What Should I Be Adding To My LinkedIn Profile?

Social Marketing/Online Branding
Are you putting the *right* information on your LinkedIn profile?

Ever wonder if you are putting the *right* information on your LinkedIn profile?

This is a common question I hear, “I don’t know if this or that should be on there” or “I wasn’t sure so I just downloaded/copy/pasted my whole resume to my profile.”

While you want to establish the information you add is relevant to your brand and impactful, you don’t want it to be a duplicate of your resume. They are meant to complement one another. You want your reader to see a little more of a human side to you as well. Think of the LinkedIn profile as the friendly, humanized version of your resume.

Here are some things to think about when building and adding to your profile:

☑️ Fill out all the sections. Don’t leave anything blank. Fill in the volunteer, certifications, languages, projects, honors, awards. You can add PowerPoints, photos, samples of your work (I have these on my profile) coursework, and things you have done in your career.

☑️ Add a profile photo AND a background cover photo (get rid of that blue LI background!). This makes it uniquely you. I love seeing customized background cover photos on LI profiles. They definitely add personality and/or help brand the client by having a photo of the company, service or product they represent.

☑️ Write a headliner that sizzles. Instead of “Account Executive”, write “Account Executive specializing in the development of groundbreaking sales and service strategies internationally”. Add a little zing to it. Get your reader interested. Some even call the headliner “prime real estate” meaning it’s a great place to add keywords and branding that help direct LinkedIn’s algorithms to your profile. Get as clear and focused as you can. Add buzzwords if you know what they are. Not sure? Find jobs that interest you and notice the same words listed over and over? Add them. Don’t neglect this section.

☑️ Create an About section that speaks to the reader. That section used to be more formal and many people wrote theirs like a biography–3rd person, boring, etc. These days, it’s all about the conversation. Get them interested in what you have to say. Write in first person. It’s OK to be a little more human here. People expect it—and love it.   The About section should be engaging, interesting, and conversational. Think of it as if you are speaking to someone at a networking event. How would you speak? What would you say? You’d keep it professional but interesting, right? You want to tell a story about why you do this type of work and what makes it interesting. Be enthusiastic.

☑️ Add Content! Make sure to add descriptions of what you do at your job. Add your daily responsibilities as well as your accomplishments. This is where I see clients fall short. They add their company and job title but nothing else. LinkedIn rewards content. While you don’t want to copy and paste chunks from your resume, you also don’t want to leave critical information out. Rewrite those areas but make sure to add content to your roles. What were you most proud of accomplishing? What projects have you worked on that added value? What is interesting about where you work?
You can also add numbers and percentages. If you are hesitant about sharing exact figures, you can say, “increased revenue 87% in two years”. Adding numbers adds to your credibility and gives the reader a glimpse of what you have done.

☑️ Get a recommendation. A recommendation or two on your profile livens it up and gives you more credibility. What good do thousands of connections do for you if you don’t have one recommendation? It might feel awkward, but once you’ve asked it’s done and guess what? You’ll most likely get that recommendation!

☑️ Create an endorsements section. Complete the skills and endorsements section and pin the top 3 that related to your job hunt. Again, these are key with algorithms and recruiter searches as well.

When all of this is done, remember the key to a strong LinkedIn profile is engagement. The more you use LinkedIn, the more it rewards you by showing your profile in recruiter searches. Reach out, plan on getting on LinkedIn 10-15 minutes every other day and watch it go to work for you.

 

Is Your Executive Resume Interesting?

Resume WritingResumes
Is your executive resume interesting?
Is your executive resume interesting?

It happened…the call about the executive job of your dreams opening up just came through via your contact, and the HR Director wants to see your resume.  You might be ready to take the next step in your career, but is your resume ready for an executive-level position? Submitting a bland, non-focused resume with boring content will do nothing but get you taken off of the “call for an interview” list.

 

Moving on from a middle management position to the c-suite is not for the faint of heart, and your resume needs to show that you have the experience, skills, ROI, and drive to do the job, and do it well.  Writing your resume is not just including your career history and where you received your degree, it’s more about creating a document that tells the complete story of who you are, what you have achieved, how you achieved it, and the value you will provide at the next level…in a creative and exciting manner. Below are 5 quick tips that will help you to ensure that your updated resume effectively states “I’m ready for the c-suite and you need to hire me”…

 

Your format matters – People judge books by their covers! Start with an eye-catching format. While you don’t need to put so much color on your resume that it looks like the 4th of July blew up on your piece of paper, a pop of color will appeal to the reader and help your document to stand out right from the get-go. A font style that is clean and business-like is just as important.  Fancy scripts may look pretty, but they are difficult to read and you don’t want people having to work hard to read your text (and believe me, if they have to work hard, they aren’t going to read much past your name).

 

An exciting executive summary is a must – create a strong career summary that communicates what you have done in your career and the value you can provide at the next level. Include position and industry-specific keywords (not buzzwords…there is a difference!) that match your target position.

Highlight your biggest achievements – include a “Career Highlights” section to give a brief synopsis of your biggest accomplishments if you want. Hint: quantifiable achievements speak the loudest and make a stronger impact than just a bullet list of text. Graphs and charts tell a quick story as well!

 

Your career history needs to make a big impact in a small amount of time – if you are at an executive-level, it’s pretty safe to say that you have had quite a few years of employment under your belt.  Focus on your most recent work experience, and don’t go back more than 15 years into your career history (you can summarize the earlier stuff).  A chronological format is the easiest, most clean-cut way to do this.  The exception – if your career goals/new job are unrelated to your current job…then you will want to use more of a function format to show that you DO still have the skills and experience for the job you’re trying to land.

 

Your education information is not as important as your career history – so move it to the end of your resume. Like your career history, degrees received 15+ years ago are probably not going to be as important to the hiring manager as your most recent career experience. Include your degrees and any relevant certifications, but remove the years. The degree is what is important, not when you received it, and announcing “I’m really old…” on your resume is probably not going to win points with the hiring manager. Minimize ageism by eliminating years if they go beyond fifteen. Wow them with your accomplishments and skillset instead.

 

If you are being recommended for that coveted c-suite position, be sure you have a resume that can back-up up the recommendation.  Don’t embarrass yourself (or the friend that recommended you) by submitting a bland resume that does nothing to market you as the ideal candidate for the job.  Instead, take the time to update your resume and maximize your chances of being the candidate whose next phone call is “we’d like to offer you the position”!

 

3 Things to Keep You Busy While You Wait for the Executive Job Interview Call

Job SearchResume Writing
executive resume service

Job searches can be stressful, time-consuming and frustrating, but they don’t have to be. It’s natural to think you’ll get a call for an interview right away when you send in your resume to a company. But even if you worked with the top rated resume writing services, there’s still a chance you won’t get the call as quickly as you had hoped. Instead of dwelling on it and thinking about where you may have gone wrong, use the downtime to your advantage. You never know what may happen, but keep yourself busy by doing these things.

See if Other Companies Match Your Interests

Every executive resume service will tell you to not put all of your eggs into one basket. While you should spend a significant amount of time researching a company before sending in your targeted resume, don’t stop there. Move on to the next company to see if your personality fits with their culture and if you have the skills they are looking for. Most people have a specific list of companies in mind that they want to work for, but may discover other opportunities in the meantime they didn’t expect.

Make A New LinkedIn Connection

You can also use your downtime to update your LinkedIn profile and come up with strategic ways to utilize the platform. Take some time to find executives from other companies of interest and reach out to them. There’s never any harm in introducing yourself and making a new connection. Just don’t go overboard by building your list of connections so large and not knowing half of them. Making connections through your LinkedIn profile can lead to various opportunities later on.

Thank Your Past and Current Mentors

Waiting for a job interview call is a good time to reflect on where you’ve been and look forward to where you want to be. An executive resume service may suggest reaching out to your past and current mentors to simply thank them for how they’ve helped shape your career. They will appreciate the gratitude more than you think, and you never know if they’ll be able to provide you with one last nugget to help you move forward.

Professional Resume Services is more than simply an executive resume service. We work with executives who are at different points in their careers and are pursuing different paths. Some executives we work with don’t have a LinkedIn profile, while others simply need to brush theirs up. No matter where you’re at in your career or what type of career advice you think you need, feel free to contact us at any time to see how we can help.

4 Ways to Avoid a Lengthy Executive Job Search

Executive ResumesSocial Marketing/Online Branding
executive resume service

Have you ever felt like you were spinning your wheels during your job search? You may be putting forth a lot of effort but not moving forward as quickly as you’d like. Sometimes it’s best to take a step back and evaluate your strategy and make some alterations as needed. If you need to, get advice from an executive resume service or a professional LinkedIn profile writer to help you jumpstart your searching efforts again. Here are a few great tips to help you speed up your job search.

Focus On Your Personal Brand

Every action you take should boost your c-level personal branding. Whether it’s at a networking event, writing a resume, developing your LinkedIn profile or anything else, your brand should always be front and center. If recruiters or hiring managers can’t get a good sense of who you are as a person or a worker, they’ll be hesitant to take the next steps with you in the job interview process. Focusing on c-level personal branding is only going to benefit your job search efforts.

Network Online And In Person

Networking has always been an essential part of a job search and will continue to be. You can network around the clock if you want to with platforms like LinkedIn. In fact, many people start conversations on LinkedIn before meeting at a formal event, just so there’s already some familiarity there. Just be sure to have a professional LinkedIn profile writer review your profile to ensure you’re not making any critical mistakes inadvertently.

Target Your Resume

An executive resume service can help you target your resume to the employer you’re interested in. You can send out as many resumes as you want, but if it’s too general then companies will see right through it and toss it to the side. Resume targeting is critical today, so it’s well worth the time and effort to find out exactly what a company wants and how your skills fit.

Build A Positive Online Presence

You have to assume any potential hiring manager is going to do an online search for your name. This is another reason why working with a professional LinkedIn profile writer is important. They can emphasize certain keywords to ensure your profile shows up high in the search results. Do an online search for your name and clean up anything that doesn’t demonstrate your overall brand.

Professional Resume Services understands how frustrating it can be not knowing what employers want to see. Our executive resume service goes beyond simply writing error-free resumes. We can work with you throughout your job search, answer any questions you may have and make any tweaks along the way. If you’re ready to speed up your job search and get into the job you want quicker, contact us to see if there’s any way we can help.

How to Increase Your Executive Job Search Momentum

Job SearchProfessional Resumes
linkedin profile development

Having positive momentum in anything you do is motivating. The great thing about this is people get motivated in different ways, so there’s no right or wrong way to accomplish it. When it comes to an executive job search, if you aren’t moving in a positive direction every day then you could fall behind and find yourself in a hole. But how do you keep positive momentum without experiencing burnout? Various strategies through LinkedIn profile development, networking, c-level personal branding and more can help keep you engaged and moving in the right direction.

Plant Seeds And Continue Moving Forward

One way to keep momentum going is to not spend too much time on any given action. For example, you may research a company you’re interested in, find out who the hiring manager is and send them your resume. Don’t sit around and wait for a response because you may not get one right away, if at all. Instead, consider that one seed being planted and then move on to the next company you’re interested in. Or better yet, focus on improving your online c-level personal branding in the meantime. The more time you spend being idle, the higher the likelihood of you losing valuable momentum in your job search.

Set Short-Term Goals Along Your Journey

Many people stay motivated by making short-term checklists of tasks they want to accomplish. You should still have an ultimate end goal to strive for, but the short-term goals are designed to keep you engaged and active on your journey. This could mean visiting an executive resume writing service to boost your resume, attending a networking event or working on your LinkedIn profile development. The more short-term goals you can check off your list, the more engaged you’ll be throughout the process.

Never Stop Building Your Brand

Every action you take online or in person is a reflection of your brand. When you’re focused on enhancing your c-level personal branding, you can get creative in the ways you do so. Consider creating original content to post to your blog or LinkedIn profile, engaging with connections, commenting on other original posts and more. You never know who will come across your name online, so making sure your brand appears how you want it to is essential.

At Professional Resume Services, we understand the challenges every executive faces during a job search. Our executive resume writing service helps develop resumes and brainstorms different strategies with job seekers. Momentum is important, but you have to also be careful with burnout. Sometimes taking a day off and clearing your mind can help you refocus your efforts and move forward positively. For more tips like these, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time.

Know What to Research Before Your Executive Job Interview

InterviewingJob SearchProfessional Resumes
best executive resume writing service

Doing your homework prior to going into a job interview can be the difference between being considered a viable candidate or having your resume pushed to the side. Companies want to hire someone who shows they are willing to do their due diligence in order to make a quality decision. Writing resumes that get you hired is great, but those resumes don’t guarantee you are a perfect fit for any given job. Here are important points to research about a company prior to going into a job interview.

Learn About Key Team Members

You can find out the names of key team members of a company by looking at the company’s LinkedIn profile. Take this a step further and learn a few interesting facts about those people as well. Discover what college they attended, how their degree led them to the role they have and anything else you deem to be relevant. When you research professionals at a prospective employer as much as they research you as a job candidate, you’ll be more likely to make a great first impression.

Understand Mission Statements And How To Apply Them

Knowing a company’s mission statement is important in a few ways. For one, you shouldn’t work for a company if you don’t agree with their mission and values. You also should demonstrate to an interviewer how your work ethic, personal ethics and daily actions fit what the company represents. Having this information in your LinkedIn profile is one thing, but it’s also important to be able to give examples during your interview.

Check The Latest Industry or Company News

When you’re able to talk about the latest news within the company or the industry they operate in, you’ll earn some solid points with the interviewers since it shows you’ve come prepared. The best executive resume writing service can help you relate your past experiences to the company you’re interested in on paper. It’s up to you to follow-up on those experiences with action by demonstrating you’re ready to get started working for them right away.

Know The Company Structure

A LinkedIn profile of an interviewer or a company doesn’t give you the total picture of a company’s structure. The title “executive” means different things to different companies, so if you aren’t able to figure out how the company is structured by searching online, then don’t hesitate to ask them in the interview. You need to make sure you fit within the structure so you know exactly what your role is if hired.
Professional Resume Services does much more than simply write resumes that get you hired. There’s no specific action you can take that will magically land you any job you want, and the work doesn’t stop once your resume is created. Doing your due diligence on a company will help you master the interview and put yourself in a great position to get the job. For more tips like these, feel free to contact us at any time and we would be happy to work with you.

Is an Executive Resume Still Needed With LinkedIn Being So Popular?

BlogExecutive ResumesJob SearchSocial Marketing/Online Branding
executive resume services

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.

The Ultimate Company Holiday Party Guide

BlogCareer & WorkplaceProfessional Resumes
executive resume writing service

The holiday season is quickly approaching, which means company holiday parties around the country are starting to take place. These parties offer great opportunities to mingle with co-workers you don’t normally have a chance to talk to and socialize in a stress-free environment. So why do you hear about so many holiday parties going wrong? There are plenty of missteps you can take, so preparing in advance can help you avoid those mistakes. Here’s a guide on how to enhance personal branding for senior level managers at the company holiday party, rather than ruin your reputation.

Choose Your Attire Wisely

Your executive resume writing service will suggest dressing for the company holiday party like you would dress for a job interview. This means knowing what attire is appropriate and being careful to not overdress or underdress. There’s no need to wear a full suit at some parties, but it’s also usually not appropriate to wear jeans and a shirt. Most of the time you can’t go wrong with business casual attire.

Be Prepared To Mingle

If you’re nervous about talking to people you don’t necessarily talk to at work, start off by talking to people you are familiar with. Just remember to mingle with others as well throughout the night once you break the ice a bit. Keep conversations short and upbeat and talk to as many people as you can. Some of the best personal branding for senior level managers comes at the holiday party, when other employees can see their superiors in an environment outside of the office.

Know Your Limits

Food and drinks are often plentiful at company holiday parties, but it’s important to limit yourself. This is especially true when it comes to alcohol consumption. A couple of drinks is perfectly acceptable to loosen up a bit. However, you don’t want to be the person everyone is talking about the next day because you had a little too much to drink. Set a limit before you go to the party and stick with it for a better overall experience.

Shake The Right Hands At The End

Never forget to thank the host at the end of the night. And it may also even be valuable to shake the hands of your managers or bosses as you depart as well. If nothing else, they will remember when you left the party, which is more important than you think. Sometimes the best personal branding for senior level managers involves being polite and thankful, so don’t underestimate the importance of it at your holiday party.
Professional Resume Services is here whether you need a quality LinkedIn profile service, a top resume writer or even if you aren’t sure what to wear to your company holiday party. We want to help you with every stage of your career, and are always willing to provide our expert advice on a wide range of subjects. When you follow this guide, you’ll have a successful and memorable holiday party experience you won’t regret. Feel free to contact us at any time for other tips or advice.