6 Ways To Stand Out On Social Media When Searching For A New Job

Jack Kelly

The traditional job search methods of attending face-to-face networking events, inviting people to get a cup of coffee, dinner, an after-work cocktail and schmoozing at the office have been rendered irrelevant due to the pandemic.  

If you’re actively searching for a new job, you need to engage in an authentic branding and marketing campaign on social media. The key is to showcase your skills, ability, knowledge, achievements and brilliance. You also need to broadcast what you are looking to do next, so people are aware of how they can help you. It shouldn’t just be a one-way street. Offer your services to help others in need too.

3. What To Do Online

The best way to start branding yourself is by commenting, sharing, writing posts and articles on LinkedIn. The content should focus on your area of expertise, as you have a lot of knowledge to impart.

You can start slowly by liking and addressing the postings of others. Find leaders in your field with large followings. Get involved in their conversations to amplify your own voice. Keep in mind that the questions you answer and your responses should burnish your brand. Avoid getting sucked into toxic online arguments and stay far away from politics for now.

If you want to take it to the next level, create videos. You can discuss matters relevant to your field. In addition to LinkedIn, also pay attention to other social media platforms that are relevant to your profession. 

Set a schedule to contribute on a consistent basis. If you only post once in a while, you’ll get lost. Post regularly, so people get to know you and become interested in what you have to say next. You’ll start building an audience by continually marketing yourself. People will feel like they know you and would gladly help you out with job leads. 

5. Brag A Bit

Share some recent wins, accomplishments and achievements. Write about exciting projects that you’re working on. If you are an expert in your field, seek out online conferences and networking events. Try to become a speaker. This spotlight will make you known to a wider audience and you’ll be viewed as an expert and a leader in your space.  

6. Authenticity Counts

Be open about your goal of finding a new job. Let people know that you’re in the job market and what specifically you want to do next. If no one knows that you’re on the job hunt, they won't reach out to you with opportunities.  

It's fine to write about the emotions, challenges and pressure you're dealing with in your job search. By openly expressing yourself, people will get to know you as a real person.

See all 6 ways and the complete Forbes article

 

How to Make Your LinkedIn Headline Way More Effective in Under 5 Minutes

byAja Frost

 

Want to show up higher in LinkedIn search results, get more visitors (a.k.a., hiring managers) to your profile, and have a more impressive personal brand?

If you said, “well, duh” to that, I have good news for you. Getting those results is easy—all you have to do is update your LinkedIn headline.

Why You Shouldn’t Use the Default

As Muse writer Jenny Foss explained in “Does Your LinkedIn Headline Suck?”, the site automatically makes your headline your current job title and employer. And that’s what most people stick with.

However, when you think about it, “Technical Lead at Core Communications” is pretty boring.

Plus, it doesn’t give your audience any new information. When people scroll through your profile, they’ll very quickly see your position and place of work in your summary and experience sections.

What Your Headline Should Accomplish

Of course, that doesn’t mean your headline can’t include where you work and what you do. It should communicate your expertise, your field, and why you’re special. But it also should be eye-catching. No matter what your LinkedIn goals are (networking, getting hired, establishing credibility or expertise, recruiting), standing out is a good thing.

I know, this sounds a bit intimidating. But it’s totally doable to hit all of these in one LinkedIn headline.

1. Add Your Specialty

Maybe, like me, you do a lot of freelance writing. Yet “Freelance Writer” is pretty generic. What topics do you cover most frequently? Maybe you’re a “Lifestyle Freelance Writer” or a “Freelance Writer Specializing in Personal Finance.”

If you’re a programmer or in another technical field, consider including the languages or technologies you use the most. “Java and Rails Engineer” is more interesting than “Software Engineer.”

Or, maybe you’re a project manager who’s worked primarily in e-commerce. You’d probably agree “Project Manager With 10+ Years in Ecommerce” packs a bigger punch than “Project Manager.”

The Takeaway

To jazz up your headline, weave in your specialty.

 

4. Show Off Your Accolades

If you’ve written for, appeared in, or been mentioned by a noteworthy media source, include that in your LinkedIn headline for an instant credibility boost.

For example, you’re a PR rep who’s been interviewed by reporters from The Boston Globe and Bostinno. Your headline could be:

“PR Manager Featured in The Boston Globe and Bostinno.”

If instead, Bostinno had placed you on a list of up-and-coming PR representatives in Boston, you could write:

“PR Manager Recognized as one of Bostinno’s 10 Up-and-Coming Media Specialists.”

The Takeaway

People will both impressed and intrigued by a headline that name drops. (Yes, name-dropping is totally OK in this situation.)

 

 

Read all 4 ways to make your headline more effective and the complete "The Muse" article

6 Recruiter Recommended LinkedIn Tips

 By Kyra Mancine

Many recruiters and staffing managers rely on LinkedIn extensively when sourcing candidates. Whether you're employed or looking for a job, keeping your profile up-to-date is important. Maximize your profile, target your activity and you WILL get noticed.

1) Make the most of stealth mode. If you're updating your profile and DON'T want people to see every change you make, go into settings and click on "Turn on/off your activity broadcasts." This is highly recommended if you're employed and looking for new opportunities. It can look suspicious to your current employer and colleagues if they start to see you making additions to your page.

3) Quantify your accomplishments. Hiring managers look through dozens, and in many cases, hundreds, of profiles daily. You really only have seconds to grab their attention. Add statistics, numbers and percentages that show how you saved your employers time, effort and money.

5) Make your status updates count.  Don't be "me" focused. Even though your LinkedIn page is obviously about you, it's better to offer your connections information that's relevant to THEM. You don't have to create the content yourself. Search Google and Yahoo for industry articles, career related content, etc. Don't be controversial. Safe topics can include workplace satisfaction, how to be more productive during the day, interview advice, etc. Remember, any time one of your connections comments and likes your status update, all their connections see it as well.

See all 6 tips and the complete article

LinkedIn offers top 20 professional courses for free through the end of September

 By Kayla Webster

 

It’s back-to-school time for employees too — LinkedIn Learning is offering their 20 most popular online courses of the year for free throughout the month of September.

LinkedIn executives say they’re offering the courses free of charge to help as many employees as possible cope with the pandemic — especially workers from underrepresented communities and those affected by layoffs. LinkedIn Learning saw a 130% uptick in course participation once shelter-in-place orders were issued in March.

“With a lot of people out of work or working remotely at this time, we are seeing a lot of employees investing in themselves and their careers,” says Mordy Golding, director of content strategy for English-language at LinkedIn Learning. “Our hard skill classes, like Excel, are still popular, but there are soft skills we all need in order to succeed in the new normal.”

LinkedIn’s most popular course teaches people strategies for helping them work from home more efficiently. The shift to remote work has been a challenge for employees, who have struggled with increased stress and burnout, says Dave Crenshaw, a productive leadership author and LinkedIn Learning instructor.

“We have a lot of freedom when we’re working from home,” says Crenshaw, who has worked remotely for the past 20 years. “[Employers’] biggest concern is that the people working from home are going to slack off. But the bigger problem is that people never stop working, and that hurts productivity in the long run — performance degrades and work-life balance erodes.”

While employees and managers may be tempted to stick to hard skill courses, Golding recommends participating in classes that focus on soft skills like “being a good listener” because it “transfers well to the remote workforce,” he says. He also suggests that employers take advantage of LinkedIn Learning’s group feature to allow teams to take the courses collectively.

“A very large percentage of people who watch the courses can immediately apply the skills they’ll learn to their job,” Golding says. “If you’re thinking about the long-term health of your organization, it’s a good idea to leverage learning to have an immediate impact on productivity, and bring people together.”

1) Time Management: Working from Home

Instructor: Dave Crenshaw

Help your employees learn how to set up a dedicated workspace for maximum productivity, collaborate with their colleagues, craft their daily schedule and master the art of virtual meetings. This course also offers advice for working parents, and other caregivers, about how to more effectively balance professional and personal responsibilities at home.

5) Developing Your Emotional Intelligence

Instructor: Gemma Leigh Roberts

Roberts explains what emotional intelligence is and why it's important in today’s workforce. She can help learners become more self-aware so they can acclimate to the dynamic new world of work. 

 

10) Project Management Foundations

 

Instructor: Bonnie Biafore

In this course, Biafore explains the fundamentals of project management — from establishing project goals and objectives to managing resources, meeting deadlines and bringing projects to completion. 

12) Learning Personal Branding

Instructor: Chelsea Krost

Honing your employees’ personal branding helps their ideas get noticed to sell to internal stakeholders, partners and customers. Krost explains how to develop a personal story and build a personal brand presence online and off.

See all 20 courses and the complete BenefitNews article

4 Big Changes To Your LinkedIn Profile You Need To Know About

William Arruda

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most powerful career assets you have. It’s your professional portfolio—a multimedia representation of who you are and the value you deliver. And in our new all-the-time, all-virtual world thanks to Covid-19, your LinkedIn profile has become your first impression. What’s more, your LinkedIn About section (formerly called your Summary) will be the most read version of your bio.  

In today’s uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of your LinkedIn profile and to refine it regularly so it’s always relevant and compelling to the people you want to reach. You also need to stay on top of the myriad refinements and new features LinkedIn adds to the platform so you can instantly benefit from them and ensure your personal brand stands out and clearly differentiates you from the hundreds of millions of other LinkedIn members.

LinkedIn’s latest blog post references many of the most recent changes. The ones I highlight here will be most valuable to you as you build your brand and make a positive, authentic first impression online. 

1) Let people know you’re open to new adventures.

With the new OpenToWork photo frame on your headshot, you can alert those who are checking you out that you’re ready for your next big gig. I’m thrilled that LinkedIn added this. Before this feature came along, many who were seeking work used their headline to tell others of their availability with a statement like “Ready for my next adventure” or “Seeking New Opportunities.” This created two challenges. First, it sounded a little desperate, and second, it reduced the number of characters available in your headline to tell people who you are, what you do and the value you create when you do it. This new format is a little more subtle and creates consistency across the platform for those who are in job-seeking mode. The words in your headline are important in the LinkedIn search algorithm, so you want to use exactly the right keywords to reel in those who are looking for what you have to offer. Luckily, you no longer have to waste those words by telling people you’re looking for work.

3) Shine a spotlight on your best work.

LinkedIn has allowed you to add multimedia to your profile for years now, but they enhanced this feature recently. Before, you could add multimedia to the bottom of your About (and to the Experience section of your profile). Now, they’ve created a whole new section called Featured, where you can put your most relevant and up-to-date images, videos, PDFs, etc. to augment and reinforce what you say about yourself in your About. And it has been given some really important real estate, appearing in a large panel right below your About. Being a completely new element of your profile, the Featured section serves as a dynamic billboard of items you can showcase to demonstrate your brilliance. Update it regularly so it remains current and relevant.

See all 4 changes and the complete Forbes article

11 Emerging LinkedIn Trends And How To Prepare For Them

While LinkedIn dominates as the most popular social media site for both job seekers and companies to find networking opportunities and build professional connections, new trends constantly emerge, and the role of the platform is always evolving. To make the most of their LinkedIn presence, users on both sides of the recruiting equation need to stay aware of these trends and know how to leverage them.

For job seekers, tapping into these trends can get you noticed before the rest of the crowd—and in a saturated market, that could mean the difference between landing a job or losing out to other candidates. For recruiters, staying up on trends will help maximize the number of qualified candidates you have access to, which affords a breadth of options.

To find out how job seekers and recruiters can prepare to make the most of them, we asked 11 members of Forbes Coaches Council for their predictions around up-and-coming LinkedIn trends. Here's what they told us.

1. Moving Toward Online Training And Certification
LinkedIn is making its move toward distance education and online training, offering fresh courses such as digital marketing and social media management. Plus, it gives the opportunity to update your new achievement in your profile and connect with people with the same qualifications. Its variety is extensible, and soon enough, LinkedIn will compete with colossal certification organizations. - Jill Douka MBA, MCC, Global Academy Of Coaching

7. Becoming A Unique Source Of Candidates
My crystal ball says that, within five years, companies won't seek applications online; they will just source directly from LinkedIn. They will find the candidates based on algorithmic searching and AI and decide which ones they want to talk to. Candidates should prepare now in two ways: First, make sure your profile has relevant words, and then, learn networking for job search to reach the hiring team. - Dana Manciagli, Job Search Master Class

8. Expediting Social And Professional Proofing
Social and professional proofing will begin to carry greater weight as professionals want to know "who is endorsing this individual." With this, LinkedIn recommendations will begin to become more of a focal point. Recruiters and job seekers can prepare by tailoring their current functions to incorporate (review, consider, rank, track, etc.) recommendations. - Corey Castillo, Truth & Spears

See all 11 trends and the complete Forbes article

These 7 mistakes on your LinkedIn profile are killing your job search

BY GWEN MORAN

The team at digital selling firm Vengreso was ready to hire an instructional designer. They found someone on LinkedIn who seemed perfect for the job, and he likely would have gotten an offer after a cursory interview. But there was just one problem, says co-founder and Chief Visibility Officer Viveka von Rosen: He had no contact information listed.

That was the “final straw” from an already weak profile, says von Rosen, author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day. Sure, she could have messaged him through the platform, but they didn’t know how long it would take him to check for messages and the fact that his profile made it more difficult than necessary to contact him was a deal-breaker. The team moved on to look for someone else. “Update your contact information and consider including it in your summary, too,” she says. “Make it easy for them to find you.”

You may have built your LinkedIn profile and network over the course of years–or you may pay little attention to it at all. Either way, your profile may have red flags to recruiters or hiring managers, undermining your job search. But refreshing it doesn’t have to take long. In addition to keeping your contact information up-to-date, here are seven more red flags to keep in mind.

MISTAKE #1: A MISLEADING HEADLINE

The headline next to your photo is one of the most valuable pieces of LinkedIn real estate you have. Use it wisely, says  executive recruiter and career advancement coach Suzanne O’Brien. If you have aspirations of moving up, don’t use your current title in your headline. Instead, opt for something that reflects the job you want without being misleading. “Try using something that encompasses your current role and where you want to go, along with your unique value,” she suggests. For example, “Leadership in Product Management with Mobile and Healthcare Expertise” or “Marketing Professional for High-Growth Companies.”

“For the company that’s looking for someone with that expertise, they’ll know right away that you’re a ‘bull’s-eye’ candidate and they want to speak with you,” she says. Avoid very broad descriptions like “Consultant” or “Tech Explorer with a Systematic Approach.” Also, it’s not the best place for a quote from your favorite author, she says.

MISTAKE #4: RESUME MISMATCH

If you do nothing else before your next job hunt, do this: Pull up your resume and compare it side-by-side with your LinkedIn profile, Boggs says. Make sure the dates, positions, and job titles match. When resumes and LinkedIn profiles aren’t aligned, recruiters don’t know what to believe, she adds.

See all 7 Mistakes and the complete Fast Company article

 

5 Tips To Game The LinkedIn Algorithm

Adrian Dayton

Does LinkedIn keep pushing your posts down to the bottom? Are your posts constantly flagged as ‘low-quality?’ The Problem is that you don’t know how LinkedIn thinks. There are some simple ways to boost your visibility across the site, increasing your social media presence.

1. Add Followers
You can’t be seen on LinkedIn if you don’t have many connections. It’s very easy to add some; go to the “My Network” tab, then you have three options. There is the recommended section, people that LinkedIn thinks you might know. Then, the individual search, which isn’t the most effective way to add connections fast, but if you want some specific people in your feed, this is a great way to do it. Finally, there’s the import personal contacts tab, which is a fantastic way to add most people that you already have the contact information for. You can literally import your entire list from Gmail or Outlook and double your LinkedIn connections overnight. 
**  If too many people reject your connection requests you can have you account locked.  Send out a smaller batch each day instead of sending out to your entire contact list...

4. Find Your Audience
It is better to have a group of 100 people who constantly comment, like, and share, than 10,000 people who never interact with you. Think of it as a web. The average user has 450 connections; if you have chosen these 450 connections very wisely and they all like to share and comment, each one of those 450 connections are sharing to their 450 connections. The numbers get very large, very quickly. You also have the potential for these article to spread beyond the first two degrees, this is what makes the viral nature of social media so intriguing. So, find an audience that likes your posts is willing to like and share them.

See all 5 tips and the complete Forbes article

5 Tips To Build Your Personal Brand On LinkedIn

Vidhi Bubna

Since LinkedIn was founded in 2002, it has grown to a community of 660 million-plus members. LinkedIn has opened new arenas of usability for professionals on the platform. Benefits of using LinkedIn extend beyond networking, increasing job opportunities, finding business leads as the platform creates several intangible benefits like creating a personal brand name and increasing credibility.

“Everyone is trying to build their personal brand on LinkedIn. It’s not just top level management and well established leaders, but also students, freelancers, start-up founders and hustlers. Everyone recognizes the benefits of a large following and high engagement on the platform and users want to leverage the platform to take advantage of the benefits of personal branding,” according to Tannisha Avarrsekar, founder of Lokavyuha Strategy and Communications.

Though the platform can be leveraged to create several benefits for its users, gaining visibility and personal marketing on the platform has become increasingly challenging. The most common tips given by personal branding experts include posting a professional personal profile picture on the platform, updating skills, education and work, and posting regularly and commenting.

Since most of the users are now aware of these basic tips, there is no real profile differentiation or branding created by incorporating these strategies on the platform. Posting regularly is not the ‘key mantra’ for personal branding on LinkedIn anymore, because posting regularly may not increase your visibility or network. LinkedIn marketing in 2020, in the era of COVID uncertainty calls for a different approach for building a personal brand on LinkedIn.

2) Share Posts of Other Influencers Which Are Relevant

Though most LinkedIn influencers recommend posting content on the platform regularly to increase engagement, often they take for granted that not everyone has the time to create original posts on the platform. Creating an original post or article may be time consuming and challenging to do on a daily basis. However, it may be easy for you to repost relevant content on the platform to keep your audience engaged.

“Sharing content of other influencers is a great way to leverage the platform to your advantage. You don’t need to have original content to post, reposting content which is different and giving the creator credit for it helps to boost your own profile. Your main aim should be posting great content, even if it means reposting articles, research papers or posts if you don’t have time to create content yourself,” says Avarrsekar. Reposting content of influencer’s also increases the quality of content on your feed itself, ensures high reach and engagement.

Moreover, sharing content of LinkedIn influencers increases your reach within the influencer’s network itself. Hence, the ‘share’ tool on LinkedIn is a quick way to increase engagement and build your network and it is definitely easier than posting original content.

3) Leverage The Power of Storytelling to Enhance Your Personal Brand

Sharing your personal story on the platform creates a more human touch and makes your personal brand relatable to other users on the platform. Moreover, this strategy is easy to use because writing about your own experiences from memory takes less time than doing research to create a post.

Harsh Karamchandani, co-founder of ed-tech start-up Edunify, explains “You don’t need to be a popular personality to establish your personal brand on the platform. The platform empowers everyone because it gives everyone a voice. You can use the power of storytelling on the platform to highlight your personal life experiences which other people can learn from. Being the co-founder of a start-up, I use the power of storytelling to narrate my journey, experience and challenges, and my stories resonate with other aspiring start-up entrepreneurs which increases my engagement.” Storytelling also creates a personal brand which is more genuine and real because users can see the real person behind the LinkedIn profile.

Most often people hesitate before posting their failure stories on LinkedIn. Posting about failures on LinkedIn can increase engagement and depict a strong personality based on constant learning. According to an article written by Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari on LinkedIn “Is failure the new success?”, failure creates constant learning in one’s life and reflecting on failure is the path to improvement. Owning up to your failure’s on LinkedIn shows that you are willing to own up to your mistakes, learn from them and grow.

Posting about failures is an important part of personal brand building because it resonates with the audience via storytelling. Personal stories are likely to get more engagement and reach on the platform because they directly connect with the audience and display the real person behind the LinkedIn profile.

The power of storytelling can also be extended to highlighting the stories of people associated with your brand. Prerna Mukharya, founder of Outline India, a data firm focused on ground level impact, explains how Linkedin can be a powerful tool to meet the right people. “One of our initial projects at Outline India was through linkedin and I have not forgotten that. It is essential to stay authentic as one tries to make a point. Personal stories (stories from the field in our case about data collection), have been instrumental in reaching out to our target audience. I receive about 7-10 messages each week from people across the spectrum, sharing appreciation, kind words or looking to contribute to our greater goal of - creating social impact through data. In most cases, I do not know these people, but they are willing to offer their expertise, and their time to know about our story at Outline India.” Mukharya says. Hence highlighting stories of people who you are working with and interacting with is a part of your own storytelling and can be leveraged to create your personal brand.

5) Don’t Forget to Leverage the Power of a LinkedIn Article

While communication experts recommend making posts on LinkedIn regularly, very few focus on the power of writing articles on the platform. Around 45 per cent of the article readers on LinkedIn comprise upper level management. Hence, writing articles on the platform increases the possibility of you connecting with upper level management which increases your rating on the platform and boosts your following. Moreover, building relationships of increased engagement by top level management and getting their comments on your posts ensures more credibility towards your personal brand.

Though it may be challenging to increase the visibility of your posts, increasing visibility in an article can be much easier because only 0.2 per cent users on LinkedIn have published articles on the platform.

Here are a few general tips you can keep in mind when you are writing an article to create your personal brand on the platform. The tips are based on research conducted on LinkedIn publisher statistics:

-         Write long form articles, around 1,900 words to get the best engagement.
-         Post “how-to” and list format articles because they get higher number of shares
-         Split the article into 5, 7 or 9 sub headings
-         Ensure that the article title is 40-49 characters
-         Do not add videos to the article unless absolutely necessary
-         Try to add exactly 8 photos to the article
-          Post some original images with people’s faces in the article

See all 5 tips and the complete Entrepreneur article