One of the main concerns executives have regarding their network is how to restore it when they’ve neglected it for a while. It’s typical for this to happen when you have a steady job you’re comfortable in. However, not all is lost, you can restore and strengthen your current network at any time. Updating your LinkedIn profile is a good place to start, and then you can go from there. Here are some of the best ways to restore and strengthen your network if it has gone stale.
Begin With Personal Branding
Don’t reach out to people in your network until you’ve solidified your personal branding strategy. This involves targeting and researching other professionals to determine whether what you have to offer will meet their specific needs. And you also have to know what you want in return. People enjoy helping people, so provide value and you will receive the rewards you want in return.
Reach Out To Current Connections
You’ll quickly realize other executives understand when you haven’t reached out to them in a while. A quick apology for not staying connected is sometimes all it takes to rekindle the relationship. Of course, if your intentions are to eventually ask them about possible job or business opportunities, then don’t waste a lot of time with small talk. Finding some balance in your communications is important and can improve your personal branding when you do it the right way.
Build New Relationships
Once you’ve reconnected with several professionals, start expanding your network to include new people. View the LinkedIn profile of different people in your industry and see if you have similar interests. Don’t hesitate to invite them to connect, as other professionals are usually always willing to expand their network as well.
Be Active on LinkedIn
Having a stale LinkedIn profile isn’t a good idea if you want to have a strong network. Being active on LinkedIn simply means talking to people privately, communicating in LinkedIn groups, sharing updates, posting new content and more. You don’t have to spend a significant amount of time on a daily basis with your LinkedIn actions, but when people know you’re engaged, they will more likely connect with you. Professional Resume Services has a team of professional executive resume writers ready to help you with every aspect of your job search. The importance of having a large network today can’t be understated. Sometimes revamping your LinkedIn profile is all you need to get back on the right track of having a strong network. To learn more about how we can help you strengthen your network and boost your personal brand, don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.
Networking is valuable whether you’re actively looking for a job or not. If for some reason you believe building your network doesn’t bring any value to your personal or professional career, then there’s a chance you may be doing it wrong. Having a solid LinkedIn profile is one of the most effective ways to make new connections. But how you approach each of those connections could be the difference between them being a viable resource or just another name. If you’re going to spend time with the top rated resume writing services and attending networking events, then it’s best to do it the right way. Here are some of the mistakes executives make when networking.
Talking Too Much
It’s human nature to talk about yourself, since no one knows more about you than you. However, when you’re networking, it’s better to allow the other person to do the talking and just be a great listener. Of course, you have to throw in a story or two or build on the points the other person makes, but try not to take control of the conversation. Similarly to executive resume writing, using the right words is better than using a high quantity of words.
Not Talking To Enough People
It’s also human nature to find an interesting person and spend the entire evening talking to them. The point of networking events, though, is to talk to a variety of people to get your name out there more. To help you with this, take a look at your LinkedIn profile before the event and see which of your connections are attending a certain event. Write down a list of names or make a mental note about them and seek them out at the event. When you’re a LinkedIn connection with someone, they should at least see your face as being familiar, at the very least. Even if you just introduce yourself and hand out a business card, it’s better than not speaking to that person at all.
Neglecting to Follow Up
Even if you’ve done the first two points to perfection, not following up with them will make all of your efforts disappear. You don’t have to call, email or text them right when you leave the event, but consider visiting their LinkedIn profile afterward and thank them for the opportunity to talk to them. At that point, you can invite them to other events or see if they would like to get together with you individually to talk more. You don’t necessarily have to follow up with every person you talked to at the event. But you should follow up with the people you connected with the most. Professional Resume Services wants to help enhance your networking efforts. We are one of the top rated resume writing services because we cater to each individual’s needs. Whether you need help with executive resume writing, cover letter writing or just need networking tips, we are here to help. Don’t hesitate to contact us at any time for any tips or advice as it relates to your professional career.
Is There Such a Thing as Too Many LinkedIn Connections?
When it comes to LinkedIn profile development, sometimes executives have more questions than answers. It’s actually a good thing to have questions, though, because not developing your profile enough won’t benefit you much. One of the most common questions is whether it’s possible to have too many connections. The answer varies depending on who you ask, but the short answer is “no, but it depends.” When you work with a reputable LinkedIn profile writing service, they will help you get the right amount of valuable connections, which is more important than the quantity of connections. Here are some things to consider when it comes to the number of connections you have.
Who To Connect With
When learning how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you have to keep your connections in mind. You want to provide some sort of value on your page, so people will want to reach out to you. But who exactly should you connect with? These people can include:
Hiring managers at companies you’re interested in working for
Recruiters in your industry
Past and current co-workers
Friends and colleagues with similar interests
Fellow alumni
Business owners, clients or vendors you’ve worked with in the past
These are just a few of the types of people who are considered valuable connections. Simply sending a connection invitation to random people won’t do any good, and no LinkedIn profile writing service will suggest it.
Create A Personalized Message With Each Connection
Making every connection meaningful is easier than it sounds. When you send an invitation to connect, you have the opportunity to send a personalized message to the recipient. Take advantage of this! There’s no need to write an entire story in your message, but a couple of sentences demonstrating your interest in connecting with them will go a long way. If you do this with every person you connect with, then each one will be valuable, no matter how many invitations you send.
Benefits of Having More LinkedIn Connections
The bottom line is, the more connections you have on LinkedIn, the more visible your profile will be. As long as you’ve spent a good amount of time on your LinkedIn profile development, then there will be many more benefits compared to disadvantages from having this high number. When you have more than 500 connections on LinkedIn, your profile will rank higher in search results, so more people will be able to find you. Having this many connections also gives you a platform to be able to spread your value and personal brand to more people. Professional Resume Services is here to help with your LinkedIn profile development. Having a large number of connections is great, but how you treat those connections will make a difference in their value. If you’re ever in need of assistance with your LinkedIn profile, don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.
3 Ways Executive Branding Can Help Your Potential Employers
When you think about personal branding for senior level managers, it’s only natural to think about your own career and how it benefits you. However, the company you work for also plays a large role in your own branding and vice versa. An important and overlooked factor in c-level personal branding is exactly how it impacts your current or potential employers. The strongest companies today have the best leaders at the top whose brands align with the company mission and values. Here are a few ways executive branding can benefit your employers.
Boost Your Company’s Brand Recognition
Associating a person with a company is becoming more common nowadays. Consumers want to be able to relate and engage with a brand. So when you have established a solid brand for yourself, the company you work for will benefit from it as well by having a cohesive brand recognition. An interesting concept is when an executive leaves one company for another, and how the move impacts both companies. Most of the time the actual person isn’t affected much, but consumers have a decision to make whether to follow a person or to be loyal to a company.
Create Trust For Everyone
Trust is essential to boost your c-level personal branding. There’s no surefire way to damage your company’s reputation than by being seen as an untrustworthy person. On the other hand, when a company has a reputation of trustworthiness, and your brand is aligned with those values, everyone as a whole will benefit. Authenticity is essential in today’s business world, since consumers can identify a fraud from a mile away. The more people who believe what you say, the more trustworthy you and your company will be.
Expand Reach Through Connectedness
One way to boost personal branding for senior level managers is by being engaged with your LinkedIn profile. Connecting with others online is a great way to increase brand recognition, trust and expand your company’s reach. Simply being active on social media in engaging ways will naturally improve your brand. Just be careful with everything you put on the Internet, since one misstep can damage the brand you’ve worked so hard to build. Professional Resume Services is here to help executives with their c-level personal branding. Whether it’s by optimizing your LinkedIn profile or creating a stellar resume for a networking event, we are here for you when you need us. To learn more about executive branding and how it can benefit you and your company, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
The First Month is Critical for Any New Executive Job
You’ve worked so hard on your job search to find a perfect fit for your career and it’s finally paid off. Now that you’re at your new job, what are you supposed to do? Depending on the nature of the job, you may be thrown right into the fire and be slammed with work right away. However, most employers will ease in a new executive and allow them to get a feel for their new position, their co-workers and the overall culture in general. The first month of your new job is critical for setting the standard of your work and becoming familiar with systems and processes you can’t develop or learn through a LinkedIn profile. Here are some things to do during the first month of your new job.
Fit In With The Culture
You likely did some research about the culture of your new company during the job search. It was important to learn about the culture while writing an executive bio, and the professional resume writing service you used likely took the culture into consideration as they crafted your resume as well. However, there’s nothing like getting first-hand knowledge and experience to learn how people operate on a daily basis. You should have a basic knowledge of the company’s culture before you even begin your first day, but taking further steps to ensure you fit in as much as possible will benefit you as well.
Make Internal Connections
Connect with anyone you can within the office during your first month. You may have seen some of your coworkers’ LinkedIn profiles, but stop by and have a short conversation whenever you have a chance. This goes for anyone outside of your department as well. Connect with them on a work level and a personal level as appropriate so they will get a sense of who you are and you will establish your reputation along the way.
Build Your Credibility To Set The Standard
Your professional resume writing service helped you build credibility in your resume, but now it’s time to show it. Go above and beyond the job duties given to you during the first month. Building this credibility right away will help set the standard and give others the impression they can rely on you to get the job done.
Don’t Be Overly Ambitious
Just be careful about being too ambitious, since you don’t want to show up anyone during your first month. This goes for questioning internal policies and procedures as well. It’s ok to make suggestions at times, but it’s also important to understand every company operates differently and some of these things need to be accepted without rocking the boat. Professional Resume Services is here to help you throughout your job search process and beyond. While we are known as a professional resume writing service, we are well rounded in our experience working with executives throughout their career. To learn more about how we can help you at any stage of your career, feel free to contact us at any time.
Everyone has heard about the importance of networking, and it’s no secret the most successful executives generally have a large network. The more you network, the more you’ll be able to boost your executive profile and earn yourself a great reputation within your industry and beyond. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be actively looking for a job in order to effectively network. Here are some tips to consider regarding professional networking at any stage of your career.
Start With Your Own Network
People who are uncomfortable networking should start with their own network. When you optimize your LinkedIn profile, you’ll make connections with your current co-workers and other professionals outside of your organization. Find your comfort zone at first by talking to familiar faces and re-establishing relationships.
Your Network Needs Constant Attention
Even if you’re comfortable with your job and have no intention of visiting the top resume writing services any time soon, you still have to give some attention to your network. Maintaining solid relationships with your network will help you stay informed within your industry, have your recruiting list built up at all times and know what’s happening with your competition.
Don’t Prioritize Yourself
Everyone is naturally more comfortable talking about themselves. However, don’t fall into that trap. Instead, ask leading questions to the person you’re talking to and let them do most of the talking. When you let the other person talk about themselves while you listen attentively, you’ll be surprised at how much they will admire you.
Eliminate The Salesman Mentality
Many people make the mistake of thinking a professional networking event is only to sell yourself. That couldn’t be further from the truth. While your executive profile can be promoted at these events, you should also eliminate any trace of a salesman mentality you have. Instead, focus your effort and attention on developing new relationships and learn how you can help them without selling any services. Sharing your experiences genuinely with another professional will go a long way in boosting your reputation.
Reach Out To A Mentor
Most executives have a mentor very close to them within their organization. Finding another mentor outside of your inner circle can be beneficial as well. You may want to learn something new, develop professionally in different ways or even want to start the process of searching for a new job. If that’s the case, then having the help of a mentor combined with utilizing the top resume writing services can help you tremendously. Professional Resume Services wants to help you beyond simply writing your executive profile for you. We enjoy being involved with your career, no matter what stage you are at. For more tips like this, or assistance with writing a resume or cover letter, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time.
How to Make Your Executive LinkedIn Profile Stand Out
Utilizing LinkedIn to its fullest extent is important for professionals at any level. Whether you’re looking for a new job actively or if you simply want to boost your brand, seeking assistance from a LinkedIn profile writing service is never a bad idea. Most executives today have a LinkedIn profile, but not all of them know how to optimize it to make it stand out among the rest. You have to be careful with what you include and how you present yourself online, as you would on your resume or anywhere else. Here are some great tips on how to make your executive LinkedIn profile stand out.
Align Your LinkedIn Profile With Your Online Brand
Any recruiter, hiring manager or even a colleague will look at your LinkedIn profile as well as any other social media outlets, blogs or websites to get an idea of your brand. If you aren’t sure what your online brand currently is, now is a good time to search for your name in a search engine and look at the results. A good LinkedIn profile writing service will help match the contents of your profile to your online brand so there are no discrepancies. This alignment is critical in how you are perceived to other executives, employers or recruiters.
Fill Out Your Profile Page Completely
Having a LinkedIn profile isn’t enough today. Be sure to fill out every section as much as possible and keep it updated. It’s especially important to focus on the summary section, as this is the first thing people will see when they visit your profile. This section is a great opportunity to summarize your brand in just a couple sentences, and it could be the difference between someone viewing the rest of your profile or moving on to someone else.
Join Groups and Be Active
When you join LinkedIn groups, those groups will be displayed on your profile page. It may be tempting to join dozens of groups, but it’s actually a better strategy to only stick with a handful and be more active in those. The more active you are, the more people will look at your LinkedIn profile. As such, it may be best to work with a LinkedIn profile writing service before you get too active to be sure yours stands out when people view it. At Professional Resume Services, we pride ourselves on being more than just a team of professional executive resume writers. We enjoy helping professionals with various aspects of their job search, including developing their LinkedIn and overall online presence. Never hesitate to reach out to us for assistance with a job search, developing your online brand or for resume writing.
Networking is essential in the business world today if you want to land the job of your dreams. But what if you already have a job? There are still plenty of reasons to continue your networking efforts, and doing so within your workplace is beneficial as well. If you work for a large company, chances are you may not know half of the people you work with. Unlike networking to find a new job, you won’t have to visit the top resume writing services to make an impression on a co-worker. All it takes is a friendly conversation to learn more about someone. Here are a few tips for networking within your current workplace.
Strike A Lunchtime Conversation
Your lunch hour is a good time to unwind and take a break. If you’re going to the break room anyway, try striking up a conversation with someone instead of sitting in the corner by yourself. This is a perfect opportunity to discuss matters not related to work and could even lead to a strong personal and business connection. Most people will welcome a lunchtime conversation, but you should also be respectful and notice certain signs if the other person doesn’t want to talk at the moment.
Take Time To Be Friendly
You don’t have to visit an executive resume service to know being friendly will help you make more connections. Simply asking someone how their day is going or just smiling at them in the hallway can create a memorable moment. It also creates somewhat of an icebreaker when you see the same person in the break room, elevator or anywhere else you have a few seconds to strike up a conversation. Friendliness is closely related to familiarity, and the more your face is familiar to others, the easier it will be to connect with them.
Introduce Yourself To New Hires
A newly hired professional in your organization is likely eager to meet as many people as possible. Even if you aren’t comfortable with networking at any capacity, talking to a new hire is easy. If you know their name ahead of time, you can look at their LinkedIn profile to help you with a conversation starter. Give the new hire some useful tips and they’ll remember you and connect with you more often.
Check LinkedIn
The easiest connections to make with your LinkedIn profile are the ones who work with you. In fact, LinkedIn may even recognize the same company name in other profiles and suggest you connect with them. When you make LinkedIn connections with people in your workplace, you’ll build some familiarity and make conversations much easier to get started when you interact in person. Professional Resume Services is more than simply an executive resume service. We help professionals with their networking efforts, LinkedIn profile building and much more. Any time a professional needs us with any aspect of their current job or job search, we are always available. Feel free to contact us at any time if you need assistance with your networking efforts.
