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By rashley, July 28, 2009 3:11 pm

Is Your LinkedIn Profile Working?

Working, you say.  What is it supposed to do?  I just want people to know what I do and my job history.

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing prospective employers and gatekeepers see regarding your background.  You know yours is working if you are getting introductions, invitations to chat and even interviews. You can check to see a sample of who read your profile.

Go to your ‘Home’ page and view the right side:  ‘Who’s viewed my profile,’ Click on: ‘see more.’

If you have connected with or were referred to some of the organizations listed and you did not get the results you wanted, chances are, you need to change your profile.  If you didn’t contact the organizations listed, chances are, they thought they were interested but didn’t see any reason to follow through.  Something is missing on your profile.

Most people believe a LinkedIn profile is just a truncated version of the resume.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It can be the single most important job search tool you have. Linda Tancs, an employment writer for NJ.com states: A successful LinkedIn profile takes effort.

Your Profile is a marketing piece. Your profile is a tool, which when used correctly, will entice the reader to learn more.  A tool that tells the hiring authority and people who refer candidates to them, exactly why they want to talk to you, immediately.

That’s a huge job for such a small bit of media.  But think about your own behavior.  How often do you ‘research’ someone before you talk to them or when you only think you may want to talk to them?

Where do you start? First off, let readers know how to contact you if they are interested.  Use your public email address (hotmail or gmail, for example) and insert it close to the top of your profile.  Need some ‘air’ around it?  Type a period/enter to create a blank line above and below your email address.

Most common mistake? Your LinkedIn profile is precious digital real estate; use it wisely.  If you want viewers to know how old you are right out of the gate, say, “19 years experience managing new product designs.”  Don’t tell readers how old you are.  Tell them the most important accomplishment in which they would be most interested.

“Launched seven unique products in six seconds with no budget and one hand tied behind my back.”

What it is not. Your profile is a marketing tool, not a biography.  You do not need to list all your jobs or all your positions.  It is neither a resume nor a legal document.

If you want to list previous companies to attract certain populations, go ahead, but only list those.  Leaving lots of white makes for a more pleasing viewing experience.  Leaving lots to the imagination encourages people to contact you.

Your opinion does not count. Readers are not interested in your own view of your work.  “Successful marketing executive with impressive history of product launches” may be true, but your readers need proof, not your opinions.  Try to give examples of your success and let your work speak for itself.

Other people’s opinions count a lot. Use the ‘references’ section eagerly.  Invite folks who have worked for you, with you and managed you to make comments.  Notice the first line is visible. Recraft them to be punch lines (ask permission to modify) to encourage readers to click to read more.

Invite references over time so your updates appear constantly in your network’s radar.  Nothing better to help them recall what a swell person you are and keep you in mind when they hear about a job or person you should know.

Resist the urge to respond immediately to those who give you a reference.  Space out your responses over time to appear in the updates sections and also to get around the appearance of quid pro quo on references.

More white space. Unless your groups memberships are germane to your profession, leave the logos off your profile.  Go to the membership section of each and click off the ‘show logo’ box.

Do you have a blog? I encourage all my clients to create and maintain an industry specific blog to enhance their personal marketing efforts.  If your blog titles are not spot-on to your professional job search efforts, write some new ones.  These headlines are an effective way for viewers to learn more about you.  Use them wisely.

It goes without saying, though you’d be startled to know how often I am forced to say it, check for spelling and grammar.  One mistake can turn viewers off because they immediately jump to, “Not detail oriented” or “careless” or worse, “illiterate.”  Invite someone to review your profile before you publish because we often can’t see our own mistakes.

When you are truly delighted with your profile, when you believe it is compelling and an excellent personal advertisement, incorporate your profile address in your email signature and use it anytime you write a blog or answer a blog online.  Broadcast this marketing piece and you become your own advertisement agency.

For more advice on using LinkedIn for Job Search download your free copy at www.jobsearchdebugged.com

For a job search tune-up read Job Search Debugged, an insider’s guide to a compelling job search.

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By rashley, May 3, 2009 5:50 pm

Executives, Would you like to be caught for that big six figure job?

Let’s say you want to catch a sturgeon. Each day, you pay someone dearly to motor a boat to deep waters where there are sharks, deep sea anglers and dragon fish; lots of activity, many fish, but not one sturgeon in the bunch.   You are worn out and demoralized from trying.  You use your best equipment and you know you know how to fish; but still, no sturgeon.

If you want to catch a sturgeon, you have to fish in cold water lakes and rivers. Submitting your resume to job boards, corporate websites and all those LinkedIn recruiting sites is a bit like fishing for sturgeon in deep ocean water.

This is not another fish tale; you want to land a job? Go where the employers are looking for candidates.  You have to know how to be found because they are certainly looking.  There are jobs out there in spite of what the media and your unemployed friends tell you.  All those products need to be created, marketed, supported and sold regardless of our weakened economy.

Don’t believe for one moment that you chum the waters with resumes to countless job boards, resume sites and corporate websites.  All that accomplishes is you bloody the waters to become prey for sharks.  Those public resume aggregators receive thousands of resumes from job seekers; you have no opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to be seen.  And many are scams, identity thieves, and just plain bogus.  That’s why you rarely hear back and if you do, you rarely make it to the first interview.

Referred and recruited candidates trump random submissions every time. It is your job to do everything you can to get found, to be wanted.  Know the resources sophisticated employers/recruiters use and increase the possibility you will be lured into an interview.

One very smart internal recruiter caught the biggest fish possible for her employer.  Her success demonstrates the typical methods hiring authorities use.  She ignored all the website-submitted resumes gathering dust on her virtual desk; in fact, she never looked at them.

Her company had an EVP spot and needed an excruciatingly specific track record and skill set.  She knew the best use of her time was to talk to only those people with that skill set.  She located the top five companies who had the metric she needed then located the names of the execs responsible for that success.

She used a variety of resources to vet her suspects.  She first examined the corporate website for a bio and product information. Next, she used LinkedIn just to get an idea of former employers, quality of references and an overview of how these suspects saw themselves as represented by their summary.  She then looked at blogs and any number of other internet contributions from each of her suspects.  She needed someone who was beyond reproach technically, but who had a leadership style that demonstrated collaboration.  The tone and type of contributions (brand identity) she discovered narrowed her search to only two candidates whom she called to introduce herself.  She used a Boolean string to find direct contact information which interestingly, was also on the blogs she read.

Executives and technology leaders are in a different class from most candidates.  Do not be confused by all those recruiters who cast gill nets for new connections and make an appearance on every public forum trolling for submissions.  You are a rare breed and the recruiters who can place you are not to be found in their ranks.   If you are a big fish, avoid these recruiters.

Many jobs will be filled by the hiring authorities themselves through their network and online efforts which are not largely different from the resources recruiters use.

Quality employers and recruiters look for successful executives and technology leaders to recruit.  They have a network of long-term connections; they are not hit and run artists who collect (and ignore) resumes.  And these recruiters make anywhere from 20-30% of all executive level placements.  These are the recruiters by whom you want to be caught.  You have to swim in waters where they fish.

Blogs: Many experienced recruiters prefer to set alerts and search blogs for quality candidates. They use Boolean strings to isolate exactly the skills and requirements they need. They look for comments made on specific topics and they look for blogs on point to their client’s needs.

Clearly, if so many recruiters, both internal and external and hiring authorities in general, are looking for quality candidates on blogs, you need to be found there.

1. Answer questions using your full signature and LinkedIn profile address.
2. Write a blog of your own and keep it professional and on topic for your brand identity.
3. Create strategic alliances with other bloggers topic-adjacent and share links to each others sites.
4. Answer questions, start discussions and link to your site as a news article on LinkedIn and use your blog as part of your signature.

Social networking sites: Clean up and maintain your LinkedIn profile.  It is the first place people look once they have your name.  And some crafty employers use LinkedIn search tools to find people with certain former employers, titles and skill sets.

Twitter, Facebook and  others are, in my view, best used as a job search resource by job seekers young in their career.  You will read a lot about how they are used for job search, but your job search is different.  There are fewer jobs for executives and technology leaders than individual contributors and those employers tend to use more sophisticated options.

That having been said, do maintain your profiles and use the sites to promote your personal brand.  It’s like chicken soup, it couldn’t hurt.

Conferences and trade shows: Most companies set aside time and resources during conferences to cast a line to hook great candidates.  On more than one occasion when I was a recruiter, I was invited by clients to attend conferences with them to look for and qualify suspects my client could interview for key positions.  Today, even more resources are spent at conferences to locate industry-specific experts.  Be one.

1. Attend all conferences, trade shows and seminars where your target employer may be.
2. Volunteer to promote or organize the event
3. Offer a strategic employer your services to assist with booth duty
4. Attend your brand-specific topics and ask provocative questions
5. Come to each session early and linger to meet people
6. Stay in the radar of conference organizers as a prospective speaker or moderator
7. Write a brand-specific white paper to present or have available to attendees

Community: Many hiring authorities look to the community, both business and other for prospective employees.  They want to connect with people with shared values and interests.

1. Volunteer in organizations for which you are passionate
2. Attend business community events and engage.  Working to create and lead programs is a better advertisement for your brand than simply attending.
3. Participate in every and all alumni group for which you qualify
4. Become a mentor.  Get better visibility by helping others who succeed.

Your network: Job search by multiplication is accomplished through your network.  Employers ask the people they know and trust for referrals.  Big fish swim with other big fish.  Be that referral.  It is not enough to let your connections know you are looking for a new job.  You increase the chance they can actually help if they know what help looks like.

1. Hone your elevator pitch so everyone knows what you will be hired to do
2. Ask only for what your connection can deliver easily
3. Remember to return the favor
4. Stay connected but don’t badger; pay attention to their needs not just yours
5. Connect with and maintain relationships with a few good recruiters
6. Contentiously maintain your personal brand

And most important, maintain the big-fish attitude. If you are unemployed while looking for that next great job keep your spirits up; unemployment didn’t change your credentials or the value of your experience.  Just like that 100 lb sturgeon, focus on what you are going toward, not what you are going away from.

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By admin, April 21, 2009 3:24 pm

Don’t be afraid to discover your true identity

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number four

Are you Clark Kent or Superman?  Both have viable identities; each with a different niche.  How can you determine your own brand identity?

One of my more successful clients, we will call him Sam, believed his brand was, “Technology savvy product development executive.”  He was proud of his knowledge and that he was able to lead his teams to create technologically complex products with scarce resources and impossible deadlines.

While any employer would be interested in someone with a track record releasing products on time, I believed he could distinguish himself further; create a real brand.

Here are just a few questions we used to discovered his real brand:

1. What are your long term career goals?
2. What are you most proud of in your last four years of work?
3. What were the obstacles?
4. What resources did you use to over come those obstacles?
5. What tools did you employ?
6. What do people say about you within your department?
7. What do people say about you in other departments?
8. What topics are you most likely to be asked to discuss?
9. What do other departments invite you to teach them?
10. How did they affect the corporate bottom line?

At first, Sam was horrified at the idea he could not lead with his vast knowledge and deep technical education.  Once he understood his objective was marketing his brand for career development, he understood his brand is more effective as something employers needed but rarely found in technology executives. Sam wanted to be seen as a technology leader, not just another successful software development manager.  He aspired to “C” level responsibilities.

Ultimately, Sam’s brand is defined as, “A technology executive who builds corporate success through collaboration and unrelenting commitment to stated priorities.“  His brand identity is “Collaboration creator.’”

How does Sam promote his brand?  He is ever vigilant of his corporate presence.  As Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content for Microsoft advises, “Every encounter, every phone conversation, every meeting, every report, every PowerPoint, every email – basically every interaction – is an opportunity to build or deconstruct your personal brand.”

Sam makes a concerted effort to maintain strong connections across all departments to keep the products for which he is responsible visible and on point to meet corporate and customer goals.  Sam updates departments throughout the company and invites comment. He attends and hosts internal discussions and forums to foster communication about his department’s mission and how it relates to other departments and the corporate mission.  He demonstrates collaborative, ethical behavior, and encourages the same of his team; especially between the development staff and the quality assurance team members.

Externally, he attends networking events and conferences to learn from others.  He participates in the question and answer sessions of seminars and presentations and is never shy about contributing comments on Blogs relevant to his area of expertise.

Sam writes a Blog on Agile software development implementations (tools which facilitate collaboration between marketing, development and users to create products customers actually want), insights on the benefits of collaborative work for the SaaS/cloud computing software delivery method and general advice on managing for quality. There is no doubt of his technical expertise as expressed in the blogs and venues, and he is branded with the over-riding concept of collaborative software development.

He dresses well, attends seminars and writes white papers.  Sam uses social networking sites to engage both his internal and external networks to promote his point of view, publications and successes. He knows how to brag about relevant accomplishments without appearing braggadocios.

Sam has made managing his brand part of his every day activities.  It appears to be working.  His employer of five months invited him to create a first-of-year outlook based on Sam’s own plan plus input he was to obtain from other departments.  He has also been asked to undertake a major project that affects several departments to vet and hire a new vendor critical to the success of several product lines.  Only someone known for his collaborative successes would be invited to accomplish such a sensitive goal.   Sam is not looking for a job, but he keeps notes to incorporate examples that prove his brand for any future job interview.

He will be sure to journal and blog about how he accomplishes tasks that demonstrate collaboration and problem solving using collaborative techniqes.

Sam manages his brand well because he knows what it is. His brand informs him of where his time is best spent and with whom to expand his network.  Sam frequently searches the Internet to monitor how the world sees him and he comments on complimentary blogs to keep his name in the Agile-world radar.  He is often delighted to find himself quoted or his papers mentioned.  Sam’s brand is “Collaboration expert.”  What is yours?

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

Click here for more resources

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By admin, April 19, 2009 1:31 pm

Do you know how the world sees you?

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number three

Years ago, when computers were steam-driven and search engines like Google and Yahoo were not yet  household words, I searched on my name.  I had a website, an established business as a job search coach and what I assumed was a wide-spread Seattle-based reputation in the technology community.  Imagine my surprise when my name search rendered no results.

Today, that same search results in pages of entries including my website, magazine articles, blogs and even long-forgotten comments on a variety of sites.  Mixed in are various other ‘Rita Ashley’s’ but since they seem to be accomplished women, I am not embarrassed by their digital footprint.  Folks looking for me know I am neither a Raytheon employee nor serve on a the Olanthe school board.

The real win when you set your alert is you can qualify which John Smith you want to find.  Employers know to use alerts such as John Smith, teacher, Tucson to find exactly the person they want to vet.  You can do the same.

Is it vanity to check my on-line presences?  Not one bit.  It is a smart business decision to monitor what the world sees.  And if you are a $100,000+ professional, it is your business to monitor and maintain your brand and appear to the world as an expert in your domain.

But is a search engine enough? There are many entries hidden in blogs or articles where my name may be used by others.  A small group of irate recruiters, for example, took umbrage at a blog I wrote warning candidates about traps set by recruiters.  They say horrible things about me.  Since I know, I can do some damage control.

How did I find out?  I set search engine alerts for my name, my company and a few key words associated with job search coaching for executives and technology leaders.  Most of the entries I receive are irrelevant but there are often a few tidbits that are very useful.  In addition to monitoring my brand, I often find new blogs where my advice or comments will be seen by folks in need and sometimes, I meet like-minded contributors with whom I can establish a common bond.

Setting alerts is a simple first-step in creating your on-going personal branding monitoring program; an important component of building a healthy personal brand.   To learn more about your digital presence, choose a few tools from this comprehensive list created by JobMob.  No need to use them all, but pay special attention to those that look for blogs and social networking comments.

Time for some clean-up?  Here’s a few tips for starters.  Return to this blog frequently as the Digital Job Search Branding series continues.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

Click here for more resources

For a step-by-step guide to networking that understands networking can be hard.

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By admin, April 11, 2009 1:25 pm

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND  PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number one

“Your personal brand happens whether you shape it or not. If you are out in the world at all, you are known for the qualities you project and the qualities external audiences believe are true of you. Your choice is simple: own your brand, or let the external audiences own it for you.” Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content at Microsoft.

Exposure is the lynchpin of your search: If you are a six figure executive or technology leader, your job search is a massive marketing campaign.  The more people who know about you and your talents, the higher the probability you will be invited to compete for jobs.  Exposure is what your digital job search is all about:  Maximum exposure for your brand.

Your brand is what you want hiring authorities to know about you distinguishes you from the competition.  Your job is to ascertain what your brand is currently and what it should be to attract the attention of employers.

In their book, Career Distinction William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson state, “Personal Branding is so powerful the Fortune 500 Companies-firms single-mindedly focused on their corporate brands-are helping employees build their personal brands.”

Personal branding is not a fad or an option.  People make hiring decisions based on many factors but their preconceived notions and expectations often determine who they will even consider.  Mark Lindstrom, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling book, Buyology summarizes, “We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them.   …companies plant instant shortcuts-or brand bookmarks-in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.”

Here’s how personal branding works for you. While personal branding is unavoidable, the more control you assert over it, the more likely your personal brand will be an asset in your career.  People  automatically form mental associations and create labels to recognize you. Labeling happens automatically because that is the way our brains are wired.  Take control over those labels and you create a personal brand.

The more you advertise, the more people know about your special expertise.  It behooves you to create a marketing plan to accomplish your branding program.

What is Your Brand? Your personal brand is how others define you in the workforce.   Are you a Ferrari, built for speed or a Volvo, built for safety?  It is unlikely you are both.  How do you describe yourself?   How do others describe you?  What does your performance review consistently point out?  How do others introduce you?  Your answers to these questions are keys to your brand attributes.

“If you’re really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very smart people walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and well-polished resumes. Along the way, if you’re really smart, you figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself — you create a message and a strategy to promote the brand called ‘You’” Tom Peters writing for Fast Company.

Know what distinguishes you from your peers. When you define your peers and their attributes and how you are different from them, you can rise above the competition.  The competition is defined as anyone who might be hired for a given position that precludes your being hired.  Competition, therefore, includes hiring no one and leaving the job undone or shared by current employees.  To rise above all competition, you must articulate what you can do or provide that no one else can.  Your band must be so compelling that it precedes you, introduces you and annihilates the competition.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

For a step-by-step guide to improve your job search networking:

For a complete guide to a job search tune-up:

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