Download - Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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Page 1: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

Want to know how to make a difference to yourpersonal onl emarketing?

This document has been constructed to show you the advantages of a good LinkedIn profileand gives you hints and tips on how to stand out from the rest...AND BE NOTICED.

Let’s begin >>

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Page 2: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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Are you credible?It is fair to say that nowadays no credible job seeker can afford to be without a decentLinkedIn profile. A good LinkedIn profile adds credibility to your professional reputation,whereas a poor LinkedIn profile can mean that a recruiter, or possible new business contact,overlooks you, in turn for somebody who stands out more.

Here, we look at some of the pitfalls of LinkedIn and show you how you can improve yourpresence and profile online. We take as an example the profile of Matthew Smith, the“candidate” whose CV we looked at in our guide, “Good CV, Weak CV”.

Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Page 3: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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Why Linked ?The use of the web in recruitment is growing. LinkedIn, which has alwayspromoted itself as the professional network, has purposefully started topromote its use as a tool for recruiters and hiring managers.

Faced with a new role to recruit to and maybe without an obviouscandidate for the job, which recruiter wouldn’t be attracted to a ready-made database of millions of names? If you are appropriate for the rolethey are recruiting for, wouldn’t it be great if the recruiter found youand dropped you a line?

If the rest of the world follows the US, your social media presence willbecome even more important in securing your next role. The JobviteSocial Recruiting Survey 2012 received responses from over 1,000

human resources and recruiting professionals in the US and found that92% will recruit from social networks and more than 70% havesuccessfully hired a candidate through social media. LinkedIn leads theway in recruiting with 93% of those surveyed using the network. Socialnetworks are ranked top alongside referrals and direct sourcing as beingthe best external sources for quality candidates.

We can only speculate on how far the rest of the world is behind the US on this. But with this evidence, can you afford not to have an outstanding LinkedIn profile?

Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Page 4: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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The bits you don’t seeBefore we start, a word on settings. The bottom line is you have to bevisible. Of course, not everyone is comfortable with having a publicprofile on the web but remember that if LinkedIn is going to be aneffective tool in your job hunt, recruiters have to be able to find you.

So ensure:

• Your full name is visible• Your photo can be seen by everyone• You can be easily contacted by email

Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Your PhotoRemember LinkedIn is a business network. So look like you meanbusiness in your photo. No holiday photos, no party photos: it needs tobe a good quality head and shoulders photo of you, preferably in a suit.

People will make judgements based on the photo and people expect to see it (or they might think you’re hiding something). Not having one is not an option.

Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Page 6: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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The Weak ProfileWould you believe the sample we give here is considered “Expert”according to LinkedIn? LinkedIn itself only measures how muchinformation you supply it with, not the quality of it.

Many profiles on LinkedIn look a bit like this. All it took was following theprompts you are given to add information as you set it up. There is littlein here which would make it easy for a recruiter to find Matthew. Stillless is there much to hold their attention if he does appear on a search.

What is worse, it looks tired. Little thought has gone into the summaryor into the descriptions of the different roles. There are mistakes andthere is jargon. What it lacks is an engaging description of what theperson does and what he has achieved. We have no idea as to the scope

and scale of his roles or of the companies that he’s worked for. In short, itis not clear what he can offer an employer. The profile has evidently beenthrown together in a hurry and with little care.

On top of that, Matthew isn’t making the most of LinkedIn, which isheavily optimised for searches. His professional headline (“ManagingDirector”) means people will find him if they are searching for a ManagingDirector but they might miss him for roles within his professionalspecialisms which he might be well-suited to; and he’s not in many groups.Group membership can demonstrate shared interest in a particular fieldand so allow you to be found through that route. Some groups also postjob vacancies too and, if you’re not a member, there’s a strong chance thatyou’ll also miss out on these.

Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Page 7: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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The Weak Profile - Example 1 of 4Matthew’s professional headline doesn’t tellus what industry he’s in. This will make himhard to find.

Poor photo – you can’t really see thesubject and I bet he wouldn’t use this on acompany website. Also, it is too small.

This is an abbreviation. Others might notknow what this means.

You wouldn’t get a clear idea from this whathe really wants to do and what he can do.

Typing error.

Let’s hope he remembers to update thenumber of years regularly.

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The Weak Profile - Example 2 of 4It’s good he mentions that he ran the sitesin Hong Kong and in the Far East and thatthe P&L was worth several million but thisneeds to be more precise. We don’t reallyget much of an idea of the scope of the rolefrom this. How would we know if he’s anattractive candidate for a job?

Very little information about the rest of hisroles. Also, WuO is an abbreviation andsome readers may well not know what itstands for. We don’t get much idea abouthis career path and his achievements. At itsmost basic, it’s hard to tell what experiencehe actually has.

Wrong date

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The Weak Profile - Example 3 of 4Entering skills is an important part ofoptimising your LinkedIn profile forsearching. Surely he has more than threeafter such a long career! He should reallyadd a lot more. After all, you can have upto 50!

Hardly relevant at this stage of his career.

If you’re going to include interests, focus onthose that are relevant to your professionallife.

As with a CV, you don’t need to include thiskind of information – and probably best notto if you think there’s any risk you might bediscriminated against because of your age.Even more importantly, consider thesecurity implications: your date of birth iscommonly used by your bank, etc., as a wayof checking your identity, so it’s better notto make it public on a website.

Full marks for joining some groups, but theyrelate to his hobbies, not his career. Also,you can join up to 50.

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The Weak Profile - Example 4 of 4

The importance of getting the settings right

The name of the game of being on LinkedIn is being seen. We realise that some of you may be concerned about having open settings on a social media site but you at least have to have a Public Profile so that others can find you. Consequently, if your settings at all restrict what others can see, there’s a risk thatrecruiters, and other people you may want to hear from, won’t find you. If you don’t publish your public profile, your profile will be visible to no-one and your work will be wasted.

As a result, we recommend that you select “Make my public profile visible to everyone” and then check at least the following boxes:

• Picture • Headline• Summary • Current Positions• Past Positions • Skills• Education • Interested In…

Remember that the more information about your career and achievements you make available, the easier it is for people who don’t know you to assess whether you are the right person for them to contact.

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Page 11: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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The Good ProfileIf sending your CV to someone has to be highly targeted, you need tothink of your LinkedIn profile as broadcasting: it needs to express to awide community who you are, what you do and what your aspirationsare. It also needs to make someone think that they would want to hireyou or do business with you.

The good profile has a professional feel to it. It is clear what Matthewdoes and thought has been given to the information in the differentsections. By listing skills and expertise, the profile is optimised to befound in searches.

It is also worth noting that it is consistently written in the first person(I, me, my). The general consensus seems to be that this is the preferredstyle for writing LinkedIn profiles so that they come over as though youwere presenting yourself to someone. It also seems more natural and“human” than something that is written with no pronouns.

Matthew now has a wide network, which is important if people aregoing to find him. This is a place to build business relationships and bybroadening your own network, you also broaden your second and thirdlevel networks.

As we have mentioned earlier, groups also form an important part ofthe mix. You can belong to up to 50. If you have a particular personalinterest (such as Matthew’s interest in horses), then it won’t hurt if afew groups relate to that but as a job hunter, the more groups you joinrelating to your professional life, the greater the chance of being seen bypeople with an interest in hiring you. You can leave groups as easily asyou can join them, so leave any which don’t seem particularly useful.

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Page 12: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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continued... The Good ProfileLinkedIn also allows you to add sections which are not in its standardlayout. In Matthew’s case we have added a section for “Certifications”and another for “Languages”, to highlight his professional membershipand foreign language proficiencies. We have also added “VolunteerExperience and Causes” to showcase his fundraising work. There are many more sections which you can choose from and we wouldrecommend that you explore those to see which ones may help yourprofile. Bear in mind, too, that you can move the different sectionsaround depending on what you wish to emphasise.

The whole point of having an online presence is to show you at yourbest to the wider world. Decide what you need to tell people if you areto attain your career goals and make sure it’s clear to anyone whosearches you out.

Writing an excellent profile is not everybody’s cup of tea, however. So, ifyou need help with developing a really effective, hard working LinkedInprofile, that’s appealing to potential recruiters, employers and businessassociates, please contact Richmond Solutions [email protected].

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The Good Profile - Example 1 of 6We have used British English and Sterling (asa currency) throughout. We could equallyhave used American English as the languageand another currency as appropriate – thepoint is to be consistent.

Note that it is also written in the firstperson – the general consensus is that thisis the preferred style for LinkedIn as itseems more personal, as though the writerwere presenting him/herself to you.

The headline now gives a clear impressionof what Matthew does.

The photograph is now a good professionalhead and shoulders shot.

He’s been working hard on linking to peopleand so broadening his wider network.

Matthew has added further contact detailsto his profile and he’s also entered a coupleof websites that he thinks will be interestingfor people who look him up. Note that hehas given them bespoke names.

The Summary gives a clear overview ofMatthew’s professional capabilities andincludes key words which means his profilewill be more highly ranked in searches.

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The Good Profile - Example 2 of 6Matthew has added sections on hisprofessional membership and languageswhich show these well. He has also movedthem up from their default position so thatthey are readily visible to the reader.

Matthew has now fully filled in theExperience section, giving brief descriptionsof each role. It gives a clear idea of hiscareer path and professional capabilities.

Matthew has still included a number of keymetrics which help to illustrate hisachievements but has been vague aboutthem where they might be commerciallysensitive.

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The Good Profile - Example 3 of 6

Beyond the 10-year point, you don’t need tosay so much about your roles, if you chooseto include them.

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The Good Profile - Example 4 of 6

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The Good Profile - Example 5 of 6Presenting his voluntary fundraisingactivities under Volunteer Experience andCauses allows Matthew to highlight thecharity work he has done and show whatorganisations and causes he supports. As heis interested in working further withcharities, this may help him.

Listing his skills also helps to make hisprofile searchable and he has now added thefull 50 he is permitted. In time they will beendorsed and they will appear starting withthe most endorsed first.

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The Good Profile - Example 6 of 6He’s taken out details of his school andadded details of his MBA.

Matthew gives clear advice to anyonereading his profile regarding what he’sinterested in and how to contact him.

He could join up to 50 groups, so he coulddo more, but at least he’s now joined somegroups which are relevant to hisprofessional interests.

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Contents EXAMPLESWhy LinkedIn? Weak ProfileThe bits you don’t see Good ProfileYour PhotoThe Weak ProfileThe Good Profile

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Page 19: Good LinkedIn, Weak LinkedIn

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