I hope you have a presence on LinkedIn, because it’s one of the biggest sources of professional networking available right now. They’ve just added to their worth by introducing the new LinkedIn job search app for iPhone. According to LinkedIn’s research, forty percent of their members are looking for jobs on the site using a mobile device.
Why Make An App For That?
The faster you apply to an opening, the more apt you are to be considered for the job. This makes immediate action very important but a bit tricky if you are trying to keep your job search private. This app addresses that issue by acting independently of your network — everything you do with the app is discreet.
You can customize and streamline your search using advanced search filters like location, industry, company, job title, or seniority level. The app will also make suggestions based on your LinkedIn profile, saved searches, and jobs you have looked at.
You can whip out your phone and check the latest results while your coffee cools and research a possibility right there, looking at the company’s profile and seeing if you know anyone who works there. You can apply and on your next break see if a recruiter viewed your application. The app even reminds you about job openings due to expire.
The Thing You Need To Do First
This app is pretty nice for expanding the usefulness of being on LinkedIn, but you have to be part of the network first. If you aren’t, or haven’t done much to your profile because you don’t have time, it isn’t going to be very helpful.
Our LinkedIn Profile Development service can get you up and active in the most-used social network for professionals. Then you’ll see why so many of your professional peers are relying on this site for connections. Once you have a profile on the site, you can explore the potential and see why it is so popular.
I hope you are on LinkedIn, because it is one of the fastest-growing ways to network with other professionals. The site does a good job of helping you figure out how to improve your profile and potential network, too. One of their helpful tools is found in their Targeted Status Updates list of 10 tips for engaging followers. Under tip #2:
Informative, useful updates receive the highest engagement rates because that’s the information members expect from companies they follow on LinkedIn. After all, your followers are active on LinkedIn because they want to be more productive and successful professionals.
60% of members are interested in industry insights (my emphasis)
53% are interested in company news
43% are interested in new products and services
Now, a job seeker may not have too much in the way of company news or new products and services. But every job seeker should be staying current on the industry they hope to join once they are hired. You should be doing a lot of reading about your career field anyway, right?
When you update your status with industry insights, you are targeting the majority of professionals in your industry. It doesn’t have to be all original content, either. You can link to something that made you think and add your commentary on the subject, just like I am doing here. I am giving you two things: an authoritative source (LinkedIn) for some useful information and my unique perspective in it.
If you were an employer, you’d say,
Hmm…this person knows where to find valid industry information and knows how to expand on it.
This is good, because the more a potential employer can find on your thought processes, the easier it is for them to give you a chance at a job. Networking is an essential part of the job search, and this simple way to target your status updates strengthens your network and increases your authority.
LinkedIn’s popular “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” just added a new feature: “How You Rank”. It provides a lot more insight on the way you stack up in this essential network, and that’s good because it also provides suggestions for improving your ranking.
I sure hope you have a profile on LinkedIn because, if you don’t, you are missing out on the best way to network with potential employers, clients, colleagues…and all the rest of the professionals who have joined. Networking is important because the reason why strangers don’t get good jobs is measurable: 92% of recruiters and hiring managers said either “they knew the person or the person was referred by a co-worker or other trusted source. What’s even more interesting – and far more important – is that the primary decision to hire these people was on their actual ability to do the work and excel at it, not on some arbitrary list of skills and experiences.” (Lou Adler did this survey and explains it in the linked article.)
So the research shows that people who are even vaguely familiar with you are more apt to see your value, and the “How You Rank” tool gives you a customized list of ways to improve your ranking.
Improving your ranking means that more people are looking at your profile, which means that more people will be familiar with you.
The more people, particularly professionals in your career field, that are familiar with you — the more apt you are to get a job when you apply.
The customized ways to improve your ranking are pretty important because this is LinkedIn telling you how to get higher rankings on LinkedIn. That means you should pay attention to their suggestions since they know the algorithms for the site. And I like how you can use the tool to track your networking progress and analyze the results. You can even look at the higher ranking people in your network and see how your profile and activity compares to theirs and get a few more ideas on improving yours.
If you want an even more individualized strategy for your LinkedIn enhancement, consider our LinkedIn Profile Development service. The “How You Rank” tool is good, but a professional evaluation that works with you to improve your online brand is better.
If you think about it, you have “employees” of your own.You pay them to do things for you — find information on what concerns you, keep track of data you need to access again, and anything else you don’t want to do yourself. Some of your employees are paid when you get the bill from the phone company and your internet provider. Others are paid when you get your electric bill. Some are actually people who provide a service you appreciate. Technology can be an excellent employee, if used correctly. How much easier is life when your smartphone works? How much harder is it when you can’t figure it out? If you don’t have a smartphone (“substitute computer”), or whatever technology you use on hand, life can feel out of control. One problem with this employee of yours is that technology changes over time. Your comfortable way of doing things gets out of sync with the way the rest of your world is moving and you miss out on important details. This is when a person who provides a service can help. You could catch up with the current technologies yourself, if you spent the time and energy to figure it out. But employing someone to get you started lets you get up to speed much more quickly and you get a head start.
The LinkedIn Profile Development service is a good example of what I am talking about. Right now, LinkedIn is one of the best technological tools available for connecting with others in your career field. But they are moving at a very fast pace. This service puts you in the best position to start putting technology to work.
When Is Your Digital Birthday? Why Should You Care?
Have you seen a sonogram of a pregnancy in a friend’s announcement online? That sonogram is the beginning of a particular child’s digital footprint, before they are born. Similarly, every time someone posts a cute picture, mentions their name, and shares a funny video of the child, their digital footprint expands. This is the beginning of their online brand — their digital birthday.
That child does not have control over what other people are posting about them now. But someday, they will ask a search engine to compile every bit of information that has been posted with their name online and the digital version of naked-baby-on-a-rug will not seem so cute. At that point, online branding and profile development coaching start looking like a good idea.
You have more control over your digital footprint than a child does, but it takes work. If you are not proactively curating everything that can be connected to you, then it will accumulate without your control. Even not tagging your photos and using privacy settings will not prevent a facial recognition program identifying you or a security breach. Mistakes can be made, too, and your identity might be confused with someone else to your detriment. Once stuff goes viral, there isn’t anything you can do but damage control.
Because employers are increasingly using search engines to find candidates, your information might not even show up in the first few pages of “qualified potential candidates” when they start looking. If the computer doesn’t select you as suitable, there’s no chance to make an appeal. If you are not active online, monitoring all your information and adding value to your digital presence with LinkedIn activity, professional posts, and making sure your brand is what you want it to be…
then you will be as helpless as the infant in the sonogram, subject to whatever someone else says about you and unaware of what is going on.
Did you know that most human resource directors are going to be plugging into sites like LinkedIn to see what potential candidates they can find for an open position? To quote the Society For Human Resource Management:
Organizations (77%) are increasingly using social networking sites for recruiting, primarily as a way to attract passive job candidates. Fewer organizations (20%) use social networking websites or online search engines to screen job candidates.
That means that the way you appear on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and anything else online matters. It also means that you have a way to make part of your job search passive, just as some entrepreneurs have passive income. Here’s how that works:
the income producer is carefully crafted to function with little maintenance once it is in place
the entrepreneur will generally use several streams of passive income to make enough money to pay the bills
samples of passive income: ads on blogs, ebooks, rental properties, royalties
Now, the way this works in your job search is that once your profile is created, then you can maintain a presence on LinkedIn with considerably less effort. You don’t have to stay on the site all the time because your input keeps your profile current and the search engines will bring you up in the first few pages. Passive — as long as you are prepared.
Those streams of passive income need maintenance but mostly flow by themselves, and your presence on social media sites is there when you are not at your device. The way your presence on social media sites is portrayed is dependent upon the way you maintain it.
As a result, the top reason you should be on LinkedIn is because it works for you while you are not there – if you use it correctly.
Online Branding: Why You Should Do It Before You Need It
Nowadays, the most successful marketing campaigns are those that extend beyond traditional forms of marketing (print, radio, even TV) and into internet and online marketing and branding. The same is true about personal branding. In order to have the most successful marketing of yourself, you need to focus a lot on branding yourself online. And you need to make sure that your “campaign” is up and running long before you are ever contacted for a job. Having an established online profile of yourself before you need it will not only ease the stress of creating a phenomenal online branding for yourself, but will also show potential employers that you are at the top of your game and a step above other potential candidates. If the idea of branding yourself online is stressful or overwhelming, then just start small. Start with a LinkedIn profile. This will give you the perfect start to branding yourself online. It is simple and professional and is the networking that most businesses use.
On your profile, make sure to include these things in order to ensure the most effective branding:
Show your expertise as much as possible
Publicize your successes and achievements
Make sure you are easy for potential employers to contact (phone number, email, other forms of communication)
These things are easy to do and they will make your profile, and thus yourself, look impressive and professional. Of course none of this will do you any good if it is not established on your personal branding sites before you look for a job or are contacted about a job. It is easy enough to do so why not jump the gun and be one step ahead of your competition?
As odd as it may sound, many people keep the fact that they are searching for a new job a secret even when they are unemployed.This is a bad idea simply because you never know who is going to hear about a job opening that would be a perfect fit for you. Still, networking has changed drastically over the past few years. In fact, just 5 years ago this would be an entirely different set of hints. In any case, sending out resumes is just not enough. Tell your friends and former colleagues that you are looking for a new job
You don’t have to go into detail about why. Just be sure that everyone you know is aware of it. Be sure to mention it on your social media sites as well. The world has gotten a great deal smaller in recent years due to the Internet, and letting your online contacts know that you are actively searching for a new job can literally open up an entire world of opportunities. Attend workshops and meetings for your field
There are a wide variety of meetups, gatherings and seminars that will put you into direct contact with others in your field of expertise. Be sure to have a supply of updated business cards available. While this may seem like it’s just for fun, many employers attend these events looking for new candidates. Attendance at these events shows a prospective employer that you are ambitious and enthusiastic about your career. Update your business cards
Instead of your entire physical address, something that is far less important now than in prior eras, use the space to provide links to your social media sites. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts make it possible for a prospective employer to learn more about you; LinkedIn has an online resume that makes it possible for even more prospective employers to see your skills. You will of course want to include your email address and cellphone number.
Networking is an important step in the job search process and it can be an enjoyable one. So load up a few resumes (depending on the type of gathering), build a stash of business cards, and head out.
