LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform for professionals, but it doesn’t mean everyone utilizes it the right way. If you have questions about how to improve your LinkedIn profile development, you’ve come to the right place. Many people have legitimate questions about LinkedIn, so we’ve done our best to gather the most common questions and answer them for you here.
1. How is LinkedIn Different From Other Social Media Platforms?
LinkedIn is viewed more as a professional social media platform rather than one designed for entertainment. People use Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to connect with friends or catch up on the latest celebrity gossip in real-time. That’s not what LinkedIn is about. Any LinkedIn profile service will also tell you to clean up your other profiles so it doesn’t tarnish your LinkedIn profile.
2. What Information Should You Include on LinkedIn?
Many people make the mistake of making their LinkedIn profile look exactly like their executive resume. A good LinkedIn profile writing service will tell you to use your resume as a base for information, but go into more detail about accomplishments and achievements on your LinkedIn profile. This is your chance to show your personality a little more than you can in a resume. Use the opportunity to brag on yourself as well!
3. How Important Are LinkedIn Groups?
Be selective about the groups you join and participate in them frequently. This is a great opportunity to meet new people in your industry. If you’re searching for a job, you may find your next employer in these groups. There are thousands of different groups, so definitely use them to your advantage.
4. Can You Find A Job Through LinkedIn?
Sometimes you’ll see job postings via LinkedIn, but you probably shouldn’t rely on them. The key to good LinkedIn profile development is to get your profile noticed by recruiters or hiring managers. Even if you don’t see actual job postings, it doesn’t mean you can’t get your foot in the door to land an interview with a well-developed profile.
5. How Can You Best Utilize Your LinkedIn Profile?
Highlighting your achievements and building on your resume are the best ways to utilize your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to remove any unprofessional pictures or anything you wouldn’t want an employer to see. Be active on LinkedIn and you never know who you may cross paths with along the way.
Although these are the most common LinkedIn questions, we know you may have many more. Feel free to contact us at any time with any of your burning LinkedIn questions.
Unfortunately, many executives never look at the privacy settings on their LinkedIn profile. While it won’t harm anything most of the time if your profile is completely public, there are some instances where it’s best to keep your profile a little more private. Even a LinkedIn profile service will tell you it’s not always advisable to share your profile with anyone and everyone. Here are a few things you should know about how and why you shouldn’t always have your LinkedIn profile viewable to the entire online world.
Restrict Your Profile if Currently Employed
If you don’t want your current employer or coworkers to know you’re looking for a new job, it’s best to restrict your LinkedIn profile as much as possible. There are many different ways to put restrictions on your profile, so a LinkedIn profile service can help ensure people inside and outside your network see the things you want them to see.
Make Your Profile Public if Unemployed
On the other side, if you’re unemployed or don’t care if your current employer sees you’re on the job hunt, you can make your profile public to everyone. Just be sure to study the art of LinkedIn profile writing, so you don’t damage your chances of landing a job with your public profile with something you’ve written.
There’s no need to keep any components of your profile private if you want to be discovered on LinkedIn by a recruiter or hiring manager. Some recruiters will bypass your profile altogether if it is heavily restricted, since it indicates you may have something to hide.
Update Notification Settings
Another important but little-known factor of LinkedIn profile development is what your connections can see regarding your activity. Some people get annoyed if they have to read about every single action you take, like joining a group, making a comment, connecting with someone new and more. To prevent annoying your connections, update your notification settings to only notify people of important things like job changes or important memos.
The privacy of your LinkedIn profile is something many people aren’t sure how to handle. You want people to discover you, but you also don’t want just anyone to have access to your information. For more tips on the challenges of LinkedIn profile development, feel free to contact us.
An executive job search can be exciting and stressful all at the same time. Like any job search, it can seem like you’re on a daily roller coaster of emotions until you finally land a job. If you take some strategic steps and avoid common mistakes, you’ll be able to reduce the length of your search. Using executive resume services is a good first step to get you on the right track, but before you do that, be sure to heed some of these common mistakes executives make with their job search.
1. Failing to Target Your Search
At first, it may seem like a good strategy to cast your net far and wide. However, this method doesn’t produce great results most of the time. The top resume writing services will suggest tailoring your resume to specific companies, rather than trying to write a general one. Resume targeting is a key aspect in an executive job search, but it’s also one of the things executives fail to do.
2. Not Networking
The days of sending in a resume online and getting a call for an interview the next day are virtually over. Executive resume services suggest handing your resumes to people in person at networking events, rather than replying to an online job post. The power of networking should never be underestimated, but you would be surprised at how many executives don’t see the importance.
3. Being Unprepared
Always be prepared, whether you’re networking or doing anything related to your job search. Being prepared means cleaning up your social media profiles, enhancing your online presence, visiting with executive resume writers and more. You need to be prepared if a potential employer decides to contact you.
4. Not Changing Strategies
Just like you have to adapt to the ever-changing business world, you have to change job search strategies occasionally also. Doing the same thing over and over again can get frustrating when you continue getting similar results. Be open to changing your executive job search strategy if you aren’t getting the results you desire.
5. Spending Too Much Time or Not Enough Time
Searching for an executive job is a full time job itself. However, just like an actual job, spending too much time or too little time doing it can lead to underperforming. Find a good balance and speak with executive resume services if you find yourself hitting a rut in your search.
Sometimes executive resume writers can help you avoid mistakes in your job search before you make them. Feel free to contact us with any questions about other mistakes to be aware of.
Considering the current state of the employment world, it’s commonplace for people to have employment gaps. However, a gap of a few months is much different than gaps of a few years. When you use an executive resume writing service, you can easily hide the small gaps or they can help you clearly explain the longer gaps. The main thing is to not let any employment gaps deter you from applying for executive positions. There are many ways to address the gaps where they won’t be a problem.
Don’t Worry About the Small Stuff
If you only had a few months of unemployment, you probably don’t even have to acknowledge it in your resume. Many professional resume writing services will only include the years of employment rather than months anyway. A few months here or there shouldn’t raise any red flags.
Be as Honest as Possible
Nowadays it’s completely understandable for someone to take time off from employment to go back to school or to raise kids. If you had a situation like that, the best thing to do is be honest about it. You can explain in a sentence in your cover letter that you took time off to raise your family or to seek higher education. Place the section right in line with your employment history and you likely won’t be questioned about it in a negative way.
The tricky part is if you took time off to do other things like travel the world or if you just didn’t like your previous job. For those situations, you may need to consult with some of the top resume writing services to help you address the employment gap in a professional way that won’t hurt your chances of getting an interview.
Include Volunteer, Consulting, or Unpaid Experience
No matter what your initial reason was for leaving your previous job, you can easily fill the gap with any volunteer work, consulting, or unpaid experience you got. Some people believe they are ready to retire, but then realize they have to stay busy. Volunteering for several hours each week or gaining valuable experience elsewhere could be great ways to fill your employment gaps.
If you consulted during this time, that counts as a position! Gather up what you did and add that to your resume as a role. Adding that experience will be a benefit and show the reader that you were still working.
The main takeaway professional resume writing services will tell you is to not worry too much about employment gaps. There are plenty of creative ways to fill those gaps to make them a non-issue, so feel free to reach out to us if you need assistance.
Five Excellent Ways to Kick off Your New Year’s Job Search!
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Many people put their job search on hold throughout the holiday season, and that’s ok! With the New Year here, now is the time to revamp your job search and kick it off the right way to set yourself up for a great 2017. No matter what stage you’re in with your job search, it’s never too late to get started. In fact, the tips we provide here are great for anyone, whether you’re just considering a new job or if you’re ready to send resumes to different companies.
1. Attend Networking Events
Even the best resume writing services will tell you the best way to put your resume to use is to network with other professionals. As an executive, your name has to be known in the industry to have any kind of credibility. So go out and make it a point to meet new people every week to kick start your job search!
2. Set Achievable Goals
Setting unrealistic goals can put a damper on your job search because it’s easier to get discouraged. If one of your goals is to grow your network, get in touch with an executive LinkedIn profile writer to help set you on the path of success.
3. Update Your Executive Resume
If you don’t have the skills for writing a professional resume, you’re not alone. That’s why many executives use the best resume writing services when it’s time to update their resume. There’s never a better time than the present to update your skills and accomplishments, so make it a priority to start the year.
4. Revamp Your Social Networking Profile
LinkedIn is one of the best tools to help you kick off your New Year’s job search. However, if it’s not developed properly, it could actually hurt your chances of landing the job you desire. If you need to, hire an executive LinkedIn profile writer to ensure everything you need to have on your page is there.
5. Be Open to Change
It’s easy to have tunnel vision when looking for a new job, but try to be as open-minded as possible. New career opportunities can come from anywhere, so if you have a closed mind you may end up missing out on a great new job.
The New Year is a great time to start your job search on the right note. If you need any more hints or help along the way, feel free to contact us.
Traditional approaches to finding a new job are no longer viable options. Nowadays, if you don’t have an online presence by way of social media, then you will find yourself way behind the curve. As an executive with years of experience, you may not think social media is important for your career, but you could be missing out on great opportunities. With the competition being as high as it’s ever been, LinkedIn profile development services are constantly helping executives stay on top of the curve. Here are some important things you need to know about how and why to incorporate social media into your job search.
Why is Social Media Important?
The majority of executive jobs aren’t posted online. Companies are using recruiting services and headhunters to find the best talent to fill their jobs, which further stresses the importance of LinkedIn profile development services. If you don’t have a complete social media presence, then your chances of being found are slim-to-none.
Hiring a LinkedIn profile service to help you develop your profile is a great way to start off your job search the right way this year. You need to have the right keywords, phrases, skills and experience listed on your profile in order to get recognized. Executives don’t always know or understand what recruiters are looking for, so different services can help polish up your profile to make it as effective and recognizable as possible.
How to Carefully Incorporate Social Media Into Your Job Search
Social media can put you ahead of the curve or it can seriously diminish your chances of getting a job, depending on how you utilize it. Just like headhunters use social media to find executives to fill positions, you can use it to your benefit as well.
Instead of replying to a job post online, look up some high-level people at the company on LinkedIn and reach out to them personally. This could help your name stand out, but you also want to be careful not to overdo it. If you don’t receive a response within a week, you can follow-up, but don’t keep bugging them to the point where they ignore you completely.
How to Begin
Start by looking into LinkedIn profile writing services. These services will help you with the dos and don’ts of social media when it pertains to your job search. Once you have an understanding of how social media can work for you and against you, you’ll be able to jump-start your job search this New Year.
For more information about the ins-and-outs of the relationship between social media and your job search, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
When it comes to networking, you don’t always have to step completely out of your shell to meet new people. One of the common misconceptions people have about networking is you have to attend professional events to make new contacts. However, sometimes you can make a professional contact just by living your daily life and being friendly. Here are some unique ways you can expand your network without having to attend a professional networking event.
1. Volunteer
Volunteering is always good to do anyway, but you also never know whom you might meet in the process. Strike up a conversation with your fellow volunteers and learn a little more about their life from a personal and professional standpoint. Plus, volunteering will help with your LinkedIn profile development and you can connect with other people who have volunteered with the same organization (possibly in other cities as well).
2. Go to the Gym
The gym generally isn’t a place people expect to make good networking contacts. However, just talking to the person next to you could lead to good conversations about a variety of topics. Just don’t be overly pushy when trying to strike up a conversation. Sometimes people want to stick to themselves when they’re at the gym, so be sure to recognize these cues and don’t bother people who want to stay to themselves.
3. Church Groups
Most professional resume writing services won’t ask you to put any church organizations on your resume, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable for networking purposes. Depending on how active you are in your church group, you could make some lifelong friends and quality business contacts just by participating in events.
4. Just Be Friendly
You don’t need a LinkedIn profile writing service to tell you friendliness is the best way to make good connections. You can network just about anywhere you go. The grocery store, the park, restaurants and anywhere else could be perfect for networking if you are friendly. Most people don’t mind talking to other people and being friendly. You never know where the conversation might lead. There are a lot of interesting people in the world who could help your professional growth; you just have to find them!
You don’t have to be skilled at LinkedIn profile development in order to grow your network. For other networking tips and to learn how you can approach people in a professional manner, feel free to contact us at any time.
Networking events can be intimidating, especially if you are an introvert by nature. But for executives, networking is crucial to landing the job you want in the future. Sometimes even the best executive resume writing service can’t help you get the job you want if you don’t take the necessary steps to connect with people in your industry. Here are five effective ways you can break the ice and make yourself known at executive networking events.
1. Arrive Early
When you arrive early, there will be fewer people present. This will make approaching people less intimidating, since there is more of a one-on-one interaction. Plus, you could meet someone who is extroverted and can introduce you to more people as they arrive, so just follow their lead if that happens!
2. Bring a Friend or Colleague With You
You shouldn’t always hang out with the person you know at a networking event, but it can help to break the ice. Inviting other people into your conversation could help get the ball rolling for other conversations and introductions, where you could eventually split away from your friend and meet new people.
3. Be Prepared With Questions
Any executive resume service can help you come up with questions to use at your networking event. Questions are the best ways to break the ice, because people are generally more interested in themselves than you. Just listen to other executives talk about themselves and their accomplishments, and ask engaging follow-up questions, and you’ll seem like a networking expert.
4. Be Approachable
No one wants to talk to a person standing in the corner with their arms crossed or their hands in their pockets. If this is how you stand when you’re uncomfortable, then print out some copies of your executive bio and hold onto them. This will help you look more approachable and someone may even ask what you’re holding!
5. Be Yourself
The best executive resume writing service will tell you to be yourself on paper and in person. If you’re naturally introverted, embrace it and find ways to break out of your shell. This is a much more effective way of breaking the ice rather than trying to act like an extrovert. Most executives will be able to tell a fake person right away, so don’t let that be you.
Networking events are perfect for meeting new people to help you land the job you desire. If you need help or advice about attending these events, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
