Resume

8 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Develop Leads

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By now, we have all heard of LinkedIn and how it can help you with your job search. If you have been following articles in this series, by now have an account and a robust profile. So what’s next? Developing leads! Here are 9 ways to use LinkedIn to help you in your job search:

Find people on LinkedIn that you know or want to know. Grow your connections list. Every time you reach out to someone to connect, create a customized connection request rather than using the default. The goal is to establish and nurture relationships that go both ways (it shouldn’t be just about you). Tell the person what it is that attracted you to them—perhaps a recent article that you liked or an award you want to congratulate them for. There are many people who do not accept connection requests from people who do not include a personalized note.

Look at jobs on LinkedIn. You can search for jobs under the “jobs” category; your search can be by key word, zip code, and more. Use advanced search to further refine your search. You can even let recruiters know that you’re interested. I even see federal government jobs posted on LinkedIn; LinkedIn is not just for the private sector anymore. Learn more at: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/157/searching-for-jobs-on-linkedin?lang=en.

Once you find potential jobs, use your connections to find out more. Find 1st level connections to people you know at the company/organization you’re targeting and reach out. Ask them about the organization and the job.

Use Company Profiles on LinkedIn to research the organizations you have targeted. You will see your connections at the organization, jobs posted, and more. You can follow the company too, so it will show up in your feed. And you can use this information to help you prepare for an interview.

Look at the profiles of your interviewers on LinkedIn. If you are called for an interview, you want to be as prepared a possible. Looking at the profiles of the people you’re interesting with is a great way to get a feel for them. You might find some connections or interests you have in common; knowing this information may help calm your nerves before the big day!

Leverage referrals and recommendations. If the job is listed on LinkedIn you can request a recommendation or referral from someone who works there. Most employers are more likely to hire someone they “know” or knows someone they know, so having a recommendation or referral from someone inhouse could be a real plus.

Take advantage of LinkedIn Premium. LinkedIn offers a free trial of its premium service. Try it and see if its features work for you. Transitioning military members get free LinkedIn premium for one year. Make sure to take advantage!

Make others take notice. Establish and reinforce your credibility as an expert in your field by publishing articles on LinkedIn Pulse. You can also upload recent white papers you have written or PowerPoint presentations you have made. Be sure to get clearance from your manager first…you don’t want to get in trouble for sharing what they might see as proprietary or confidential information!

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?

LinkedIn Profile Checklist

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How Good is Your LinkedIn Profile? If you are a do-it-yourself-er, you may want to see how your LinkedIn Profile stacks up. Check out this self-assessment worksheet for LinkedIn:

Profiles that are considered “complete” by LinkedIn’s standards receive 40 times more “opportunities” (contacts from prospective hiring managers and recruiters) than incomplete profiles, according to LinkedIn’s research. LinkedIn has its own criteria for “profile completeness.”

These are the items you need to have on your LinkedIn account in order to have a “complete” profile, according to LinkedIn:
• Your industry and location
• Up-to-date current position (with description)
• Two past positions (under “Experience”)
• Your education
• Skills (minimum of three)
• Profile photo
• A minimum of 50 Connections

A picture is worth 1,000 words. Is your LinkedIn profile photo giving the right impression?
• You have a photo on your LinkedIn profile
• The photo is appropriate for a business profile (not a glamour shot)
• Face is clearly recognizable (in focus, close up, looking at camera)
• Photo is high resolution (sharp, clear)

For your LinkedIn profile to help you reach your personal and professional goals, you must be able to communicate what makes you exceptional and compelling — this is your personal positioning, or “brand.”

Ensure that:
• Information in your LinkedIn profile is concise yet comprehensive and provides a good representation of your career and qualifications
• Keywords relevant to your job target are woven throughout your LinkedIn profile (helping increase your ability to be found online)
• This profile answers this question: “Would I want to hire someone with this profile?”
• The profile is attention-getting and persuasive

Do you make these mistakes with your LinkedIn profile?
• Profile is focused on a single job target. 
(Mistake: An unfocused profile tries to be “all things to all people”)

• Profile is written from the correct point of view. 
(Mistake: An informal profile written in third-person, or a formal profile written from the first person point of view – most LinkedIn profiles should be written in first person.)

• You use all the content sections available to you 
(Mistake: Not including information in all relevant sections 
— i.e., Honors & Awards, Languages, Certifications, Courses, Patents, Projects, Publications, etc.)

• Your Profile includes several positive Recommendations 
(Mistake: Not asking for Recommendations; not having enough Recommendations on your profile)

Do These 10 Things to Get that Federal Job You Want

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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!

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Create a search agent on USAJOBS to automatically send you job postings that meet your criteria.
  5. Make sure your resume is up-to-date so that you’re ready to apply for the job postings which have quick close dates.
  6. 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.
  7. 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?
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Resume

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Most of us are looking for quick and easy things to improve our resumes without a lot of work or time. Here are 10 things you can do; all totaled, these should take less than 30 minutes:

  1. Is your education listed first? If so, move it to the end unless you have no work experience. Most employers value your work experience more than your education. EXCEPTION: if you are an academic and presenting a formal CV.
  2. Are there tables embedded in your resume? If so, remove them.
  3. Does your resume go back more than 10 years or so? If so, eliminate your earlier work experience; employers want to know what you have done lately.
  4. Do the dates and jobs on your resume match the dates and jobs on your LinkedIn Profile? If not, make them match.
  5. Does your resume include a Hobbies section? A Personal section? Something similar? Delete them; everything on your resume should be focused on your target job.
  6. Does your resume include references? Or the statement, “references available upon request”? If so, delete this; all employers know that you will provide references if asked.
  7. Do you still have your college graduation date? And it was more than 10 years ago? Delete it.
  8. Is your private sector resume more than 2 pages? It shouldn’t be. Likewise, if your federal resume is ONLY 2 pages, more content is needed. A typical federal resume is 4-6 pages.
  9. Do you have an objective statement? If so, get rid of it; your objective is to get the job! Which is implied by applying for it.
  10. Does your resume have typos or grammatical errors? Not sure? Ask someone else to read it and fix them.

BONUS: Does your resume contain key words for the positions you’re targeting? If not, add them. It’s not about knowing that you can do the job but proving that you already have!