helpful is the Boxnet Ap. It allows you to import your Word, Excel, Powerpoint presentations into a webfile with a HTTP URL that allows you to post into your profile (under the website - "other" which allows you to also name that file). You want to post your boxnet resume, your other blogs, key accomplishments or 30/60/90 day plan, etc. in one of these 3 website links. I've also learned that recruiters want your resume in a Word format and not a PDF file.
4. You want to look at adding people to your network that will help you in your new business opportunity or job search. While you may be looking at getting many people to join at first, you will need to look more strategically at getting the right people to join. Since I manage a professional transitioning group, I have indicated my goal is to allow others to see you via my 700+ connections by connecting to me. These are the people you should add first: (a) Anyone who is part of your current email contact list who is already part of LinkedIn. Uncheck all contacts and only invite for now those that are part of LinkedIn. If they aren't they probably won't join and spend the time to build their profile and expand their network. Having people who only have one connection is of little value to you unless you want to message them. But you can do this without LinkedIn. (b) When I look strategically at connections, I do 2 things. First I find companies I want to follow in the company link and then follow them. They will generally post company vacancies and/or other changes to contacts within their network. Some will provide business intelligence about their brand, their size, etc. (c) The second strategy I employee is to do an advanced people search in LinkedIn of my potential hiring managers and try to find how I can get connected and/or to get introduced. You want to get introduced to them so in the end you can send messages and/or build relationships via informational interviews. You may want to manage your job search via Jibber/Jobber. At least register for Jason Alba's tweets and maybe attend one of his free webinars. He is a great connection. In your advanced people search, you can sort it by those having the largest network of contacts. It's the 2nd and 3rd level connections where you typically find your next job opportunity.
5. You next want to join groups that you're interested in or that you're trying to transition to for business intelligence, vocabulary of the new field and contacts. You can join up to 50 groups so don't be stingy. If you don't want to receive daily updates from the groups, indicate you want a weekly update in the group setting. Why are groups important? It's because by voting, postively commenting on their discussions, you gain both respect within the group and you gain search engine optimization (SEO) presence. One metric you should be reviewing which recruiters review is your activity updates. I have about 6 discussions I'm following and I love to see these group member comments and add to the discussion thread. In addition, be targeting your potential hiring manager's group. You gain better email/contact access to your potential hiring manager. LinkedIn is in the process of changing some of your messaging capability without an upgrade to the service. They may only accept invites or messages via group participation but it appears that they're limiting messaging to the advanced people search. When I look at my potential hiring managers and cannot connect to them by my connections (within 2 levels), I then look at what groups they've joined and try to add those groups to my groups (up to 50). I can send out to my contacts (that I know and who know me) a request to be introduced. You're limited to 5 of these at any time so be judicicious about those connections. These five are only replenishable when one has connected. If not you can't go beyond 5 without the upgrade. An introduction is powerful when you followup correctly with both the new connection and the introducer. If you can't get the introduction via LinkedIn, you might want to connect via email to someone you know who might be willing to introduce you.
6. Groups that are valuable are those that post job ads. Many employers today are using linked in for recruiting talent. Just yesterday, a recruiter in her profile indicated she was looking for a Director/VP of >>>. I quickly went to my LI advanced search key on people and found over 120 of these people within 50 miles of my zip code. Why would a recruiter need to post the job on Monster or Career Builder if he/she can see up to 120 people and then find 3-5 who are willing to interview or be considered? In my group, I did an advanced people search for recruiters in the local market and have asked them to be connected. It's important that your invitation message is more than the default message. Then I went out and asked those connecting to me to join our Salt Lake Metro Transitioning Group. Many are now connecting and joining. Now that I have more than 60 recruiters in my network, its helpful for those in the local market doing job search to be connected to me or do the same recruiter search, maybe with less luck unless you can message with a powerful message. If you connect to me you can then search on my recruiters and connect to those that specialize in your skills. I received a nice thank you from one of my contacts that all of a sudden recruiters are contacting him (he's growing his network strategically).
No comments:
Post a Comment