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Eight steps to improve your LinkedIn profile today

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 19:59:11 GMT

Eight steps to improve your LinkedIn profile today

Getting your head around LinkedIn can be intimidating but it doesn’t need to be. Follow these eight steps to make the most of your LinkedIn profile and make it easier for recruiters to find you.

First impressions count, particularly on LinkedIn. If your profile doesn’t do a good job of introducing who you are and what you’re capable of, then it doesn’t matter how polished your CV is or how charming you are in interviews — you won’t get a chance to prove yourself.

Recruiters view hundreds of profiles on LinkedIn every week. Your profile has to stand out from the crowd, or at the very least not stand out for the wrong reasons.

Small changes to your profile can have a big impact. Yes, you may have to blow your own trumpet a little bit but you need to get over the fear of putting yourself out there. If you don’t then you’re missing a huge opportunity to convince recruiters to give you a chance.

Some of these are quick wins that can be done in a few minutes. Others might take a little more thought, time and effort, but all of them will add up to a LinkedIn profile you can be proud of and that will hopefully open some doors for you.

1. Every picture tells a story

There are more don't’s than do’s when it comes to LinkedIn profile pictures. Don’t post a selfie with your best friend. Don’t post a picture with your pet. Don’t post a group shot. Do use a recent pic that looks like you. Make sure the picture is clear and your face takes up well over half of the available space. Long distance shots don’t work, particularly on mobile devices. On that note, make sure to check your pic on mobile. What looks fine on your laptop might not work on mobile. Most importantly, smile and look approachable. You want to look like someone who would be fun to work with, not a serial killer.

2. Make your background count

Your background at the top of your profile is prime real estate so use it well. Don’t leave it blank with the default LinkedIn blue screen. Pick an image that tells people a little more about who you are or the industry you’re in.

If you don’t have a good photo yourself, use a stock photo website like Pexels or Pixabay to find something that will grab people’s attention. If you’re in the building industry, a striking cityscape full of cranes could work. Or an arty shot of some of the tools of your trade. If you’re the creative type, add some text on Canva to send people to your website or portfolio. Try a few different options and see what works best. Anything but the blue screen of death.

3. Headline news

LinkedIn recently expanded the headline field so you now have 220 characters to tell the world what you do and what talents you have. Don’t waste them.

Most people play it safe and use their job title as their headline but your headline can be so much more. A short snappy slogan that uses the following formula can help to make it really obvious what you can contribute:

I help X (the type of clients/people you work with) do/create/build/sell Y (the service/skills you provide) that does Z (describe in a few words what impact your role has).

Your headline is also an ideal place to include some keywords that will help you show up in search results. The keywords you use will depend on your job but one quick way to find relevant keywords is to search for suitable jobs on LinkedIn and make a list of the keywords that occur most often. For example:

Job title: Software developer
Keywords: JavaScript, CSS, SQL, .NET framework
Slogan: I help startups create beautiful apps that customers love

Put it all together and your headline could read something like this: Software developer | Experience in JavaScript, CSS, SQL, .NET framework | I help startups create beautiful apps that customers love

The common consensus is that it’s a bad idea to include the words ‘Seeking new opportunities’ in your headline. Firstly it’s wasting valuable space and secondly you can already show recruiters you’re available for work by adding your job and visibility preferences underneath your headline.

4. About you

The About section is exactly what is says on the tin, a chance for you to tell recruiters more about you and why you would be such a great asset to any company. Again, a lot of people play it safe and cut and paste their CV into this section.

Telling a story about the jobs and roles you’ve filled and a little bit about your personality and what makes you unique is a much more effective way of bringing your profile to life.

You don’t have to share stories from your 21st but try and explain how and why you choose to do what you do. A word of warning: don’t write about yourself in the third person — eg Robert is a writer who works with businesses to tell better stories. It makes you sound pretentious. Be human. Be yourself.

This might take some time and several drafts to get it right but it’s worth investing some thought into this part of your profile.

5. List your relevant skills

Scroll down your profile to the Skills & Endorsements section and make sure to tick any that apply to you. Only the top three will be displayed so once you’ve made a long list, drag the top three most important skills to the top of the pile.

It also helps to reach out to previous employers and colleagues to endorse you for your skills. One way to increase the number of endorsements on your profile is to go through your network and identify people who you’ve worked with and endorse them. With LinkedIn, you’ve generally got to give (endorsements, recommendations, comments) if you want your network to return the favour.

6. Highly recommended

Another overlooked area in lots of LinkedIn profiles is the Recommendations section. Pick and choose wisely who you ask to recommend you and send them a personalised request explaining what skills in particular you would like them to refer to in their recommendation.

7. Get involved in the conversation

Posting on LinkedIn isn’t for everybody but at the very least you should aim to share and comment on stories posted by influencers in your industry. There’s no point in building your network and making connections on LinkedIn if you’re invisible. The only way to show up in your connections news feed is to comment, share or post something yourself.

Start by following four or five people in your industry in similar roles and add value to what they are posting. Not only does it show your expertise, it also increases your profile across LinkedIn, and helps you get noticed by people outside your network who may just be looking for someone with your credentials. Think the three E’s when commenting: Educate, Entertain or Enlighten.

8. Post original content

If you’re ready to start posting your own comment, it’s worth checking out how others do it. Pick one or two of the influencers in your industry, scroll down to the Activity section on their profile, click the See All button and then click on the Posts tab. Here you can scroll through all the posts they’ve ever written. Note which ones get the most likes and comments. Figure out a way you can talk about a similar topic using your own background and experience to give it a new twist.

Write the way you talk and encourage your friends and family to read your post and comment on it within the first hour or two. The more people who engage with your post within a couple of hours, the more of your connections will see your post. Keep an eye on the comments and respond with a comment of your own to keep the conversation going. Start by posting once a week and try to build up to three times a week. The more consistent you are, the more responses and more value you are likely to get from the process.

Summary

Start with some easy wins by getting your LinkedIn profile looking as good as it possibly can. Build up to the harder stuff like commenting and posting after you’ve figured out the lay of the land. Spending just a few minutes every day doing these things on LinkedIn will help build your profile and maybe, just maybe land the job of your dreams.

About the author

Robert Tight is a number-one bestselling author and freelance content writer. He has previously worked as the Country Editor for The Red Bulletin (Red Bull’s global adventure lifestyle magazine) and is an award-winning freelance journalist for various newspapers and magazines including: ESPN.com, Metro, New Zealand Geographic, Sky Sport The Magazine, Herald on Sunday and the Sunday Star Times. He founded Storybud to help businesses find and tell better stories.

How To Use LinkedIn Effectively

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 01:22:50 GMT

How To Use LinkedIn Effectively

There are almost 700 million people on LinkedIn. Many of them will have exactly the same job title as you with similar qualifications and experience. Many of them will be in the same industry, in the same town, chasing the same role. So how are you going to stand out?

Apart from the obvious things like completing all of the sections of your profile and having a professional looking photo — a selfie taken on a night on the town is probably not the best option — commenting and posting on LinkedIn is a great way to get noticed by recruiters and senior leaders in your industry.

My first post on LinkedIn was in April 2019. I had less than 300 connections at the time. The post was seen by a handful of people including my sister and a couple of friends who took pity on me and left a comment.

One year after my first post, I have over 3000 followers and my posts are regularly seen by thousands of connections. Recently one of my posts received over 18,000 views and 300 comments.

Those numbers might not be that impressive compared to some of the heavy hitters on LinkedIn (LI) but more important than the numbers is what posting regularly has done for me and my business. By building my network I’ve gained contract work and speaking opportunities and made some really strong connections who have helped me grow my business.

Here’s how and why you should use LinkedIn to build your personal brand.

1) Fear factor

I was a journalist for 16 years before I wrote my first post on LI. For months, I put off posting anything because writing about other people is easy compared to putting yourself out there.

Tim Grahl is a book marketing guru with multiple clients on the New York Times bestseller list. In his book ‘Running Down a Dream’ he writes about the fear of writing:

“It’s one thing to be afraid of getting in a car crash, a rabid dog attacking you or a mugger coming out of a dark alley...But what was I afraid of here? There was no physical danger in pursuing my writing… And yet, I was terrified. I was so afraid to put something I wrote out into the world.”

Susan Cain, the author of 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', tells a story about Darwin that should convince anyone who is wary of, or reluctant to share their story.

"People have always had to put themselves out there," says Cain. "We tend to think that in the good old days, no one had to self-promote the way we do today. True — but if they wanted to share, or lead, or create, they had to go public with their thoughts too. And this has always been scary. Darwin waited 34 years to publish his idea that humans and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor. Scholars call this 'Darwin’s Delay.'"

Whatever you post is unlikely to be as controversial, ground-breaking or important as Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, so why wait 34 years before publishing what's on your mind.

Overcoming your fears and lack of confidence is one of the biggest challenges to sharing your thoughts and opinions on LinkedIn. The only solution is to start.

2) It's all in your head

Successful business people are usually very good at what they do. They’re used to being in control. They strive for perfection. That’s what makes posting on LI so scary to some people.

You need to realise four things:

If you haven’t written before, your first efforts will be far from perfect. Some of your early posts will probably suck. That’s okay.
You are not in control of how people react to what you write. So it’s pointless worrying about it.
There are no right or wrong answers on LinkedIn. It’s your story, your opinion, your truth.
It gets easier.

3) Baby steps

To find your voice on LI, start by commenting on your connections’ posts or people in your industry who you think would be useful to connect with.

Commenting is King on LinkedIn. If you take nothing else away from this, start commenting on other people’s posts to build your visibility on LinkedIn. A like is lame and sharing someone else’s post is ineffective compared to a well thought out comment.

Sharing a post from another website is another surefire way of getting little or no engagement. LinkedIn doesn't like people to leave the platform so write your own introduction with your take on the story you want to share and include a link to the article in the comments. Ending with a question is a good way to generate debate.

Agree or disagree with what your connections post but be mindful that LI is a largely positive forum. Try and add value with your comments by cutting and pasting a relevant quote from a popular business book, or an example from your own experience that validates or contradicts the point made in the post.

Whenever you post something, make sure you like and reply to every person who takes the time to comment. Not only does this help build your relationship with that person, it helps your post be seen by more of their connections.

After you’ve commented on a post, send a connection request to the writer with a short, personal note explaining why you liked their post and why you want to connect.

You don’t need to invest much time in this exercise to get a return from it. Start with the 5x5x5 rule: Spend five minutes commenting on five posts and sending five new connection requests.

The bonus is that the more you read and comment on other people's posts, the more ideas you’ll come up with for your own posts. You’ll also build your tribe who will be invaluable when you start posting regularly yourself.

4) Write the way you talk

Sitting down in front of a blank screen can be torture. If you’re struggling, don't stress. The key to good writing is for it to sound so much like you that your friends can hear your voice when they read it. Your audience at the start is likely to be your friends and immediate connections and they will engage with your posts more if it sounds like you.

If you struggle with writing, try one of the many dictation or voice typing tools available on Google Docs or Word. By speaking instead of writing your post, you may find it flows a lot more naturally for you.

Putting your personality on the page is one of the keys to good writing. Here are some tips on how to express yourself in your posts:

✅ Use pop culture references. Whether you’re into music, movies, books or TV, try and work your favourite lyrics or quotes or scenes into your story and ideally your intro.

✅ Use real-life examples. People want to read about people not how your product or service does X, Y or Z.

✅ Use your failures as a teaching tool. Write about the lessons you learned from a project that crashed and burned. You’re more likely to gain trust and credibility for owning up to your mistakes.

As Samuel L. Jackson so memorably put it in Pulp Fiction: “Personality goes a long way.”

5) Mix it up

Use the different tools LinkedIn offers when it comes to posting. Try text posts, long form articles, post an image, make a video, or build a slide deck in Google Slides.

Mix up the type of content you post as well. The hard sell doesn’t work on LI. You have to give before you receive. Here’s my version of the E-I-E-I-O method for LinkedIn.

EDUCATE your audience by sharing your wisdom, expertise and experience. Give them free tools and tips.

INSPIRE your followers with positive stories of your successes and what you’ve learned from your failures. Share a personal story but make sure it illustrates a universal truth that will resonate with your audience.

ENHANCE your brand by telling people what you do, why you do it and what you’re up to. Take people behind the scenes and give them a sneak peek of the process involved.

INVITE your followers to share their thoughts, experiences and comments by asking a question at the end of your posts.

OUTRAGE or entertain with caution. Be wary your posts don’t come across as preachy or judgemental but don’t be afraid to state an opinion. Try to do it in a way that encourages debate.

6) Good times, bad times

A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to play the LI algorithm. I’m not one of them. How LI decides who gets to see your post first and therefore determine whether it lives or dies depending on whether they like it or not, is still a mystery to me.

If you’re new to LinkedIn, start by writing one post a week and build up to two or three if you can. For three months last year I posted five days a week, Monday to Friday, but it wasn’t sustainable for me. It takes a lot of energy and time to commit to that type of schedule. Now I try to post on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because the LI algorithm apparently rewards consistent posting.

Consistency = momentum = more engagement.

I try to block out five or ten minutes either side of when I post to engage with other people’s posts. If you leave a comment on one of your connection’s posts and you follow up with a post of your own a few minutes later, the rule of reciprocation suggests they are more likely to return the favour.

Getting early engagement on your post is more important than what time you post. Let your friends or work colleagues know when you post something new and ask them to like or comment on it. It's cheating in a way but the more engagement your post gets in the first hour, the more people in your network will see it. That’s just the way the LI algorithm works.

7) Thinking out loud

One of the benefits of posting consistently is it forces you to think about your business, your skills and what value you can add to your network. The best way to connect with people on LI is to translate your ideas and experiences into stories that other people can identify with.

Sharing your point of view on an important topic in your industry enhances your credibility and helps you build your reputation. Another benefit of publishing your thoughts is it helps you to clarify and elaborate on what you know about a particular topic. It helps improve your understanding while highlighting your expertise to existing or potential customers.

The daily discipline of posting 1300 characters has helped me write more concisely and efficiently. Writing helps clarify your thinking and you will get better at it if you comment and post regularly.

8) Be patient

LinkedIn is a long game so don’t expect results straight away.

Also, don’t be discouraged if people don’t comment or like your posts. It only takes one person to read a post and reach out to you as a result to make it worthwhile.

If a recruiter clicks on your profile and sees that you post valuable content about your industry on a regular basis, they are more likely to contact you to find out more about you and what you do.

About the author

Interview tips for applicants

colm@mthuttdigital.co.nz (Colm McGrath) — Sat, 09 May 2020 02:54:38 GMT

If you have been asked to come to an interview for a job, preparing for the interview can increase your chance of success. Preparation will help you to present yourself at your best to the employer and can also make you feel more confident.

Preparation

If you’ve got an interview for a job, make sure that you:

dress appropriately- always look neat and tidy, whether the interview is formal or informal
arrive on time
have read the advertisement and job description thoroughly, and have thought about how your skills, experience, qualifications and personal characteristics match the requirements. It’s valuable to prepare examples from your experience that demonstrate this. Think about what you can offer and why the employer should hire you ahead of other applicants
have found out what you can about the organisation from, for example, the organisation’s website, industry websites, friends and family, unions, organisation advertising and promotional material. You could visit their premises if, for example, the job is in a shop or café, so you can get a feel for their style
bring a copy of your CV or resume, even if you’ve already given this to the employer; you should bring it with you to refresh your memory
bring a pen (and spare pen) and paper in case you want to write anything down
if you have any questions to ask, write them down before the interview in case you forget
bring certified copies of certificates and qualifications, if you haven’t already provided these
make sure you know exactly where the interview is being held and figure out the best way to get there. If you’re relying on public transport get the earlier bus etc, and have a back-up plan. If you’re driving, make sure you know where you can park and leave in plenty of time in case you can’t find a park right away
If you have dependants, have a back-up plan just in case your care arrangements fall through (eg your child is sick and can’t go to school)
know whether there’ll be any assessment tasks and the sort of interview it is: informal, formal, panel etc. You can ask the employer these questions when they’re organising the interview.

Preparation

When you’re in the interview

In the interview:

turn your phone off
try to stay calm and focused
if you have a mind blank to a question, ask if you can come back to it later in the interview
use appropriate language
don’t be too modest; if you have had achievements in previous jobs, tell the interviewer
be yourself
if your mouth gets dry, ask if you can have some water
if you’re being interviewed by more than one person, take turns making eye contact with each of them
if you don’t know an answer right away, pause and think, rather than rambling
you can ask questions too; the interview is a two-way process.

Remember that even if you don’t get this job, all interviews are chances to practise your interview skills.

Content courtesy of Employment New Zealand .

Tips for answering interview questions

colm@mthuttdigital.co.nz (Colm McGrath) — Sat, 09 May 2020 02:54:38 GMT

First Impressions Count

Interviewers will start assessing you as soon as they meet you, so your presentation and attitude are important. To make a good first impression:

arrive on time
dress smartly
smile when you meet people
be professional as soon as you enter the building. The receptionist and anyone else you meet might tell the interviewer what they think of you.

How to answer interview questions

Speak clearly and vary your tone to show you’re interested and enthusiastic.
Take time to think about each question before answering so you can give a good response.
Listen to questions carefully and let the interviewer lead the conversation. If you don't understand a question, ask for it to be explained or repeated.
If you’ve had a job before don’t criticise previous employers or co-workers.
Give examples from your experience that demonstrate your knowledge and skills.
Show confidence in your skills and be positive about what you have done. For example, instead of using phrases such as "I only have..." or "I don't have…" tell the employer what you do have to offer.

Questions about your experience

When you answer interview questions about something you’ve done it’s best to use the STAR method (situation, task, action, result).

Situation – describe what the situation was.
Task – describe the task you had to do.
Action – describe what you did to achieve the task.
Result – describe the final result.

For example:

“When I was an assistant manager at Sally’s Sandals we hosted a VIP sales event for our loyalty card customers, and I was in charge of organising it. I needed to make sure that the store was decorated, we had food and drink for the customers, and we had enough staff members to work that evening. The event went very smoothly and we exceeded our sales targets for the evening by 50 percent.”

Irish unemployment hits record 28%

colm@mthuttdigital.co.nz (Colm McGrath) — Sat, 09 May 2020 02:54:37 GMT

Irish unemployment hits record 28%

Ireland’s unemployment rate shot up to 28.2% at the end of April including those receiving emergency jobless benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic, the highest rate on record and up from just 4.8% two months ago, the statistics office said on Friday.

Ireland introduced stay-home measures at the end of March, shutting down all but essential services such as supermarkets and petrol stations to slow the spread of the virus.

The government introduced a wage subsidy scheme on March 24, three days before the full lockdown but two weeks after it started gradually closing down the economy, so many companies had already begun laying off staff.

Dublin intends to ease the lockdown more gradually than many other European countries from May 18.

The new COVID-19 Adjusted Unemployment rate rose sharply from 15.5% in March after the number of people claiming the higher emergency payment more than doubled to 602,107, on top of a seasonally adjusted 216,900 on regular jobless benefits.

Excluding the pandemic payments, the jobless rate rose to 5.4% from 5.3% in March.

The highest previous jobless rate recorded since the series was first published 37 years ago was 17.3% in 1985. It hit a post-financial crisis high of 16% in 2012 when Ireland was midway through a three-year international bailout.