How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn [21 Useful Tips]

How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn [21 Useful Tips] As a LinkedIn trainer, I get a few recurring questions in my workshops and seminars. I thought I would compile a little list with questions and answers here, hopefully they will be useful to you. Most questions are related to sales, marketing and recruitment which is basically the type of professionals I tend to train. Here goes the 21 LinkedIn questions and answers: 1. How do you boost your LinkedIn profile SEO? LinkedIn operates a bit like Google did 10 years ago, the more keywords the better ranking you will get for a while. The algorithm of the search rankings are that you will be bumped up and if people actually take action â€" click on your profile in the search results â€" that tells LinkedIn you are relevant for those search terms. IF users don’t click on you, you will be sent down to page 16 in no time and classed a spammer by the LinkedIn search engine. To get better ranking make sure to insert relevant keywords in your headline, in your job ti tle and in your summary. Use keywords such as industry, location, company names (if that’s allowed), and even names of people. Bring it down to a micro level with versions of software and even post codes. See more at How to Make Google Love Your LinkedIn Profile. 2. How to use advanced X-Ray searches to find anyone on LinkedIn? On LinkedIn, you can only see the people that are three degrees away from you or members of the same group. One of the worst kept secrets on LinkedIn is that you are able to see every public profile via search engines such as Google. LinkedIn make sure these profiles are indexed in Google as they want to be the first search results for people’s names. You can use this by entering a Boolean search string searching every LinkedIn user, this typically renders quite a lot of results so throw in more keywords in the search to narrow it down to a nice shortlist. See Glen Catheys post to get the lowdown on the X-Ray strings. 3. How do you advertise for free on LinkedIn? Anyone can advertise on LinkedIn but it comes at a price. One way of doing it for free is of course your status update; another way is to post it into groups. These are in theory good ways but the trouble is that most people see those updates as adverts and tend to ignore them. One more creative way is to use a SlideShare or Google presentation where you put your presentation on, integrate this on your LinkedIn profile and share it with your network. This will actually get clicks and if it’s done well it could go viral. Check out Slideshare on LinkedIn for more details. 4. How do you use the events section on LinkedIn? The events section is one of the most underutilized sections of LinkedIn. We all attend events, and so do your customers. Search for these events on LinkedIn and you’ll be able to see who is coming, so that you can plan your conversations way ahead of the event. The attendee list is sometimes a great place for identifying buyers, if ten people are attending a LinkedIn meetup â€" I would expect a few of them to be interested in some training. Whether it’s your breakfast briefing on new regulations or networking drinks you are hosting â€" be sure to list these in the LinkedIn Events section. When you list an event, your entire network gets notified. You can then share it again to anyone in your network by LinkedIn messages. Every time someone clicks ‘attending’ or ‘interested’ â€" their networks get notified as well. Events is one of the best places to build up some buzz around your company. Also check out How To Use LinkedIn Events To Promote Your Meetup, Workshop or Seminar. 5. How to categorize connections and send group emails? Another very underutilized feature of LinkedIn is the ability to tag people. This means you can categorize your connections according to company, position, location, where you met or whatever you choose. When doing some sales calls, you can tag everyone you speak to. When your next sales session comes up you’ll have an instant shortlist and you are able to send a group email to everyone in that category (lets say HR managers in Liverpool) to get it out quickly. More about tagging at Managing Your Connections By Using Tags. 6. How do you connect with people in Groups? Another worst kept secret on LinkedIn is that Groups normally allow you contact and connect with anyone direct on LinkedIn. Sometimes you find a perfect prospect but have no way of contacting them, what you can do is see what groups they are a member of and join one of these. From there you can either invite the person to your network direct or you can look them up in the group and send a message. Note that users are able to turn this off, it’s enabled by default but if someone gets spammed they are likely to opt out of these contact settings. 7. Who should you connect with on LinkedIn (and who shouldn’t you)? LinkedIn is all about connections, the more you have the better visibility your profile will have and more people you will be able to search for. But it’s also about quality connections, it’s worth identifying the so called ‘super connectors’ in your field and start connecting with them â€" if they have 1000 relevant connections that will save you a lot of leg work. In general, connect with business contacts of all levels. Juniors become seniors within companies, they move companies and remember you… Don’t connect with your competitors unless you know they have more useful connections than you do. Yes you can hide them from browsing your connections but your connections will still come up in search results so be wary of connecting with competitors. See more about Super Connectors on LinkedIn. 8. How do you integrate Twitter and LinkedIn? If you tweet, or if your company tweets, you might want to integrate Twitter and LinkedIn. This is done through an application called Tweets. It’s fairly straightforward to install (see how here) but the important thing here are the settings. We have all seen users with more than ten updates on LinkedIn per day, these updates typically come from Twitter and probably do more harm to your brand than anything else. The setting you want to use is to only share tweets on LinkedIn when you use the hashtag #in inside Twitter. This allows you to selectively share on LinkedIn as opposed to blanket bombing your network with conversational updates. For more on this pet peeve of mine, see Dear Tweeters, Stop Cluttering My LinkedIn Homefeed! 9. Recommendations dos and donts The recommendation engine on LinkedIn is one of the keys to LinkedIn’s success. Whereas you used to get recommendations on a CV or a website, these recommendations are fully transparent and people can click their way through to actually scrutinize who wrote the recommendation (and event check that person’s recommendations). Given that people check out the recommender, don’t get recommendations from your mates, don’t do back-to-back recommendations and don’t get recommendations from people who are obviously indebted to you (that graduate candidate you placed on an internship). Instead focus on quality recommendations from C-level executives and former bosses. Just get one from each company and don’t get more that 5-10 recommendations in total â€" any more defeats the purpose. If you are in the US, the norm is to have double that. Check out How To Get More LinkedIn Recommendations as well. 10. How do you detect that a friend is on the job hunt? Recruiters are very keen on finding out when anyone goes from being a passive to an active candidate on LinkedIn. If you are a bit nosy and or want to help your network you can do what they do and look out for the signs. We all know the very obvious people who actually post “I’m looking for a job” in their status updates. But how can you figure out the stealth job seekers who might just need your help? Look for any of these signs: a number of new recommendations on the profile, tinkering with the headline, the summary or even a new picture. Contact details in the open and crucially, the LinkedIn email address changed to their webmail from work email. Go ahead an contact these people but do it in a subtle way, as they are obviously a bit jumpy and wouldn’t want anyone to know they are on the hunt. See how you can help them and they will remember your kind assistance when your turn comes to explore opportunities. 11. How do I remove annoying users from my homefeed? Whether someone is plugging their own services every day or tweet on LinkedIn a bit too much, you can easily hide these people from your home feed. Just to the right of their update there is a little grey text reading “Hide” â€" click that and you won’t see this person on your feed again. You can un-hide them later if you so please. If someone is even more annoying, you can remove them as a connection altogether on the My Contacts page and click ‘remove connections’. They will not be notified that you have deleted them from your network. See this post for more about removing connections on LinkedIn. 12. Why is LinkedIn the best job search tool on social media? LinkedIn is the place where you can find professionals on social media. Yes, Facebook can be great for graduates and Twitter for media recruitment but LinkedIn reaches people who haven’t got time for every social network under the sun. A lawyer, banker or accountant will check their LinkedIn profile periodically but very seldom would they even have a Twitter account. So from a mere reach perspective LinkedIn is your best bet. This means most recruiters and HR departments are using LinkedIn to find candidates already. So you can actually be found via one of their searches, or you can actively network your way to opportunities within companies. And you can of course have a look at the Jobs section to make it really easy on yourself. 13. How can you scan what anyone on LinkedIn is saying about a company or topic? Another virtually unknown feature of LinkedIn is what’s called LinkedIn Signal. It’s basically a search tool for status updates on LinkedIn. You can search for your company name, your field or location or even a combination of them all. LinkedIn will tell you who is talking about the keyword, including people up to 3 degrees away from you. If someone is talking about Java programming on LinkedIn but the profile says ‘consultant’ â€" chances are they are actually a Java developer with a misleading profile. Check out this post from LinkedIn about how Signal works. 14. How can you stand out against the other millions of [insert job title here] on LinkedIn? By being useful to your network, by sharing interesting and valuable information and by not selling your products and services at any given moment. Your network probably knows what you do and they are likely to let you know when they have a referral for you, so it’s better to get mindshare â€" creating daily awareness and staying visible. 15. Whats a good daily LinkedIn routine? Most active LinkedIn users I know have a LinkedIn browser window open all day but they mainly use LinkedIn as a database. I would make a habit of sharing an interesting piece of content every day, checking out the events section for relevant networking dos, engaging with other users in Groups and generally keeping an eye on the homefeed to keep my finger on the pulse. This only takes 15 minutes per day but it’s easy to get sidetracked and lose the bigger picture. 16. How do you run a successful group on LinkedIn? There are over a million groups on LinkedIn, many of these were set up by recruiters. If you look at what makes a group successful it’s all about creating a strong community. When it’s set up it’s ideal to make it ‘exclusive’ in some way â€" i.e. only open to Java developer in Manchester, this just makes more of them want to join. Assign a team to run the group and to seed conversation, moderate discussions and sharing interesting content. The number one gripe people have with groups is that they get too much spam emails so make sure you vet all members, only ever send relevant email updates and do not tolerate any blatant promotions from members. More on Groups at How To Run a Successful LinkedIn Group. 17. How to use your company page to attract customers? The LinkedIn company page is your company’s number one branding tool on LinkedIn. There are lots of things you can do here such as write up a proper description of the company, add contact details, insert your Twitter feed, link your blog posts to the page, add your products and services, ask for company recommendations and check out the visitor statistics. Prospective clients are likely to check out your company page so make sure it represents your brand fully. For employer branding, check out How To Build a LinkedIn Company and Careers Page. 18. What are the essentials on your LinkedIn profile? There are four essentials on an individual’s LinkedIn profile; they are the picture, the headline, the summary and the keywords. Your picture should look professional and reflect your brand, people like dealing with faces as opposed to just text â€" studies show you get 30% more clicks in search results when you have a picture (see more at How To Choose a Picture for Your Personal Brand). The headline (along with your name and picture) is what comes up in search results and based on this the user will decide whether to click on you or the competitor. Make sure the headline talks about what you do and not who you are, i.e. you recruit Java developers to top tier consultancies in Manchester and not Consultant and Recruiter X â€" which means very little (more on headlines at How To Write Your Killer LinkedIn Headline). Your summary is where people go to see what you are all about and what your track record in the industry is. If you get someone to take their time to check this out you will want to add you contact details at the end and not leave them hanging. Finally, you have to get the right keywords on your profile or you will not come up in any searches. Yes you might come up in searches for your name but let’s face it if someone already knows your name you already have a foot in the door. It’s better to come up in the search for “Java recruiter Manchester”. 19. How do you connect with people outside of your network? There are lots of ways of connecting with people outside of your network. You can join the same group as this person which allows you to connect direct (most of the time). You can do an introduction through a common connection, this can take a bit of time but usually works. If you have a premium account you can send an inMail or you can actually buy inMail credits on a free account. But lets forget the online world for a while, I think the best way to connect is actually outside of LinkedIn. Pick up the phone and ring the person up, or if you don’t have the number you can probably guess the email address and try that. It’s all about being creative and just because you found someone on LinkedIn doesn’t mean you have to approach them through LinkedIn. 20. Do you need to upgrade your LinkedIn account? It really depends on how you are using LinkedIn, most people don’t use inMails, Profile organizer and require additional search results. If you do pay for an account make sure you make the most of it, paying a monthly fee is not a silver bullet to success you actually have to understand what youre doing first. See more at LinkedIn Job Search Premium, Worth the Dollar or Not? 21. What applications should you use to attract business? You can use  SlideShare  to share presentations of your company or about specials or promotions you have on at the moment, you can use the  Amazon Reading list  to show off your extra-curricular interests, use  TripIt  if you travel a lot and actually want people to contact you to have a coffee in various locations. You can use  Google Docs  to get video going on your profile and if you blog you should definitely integrate the  Blog Link  application. Remember that every time you make any changes to your application, your network gets notified which is usually a good thing. Thats it for today, do let me know what other tips and tricks you have!

Where to Find Help on Resume Writing

Where to Find Help on Resume WritingIf you are trying to find a way to get better help on resume writing, you probably want to know how to find it. In this article I will outline a few of the most important places to look when you are looking for help.Online Communities. There are many different online communities that are dedicated to helping with resume writing. These communities can be filled with great advice that you will not find anywhere else. It is also a place where you can post your resume for others to view and comment on.Job Sites. Many job sites offer help with resume writing services. You should always search carefully for such sites before paying to be placed on their list. The services offered may be a little more than you have budgeted for.Help from Professionals. One of the best ways to get help on resume writing is to seek help from professionals. Not only will they be able to give you pointers about what you should put on your resume, but they can also help you to construct your cover letter and to ensure that your resume gets picked up by the right people.Reference Lines. When searching for help on resume writing you should first start with a reference line. You can start with your immediate family, your friends, your boss, your coworkers, or your co-workers. By placing your resume in an envelope or in a packet that can be given to the appropriate parties, you will make it much easier to get the information that you need without having to hunt around.Secondly, when you are searching for help on resume writing you should also get some samples of resumes that were created by other people. By looking at the samples you will be able to see the kind of things that others have done to create resumes and see what kind of work isinvolved in getting one.Resume Templates. You can find many different types of resume templates online. They range from very simple to very complicated and you should check these templates out before spending any money on t hem.There are many other places to find help on resume writing. However, these are the most important places for anyone who is starting off.

Just Shake and Make Up Already, Will Ya

Just Shake and Make Up Already, Will Ya We all have that one  person at work  who we do NOT get along with.   We clashed in the past over a disagreement.   That person threw us under the bus in a meeting or in front of our boss.   That person didnt play fairly  or completely disrespected us.   We hung on and never forgot it. Guess what?   Time to let it  go! Are you holding a grudge with someone at work?   Are you ready to release the negative energy that is not serving you and make a productive move to let go?   Tell me about a time you confronted a peer and it returned positive results. No enemies, man!   Especially at work.   Nothing feels better than being the bigger person and facing the issue head on.   I challenge you to make amends with one person this week.

What are the Top 10 UK Job Boards

What are the Top 10 UK Job Boards In terms of searching for jobs and the world of recruitment, its useful to know which job boards are the best around. You need to know where to apply, wholl give the best results and most importantly wholl get you the results you want! Its been shown that 85% of recruiters use paid sources to advertise their jobs online so its important to know where to go. Following on from 2014, SocialTalent have again created an infographic about some interesting stats and the top UK job boards for 2015. Are there any favourites for you? Let us know in the comments below! Takeaways: 85% of recruiters use paid sources to advertise their jobs online. 30.8 million people were employed in the UK in 2014. 5.8% is the current UK unemployment rate. 32% of sources admit to making no effort to optimise their jobs to be found by jobseekers. In 1st place is Indeed.co.uk, 2nd Reed.co.uk and 3rd Totaljobs.com, the same as 2014. Monster.co.uk has fallen 2 places. RELATED: Do Job Boards Still Matter?

Examples of Summary Writing in Resume

Examples of Summary Writing in ResumeWhen the resume is to be reviewed, it is important to find examples of summary writing in resume. The purpose of these should be to give the reader a quick glimpse at the content of the document and will show him/her what is the true substance of the resume. A common error that is made when reading resumes is to not realize how important the first couple of pages are. Also, it is necessary to know that if you have prepared the information on your own then it will be sent as a blank page that you can fill with your own thoughts.The key here is to introduce yourself and briefly explain yourself in the beginning of the document. You can also indicate in the introduction the reason for applying for the job and any other relevant information. It is important to emphasize that your summary is personal and does not have to match the style of the resume.Many writers have taken the use of summaries in resume as a practice to impress the readers or gain mor e attention from the reader. There are many versions that are written to meet the requirements of the business. In some cases the document may contain a thesis statement and in some other the summary and the thesis statement will not match.The description and value of the summary must not be overstated or exaggerated. While the reader is still in the first pages of the resume, they will only take a glance at the contents of the document and will not be in a position to analyze the content. They will not be able to analyze the contents or value of the information and thus find it out of place.So the conclusion is that the summary must be a short one and must not be too long and not too short. If the contents of the summary were shown separately then it will be difficult to assess the contents. Therefore, this is the best time to put together a summary of the whole document. The examples of summary writing in resume must indicate the primary goal of the document. It must explain the m ain purpose of the job and its objectives, thus it is advisable to place the objective at the top of the document. It is also recommended to indicate the main duty of the person for whom the document is written. This will make it easier for the reader to differentiate between the duties of the person and the document.The use of the words 'perform'do' must be avoided here. You can use words like 'participate' instead, so that the reader understands that the person is being quoted for his/her performance. Remember that you can use the example of summary writing in resume but you must never over do it.The final section of the document should contain a summary of accomplishments. This should be a part of the summary writing in resume and it should be the second part of the document.

Why Your Career is Definitely Worth Investing In

Why Your Career is Definitely Worth Investing In Source â€" Pexels.comInvesting in yourself and in your career by getting the right education is definitely worth your while. Continue reading to learn about why making wise investments like this will end up paying off in the long run.1. You Can Make a Higher SalaryIf you don’t want to be stuck in a dead end job for the rest of your life, you definitely need to invest in yourself and in your education so you can advance your career.Without the right degree, you won’t be eligible to apply for a wide range of job openings that pay well and provide great benefits. Even if you’re currently in a well paying position, such as nursing, you can take your career to the next level, open up even more doors, and make even more money by attending a school like the University of Arizona, which offers RN to MSN programs and a masters of science in nursing online.evalOnce you have this graduate level degree, you’ll be able to command a higher salary and you’ll be able to apply for even more work that you previously weren’t qualified for.2. You Can Start Working in a Field You LoveThere are a lot of different jobs that you can choose from, but not every job will be fulfilling. If you don’t yet have a college education, you will quickly realize just how limited your work options really are, as many employers who pay well and provide fulfilling job positions seek employees who have gone to college and received their bachelor’s degree, at a minimum.And if you already have your Bachelor’s Degree but you want to make more money and perhaps climb the corporate ladder or get an even more advanced position at your company or in a totally new environment, you will realize that you need to get your graduate degree, whether you need a master’s degree or a PhD.Ultimately, investing in your career by getting the right education will allow you to get the job that you’ve always wanted.3. Your Investment Will Pay Itself BackRemember that, even though college education can be expensive, it will pay itself back. As mentioned above, you will open up new doors to new opportunities, and you will be able to work in a variety of new environments that were previously inaccessible.Once you get the right job, you can pay yourself back for the money that you spent on your education, and once you have paid yourself back, you will be able to continue making a lot more money than you would have otherwise made if you had not invested in yourself.Investing in your career is worthwhile because it will ultimately make you a better worker, a more desirable employee, and a professional with skills that are highly sought after.evalSo if you have been hoping to jumpstart a brand new career or advance an existing one, definitely search for the right school and the right program that will give you the tools to fulfill your aspirations.

Tips for Gaining an Edge in Todays Job Enviornment - CareerAlley

Tips for Gaining an Edge in Todays Job Enviornment - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Lao Tzu Todays job market is more competitive than ever before. But even as the number of job seekers increase and the economy slows, there are still a good number of professionals who have achieved jobs that are financially, professionally, and personally satisfying from the use of fast and effective job searches. Even before starting any job search, it is important to know with certainty the kind of career path that you want to take. With this knowledge, you can then go ahead to get the necessary qualification for it such as a college degree that will qualify you for your desired job. In case you are not sure of the kind of career you want to undertake, it is best to get reliable career advice before blindly getting any college degree only to fail to use it in the future. If you are in high school, you can seek the advice of your schools guidance counselors who can guide you through discovering your preferred career. If you have various career options, you may use career quizzes and tests to narrow down your options. Career quizzes and test can be useful when trying to clearly decipher your strengths and the careers that would match best with your skills. The most important thing, though, during career advice is to only consider the jobs that you are passionate about. This is because you want to make a long-term decision of the type of career to undertake. Without passion for the career, you will soon be seeking ways to change it. If you are thinking of changing your current career, you need to seek the right guidance from career coaches who will help you decide whether you want to remain in your current career, and if not, the alternative choices available for you. All these sources of career advice are aimed at helping you discover yourself in order for you to know what career will best suit you. With the advice in place, you can go ahead to earn a degree that is related to your chosen career. After knowing what you want, and having the necessary qualification for it, you will have the confidence to start a job search that will truly produce successful results. There are lots of job search sites available online. It is important to know which among the various options are the right sites to apply in. It is unwise to blindly upload your resume in whichever job search site you come across. Job site search reviews are a good place to start in order to find out the experience of its previous users. Apart from the reviews, there are other pointers that you can use for determining the right job search sites: a) Site popularity: Register not only with top ranking sites, but those whose job search portal is rapidly growing. With the sites high traffic, you will have better chances of being noticed. b) Site integration: Choose a job search website that gathers its job postings from a range of company websites and other job search websites. Such a site will save you both time and energy from browsing different sites as you will find all the information you need in one place. c) Search process: A good site should allow you to search jobs using various parameters including location, type of industry, job level, and experience. The search process should be both easy and precise. d) Search management tools: Choose a site that you can easily manage your job searches using various tools such as job alerts, job notifications, fast and easy resume upload, and flagging off. e) Site privacy: Read the job search website privacy policy to ensure that your information will be kept safe, and they will not use your email address for spam. f) Extra features: An excellent job search website will offer extra features such as online networking and company reviews. With these points in place, your job search will be both easy and convenient, and will act as a platform for connecting you to the right job as per your chosen career. This is a guest post from DegreeJungle.com. Good luck in your search. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Visit me on Facebook

Career Corner Interview Tips from ReFocus on Careers - Face-to-face Interviews Prepare for the Interview Part VI - Hallie Crawford

Career Corner Interview Tips from ReFocus on Careers - Face-to-face Interviews Prepare for the Interview Part VI I recently spoke to a great networking and career search group, Re:Focus on Careers, about creating a kick ass elevator speech. Keep an eye out for all of these free interview tips in my Career Corner posts: Prepare for the Interview The best way to ace your next job interview is to prepare for it. This may sound obvious, but its not. Too many applicants walk into an interview without knowing as much as they should about the industry, the company and its problems. Remember: You are there to solve a problem. Otherwise, the company wouldnt be hiring. Follow these steps: 6. Get the big picture. Visualize the entire interview, from start to finish. See yourself as performing with style and confidence. How will the interview end? Will you get a job offer or be called back for a second interview? How much salary do you want? What kind of benefits? The research you did in step 1 will give you an idea of what to expect. Be ready for any eventuality. Extra Tip from Career Coach Hallie: I can’t say enough about the power of visualization. Professional athletes do it, you can too. Add to your visualization how you want to feel during the interview. Adding emotion to it adds power and energy. It will help you perform that much better. If you’re interested in having me speak at your next event about finding a career you love, go here: www.halliecrawford.com/appearances.html. I’d be happy to discuss! Certified Career CoachCareer Speaker