Photograph
June 4, 2014
Do you like having your picture taken? Smile! Now that’s a wonderful picture.
“I can’t believe I look that bad in that picture”. Do those words sound familiar? Most of us don’t like our picture taken and more of us don’t like how we look in photographs.
Do you look sharp for your LinkedIn photo?
When a person becomes involved in social media, it’s important he or she uploads a picture onto that social media network. Take LinkedIn for example. LinkedIn is a professional social network where individuals are looking to sell their products or services, land a new position or recruit someone to work for their firm or client. So how important is having a photograph of yourself on LinkedIn? In using social media, we can’t see the person we are recruiting, with whom we would like to do business or develop a relationship. Our photo is the only way the user can see who we are. It personally relaxes me when I see an individual’s photo of themselves. Users of social media will not take a person seriously if he or she doesn’t have a picture of themselves uploaded to that social media site.
Most people at first are afraid of uploading a picture of themselves to a social media site. They don’t like how they look and are really afraid of opening themselves up to the world. If you’re going to be on social media you’ll need to upload a photo of yourself. I have a few words of advice for you, get over it!
Let’s get back to discussing why LinkedIn users should upload their photo to their LinkedIn profile. If you are a person looking to land a position think about this. In an article written by Vivian Giang in Business Insider titled 8 Profile Picture Rules Every Professional Should Follow she found that “an eye-tracking heatmap created by job site The Ladders found that recruiters spend 19% of their time on your online profile looking at your picture. Not as much time is spent on your skills or past work experience”. Does this statement tell you how an important your photograph is on LinkedIn (especially if you’re looking for a new position)?
When someone performs an advanced search on LinkedIn they (whether it’s a recruiter or any other individual) there are two main things people will see: Your profile headline and photograph. If you aren’t smiling in that picture, not dressed professionally and / or the quality of the photograph is poor, people will not view your profile.
A professional setting for your LinkedIn photo.
Donna Seruda says in her article Top 5 Tips to a POWERFUL LinkedIn Profile Picture that “your photograph directly affects your profile open rates”.
A very common question people ask is “what type of photo of myself should I use on LinkedIn”? A person needs to upload a recent picture of him/herself. Since LinkedIn is a professional social networking site, the person needs to be dressed professionally or what is appropriate for their field. Career coach Barbara Pachter outlines guidelines for professional profile pictures in her latest book The Essentials of Business Etiquette. She says “appear as you usually would in a business situation.”
A crucial point that is overlooked by many people is that it’s important to smile in the picture. People like to be around people that make them feel good. If you are dead pan or frowning in the picture, people will move right past your profile. Barbara Pachter says use a pleasant facial expression.
Make sure the photograph is a color photo, you should sitting up straight, and your photograph should be a head or shoulder shot. Allison Doyle’s article How to Take and Choose a Professional Photo for LinkedIn says because the profile photos on LinkedIn appear as thumbnails, your photo should be of your head, neck and a bit of your shoulders.”
Remember that the photograph you upload to LinkedIn or any social media network is a direct reflection of yourself. What image do you want to portray?
Your Personal Brand
February 5, 2014
What’s your brand? Do you know what branding is?
Recently I attended a presentation on branding. The speaker talked about us as individuals having a brand. It’s just as important for individuals to have a brand as it is for businesses to have a brand.
What is branding? In an article by Forbes titled “Why a Brand Matters”, they say when businesses brand themselves (the top brands) you know what you’re going to get from McDonalds, Coca Cola and Ford. Read the rest of this entry »
Your Default LinkedIn Headline
December 30, 2013
Have you ever received congratulations from your LinkedIn network on your new job even though you never changed jobs? I’ll read on my LinkedIn updates that an individual in my network landed a new position. I’ll send my congratulations and then that person will contact me saying I don’t have a new job. I was just updating my profile.
It seems that there are a good percentage of people who update the experience section their profile and wind up having their headline change. When updating the employment section of the profile, you will add the name of the employer, your title, location and dates “From” and “To”. If you choose the check box “I currently work here”, another check box appears that says “Update my headline to”. This is referring to the new position that you just entered. Read the rest of this entry »
How Do You Use LinkedIn?
November 26, 2013
It never ceases to amaze me how many professionals don’t know how to use LinkedIn. The other evening I conducted a LinkedIn training at my local library.
The training was how to develop a LinkedIn profile. The training lasted only 90 minutes. I say only 90 minutes, because I like to take 2.0 – 2.5 to train on this subject. It may seem like a lot, however there is quite a bit to learn about writing an engaging LinkedIn profile.
Photo is courtesy of LinkedIn.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the training. The participants were from various backgrounds. There was also an individual that works in a college’s Career Employment Services office. It’s gratifying to know that colleges are now talking with their students about how important it is for them to use LinkedIn as a tool to help them in land that new position. In fact, LinkedIn has developed an entire module for students.
Why don’t more people use LinkedIn? One reason is not everyone needs to use the program. LinkedIn is marketed as a social media site for business professionals (interpret that any way you want). I believe people think of LinkedIn as a business application more than a social media application. Because of that mind set, I go out and educate people on what exactly LinkedIn is. Read the rest of this entry »
Can LinkedIn Get Me a Job? #Transition #LinkedIn
October 17, 2013
Can LinkedIn get me a job? Have any of you landed a job using LinkedIn?
These are two common questions that job seekers ask when using LinkedIn. The questions are: “Has anyone landed a job using LinkedIn?” and “Can LinkedIn get me job?” Job seekers must feel that if enough people land positions using LinkedIn, then they will start using the program. On the other hand, they must feel that they don’t want to waste their time if the program doesn’t work. To me this is a unique way looking at the situation. I believe people ask either of these questions because they are hoping they find that “magic fix” that will help them land that job.
LinkedIn is the number 1 source used by professionals to land new positions.
When I train people how to use LinkedIn, I always say that LinkedIn is another source they can use to reach their goal. There is more to LinkedIn than meets the eye, especially to individuals new to networking. Some of the knowledge and skills that individuals learn from LinkedIn will help them in life. Read the rest of this entry »
Draw Your Customer
September 12, 2013
Draw your customer. Sounds pretty silly eh? Believe it or not many organizations are not able to do this. Some people’s reaction is that it is a silly comment. If you think about it for a minute it really does make sense.
Do you know who your customer really is? Is your product and or service developed to that person? What about your marketing efforts? Is your marketing strategy “throw it up on the wall and let’s what sticks?”
Tim Berry in his article “Not Everybody is Your Customer” writes Bill Cosby said well: “I don’t know the secret to success, but I do know that the secret to failure is trying to please everybody”. Research everything about your target customer and then find out who isn’t your customer.
Some businesses feel they have to be all things to all people. Think about your product or service. Who is the person that is going to make that purchase? Read the rest of this entry »
College Students Using LinkedIn?
September 5, 2013
LinkedIn is now marketing to college students. With the ever-evolving philosophy that LinkedIn has adopted, its latest offering is its University pages. The University pages are marketed to college students and recent graduates. That’s right, LinkedIn is now marketing to college students.
One can look at the LinkedIn’s latest move as being right on target. So many college graduates come out of school with little or no experience and very few connections. With the job market showing little if any growth, it’s imperative that college students learn another tactic in their search for employment and that is networking. Read the rest of this entry »
A New Chapter in Your Life #Transition
August 22, 2013
Next week many colleges will be crazed with students and parents, as freshmen will be moving into their dorms to start a new chapter in their lives. What about you? Are you starting a new chapter in your life?
Just like college freshmen are starting a new chapter in their life, many professionals are starting a new chapter in their lives. More specifically they have changed careers. Changing careers takes a lot of energy, time, heart and courage. While some people land positions in the field they’ve been in for years, for the career changer it takes time.
Cal State Fresno Freshmen move in.
People change careers for a number of reasons. One reason is that people are not happy with their previous position. Why people change careers is not the focus of this blog. The actual process of the career change is.
When changing careers, it’s a good idea to choose a profession in which you’re passionate about doing. Once you’ve decided on what your new profession will, now you’ll need to chart a plan. Do you need retraining? If so, what does your educational path look like? How do you plan on getting experience?
Let’s talk about how does one get the experience? It’s what was you found out when you looked for a job after college. “I won’t get hired because I don’t have experience. How can I get experience if I don’t get hired?” It’s time roll up your sleeves and start volunteering. However, find volunteer opportunities in your field may be harder than it sounds. By this time as a professional, you should already have a nice network in place. A good percentage of your key volunteer opportunities will come from your network. This brings me to another point. Spend some of your time “networking” in person and virtually. You’ll never know when an opportunity will come from your network. Read the rest of this entry »
Network your way to success #Transition #Underemployed
August 1, 2013
Network your way to success. Seems like quite the popular theme of late.
Last week I had the opportunity to be a presenter at an event sponsored by Network 2 NewWork in Grand Rapids. The event was to give the under and unemployed additional skills in today’s business world. There was a session on What is Good Networking by Ken Soper, a Mock Interview, Behaviors and Habits on what not to do during an interview (by Kimberly Stein and Heather Den Houter), and I conducted Polishing Your LinkedIn Profile and Using LinkedIn to Maximize Opportunities and Get More Face to Face Meetings.
My first session on Polishing Your LikedIn Profile involved going through each section of the profile. What each section means and how each section should be written. I started with the photograph and ended with experience.
I’m talking about the photograph for your LinkedIn profile.
The second presentation was how to use LinkedIn, which as I see it, is marketing yourself. Another part of the presentation talked about networking on LinkedIn. There is a skill to networking in person and a skill to virtual networking.
I thoroughly enjoyed conducting the presentations on LinkedIn at this event. My objective was to give the attendees enough information to either start developing their profile, or improve their profile and learn how to use the power of LinkedIn.
After the workshops there was plenty of time for networking. Everyone had a chance to meet each another to find out they can help one another. Good networking techniques were even taught during the mixer part of the program.
While the attendees were meeting one another, people came up to me with questions. I spent the remainder of the evening helping people one-on-one with LinkedIn. I enjoy helping people use LinkedIn. I go by the philosophy of “helping people without expecting anything in return”. It was wonderful that so many people wanted to learn more about LinkedIn and how this social networking program help them. Read the rest of this entry »
Recruiting on LinkedIn #Recruiting #Lansing
July 18, 2013
Recruiting for an employee in today’s job market? It should be a cinch using social media right? Everyone uses social media.
Recently I was asked by an organization to help them recruit on LinkedIn. The company was looking to fill a position and knew LinkedIn was an excellent social media network to recruit. The company even went as far as paying to post a help wanted ad on LinkedIn. However, they weren’t satisfied with the results the paid ad was getting.
Searching for employees on LinkedIn is really no different that searching for a position. The first two items the organization needs to have is sharp looking company page and the recruiter or recruiters must have excellent personal profiles. Just like employers reviewing the applicant’s LinkedIn profile, so will potential employees review the recruiter’s LinkedIn profile.
Networking is the best way to recruit
The next step is to become active in LinkedIn. The person responsible for recruiting needs to be posting updates and becoming active in groups. What type of groups should this person join and participate? I suggest groups in the company’s industry, a group for recruiters, groups having to do with their local area and groups in which their potential candidate is a member. It’s the philosophy of going where your customers are. This also includes groups for the job seeker.
Becoming active in LinkedIn means participating in group discussions. You want to become that group’s subject matter expert. As you becoming an active member of the LinkedIn community, you are networking. Who’s to say a hiring manager in one of your groups won’t refer you to a potential candidate? Job coaches today tell the person looking a new position to “network” and the same goes for the recruiter.
Start your own group. People start their groups on LinkedIn all the time. In the case of recruiting, invite people you know to join your group. The group will consist of people from your organization (employees) and potential employees. It’s important to get the employees involved in the group, so the potential candidates can get idea of the work environment in your company.
Use the advance search feature. When using the advance search, search using four to seven keywords. This feature will bring up people with any the keywords that were used in your search parameter.
Learn how to use LinkedIn signal. Signal allows you to follow current conversations happening in LinkedIn. You search conversations by keywords, industry and location.
Another tool that can be used is the Alumni module. This module will show all of the graduates from a specific school. The information breaks down the number of alumni by location, where they work, their occupation and what they studied in school.
Don’t forget about your company pages. Your company page is another important piece when it comes to recruiting. Companies post job openings on their company page and updates. If people on LinkedIn are following your company, please make the company page as complete as possible.
The number one piece of advice I can offer is to become active in LinkedIn. Being active in LinkedIn to me means posting personal and company updates, becoming active in groups and network. It’s my opinion to become successful professionally; one must be constantly networking in person and virtually.
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