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.
If you aren’t familiar with LinkedIn endorsements, they are much more important and different than getting a “like” on Facebook or Twitter. With endorsements, your LinkedIn connections can confirm your skills with just a couple of clicks, rather than writing a detailed review about you. Any LinkedIn profile writing service will tell you not to put too much stock in endorsements when it comes to advancing in your executive career. Still, there are a few things you should know about the importance of LinkedIn endorsements.
Choose Endorsements Wisely
Endorsements from former bosses or colleagues are better than those from family members. While it may look great to have a ton of endorsements when trying to optimize a LinkedIn profile, a recruiter will see right through them. Most recruiters will search through your endorsements to find the most credible ones, so it won’t do you any good to clutter your page with them.
Endorsements From The Right People Are Valuable
LinkedIn profile writing services usually suggest asking higher-ranking people from your company or former workplace to endorse you. While an endorsement from former colleagues is valuable, an endorsement from the CEO of your company will rank higher. One tip to help your chances of getting a LinkedIn endorsement from high-ranking people is to endorse them yourself. It’s human nature to return the favor when one is given, and this principle is no different with LinkedIn.
Quantity Isn’t Too Important
As mentioned earlier, you should focus more on the quality of your LinkedIn endorsements rather than the quantity. Check with a LinkedIn profile writing service to see if you have too few or too many endorsements on your profile. You can easily hide certain endorsements if you don’t think they are credible.
Endorsements Should Tell a Story About You
When a recruiter views your LinkedIn endorsements, they should be able to know exactly who you are and what you have to offer from a professional standpoint. Your endorsements could display your ability to communicate effectively both in writing and speech, work well with others, your proficiency with technology and many other characteristics. If you have a lot of random endorsements, it will be tougher for a recruiter to see what type of executive you really are. At Professional Resume Services, we have a team of professionals who know how to optimize a LinkedIn profile with endorsements. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about how to manage your endorsements to help create a stronger profile.
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.
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.
Keeping Your Head Above Water: Our Top Four Secrets for Surviving on LinkedIn
Constructing a professional LinkedIn profile doesn’t have to be extremely difficult. In fact, just by taking a few simple steps, you can make yourself more recognizable without being overly pushy. When it comes toLinkedIn profile development, you have to understand it needs to be constructed differently from a resume. It’s not a bad idea to upload a resume to your LinkedIn profile, but the rest of the information should be different. This is just one simple tip, but here are some of the best secrets for surviving and thriving on LinkedIn. Avoid Being Annoying Have you noticed all of the alerts you receive when your connections have a job change or edit their skills? Your connections also receive those alerts when you make a change! However, you can change the settings to ensure your connections don’t see every little change you make. You might want to broadcast a job change or other important piece of career information, but most people don’t care when you receive a new endorsement. Take Advantage of Opportunities AnyLinkedIn profile service will tell you to join groups related to your career or prospective career. These groups allow you to make additional contacts and give you the ability to reach out to them without having to upgrade to LinkedIn Premium. Joining several groups will only help you expand your personal brand and get your name recognized among people within your industry. Be Active Joining a group is a good step, but being active in the group will make you more recognizable. However, you’ll want to avoid being the annoying person who responds to every thread and has an opinion on everything. As long as you have insightful comments periodically, people will notice you and it will significantly boost your LinkedIn profile development by giving you more connections. Don’t Use Resume Language Resume speak should be limited to your actual resume. Any LinkedIn profile writing service will help you rewrite anything that sounds like it came straight from a resume, especially the career summary portion. That should be unique and a bit different from the career summary on your resume. While your LinkedIn profile needs to be professional, it also has to sound conversational and tell people exactly who you are. Look at LinkedIn as an opportunity to showcase your communication skills and other skills that aren’t necessarily as apparent on your resume. One of the toughest things people experience with LinkedIn is making their profile look professional. It’s easy to slip into casual behavior since it’s an online social network, but LinkedIn isn’t the place for making friends. If you just can’t seem to find the right language or don’t know how to construct your profile, considerreaching out to a LinkedIn profile writing service. You will always benefit from having another set of eyes on your profile and you may find out some other secrets to help take your profile to the next level!
Social Media Makeover: What to Do Before You Start Hunting
Believe it or not, the majority of employers will review your social media profiles before hiring you. Social media used to be just a fun way to communicate with friends online, but since it’s been booming in recent years, recruiters are also utilizing social media. It basically gives employers free access to see how you interact with others, how clearly you communicate ideas and what you do when you’re not at work. LinkedIn is one of the most popular platforms recruiters use so you need to learnhow to optimize your LinkedIn profile before you get on the job hunt!
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Since LinkedIn is a professional social network, most recruiters will begin their search there. However, many people don’t keep up with their profile and experiences, which could cost them a potential job. If you don’t know exactly what should go on your page, you may consider looking into a LinkedIn profile writing service to help highlight your skills. Your profile could essentially be your first foot in the door to a potential employer. If they are impressed with your LinkedIn page, you are more likely to be included on their radar. If you don’t have the page filled out or if it’s sloppy, your chances are reduced significantly.
Make It Pop
Users are limited in how they can change their LinkedIn page so you need to make the most of what you have.LinkedIn profile development is a tough skill to master, but it can be done with a little time and effort. In addition to filling out the information on the page itself, you could also design a creative resume to upload. Of course, how creative you get depends on the job you’re searching for, but you get the idea.
Check Other Social Media Platforms
Just because LinkedIn is the main professional social network doesn’t mean employers will only look at it and none of your other pages. You have to assume they will check your Facebook, Twitter and any other pages you may have. Similar to learning how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you have to do the same with other platforms as well. Remove any embarrassing photos you wouldn’t want an employer to see. So many optimal candidates get passed over because of inappropriate photos, chatter, etc. Go through your communications to make sure you haven’t posted anything offensive that could deter a recruiter. Don’t forget to add privacy settings to all social media you wouldn’t want an employer to see. Fixing up your social media profiles is probably the first thing you need to do before you even send out your resumes. It only takes a matter of seconds for a recruiter to do a quick search for your name and know a lot about you.
How Social Media and Job Boards Can Work Hand in Hand
While social media is a relatively new development, it has made waves around the world thanks to its exceptionally wide reach. It can now be used to influence the world, whether it’s through helping others form lasting friendships or simply staying in touch with those they love, inspire political change or even communicate consumer needs to businesses across the globe. Anyone in the middle of a job search can benefit from social media to land the perfect new job. Here’s what you can do to boost your success!
Utilize Your Options Well
While social media is an amazing means of connecting with employers and fellow professionals, you can’t try the spaghetti method by throwing options wildly and going with whatever adheres. You have to plan exactly how to use your social media profiles to their fullest and stay diligent with it. Creating a LinkedIn profile is a good place to start because it will put you in touch with millions of professionals in your industry, as well as businesses looking for someone with your talents. You’ll ultimately want to sign up with more than one service because this will give you the chance to collect a greater number of opportunities and news about jobs available to you out there.
We must highlight the fact maintaining any kind of social media presence takes time and investment. For instance, while writing a tweet may take up only 140 characters, you have to plan how to use those characters as efficiently as possible to market yourself. Before you even think of signing up for that first account, you’ll want to consider how you’ll go about advertising yourself and which channels will serve you best for this goal.
Don’t Discount Social Media Entirely
Quite a few people still dismiss social media as a vapid pastime with no hope of generating serious forms of engagement. As time has repeatedly proven, however, this viewpoint is several shades of wrong. Millions of businesses in this day and age have caught on to the social media wave and are using it to reach out to more consumers than ever before. In fact, many of today’s job board sites also have social media accounts you can follow so you can stay on top of opportunities to apply.
If businesses and job boards can take proper advantage of it, so can you! Proper LinkedIn profile development will be key to establishing your professional online presence so you’ll want to get on-board with what social media can offer you and reap the benefits of those opportunities.
Take Advantage of the ‘Social’ Aspect of Social Media
There’s no point in using any social media platform for your job search if all you’re planning to do is push out posts and never interact with anyone. Reaching out to other professionals can help you stay in the know as far as what today’s job boards are posting. You’ll soon find a wealth of opportunities pooling toward you from across the web, likely from job boards you’ve never heard of before!
If the idea of social media intimidates you, you aren’t alone. You can depend on a LinkedIn profile writing service to help you get started. We recommend to get in touch with your nearest resume writing service and start learning the ropes today!
Be Sure to Avoid These Five Typical Mistakes While Networking
Companies are leaning on referrals more and more these days. A referral allows the company to find an excellent candidate without paying a pricey recruiter or hiring multiple HR people to sort through resumes. It’s a win-win for businesses, employees (who often get referral bonuses) and job seekers.
… Except when you’re a job seeker who doesn’t know how to network. With networking becoming more and more important in the competitive job market, those who cannot connect end up without a job (or at least one they like).
So make sure you get that dream job by upping your networking game and avoiding these five mistakes:
Displace Face-to-Face
Repeat after me, “You cannot do every aspect of your job search online.” Individuals starting to look for employment often immediately turn to the Internet to find their next gig. We forget that people were finding jobs before the advent of the world wide web. You can, too! Get out there and meet people in person. It’s much easier to reject an email than the face in front of you.
Give Before You Get
It’s vital to give before you get – when talking about networking. You cannot expect someone you just began developing a relationship with to give you exactly what you want immediately. You need to let the relationship grow. The quickest way to develop a relationship is to provide the other person value.
Lame LinkedIn Profile
While face-to-face contact cannot be replaced, utilizing LinkedIn comes in a close second. If you have a lame LinkedIn presence, you’ll be missing out on a number of opportunities. Every HR director and recruiter is constantly on LinkedIn building their networks. You should be, too! This means updating your profile constantly and finding ways to add value to the platform.
P.S.: If you’re struggling to gain ground on the best business social media site, it may be your profile. Luckily, LinkedIn profile development services and LinkedIn profile writing services are our specialties. Click here to learn more.
Become a Professional
If you’re using social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to network, then you must keep your image as professional as possible online. That HR professional with a perfect gig for you doesn’t want to know how “turnt” you got last weekend with the “squad” in Vegas. Trust me. Instead, try sharing that industry-specific insight you found in Forbes with a little commentary. Keeping your social media clean is just as important as using professional resume writing services.
Go to Contacts
Many would-be-great networkers fail to do one thing properly: follow through. These people are great at making introductions, contacts and more, yet they find their networks stagnating because they fail to stay in touch, give and follow up. If there’s one thing you should take from this piece, it’s to always follow up with contacts that could benefit you down the road. Keep developing those relationships!
