What’s Wrong with This LinkedIn Advice?

This morning, I accepted a LinkedIn invitation from someone who fits into my connection strategy on LinkedIn.  Yes, I’ve had a LinkedIn Strategy for many years that I’ve stuck with on my way to a nearly full LinkedIn network.

Immediately after accepting the new connection invitation, a LinkedIn page popped up suggesting that I send invitations to 436 people. Not only was this a suggestion, 436 names with titles and photos popped up with the connect box conveniently checked 436 times.

If I were to click the “Add Connections (436)” button, what do you think the odds are the LinkedIn would freeze my account for sending connection invites to 436 people I don’t personally know?

• If you’re going to use LinkedIn, create strategies for your personal use of LinkedIn and stick to them.

• I like shiny objects just as much as the next person. In this case, LinkedIn offered up a “shiny object” that on the surface looked great. Once I thought about the potential penalties that would likely be levied against my LinkedIn account if I were to add 436 people to my account all at once, the “shiny object lost its luster.

Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Is Your Job Search Stuck?

The social media post read like this:

“I simply do not understand how someone can be out of work for any amount of time. I have been out for 4 months and we're almost heading to a shelter. I don't know what we will do if SOMEONE doesn't hire me soon.”
 

Out of curiosity, I dug deeper and looked up the LinkedIn profile of the person who wrote the quoted words.  The LinkedIn profile offered next to nothing in terms of evidence of Accomplishments, Contributions to past employers or Value this person has created along the way in their career.

No, I’m not suggesting that this person has no Accomplishments to report or that they don’t do anything of value. What I am suggesting is that they have invested minimal time into building what I consider to be a skeleton LinkedIn profile that doesn’t communicate value.

If you want results in any facet of life, you’ll have to take action. The person who wrote the quoted words above is likely good at something but I don’t know what that something is and neither will any employer who needs this person’s skills if they don’t do a better job in packaging and delivering their value.

Since this person needs to do some LinkedIn Profile Optimization, there’s a pretty good chance that they need help with resume writing and interview coaching as well. Don't let yourself slip into the position of the person who wrote the quoted text above. 

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

"I Knocked It Out Of The Ballpark"

In Job Search Mode? You Should Do This

 

LinkedIn's New Feature

First, understand that your Resume and your LinkedIn profile both make first impressions in a matter of seconds.

Second, explore LinkedIn’s new feature that lets you tell visitors to your profile that you might consider a career move.

Third, don’t turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have strategically optimized your LinkedIn profile to show the best version of you. You are making a first impression when someone visits you on LinkedIn.

Fourth, don't turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have a stellar resume that can be visually scanned in a matter of seconds.  You are making a first impression when you send a resume.

Here’s How to Unlock the New LinkedIn Feature

• Go to the top of your LinkedIn Profile and click on JOBS
• Click on PREFERENCES
• Set yourself up to be contacted for opportunities based on your parameters.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, Resume Writing, 719.686.8810

Get a New Resume…Get Job Offers…Right?

Get a new resume and get interviews.  Is that all there is to it?

Having a clean, clear, logical resume that can be scanned by a human being in a matter seconds is absolutely a requirement in in the world today where attention spans are short. 

But is a great resume alone a strategy?  Not so much. It’s only part of a well-thought-out job search strategy.

Recently, I saw something on one of my client’s on-line applications that you should know about.  Next to the place on their application where a candidate could upload a resume, the on-line form asked for a candidate’s LinkedIn URL. 

This was a new request that I hadn’t seen before. I knew that companies were looking candidates up on LinkedIn but I’d never seen a company directly ask for a candidate’s LinkedIn URL.

What’s The Big Deal?

Employers are looking at job candidates on LinkedIn.  When your LinkedIn profile is reviewed by anybody, you’re making a first impression in a matter of seconds.  I don’t know exactly how many seconds it takes to form a LinkedIn first impression but I can tell you from my own experience in searching for talent on LinkedIn that most of my LinkedIn visits aren’t long visits.

• If you’re not currently leveraging what I call the header portion of your LinkedIn profile, the space above your name and your photo, consider doing so.  Here’s what leveraging the header looks like.  This move alone will differentiate you from the crowd.

If you decided to build a header similar to this one for your own LinkedIn profile, be aware of the pop-ups LinkedIn occasionally places over your headers pace and avoid putting an image or text in these areas.

Tips For Building a Great LinkedIn Profile

• LinkedIn is a business platform. For best results, your LinkedIn photo should be a business photo that presents the best version of you.
• If your LinkedIn profile can’t be visually scanned (not fully read) in a matter of seconds in order for the visitor to your profile to determine who you are, where you are, what you’re great at, what kinds of problems you solve, what kinds of opportunities you create and what kind of value you create for employers or clients, it should be built to do so.
• If the message on your LinkedIn profile isn’t strategically built to align with the message carried in your resume and the message you’ll share when you interview, it should be aligned.
• Just like writing a great resume, writing an effective LinkedIn profile requires a blend of business writing, technical writing and creative writing combined with strategy.  If writing in this manner is not your gift, consider asking for help from someone who does LinkedIn Profile Optimization Coaching.  Be sure that this person actually knows what a recruiter looks for when they visit a LinkedIn Profile.

What Else is Part of a Job Search Strategy?

If your resume or your LinkedIn profile grab someone’s attention and you’re invited to a telephone interview or a face-to-face interview, be sure that the message you’ll share when you interview aligns with your resume’s message and your LinkedIn Profile’s message.

For over 26 years working as a recruiter, it is common that the verbal message a job candidate shares with me tells one story and the story I read on their resume is another story. 

Today, LinkedIn plays a part in a person’s messaging.  More often than not, I see a gap between a job seeker’s resume and their LinkedIn messaging and I hear another disconnect when they pick up the phone to call me.

This alignment I’m referring can and should be addressed.

Jeff Snyder’s, JeffSnyderCoaching.com Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

Why Won’t They Interview Me?

The email in my Inbox read like this.

“Unfortunately, to my surprise, I have had very little luck”

 What this quote refers to is the lack of interview opportunities a job seeker is receiving when he sends his resume.  I reviewed the job seeker’s approach and I know precisely why he isn’t having success.  When I reviewed this person’s resume, I could not figure out what he was great at, what he had accomplished, what his contributions were and how he added value to his past employers in a matter of seconds.

According to research from www.theladders.com, the amount of time resume reviewers invest into reviewing resumes before forming a first impression of the candidate connected to the resume is down to 6 seconds.

There is very little time to form a first impression when sending a resume.  There is very little time to register a first impression when someone opens and reviews your LinkedIn profile.  Investing time to ensure that the first impressions you’re making are your best impressions could mean the difference between getting on the interview stage or not.

When my clients interview, more often than not, they’re interviewing for 6 figure positions.  If a person is sitting at $120,000 today and they have an opportunity to interview for a position at $130,000, it makes sense for that person to do everything possible to be sure they’re registering the best first impression they can register.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Resume Coaching, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, 719.686.8810

A short story of results, growth and more results

Career Transition Coaching Results

Who Should You Connect To On LinkedIn?

I saw a post today that sat under this title:

“LION Hunting: Why “LinkedIn Open Networkers” Deserve to Be Shot.”

I’m not here to argue about the article title.  A LinkedIn LION by the way is someone who considers themselves to be an Open Networker who will connect to anybody or just about anybodyWhat caught my attention was a comment on the article.

Being an Open Networker when LinkedIn was new was great.  I operated that way for a while but I don't any longer because of all the fraudulent profiles that are popping up on LinkedIn over the past few years.

Here's the comment on the article mentioned above that caught my attention:

“I always favour Invites from members with lower connections and plausible Endorsements. As soon as I see in excess of around 1500 (maximum) connections and/or the 'giveaway', 99+ Endorsements for every skill, I am very put off and will not connect. There are a few exceptions, namely high profile people, but very few.”

I’m one of those evil people who sit on a very large LinkedIn network.  I’m not a criminal. I’m not a spammer and I’m not unworthy of having in your network if I happen to fit your LinkedIn Strategy.  You have a LinkedIn Strategy don’t you?

Here’s what caught my attention in the comment. 

1.      I don’t understand the logic of only wanting to connect with people who have “lower connections” and “plausible Endorsements”. 

2.      Anyone who has been on LinkedIn for over a decade as I have is highly likely to have in excess of 1500 connections.  The person who wrote the comment you see above is missing out on some really good connection opportunities if she is cutting off anyone who has what she considers to be a large network.

3.      I call the “Endorsements” the commenter is referring to checkbox endorsements.  I am one of those evil people who have 99+ endorsements on many of my skills displayed on LinkedIn.  Sure, some of my check box endorsements come from people I don’t know well.  However, as I look at the smiling faces that show up on my LinkedIn endorsements this morning, I have to tell you that I know all of those people and I’ve earned my 99+ endorsements in ever instance.

4.      I’m just a guy who works hard to create value every day of life and I have a habit of taking good to great on a regular basis.  I guess not being a “high profile” human being as the commenter stated makes me not worthy of her connection.

Seriously, think through the logic in the commenter’s comment.  I strongly suggest that you apply a strategy to LinkedIn and your strategy doesn’t have to be my strategy.  Build your strategy around good business logic. 

I don’t see a lot of business logic in the comment that prompted me to write this blog.

Jeff Snyder Coaching