When you start seeing LinkedIn as a way to enhance your career for the long-term rather than simply a platform you need to update to keep up with the trends, then you’ll have many more opportunities come your way. In order to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you must go beyond simply filling it out until it’s 100% complete. Of course, that’s the first step you have to take, but consider it to be the beginning rather than the end result. The best executive LinkedIn profiles are full of recommendations, skills, contacts, connections and much more. Here are three effective ways to go above and beyond to fully optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Complete More Than Just The Recommended Profile Sections
Once your professional LinkedIn profile writer has helped you complete the necessary sections of your profile, look at what else can be filled in. This may mean adding new skills as you develop them, discussing volunteer experience, mentioning organizations you’re a part of, any coursework you’re actively participating in and more. The idea is to give whoever views your profile a complete view of your skills, achievements and personality.
Build Your Network of Connections
The more quality connections you have on LinkedIn, the higher up your name will show in the search results. Getting to 500+ connections is easier than you may think, but it can require some effort depending on what stage you’re at in your career. Take a look at companies in your industry and see who you can connect with. You can also consider reaching out to past co-workers to build up your connections list. Any professional LinkedIn profile writer will also recommend joining LinkedIn groups relevant to your industry and participating in meaningful discussions. This may be the most effective way to build your list of connections naturally, since the other group members will get to know you well with the way you communicate.
Interact Regularly With Your Connections
Continue looking at different executive LinkedIn profiles and reaching out to people to share a piece of news or to simply check in with them. The more your name is in their mind, the better the chances are of them remembering you if an opportunity arises. And as far as the ability to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you may receive endorsements or recommendations from these people as a sign of appreciation for your interactions with them.
Professional Resume Services works with executive LinkedIn profiles regularly to ensure they are fully optimized. Having an optimized LinkedIn profile is a necessity in today’s world of business, but you also have to make sure yours is handled appropriately. If you’re ever in any need of assistance with the development of your LinkedIn profile, feel free to contact us at any time and we would be happy to help.
Spending time on LinkedIn profile development can set you up for success in many different ways. One of the main benefits of LinkedIn is it gives you a platform to demonstrate your personal brand. Too many executives believe they don’t need to focus on their online brand since they have a good reputation within their company. However, you still have to maintain a good online reputation in the event of a job change or to even look good for your current company. Here are some effective ways a professional LinkedIn profile writer can help you boost your online brand through the LinkedIn platform.
Optimize Your Profile Header
When you’re learning how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you have to consider Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Your profile header should contain terms employers and recruiters will search for. You only have 120 characters in your profile header, so leave out any fluff and only use terms that reflect your brand closely.
Write Useful Information In Each Section
Original content is highly underrated. For one, the more useful information you have on your LinkedIn profile, the better the chances are of you incorporating relevant keywords and getting discovered. Original information is also valuable when you write it geared toward your target employers. Anyone who reads your LinkedIn profile should have a strong grasp on who you are as a person and as a professional, and those are exposed with solid writing skills and providing relevant information.
Expand Your Network
One key to effective LinkedIn profile development is to expand your network so you’ll have more connections. When you have more than 500 connections on LinkedIn, your profile will show up earlier in the search results and give you a better chance of being discovered. Utilize these connections to your advantage by interacting with as many of them as you can, which will help build your personal brand in the process.
Be Active
You can’t simply create a LinkedIn profile and expect to automatically boost your online personal brand. You have to be active by posting updates frequently, creating original content, interacting in groups and commenting on other articles. The more you share your knowledge and expertise, the more you’ll naturally boost your brand and your name will be widely known across different industries.
Create Original Content And Comment on Others
Any professional LinkedIn profile writer will suggest writing blogs or other pieces of helpful information, as well as commenting on other original pieces of content. You never know who will find your expertise valuable and it could lead you to opportunities you didn’t even know were available. No one will know you’re an expert in a certain area unless you let them know, and writing and posting articles or blogs are great ways to do so.
At Professional Resume Services, we believe LinkedIn is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to boosting your online personal brand. Your LinkedIn profile should be one of the first results that show up when you do a Google search for your name. If it isn’t for you, then be sure to contact us for assistance on optimizing your profile to enhance your brand.
You can have an extensive amount of experience with unique skill sets and seem like a perfect fit for a job, but employers will still be hesitant to hire you if you don’t have a solid online presence. In this day and age, leaders have to be visible to the public. Having social proof that you are who you say you are is one thing, and seeing how you would be viewed in the eyes of potential customers is another. So how can you ensure your c-level personal branding is up to par? Here’s the proper way to build your online personal brand and how to manage it for years to come.
Diversify Your Visibility
You may start by working with a LinkedIn profile writing service to develop your LinkedIn profile. This is a critical component of any good online image, but it won’t build your brand alone. You also have to diversify your visibility by being active on other sites like Twitter, Facebook, your own blog and maybe even commenting on blogs written by other professionals. Any LinkedIn profile writing service will say the more visible you are, the stronger your online brand will be. So creating unique, insightful and relevant content and posting it across multiple platforms can give you the diversity you need.
Clean Up Your Online Image
Employers want to know as much as they can about a candidate. Most of the time it means they are going to run a Google search for your name and see what comes up. Before this happens, you should run the same search yourself and clean up anything you don’t want other people to see. The goal is to have your LinkedIn executive profile show up at the top of the search results so there’s no questioning in your online presence.
Never Stop Enhancing Your Personal Brand
You should never stop building and managing your online c-level personal branding. A lot of the work is done upfront with building a solid reputation, but after that it’s important to continue posting new content and staying active. Do a Google search for your name frequently just to ensure everything is still clean. The thing with c-level personal branding is you can never stop working on it if you want to maintain a strong reputation.
Professional Resume Services has plenty of tips and tricks to help executives build and manage their personal brand online. Our LinkedIn profile writing service is designed to help you create a profile from scratch or even tweak and polish your existing profile. It takes time to build your personal brand, but it’s well worth the effort. Feel free to reach out to us at any time for assistance along the way.
The New Year brings a perfect opportunity to revisit your goals from the previous year and set new ones to strive to achieve. As an executive, one of your goals may revolve around enhancing your career in different ways, which may include improving your c-level personal branding. Your personal brand isn’t something you can just create and then leave it alone. It’s a constant effort throughout the days, weeks, months and years, and sometimes it needs to be revamped if it gets too stagnant. Here are some things to look for to determine whether your c-level personal branding could use a boost.
How Has Your Reputation Changed Recently?
When it comes to personal branding for senior level managers, reputations can change throughout the course of the year. The hope is your reputation will change for the better, but sometimes poor decision-making can lead to a less-than-desirable new reputation. The good news is you can repair your reputation by focusing on c-level personal branding improvements. You may have to go out of your way to help others and demonstrate your expertise, but these small daily steps will go a long way in repairing your reputation and brand.
Evaluate Your Accomplishments From The Past Year
Think about the various developments that occurred throughout the past year. If you received more job responsibilities or achieved new accomplishments, then your LinkedIn profile needs to reflect them. No matter how different you may feel as a result of these achievements, those differences won’t be reflected in your personal brand unless you make them known. Your LinkedIn profile is the perfect way to do so by being active, posting new content, interacting with others and always promoting your brand.
Effectively Revamping Your Brand
Revamping your brand comes down to offering expertise to others they can’t get anywhere else. This can come through posting original content on your LinkedIn profile, making suggestions for improving the workplace, being more approachable, making new connections, volunteering, learning new skills and much more. The more you become a go-to resource for certain topics, the quicker your brand will be clearly demonstrated and revamped in the ways you want it to be.
Professional Resume Services believes c-level personal branding is one of the most important aspects of finding a job for executives. It takes time and effort to build and maintain your brand, but it’s well worth it for many reasons. This New Year, focus more on creating the brand you want by helping others and the benefits will start showing up in more ways than one. And never hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns about how to effectively revamp your personal brand.
With a lot of discussions revolving around the importance of having a completed LinkedIn profile, it’s easy to ask yourself whether it’s even worth the time to visit executive resume services to craft a quality resume. Sure, employers put a high priority on looking at a job candidate’s LinkedIn profile, but they also still want to see a formal resume in most cases. In fact, sometimes the HR department requires a copy of a candidate’s resume just to complete their hiring process, even if they already know they are hiring the candidate. Here’s why you should still prioritize writing an effective resume when searching for a new job.
Use LinkedIn To Make Your Resume Appealing
Any good LinkedIn profile writer will use the platform to entice employers to want to reach out and ask for a resume. The idea of your LinkedIn profile is to give your audience a wide view of your skill sets, knowledge, accomplishments, experience and more. This is the place to be more generic about this type of information, but be specific enough to intrigue the reader. Then when you get to a point where you send out a resume to someone who has viewed your LinkedIn profile, you can give them more details and specifics about the points they’ve already read.
Why Employers Still Want To See A Resume
Visiting executive resume services is still valuable, since employers want to see a candidate’s resume for formality purposes, if nothing else. With the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) being so common nowadays, it’s important to at least have a copy of your resume available for this purpose. Plus, during a job interview, it’s always good to provide your interviewers with a resume to give them a basis for asking questions. And even better, the information on your resume may even answer some of the questions they have about you.
There Will Always Be A Need For A Good Resume
We may see a time when writing an effective resume doesn’t carry as much weight as it does now, but there will always be a need for a good one. Some employers may prioritize LinkedIn as being their resource for finding potential candidates, with the final decision likely coming from how well-crafted your resume is and how well you handled the interview process. LinkedIn is a critical component of a job search, but you still have to give your executive resume plenty of attention as well.
Professional Resume Services knows how to create a perfect balance when it comes to the information you put on your LinkedIn profile, as well as your executive resume. These are two separate components of any job search, but they also have to be consistent with each other to make the biggest impact. Doing this can be time consuming and very detailed, so never hesitate to reach out to us if you need assistance in any area.
Executives oftentimes have different views on what exactly c-level personal branding is. Some see it as the best way to show who you really are and the value you bring to the table, while other people see it as being overly self-promoting. If your views fall into the latter category, then it’s important to understand personal branding for senior level managers is about much more than simply self-promotion. Here’s how you can benefit from your personal brand more than you may think.
Discover Your Purpose And Have A More Fulfilling Career
Many executives focus on c-level personal branding because it helps them learn more about themselves. They may want to be a leader, but if they become increasingly uncomfortable when they are put into leadership roles, they may realize they don’t have the personality for it. On the other hand, people may thrive when they are put into those positions unexpectedly. The point is when personal branding is at the forefront of your mind, you can learn a lot about yourself and experience a more fulfilling career as a result.
Understand What Culture Fits You Best
With employees focusing more on being happy in the workplace, the concept of culture is becoming even more important. If your personal brand involves interacting with co-workers and constantly collaborating as a team, then you probably won’t want to work for a company where the employees sit in their offices all day without coming out. Focusing on c-level personal branding can help you clearly identify which type of culture you belong in.
Build on Your Strengths And Improve Your Weaknesses
You likely know what your main strengths and weaknesses are, but chances are you will discover even more as your career progresses and you get more responsibilities. When you truly prioritize c-level personal branding, you can reflect on how your strengths can bring value to the table. It’s also important to evaluate and understand your weaknesses and work on improving them. Neither is possible without understanding your personal brand.
Become An Established Leader
Executives need to be go-to people for others within a company and even outside the company. When people view your LinkedIn profile, they should be able to clearly see your leadership qualities and see you as a valuable resource. If yours doesn’t show those qualities, then it may be time to work with an executive LinkedIn profile writer to help show your brand.
Professional Resume Services sees c-level personal branding as much more than just self-promotion. In fact, it’s actually the opposite. Sure, you have to tell people why you are valuable in order to promote your brand, but there are many more benefits to personal branding than just making yourself look good. To learn more about the concept of personal branding and some strategies to go with it, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Many executives don’t have to look for a new job very often. So if it’s been several years since you last conducted a job search, things could have changed drastically. Visiting a professional resume writing service should be your first step, just to make sure your resume is formatted properly and doesn’t have any mistakes. Some job seekers are still surprised it takes them so long to find a job. Here are some of common reasons why job searches take longer than expected and how you can expedite the process.
Not Targeting Effectively
Before even writing an effective resume, you have to target the industry or specific employer you want to send a resume to. Your resume has to demonstrate a certain amount of value you bring to the table, so if you don’t know what a company needs, you won’t be able to show your value clearly. Target a handful of companies and research them thoroughly, including each job description, so you know exactly what they need. The hiring manager will be able to identify how serious you are about the position based on the information in your resume.
Exhausting Efforts On Job Boards
Too many professionals make the mistake of spending a significant amount of time applying for jobs through job boards. While jobs are plentiful on there, the chances of you getting hired through one are slim. Instead, spend your time networking with other professionals through networking events or even LinkedIn. The majority of senior-level positions aren’t going to be posted online, so networking is your best option for tapping into the hidden job market and landing a job quicker.
Not Focusing On Your Personal Brand
Any executive resume writer will tell you a quality resume will only get you so far. Your personal brand is an essential component when it comes to getting hired. You have to assume hiring managers are going to Google search your name, so it’s highly recommended for you to do the same and see what the results show. Clean up anything you don’t want to be visible to ensure your online presence reflects who you are as a person.
Making Mistakes In Your Resume
Spending a lot of time writing an effective resume is valuable, but even minor mistakes can hurt your chances of landing an interview. Have an executive resume writer tweak your resume and proofread it thoroughly to ensure there are no mistakes damaging your efforts. It’s easier than you think to omit information or overlook a critical typographical error, so make sure your resume is spotless before distributing it to potential employers.
At Professional Resume Services, we see ourselves as more than just a professional resume writing service. We also believe we are a resource for executives to come to when they need to tweak their job searching efforts or even just need advice at any stage of their job search. A resume is only one part of landing a job, so contact us today if you feel like your searching efforts are taking longer than expected.
Things can be going great for you when all of a sudden your company goes through layoffs and you don’t make the cut. Sometimes the best situations can change instantly like this, which is why personal branding for senior level managers is so critical. You’re essentially always supposed to be networking with other professionals to enhance your brand and be better prepared for unemployment, should the situation arise. The good news is your c-level personal branding doesn’t have to suffer if you don’t have a job, and here are some tips for keeping it alive and well.
Fill In Employment Gaps
When you lose a job, it’s usually best to take some time off to reevaluate your goals and find the right fit. The only problem is this can lead to employment gaps of several weeks or months. These gaps don’t look good on a resume, so finding temporary work, freelancing, volunteering, obtaining higher education or certification courses and more can help fill them. If nothing else, filling the employment gaps in these ways will demonstrate you are still serious about your profession and are constantly enhancing your skills before finding the right opportunity.
Reconnect With Your Current Network, Then Expand
You may choose to work with a professional executive LinkedIn profile writer to get your profile up-to-date and ready for a strong networking effort. It’s easy to let your network get stale over time when you are comfortable with your job. However, everyone usually understands this, so there’s no harm in reconnecting with people. By reconnecting with your current network, you may be able to naturally expand it by being introduced to new people. The more people you talk to, the better your chances are of improving your c-level personal branding and finding a job you didn’t even know was out there.
Leverage Social Media
Having an online presence is essential in today’s professional world. While social media can be a complete disaster if you aren’t careful, it’s also one of the most valuable resources you have at your fingertips. Use it to demonstrate your knowledge by commenting on articles, joining LinkedIn groups or promoting your own organic content through a blog or other platform. The more you build a positive online presence, the better your c-level personal branding will be and the quicker you’ll be discovered, most likely.
Professional Resume Services believes personal branding for senior level managers is one of the most important characteristics of any job search. Your personal brand shows who you are and why you would be valuable to any given company. Neglecting to enhance your personal brand while unemployed is a major mistake, so contact us at any time if you need assistance or tips on how to continue working on it.
