LinkedIn Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Solutions for the Workplace

10 Ways to Improve How you Network

February 4, 2021December 4, 2017 by Nancy

We have all heard that networking is important but most of us would rather not do it. Here are 10 easy things to make networking easier

Attend conferences and meetings that really interest you. This way you’re more likely to interact with people who have similar interests which will make it easier to talk to people.
Organize your thoughts first. How will you answer questions about your interests? What specific talents, skills, and connections can you bring to the table? Practice saying those things out loud.
Help others. Once you listen to what others have to say, you may begin to see how someone you know may be able to help that person. Be a connector!
Follow up and follow through. Do what you said you would do; if you told someone you would be in touch, do it. If you said you would introduce people, do it. Send people you meet LinkedIn connection requests (with a customized invite, of course).
Be approachable. Smile and be pleasant. To everyone. Enough said.
Listen more than you talk. Everyone likes to be listened to. Listen actively, while looking at the person talking and not over their shoulder. Ask questions. Put your phone away.
Always have business cards. If your organization won’t give them to you for free, buy them yourself—they’re not expensive. If you meet someone, offer your card and tell them that they are welcome to follow up. You’re likely to get one in return. Follow up on LinkedIn.
Use people’s names. When you meet them, as you are separating, and throughout the conversation as appropriate. This helps make your connection more personal and you’re more likely to remember them if you run into them again.
Network in different ways. These include casual contacts at official network events, professional associations, and online networks. Each serve their purpose and you’ll be more effective (and get to know more people) if you explore different networking venues. Be visible.
If you’re still not sure, check out these resources (and of course, there are many more available as well): How to Work a Room, Susan RoAne; Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi, and Networking Like a Pro, Dr. Ivan Misner.

BONUS: Networking doesn’t have to be a special event. Any conversation you have has the potential to be a networking opportunity! Its about establishing and maintaining connections with people, not just meeting them.

Do These 10 Things to Get that Federal Job You Want

February 4, 2021November 28, 2017 by Nancy

As we get closer to the holidays, everyone gets busy and distracted on personal matters. However, you can take advantage of the slowdown to up your government job search game.

Here are 10 easy things to do that won’t take much time but will pay dividends!

Double-check your USAJOBS Profile. Make sure it is up-to-date in terms of your contact information, your eligibilities, etc. Veterans, this is especially important as you want to ensure that your eligibilities count.
Understand your eligibilities. Do you have veterans’ preference? Do you have status? Are you eligible for reinstatement? Are you Schedule A eligible? A military spouse? Understanding your eligibilities and what they mean will help ensure you apply for jobs for which you are eligible.
Turn on the feature that automatically notifies you when the status of your application changes. Under what was known as “hiring reform,” agencies are supposed to notify via email: A) when your application was received; B) whether you were rated qualified or unqualified; C) whether your application was sent to the hiring manager; and D) when a selection is made. While it is true that agencies don’t always take these steps (or the steps aren’t always taken in a timely manner), you still want to sign up for this feature.
Create a search agent on USAJOBS to automatically send you job postings that meet your criteria.
Make sure your resume is up-to-date so that you’re ready to apply for the job postings which have quick close dates.
Add accomplishments to your resume, at least for your current job. You should include at least one achievement for each year in your current job. If you’ve been in your current job less than one, apply the concept your prior job.
Get rid of jobs on your resume that are more than 10 years old. Employers want to know what you have done recently and be assured that you’re not resting on your laurels. If you were the hiring manager, would you want to pick someone who had not done the job in 20 years or someone who is doing it now?
Apply for jobs for which you are qualified for. This is more than having time-in-grade; you need to have the specialized experience too.
Review the questionnaires associated with each job posting before deciding whether or not to apply. You can review the questionnaires without applying; most postings have a link to view the questionnaire. If you cannot provide the highest and best answer to the vast majority of questions, you may not be rated as best qualified.
Make sure you use key words from the job posting in your resume; make it easy for the HR people to see that you’re qualified.

BONUS: Still not sure you know what to do? There are many free training sessions offered on using USAJOBS and applying for a government job. Bookmark: https://www.usajobs.gov/Notification/Events/ and keep checking!

10 Mistakes You’re Making on LinkedIn

February 4, 2021September 24, 2017 by Nancy

Mistake 1: You’re not on LinkedIn. If you’re not, you need to be—even if you’re working for the government! While LinkedIn is used more in the private sector than in the government, the US Army has the largest number of “employees” of any company in the world. And in some agencies I work with, if you’re not on LinkedIn, you won’t get an interview.

Develop a Social Media Plan for your Career, Part 2

February 4, 2021February 27, 2017 by Nancy

LinkedIn is the most important part of a social media strategy in terms of your career, but let’s look at the last part of a strong social media plan.

STEP FOUR: Update Your Other Social Media Profiles
Take some time to make sure that your other non-LinkedIn social media platforms are up-to-date. Review your profile photos and background images. For consistency, consider changing your profile photos on all of your social media accounts to the same (professional) photo. This can help the person looking for you to identify that they have the right person — especially for social media accounts that you want them to be looking at.

Also review any photo galleries associated with your account (for example, on Twitter and Facebook). Delete any controversial or offensive photos. (Remember, they won’t be gone entirely from the Internet, but at least they won’t be as easy to find.) Do the same for any potentially offensive content you have posted.

STEP FIVE: Deliberately Cultivate Your Online Presence
One of the best ways to boost your online profile is to curate your profiles. For the platforms you have decided to concentrate on, develop a schedule for adding new content that will enhance your social media presence.

For example, if you can commit to it, a personal blog is an excellent way to establish thought leadership and enhance your career prospects. However, you must be willing to post regularly — for example, once a week, or twice a month.

The first thing to do is to pick one platform to be your “home base.” This is where you will spend the majority of your time and effort. For many jobseekers, that’s LinkedIn, because it offers the best opportunity to connect with potential hiring managers and recruiters. Others may be more comfortable with Twitter, Facebook, or a blog. It doesn’t matter so much which platform you choose as that you choose a platform.

Set goals for yourself — what do you want to show up when you Google yourself? If you want your blog to rank higher in Google’s search results, you’ll need to spend some time developing and curating content, populating the profile, and engaging in activities that will increase the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the blog.

If you’re not engaging in a confidential job search, use your social media profiles to let people know you’re looking — and to ask for specific help in identifying your next opportunity or employer.

If you identified any “gaps” in your online presence as part of your social media audit, join those social media networks and set up your profile and begin adding content to your account.

Finally, make engaging on social media a daily habit. You don’t have to spend hours each day building your online presence. You can spend as little as 15 minutes a day — or an hour a week — on your social media.

Here are some daily activities to consider:

On LinkedIn: post a status update, check out the activities in your relevant Groups, make 1-2 new connections, “follow” a company you’d like to work for, and reach out to 1 existing connection (either by commenting on their status update, sending a message, or using LinkedIn’s “keep in touch” reminders to “like” or “comment” on your connections’ activities.
On Facebook: post a status update, “like” the page of a company that you’d like to work for, and friend someone you used to work with (or send a message to someone you’re already friends with who might be able to help you with your job search).
On Twitter: follow a company you’re interested in working for, tweet something job-related (make sure it’s positive in tone, not negative!), and retweet something interesting.
On Pinterest: see if there are any boards related to your industry and follow one or more of them; research to see if a company you’d like to work for has a board, pin something career-related to one of your own boards, and connect with two new people.
On your blog: Write a blog post, respond to comments, add a resource, or find a previous blog post that you can share to one of your other social media platforms. Research relevant blogs in your industry and sign up for email or RSS notifications for new posts. Comment on a blog post.

These are just a few of the possible activities you can consider each day. Another thing to consider is pre-scheduling content. You might write your blog post for the week on a Saturday, but schedule the post to publish on the following Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.

Remember this advice: “It doesn’t matter so much what you do, as that you do.” Don’t substitute social media activity for other actions related to your job search, but recognize that social media can help you build your network and keep yourself “top of mind” with people who are in a position to hire you, or help you identify possible job opportunities.

Develop a Social Media Plan for your Career, Part 1

February 4, 2021February 21, 2017 by Nancy

Our last two articles were about auditing your existing social media.

This article is focused on developing your online presence and social media plan so that it helps your chances of employment. This includes online reputation management, privacy settings, and using your social media accounts (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) to assist in your job search.

STEP ONE: Delete any accounts you’ve not going to commit to keeping up.

This might be a hard one for you! What? Delete a social media account? (Or more than one?) Yes. Is your blog a ghost town, populated with intermittent posts from a year ago? Do you have 10 Twitter followers and 15 tweets? (Did you only set up your Twitter account because someone told you that you need one?) Do you still have a Myspace account, but the last time you were on it, NSYNC was still together?

When it comes to your job search, it’s better not to have dormant accounts. Cast-off accounts make it look like you’re not committed. It’s better to have one or two active platforms you’re involved with than 5-6 platforms with content you don’t keep up with regularly.

Can’t bear the thought of permanently deleting your stuff? Check and see if you can temporarily deactivate your account. If that’s an option, you can do that instead of deleting the account entirely, at least while you’re searching for a new job.

Also, make sure you’ve deleted any inappropriate content, if you haven’t already. Remember, once something is posted on the Internet, it can potentially exist forever. However, deleting the content does make it harder for a prospective employer to find.

STEP TWO: Check your privacy settings on any accounts you’re keeping. Be mindful about what you’re doing.

First, make a list of the social media platforms you’re involved in. (There should be fewer of them, now that you’ve completed Step One!) Next, review the privacy settings for each platform. Not sure how to check the privacy settings? The easiest way is to Google “privacy settings + (social media platform).” For example, a search for Facebook privacy settings will take you to this help page: https://www.facebook.com/help/325807937506242/

You can also use Facebook’s “View As” feature to see how your profile appears to others. To use this feature, make sure you’re logged into your Facebook account. Then go to your profile and click .

Click “View as” in the dropdown menu. You’ll be able to see what your profile looks like to the general public. At the top of the page, just under the Facebook search box, if you choose “View as Specific Person,” you can enter an individual’s name, and Facebook will show you what your profile looks like to that person, based on your privacy settings. (You must be friends with the person to use this feature.)

Check the privacy settings for each of the social media platforms you’re using.

STEP THREE: Make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete.

LinkedIn is likely your most visible employment-related social media profile, so spend some time working to make sure it is up-to-date. The first thing to do is to make sure your LinkedIn profile is “complete” by LinkedIn’s standards.

To be considered “complete” by LinkedIn’s standards, you need these items in your LinkedIn profile:
-Your industry and location
-An up-to-date current position (with a description)
-Two past positions
-Your education
-At least three skills
-A profile photo
-At least 50 connections

Profiles that meet all of these criteria are 40 times more likely to “receive opportunities,” according to LinkedIn.

Once your profile is “complete,” there are still several other tasks to complete on LinkedIn to make yourself more “findable” by prospective employers and recruiters.

Review the content of your LinkedIn profile. Make sure the content of your LinkedIn profile matches up with the information on your résumé. However, there is one important distinction between your résumé and LinkedIn profile: You can create multiple, customized versions of your résumé to target different types of positions. However, you can only have one LinkedIn profile. So make sure your Headline and Summary represent you for the type of position you’re seeking.

If you haven’t already, set up your personalized URL for your LinkedIn profile.

By default, LinkedIn assigns you a URL with random numbers and letters. For branding purposes, you will want to customize the link.

You should always create a unique URL. An easy-to-read website address increases the chance of people being able to remember and find you on LinkedIn. You can also promote your custom signature link on your blog, Facebook page, and through email signatures.

You can use between 5-30 letters or numbers to build your custom URL. (You cannot use spaces, symbols, or special characters in your profile URL.) It may seem obvious, but make sure you use your name in your profile URL. If you have a common name, you may not be able to use just your name, so consider including a keyword related to your job or industry — for example, “BobSmithAccounting.”

Customize your URL on the “Edit Your Public Profile” page, underneath the “Customize Your Public Profile” section.

Click the “Create your custom URL” link.

All LinkedIn website addresses begin with http://www.linkedin.com/in

*Choose a professional photo for your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn profiles with pictures attract 50-70 percent more inquires than profiles without a photo.

Here are some tips for your profile photo:
• Choose an up-to-date photo. Your profile photo should be a recent photo of you — within the last 12-18 months.
• At a minimum, your photo should include your head and shoulders, not just a close-up of your face. You may also consider using a full body shot of you sitting or standing.
• Make sure you are the only person in your photo. Don’t crop other people out of your photo.
• Be sure to look at the background in the photo to make sure there is nothing distracting in it.
• If you have multiple photos to choose from, you can use the PhotoFeeler website (https://www.photofeeler.com/) to find the most effective profile photo.

Ensure your contact information is available on the profile.

Make it easy for a prospective employer to connect with you. Include your phone number(s), email addresses, and other contact information in the “Advice for Contacting” section.

Click “Edit Profile” from the “Profile” menu, and it’s one of the sections you can add.

Depending on your privacy settings, this information can be visible to the public, so adjust your settings accordingly.

Remember, people who aren’t connected to you can’t email you, so including your contact information here can help your job search by giving them a way to reach you outside of LinkedIn. (You should also consider including a home or cell number in this section.)

Other things to include on your LinkedIn profile:
-Make sure you’ve included all the languages you speak.
-Include all the courses you’ve taken.
-Detail the key projects you’ve worked on (using the Project section).

Also, build up the number of Recommendations you have on your profile. Ideally, you want 1-2 Recommendations for every 100 contacts. Because the date the Recommendation was received will show up on your profile, aim to build your Recommendations slowly, over time. The best way to receive Recommendations is to give them. Commit to writing one Recommendation for people you’re connected to at least once a month.

Finally, one of the most important things you can do is to continue to build your network of connections. While LinkedIn only requires 50 connections for your profile to be “complete,” you need to grow your network beyond this. You should have a minimum of 100 connections. If you’re in an active job search, aim for making 10-25 new connections each month. The more connections you have, the better LinkedIn will work for you.