Job Search

7 Things You Can Do to Finally Get Started with LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is used more in the private sector but there are many federal agencies (the US Department of the Army is the largest LinkedIn user in the world) that won’t interview you for a job if they can’t find you on LinkedIn. Instant pass.

I often encounter federal employees that still haven’t heard of LinkedIn or who don’t have profiles; so whether you’re actively looking for a job or not, there is no excuse for not getting started.

Here are 7 quick things you can do to get going:

Create a profile and customize your LinkedIn URL. Here’s how: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/87?lang=en. Having a custom URL is a great differentiator.

Include a photo. People want to know what you look like. Please make your photo professional. Your photo should show your face (rather than your whole body). No extra arms hanging over your shoulder or beer cans in your hand. And if you are transitioning from the military, your photo should be a civilian one—don’t forget to smile; you want to look approachable and friendly.

Put together a strong Headline. This is the line under your name. LinkedIn will provide a default headline (your job title) but this can (and should) be edited to be more representative of who you are. You can make this your branding statement or use it to target jobs you’re interested in. You can even separate thoughts or concepts by using symbols such as: ► or * or │ or ▪. Be sure to use symbols that are common across Word. You are allotted 120 characters for your LinkedIn Headline. Here’s my LinkedIn Headline as an example: Federal Human Resources Training & Job Search Expert. Here’s another: Program/Project Management ► Business Development ► Operations ► Aviation /Air Advisor ► Pilot ► Trainer.

Create a strong summary. You have 2000 characters to create a strong statement about who you are. Don’t just copy and paste your Skills Summary from your resume. Show some personality but be sure to include your qualifications and experience so that your profile will “pop up” in the algorithms. If you are transitioning military, be sure to translate your military experience into “civilian-speak”.

Populate the Experience section. Include your jobs from the last 10 or so years (going back 30 years not required or recommended). Again, this should not be a copy and paste of your resume. Show quantifiable results and use the key words from the industry you are targeting. And military transitioners: don’t forget to translate!!

Include skills on your LinkedIn; again, this is a great way to be seen in the algorithms. Only include skills that are associated with your target position(s). And make sure to capture them all. If you’re not sure what skills are appropriate, take a look your ideal job postings and identify the common words across them. Wordle may help: www.wordle.net.

Create connections. Reach out to people you know to up your connections. Show you’re an active user. And, when you connect with people, send them a personalized (not the default) connection request. Aim for 300+ connections.

We can fight the growth of social media, or we can use it to our advantage. LinkedIn a targeted toward professionals who want to find a way to stay in touch and keep up with colleagues and trends in their industry. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this free, powerful tool?

What’s your behavior “style”? Career assessment tools can help you figure out your next move, Part 2 of 4

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Personality-driven career assessments can help you plot your next career move, but exercise caution with them and don’t take anything at face value: they’re merely assistive tools, not prescriptive ones.

Here are some additional personality-driven career assessments. You may want to consult with a certified career counselor for additional assistance.

Carolyn Kalil’s Personality Assessment (True Colors) is a personality system that is modeled as a graphical presentation of both Keirsey’s Temperament Sorter and the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator. True Colors differentiates the four personality types as Gold, Blue, Green, and Orange.

This free assessment asks you to choose one of two ways to finish 36 statements. When finished, you will be provided with web-based results in terms of four colors, with one-paragraph descriptions of each. The results can help you define your skills and talents — and possibly direct you to various career paths.

DISC is a needs-motivated, observable behavioral profiling system which measures the energy put into approaching problems and challenges, influencing and coping with people, steadying and facing the environment, and complying and justifying rules and details. DISC measures our underlying emotions, needs, fears, and the primary concerns that drive behavior.

This assessment breaks down four core behavior styles, each represented by a letter:

  • Dominance: The “D” style places emphasis on accomplishing results.
  • Influence: The “I” style places emphasis on influencing or persuading others.
  • Steadiness: The “S” style places emphasis on cooperation.
  • Conscientiousness: The “C” style places emphasis on quality and accuracy.

This assessment contains 28 groups of four words or statements. Through self-selection, you choose words that are most like you and words that are least like you, and through those responses, the report reveals your behavioral style and communication preferences. Not only does it describe the real (natural) you, it also identifies your style and preferences as you display them according to your perception of the demands of your environment (your adapted style).

One of the most widely-used assessments by professionals in the career services industry, the DISC Career Management Report provides value to jobseekers who are starting their careers, returning to the workforce, or in transition and unsure about the best career path.

Research conducted by Gallup, Inc. revealed that people are more productive, perform better, and are more engaged when they identify their natural talents and develop them into strengths.

The assessment measures your “talent DNA” based on the order of 34 themes of talent, which are sorted into four domains:

  • Strategic Thinking: How you absorb, think about, and analyze information and situations.
  • Executing: How you make things happen.
  • Influencing: How you influence others.
  • Relationship Building: How you build and nurture strong relationships.

Your distinct combination of the 34 CliftonStrengths themes is your personal code — the pattern of talents that make you unique. In fact, Gallup’s research has proven that the odds are 1 in 33 million that someone shares the same “top five” combination of themes as you!

This online assessment, which takes about an hour to complete, asks you to choose from 177 paired statements the one that best describes you. When you complete the CliftonStrengths, you will receive a personalized report, resources, and tools.

Our final article will discuss interest, rather than personality-based assessments.

Seven Reasons Not to Give Up on Your Job Search During the Holidays!

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Conventional wisdom has it that no one hires during the holidays. While most of us would agree that hiring certainly slows down during the period between Thanksgiving and the New Year, work does not come to a complete halt. In fact, some people argue that the holidays is a great time to look for a job. Here are 7 reasons to consider:

  1. Oftentimes employers are looking to fill positions before the end of the year so people can start in early January.

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10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

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I am constantly surprised about the pushback I still get about LinkedIn. While it is certainly true that the private sector uses LinkedIn more than the government, in my experience, government agencies are getting onboard. In fact, at one agency where I recently conducted training, I was told that people who didn’t have LinkedIn Profiles didn’t get interviews—even internal candidates! Whether that is right or wrong, good or bad, is not the point. If you don’t have a LinkedIn Profile you need one; if you do have one, it can probably be better. So, here are 10 things you can do right now; keeping with our theme for the month, together these should take less than 30 minutes:

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