Tag: Using Your LinkedIn Profile Effectively

As you know, your LinkedIn profile can really connect you with great career opportunities. And with LinkedIn’s recent update of its recommendation dashboard, it’s now even easier to give and receive recommendations.

Keep reading to learn about the recent updates and how to take full advantage of them.

Give, Receive & Organize LinkedIn Recommendations

Do you want to be able to feature your best LinkedIn recommendations? Now with LinkedIn’s recent update, you can highlight the best recommendations you’ve given or received in moments.

When you’re ready to get started head to the dashboard. From here you can see your current received, pending, or given recommendations. Click on the received tab, and you’ll see every recommendation you’ve ever gotten.

With this LinkedIn Recommendation update, you can now choose to organize your recommendations in any order you want. Simply drag and drop. You can also make them invisible on your profile by clicking the box next to the recommender’s profile picture - in case you don’t want to show a particular recommendation for some reason.

Getting More LinkedIn Recommendations

It’s never been easier to ask people for recommendations on LinkedIn. Simply click the Ask for Recommendations link on the new dashboard and follow the instructions to get your request out there. Just select which position you want a recommendation for, the people you want to ask, how you know one another, and a friendly/professional request.

If you want to successfully get more LinkedIn recommendations choose one person for each recommendation request and personalize the message. Also, if a recommendation request is still pending after a while, you can send a reminder.

Giving More LinkedIn Recommendations

People in your professional network like getting recommendations on LinkedIn as well. So it’s your turn to return the favor and share the wealth. As a bonus: if a review is visible on another user’s profile, you might get some traffic back to your page from there.

Get Started Now and Give Your LinkedIn Profile the attention it deserves

Your LinkedIn profile is like an online resume that potential employers and business partners can view 24 hours a day. So make sure to give your profile the attention it deserves.

And as you know, recommendations can go a long way towards increasing your credibility and sending more opportunities your way. Since LinkedIn has made their recommendations dashboard even easier, now is the time to take full advantage of this great feature.

When it comes to progressing in your career, connections can take you to the next level. And perhaps the most effective place to search for connections is to first look for alumni at your college or university.

When they can, people want to help a fellow alumni out. Not only are they giving back to their school, it feels good to help someone along on their career path. And now connecting with your alumni is easier than ever before with LinkedIn’s “Alumni Connection” feature. So keep reading to learn how to take advantage of this tool today.

1. Know Where Your Alumni Work

After you log in to LinkedIn visit https://linkedin.com/alumni and the social network will pull up all the alumni they can find based off of the education you’ve provided in your profile. As soon as you see the people you have in your network, you’ll realize that getting your foot in the door at a great company is easier than you thought.

For example, if you’re looking to do a career pivot and change your career, you can reach out to alumni in the field you’re interested in and let them know about your plan. You can ask to learn more about what they do and meet some influencers in the field.

2. Identify Which Companies Hire Alumni

Although companies won’t necessarily claim an allegiance to a certain college, they may still have a preference. Now LinkedIn will quickly show you which companies are proud employers of your fellow alumni.

You’ll be able to easily see if a company has an affinity with your university and if they do, you’ll have alumni contacts inside the organization to help you get in. With the LinkedIn feature, you’ll also be able to see popular jobs with alumni so you can learn more about those too.

3. Connect with Alumni

By far the most valuable part of the feature is that you can connect with influential alumni on LinkedIn. Make sure you tell them why you’re connecting and if there is any way you can help them too.

In order to truly leverage LinkedIn’s “alumni connection” feature you need to get in touch with the alumni. Because you both share the same educational experience, you’ll be more likely to build a relationship with alumni quicker.

Start Getting Connected

The “alumni connection” feature on LinkedIn can help your career reach new heights. Make an effort to expand your horizons and reach out to alumni you don’t already know. Have you ever had a good experience networking with an alum? Tell us about it in the comments?

Some skeptics argue that folks who have a LinkedIn profile and get employed through the social media site are more the exception than the rule. All the hype about LinkedIn’s supposed power to connect headhunters to potential recruits is dismissed as nothing but self-serving press release. And it’s understandable if you’re a non-believer. After all, so many companies and job-hunters remain traditionalist; surely not everyone will migrate to an online platform.

But below are some of the reasons why investing in a well-written LinkedIn profile is worth it.

‘Cause contrary to popular belief, LinkedIn is changing the way Human Resources and employment agencies approach their craft. In fact, some pundits argue that LinkedIn will soon make employment agencies obsolete — or at least force them to adapt. If this is the case then you want to get on the bandwagon before it leaves without you!

Read the following and judge for yourself.

LinkedIn is actively marketing to companies with staffing needs

Here’s why you can expect LinkedIn to be friendly to job hunters: the site is actively courting companies and headhunters with the promise of specialized searching capacity, exclusive access to prime candidates, systematic recruitment databases, and candidate relationship management. And the more companies they entice with their wares, the more the site will be used for sourcing purposes.

Consider the LinkedIn feature Talent Pipeline. For a small fee, recruiters can tap into well-filtered lists of applicants and invite potentials for interviews through InMail. You can expect this feature to sell well as it saves companies precious time and money. You can also expect that once many companies avail of this service, you’ll have more job-hunters creating competitive LinkedIn profiles, which in turn will make LinkedIn a robust place for linking talent with organizations.

The companies themselves have spoken

You need not look far for evidence that LinkedIn’s job matching potential is fact and not fiction. Why? Companies themselves have declared their reliance on Linkedin for hiring employees.

According to BlueRiseMedia, half of the Fortune 100 companies hire through Linkedin. Pfizer, for example, has revealed that 4 out of 10 of its employees were recruited through LinkedIn.

There’s also a study conducted this year by the Society for Human Resource Management which found that almost 80% of recruiters use social media in hiring. Of this web-savvy number, majority prefer to use Linkedin than Facebook or Twitter. Makes sense given that of the three social media sites, LinkedIn is the one aimed at creating professional persona.

LinkedIn makes scoping passive candidates safer and more convenient.

One attraction of LinkedIn for recruiters is its ability to get companies connected with passive candidates — that is, people who are not actively job-hunting. If you’re aware of how top employees sometimes get “pirated” or “poached” by the competition, then you have a good idea what scoping passive candidates is all about. Cause for many headhunters, the best hires can be those with proven track records, people you can entice to leave their present place of work through fatter benefit packages or more impressive positions. With LinkedIn recruiters can subtly and even anonymously search for potentials — an important consideration, as communication with passive candidates needs to be done as discreetly as possible.

But more so, LinkedIn offers companies targeted job advertising — vacancies are posted only for the viewing of those whose qualifications closely match the companies’ needs. This puts the job opening within the radar of people who wouldn’t otherwise have known that a company is hiring. A definite attraction as sorting the traditional file cabinet of resumes is not only outdated but time-consuming.

LinkedIn is more credible.

Simple logic will point to you why LinkedIn is a recruiter’s tool of choice. Anyone can embellish or lie in a resume but with a LinkedIn profile, the chances of a candidate faking his or her credentials is minimized. This is because endorsements and recommendations can be traced to real people, some of whom may even be well-respected names in the industry. Also, the fact that these online CVs are broadcasted to all members of one’s professional network means that a profile owner would think twice before putting something he or she can’t back up.

Lastly, LinkedIn members are growing in number.

A solid principle in economics: business goes where the market is. And you don’t have a bigger manpower market than in LinkedIn.

According to Mashable, as of 2013, there are 200 million LinkedIn users all over the world. TechCrunch reports that 2 new people create LinkedIn accounts every second. More so, as many as 40% of LinkedIn members are active, updating their LinkedIn profile regularly. This means more accurate and up-to-date online CVs, which in turn means a stronger roster of would be employees.

So if you’re a recruiter, wouldn’t using LinkedIn be a reasonable choice? You can’t say getting hired through the site is by chance when so much of the site’s appeal is self-explanatory. If you’re still in doubt, just look at how well Linkedin stock prices are selling. The site is not perfect, true, but its immense potential is unquestionable. Therefore if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, do give it a try!

So you’ve written an impressive LinkedIn profile. You won’t tell your best friend, but you spent all of two months tweaking it. (The OCD can be forgiven; you want to put your best foot forward after all!) The only thing left to do now is to get potential employers to view it. After all, what good is a powerful LinkedIn page when no one’s visiting?

Below are some tips on how you can get relevant traffic to your LinkedIn page. The more effort you put into getting those views, the greater are your chances of getting hired.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For Traffic #1 : Insert keywords in your profile.

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If you’ve ever tried searching for your name on Google (oh come on, you know you’ve done it), you know your LinkedIn profile comes right at the top of search results. This is because search engines are configured to prioritize websites with established reputations, which LinkedIn definitely is. And you can use this fact to your advantage.

Take time to sit down and think of keywords an HR practitioner, recruiter or a hiring manager would look for. These keywords can be job titles, specific competencies, or certifications. If you have no idea regarding what keywords to use, interview friends in the business. A simple cheat is to look at job descriptions/advertisements of positions you’re attracted to.

Find a way to insert these relevant keywords in your LinkedIn profile, preferably in sections you’ve set as open to the public. You can, for example, add these words to your profile summary. Some do insert keywords in their name (e.g. Six Sigma Black Belt Rudi Cron), but doing so is a matter of preference.

And don’t forget: put your full name on your profile. Going by as just “Patricia F.” is not going to do you any favors!

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For Traffic #2 : Add your profile url to your business card.

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If you’re active in your professional circle, you know that handing out business cards surface leads where you least expect it. You never know — the person you were shaking hands with this morning could be a manager with a vacancy to fill. So strive to make a good impression, and then hand out a card that has more than just your mobile number and email address. You can even make it a habit to point to the url every time you hand out your card, especially if in the company of people you want scoping your online CV.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For Traffic #3 : Be active in groups.

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It may not look it, but the capacity to generate traffic to your profile page is already built in the site. A good start is through LinkedIn groups relevant/specific to your situation.

Join groups where people with your same interests hang out and where issues relevant to your profession get discussed. Make thoughtful and appropriate comments, especially comments that will illustrate your strengths and competencies. Seek mentorship or mentor others. A comment that hits bulls-eye will get people interested, enough to take a peek at the person behind the idea. Given that HR practitioners and managers regularly browse these groups to watch out for up and comers, your active participation may be able to get you a job interview invite.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For Traffic #4 : Include a link to your page when sending correspondence.

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Add your LinkedIn profile url to your email signature. This way, every time you send a message what you’re doing is advertising yourself. When you use your email to send business-related correspondence, the potential reach of that url is high.

But it’s not just for online transactions. You can add your LinkedIn profile url to your printed correspondence. A job application cover letter, for example, can still use your LinkedIn profile url, as information on a CV is different from information that can be typically found on your LinkedIn page. Recommendations and endorsements, for example, can be highlighted in your job application cover letter. You can add something like “I have 64 people, 45% of which are head of B2B companies, in my network recommending my net marketing skills — click on this link to know more.” Testimonials from people in the real world can be more impressive than a list of seminar-workshops you attended.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For Traffic #5 : Connect with more people!

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The power behind social media sites is its ability to connect people. So link up with as many people as you can, especially those working the same field you do. Do keep in mind that quality is better than quantity though.

And yes, you can be bold enough to contact HR managers and head hunters, especially those who have posted want ads. Send them a direct message; invite them to look at your profile.

The online version of “cold calling” may also be worth a try. Not all will respond to a complete stranger, but there are some who will. (Or you can take the sneaky route and just view HR experts’ profile, assuming you’ll get their notice once they checked their “who viewed me” setting.)

I hope you found these LinkedIn profile tips useful. Good luck!

It’s difficult to compress years of experience into 2,000 words — which is why writing a LinkedIn profile summary is challenging. But going the extra mile pays off.

• For starters, the LinkedIn summary is one of the first things browsers see on your profile; if it’s interesting enough, it’s incentive to look at what else you wrote.
• Second, your LinkedIn summary gives a picture of what your years of experience and education is all about — generic job titles like “Public Relations Officer” doesn’t exactly hit the significance of what you do.
• And lastly summaries, as the term implies, provide a total of all your selling points. A powerful profile summary can integrate even the most random data into a meaningful whole.

So how can you write a LinkedIn profile summary worth the space? It’s all about phrasing, phrasing, phrasing!

Below are some tips to create a LinkedIn profile summary that pops.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For A Great Summary #1: Identify your audience. It’s not about you.

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There are LinkedIn summaries that go on and on about who the writer thinks he is and what are his dreams for the future. But remember: potential employers are more interested in what you can do for them than your star sign and your favorite restaurant. (Okay, star sign and resto preference may be an exaggeration but you get the point.) When you write a summary, start by identifying who you want reading your profile, then detail how they can benefit from hiring you.

Good: I am a self-driven legal management graduate with a passion for research.

Better: Assign me to legal research — what you’ll get is an accurate and exhaustive list of court decisions organized to impressively support your argument.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For A Great Summary #2: Make it snappy.

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If you want to create impact, avoid long-winded statements that take forever to get to the point. You’re not writing a graduate school thesis, you’re delivering an elevator pitch. The sooner your readers get to what makes you stand out, the better. And yes, you can temporarily forget what your grammar teacher told you, not everything has to be written in complete sentences.

Good LinkedIn Summary Example: In 2004-2007, I worked as a city engineer helping out in the construction of major roads and highways. In 2007-2010, I shifted to private consultancy; I provided professional advice on safety issues during construction. In the last three years, I became part of the National Housing Authority, teaming up with architects and social entrepreneurs in building low-cost residences for disadvantage communities.

As you can see from my experience, I have the skills needed for a leadership position in a large engineering firm. I know how to work within a team. I am goal-centered. I have attention to detail. I also have a caring heart that can appreciate the human side of any business.

Better LinkedIn Summary Example: What makes me a good fit to a leadership position in your firm? A city engineer’s track record of accomplishing projects with a national scope. A safety consultant’s keen eye on meeting strict building code standards. And a team player’s ability to build strong and sustainable structures despite limited budget — all in the service of a great social cause.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For A Great Summary #3: You can get creative.

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Yes, it’s called a profile summary and the term sounds so…formal. But it need not be. Browse through LinkedIn and you’ll see that many use the space creatively. Two thousand words, after all, is about 3 pages worth of double-spaced text on a standard document. You need not hit that word count ceiling but it does give you room to screw vanilla in favour of chocolate.

Why not tell a story? Share how you built your first business, all the challenges you overcame, and the intense focus that got you to the finish line. Or talk about your most memorable client (or your most satisfied one); paint a picture on how that encounter happened. If you want to illustrate that you totally get your target market, you may even go for a humorous or empathetic piece about your clients’ needs and how you can help fill gaps.

For instance, consider a LinkedIn profile prefaced by an intriguing teaser like “How I Closed a Thousand Dollar Deal on the Back of a Paper Napkin.” Wouldn’t that title alone make you want to read more? And if you can deliver on the title’s promise — that you did manage to close a business deal using ideas scribbled on coffee shop tissue paper — you will get that interview. Sometimes anecdotal accounts impress more than fancy job titles and university degrees.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For A Great Summary #4: Make it clear and structured.

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If the first three suggestions seem difficult to follow (that’s okay, writing doesn’t come naturally to all), just remember your basics.

Create text with structure: each paragraph should be talking about a coherent and distinct subject to facilitate flow of ideas. You can, for example, have three paragraphs: first paragraph talks about who you are, the second paragraph talks about your skills, and the last can be your call to action: a statement that would entice the reading HR personnel to pick up the phone. If paragraphs feel too cluttered, bullet points will do.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips For A Great Summary #5: Use keywords.

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And lastly, use words you know persons in your field are using, and words that an HR personnel would recognize and be looking for. Being an internet database, keyword search is a typical way headhunters filter candidates from the masses. You want to create a profile summary that will show up on search engine results. Figuring out what’s a good keyword and what’s an annoying cliché may mean some research, but it’s to your advantage to know what terms will land you that job.

If you’re like most people in Singapore, your approach to writing your LinkedIn profile is to simply copy-paste what’s written in your CV. And in some ways, this style can be sufficient, especially when you have a stellar CV in the first place. But it’s such a waste of LinkedIn’s potential if you don’t create a bespoke profile for the social media site. With more and more employers in Singapore relying on LinkedIn to scope out candidates for vacancies, you want to come up with something powerful and sticky.

Below are some tips on how you can write LinkedIn profiles that rock.

LinkedIn Profile Tips For Impact #1 : Use a professional photo.

Okay, let’s start with this one. You’d think that posting a photo that makes you look like you can get the job done is common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many think their Instagram masterpiece is a great pick.

Reserve the beach shot with Tequila for Facebook. You want to show potential bosses in Singapore you’re trustworthy, competent, and presentable. You’re not required to go for the slick hair and the business suit route — in fact you can aim for simply casual and approachable — but you must still appear as how you would in an actual room of decision-makers.

And yes, mind that pixel count. You want the manager you shook hands with this morning to recognize you once he goes looking!

LinkedIn Profile Tips For Impact #2 : List all your work experience.

Resumes have to be tailor-fitted to the requirements of the job you’re after, which is why strategic job-hunters omit irrelevant work experiences when they submit to HR in Singapore. This means many different versions of resumes, one for each target position.

But your LinkedIn profile is something open to all, and since you don’t know what criteria potential employers may be looking for, it’s best to have a robust profile. (Unless you’ve already decided beforehand that you want to present yourself to just one type of audience.)

Complete your work experience and provide detail for each one. Whenever possible, use the professional gallery: upload presentations, images, documents, etc. to give browsers a better idea of what you do. Share volunteer work experience. HR practitioners today give less value to those with straight career paths anyway, and if your various experiences make you look like a better rounded individual, go for it.

Here’s one advantage of a complete work history: LinkedIn is a networking site; it aims to connect you with people who can endorse you, give you work, or connect you with clients. When you have a complete work history, you’re positioned to link up with every person you’ve worked with over the years — and get as many nods to your skills and expertise as possible. This is because LinkedIn is designed to recommend connections based on where you’ve worked and what you’ve done. A stronger professional network therefore equates to a stronger profile.

LinkedIn Profile Tips For Impact #3 : Take advantage of the summary section.

LinkedIn provides you space for a 2,000 word summary of who you are and what you can offer — and you should take full advantage of this feature. The rest of LinkedIn can feel so disjointed, even dense, but if you write a great summary, you can string everything together into one coherent whole. The summary section can also be the place to inject some humour and personality in an otherwise formal page, and many people in Singapore have opted to use this section creatively.

For instance, some people use the summary section to tell a great story about themselves: how they got their first gig, what they feel is their greatest accomplishment, how they plan to solve problems experienced by their target clientele. Others use the summary section to beef their profile with relevant keywords that will put them at the top of search results (e.g. official job titles, certifications, etc.). Most though opt for a powerful and punchy integration of everything they have to offer including measurable deliverables they’ve accomplished, specific competencies, and vision for the future.

LinkedIn Profile Tips For Impact #4 : Use the skills, recommendations, and endorsement section wisely.

LinkedIn allows users to log in as many as 500 skills and expertise in their profile — and this is where you should promote your competencies. The great thing about LinkedIn is not only do they give you space to list all the things you can do, it also allows people in your professional network to validate every skill and expertise you’ve listed. This gives your profile more credibility than the typical resume. You can be suspected of exaggerating your proficiency in a paper resume, but a verifiable endorsement from a respected person in the field invalidates any argument.

So come up with a comprehensive list of your skills and expertise, and make sure you phrase them in a way that’s search engine optimized. Search engine optimization means taking steps to ensure that you use words headhunters and employers will use when identifying and filtering candidates. For instance, you can put “E-course Designing” in your list, but you can also list specific software e.g. Mindflash or Articulate you’re good at. Once you have your list, it’s now time to ask friends and co-workers to recommend you or even write you a glowing endorsement.

LinkedIn Profile Tips For Impact #5 : Come up with a headline that grabs people’s attention.

You must invest in a headline that will make people in Singapore want to take a look at everything!

I placed this last because the best time to write a headline is after you’ve gotten everything else down. This is because your headline is an integration of everything in your profile, and sometimes it’s only when you’ve looked at the bigger picture that you better understand your competitive advantage.

So what makes a headline stand out?

A concise explanation of what it is you do exactly is an excellent approach. “Internet copywriting expert — Known for a 65% conversion-to-sales rate among website visitors” is better than simple “Freelance Copywriter with 6 years of Experience.”

Some folks opt for a list approach, which is also great. “Social Entrepreneur. Grant Proposal Writer. Project Management Expert.”

And others take the opportunity to put in relevant keywords headhunters and HR personnel will be looking for. This is also a great idea. Just remember, make sure your insertion of keywords still create a natural flow — stuffing every keyword in your headline just for the sake of getting them in is going to backfire. Pick just 1 to 3 keywords and run with it. Anything more is tacky and desperate.

At first glance, LinkedIn is just Facebook — minus the fun.

But LinkedIn offers an array of features you won’t find in other social media sites, such as:

• LinkedIn provides companies with a venue to advertise themselves and post job openings.
• It gives job hunters a credible list of leads.
• LinkedIn also helps you project a professional image, one that can convert potential employers’ interest to an interview.
• As the largest professional network in the world, LinkedIn gets you on the radar of headhunters looking for specific qualifications.

If you’re serious about job hunting, it’s time to pay serious attention to your LinkedIn account. Below are 10 LinkedIn features you should take advantage of.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #1 : The Headline

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By default, LinkedIn makes your latest job title and company name as headline. Well and good, if your current employment is your greatest selling point. But if it’s not, you can actually change your headline through the edit button under your name (many people don’t know this!).

Headhunters don’t have time to open every profile they see, and a powerful headline gets attention. For instance, there’s a huge difference between “Accountant, Jolly Rogers Company” and “Management CPA, specializing in Cost Control for the Fortune 500.” Guess which one lands the job?

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #2 : Connections

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As with the real world, a fair amount of opportunities and job leads come from people you know.

Ideally, your network on LinkedIn should mirror your physical network. Having a decent number of first level connections gives you access to a large number of people, who you can contact during your search for a job.

If you stayed within your field, your college buddies are probably in the same profession, and are in a position to give referrals. Peers can recommend your profile to their company. Linking with company hiring managers/HR personnel and external recruiters is also a viable idea; though note that not all recruiters accept requests from strangers. Check out who you know in a company, and get someone from the inside to open the door.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #3 : Endorsements and Recommendations.

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Connections to clients, suppliers, peers, co-workers, and bosses can beef up your profile with endorsements and recommendations.

Endorsements are validations of the skills and expertise listed in your profile, and they appear as a positive number (e.g. +16 endorsements for Legal Research). Recommendations, on the other hand, are comments written by your contacts to describe the quality of your work and character. The more endorsements and recommendations you have, the stronger your profile will appear.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #4 : Skills and Expertise.

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Speaking of Skills and Expertise, LinkedIn allows users to log in as many as 50 in your profile but you’d want to be more thoughtful regarding what’s worth the space. It’s not about quantity, but about relevance.

Remember: when you add a skill or an expertise, LinkedIn automatically adds you to a category of professionals with similar competencies, and the right keyword increases your odds of getting found for the right reasons. Plus, your unique combination of skills and expertise adds to how you brand yourself — for instance, not everyone has the powerhouse combination of proficiency as a CPA, franchise consultant, and social entrepreneur! When an opening calls for a specific set of skills and expertise, what you list in your profile marks your competitive edge.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #5 : LinkedIn Groups.

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Joining and even creating groups in LinkedIn can help you position yourself, especially among people who share your interests, area of specialization, and target markets. Joining discussions and giving insightful comments can highlight the fact that you have the brains to back up your formal credentials. Some headhunters also post job openings in relevant groups, especially if there’s but a handful of you in the market.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #6 : LinkedIn Today.

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LinkedIn today is the news feed section of the site. It gives you three kinds of updates: news that’s relevant to your field, news that’s interesting to people in general, and news posted by the people in your network.

One great way to use LinkedIn Today is by posting thoughtful comments about issues relevant to your profession. If you’re a psychiatrist, for example, commenting about the recent revisions made to the Manual of Mental Disorders can highlight your professional opinion.

Another strategy is to post updates that underscore your interests. Just attended a workshop on latest trends in your field? Tell your connections about it! And yes, if it helps break the ice, posting the occasional “cute cats” videos can be forgiven.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #7 : Professional Gallery.

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Professional Gallery is a feature that allows users to post hyperlinks under the Summary, Experience and Education section of your profile. The links can direct to pictures, videos, documents, presentations, and other media.

Professional Gallery is a way to emphasize the strengths of your credentials, by providing readers with an idea about what you actually do. You can post portfolio samples — if you’re a professional photographer, for example, this feature helps you showcase your work. You can also post documentation about projects you’ve done or workshops you’ve attended. You may also want to include links to the official website of the universities you attended or companies you worked for.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #8 : Following

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Just like Twitter, LinkedIn gives you the option to follow companies you’re interested in. Following a company will keep you abreast about new job openings and information. You may not be seeing the job opportunity you want right now, but the follow function ensures you’ll learn about the opportunity when it does present itself.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #9 : Volunteer Experiences and Causes

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Many choose to keep this section blank, but socio-civic work is an excellent way to market yourself. Volunteer work highlights your transferable skills — a big plus especially if your work experience is still unremarkable. More so, volunteer work talks about your values. What you write here speaks about your character as a person, your contribution to the community, as well as the things you care about.

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LinkedIn Profile Tips To Take Advantage Of #10 : Jobs

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Oh, and before I forget, there’s a LinkedIn tab titled “Jobs.”

I placed this last because it’s the most straightforward LinkedIn feature for job hunters, and probably the one that needs least explanation. In this section, you can search for openings using basic and advanced settings, e.g. search by company or zip code or salary grade. You can also browse through the latest job postings offered by companies.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with 150 million members worldwide and 25 million members who are located in the Asia Pacific region.

The corporate, resume-style profiles of the LinkedIn social media platform, allow you to make connections with existing colleagues, extend your professional network, and also search and apply for jobs.

However problems might arise during a LinkedIn job search, or while using LinkedIn when you are planning on starting your own business.

When used for conducting a LinkedIn job search or preparing for a new business venture, the social network allows you to connect and interact with people who might be able to help with your new endeavours.

You can join and participate in relevant LinkedIn groups, make connections with recruiters, employers & partners in your focus area, and even apply for publicly listed jobs. Also, recruiters, employers and potential partners can search for and contact you about opportunities.

Using LinkedIn for all these activities can be very public. If you are connected with your current colleagues and employer, they can get clued-in to the fact that you are actively pursuing other positions/ventures.

Being open about the fact that your current employer is not your priority any more, is not always a good idea. The level of secrecy you’d require will depend on the company’s position on the subject. There may not be too much of a concern, if your company has announced that they are downsizing or if you are at the end of your current contract.

However in most cases, such activities will cause extra pressure or negative consequences for you within your current place of employment.

Case Study: Transitioning from a corporation to a small business

Alex is a 45 year old marketing expert from Melbourne, Australia. For decades he worked for the same company, and had grown to be a valuable part of their team. The company had recently invested money into his postgraduate qualifications at university, with the vision he would remain with the company for a while.

Alex had always visioned that he would raise the capital to start his own small business, which would be fuelled by his qualifications and professional experience in marketing. At the age of 45, he decided to make this move, and commenced building his business, while still remaining at his current company.

Alex decided to use LinkedIn to extend his professional network, and form relationships with potential suppliers and clients for his new business. He immediately added his small business details into his LinkedIn profile, and actively sort to make connections with people who could help him grow his personal enterprise. Several people from his current company noticed these actions, through observation of his profile and newsfeed.

While there was no existing policy that stated he could not further a side-line business, his employers recognised he was distracted from his work, and was setting himself up to leave the company and work alone. His supervisors made it increasingly difficult for him to remain in the company, with-held his usual bonuses, refused a due pay increase, and were no longer willing to provide him with financial and time allocations for his education.

Alex left his company, due to the added pressure, well before he had completely established his new business, and suffered a great loss of income because of his public LinkedIn activities.

How to use LinkedIn in stealth mode when starting a new business.

In the case of starting your own business, here are some tips to consider:

• Turn off your automated public announcements. Make changes in LinkedIn settings to ensure your updates, including your new connections, aren’t broadcast on your newsfeed. This prevents suspicion via a sudden influx in activity.
• Contact potential suppliers or clients privately. You can add them to your network and interact with them through private messages.
• Be careful with public forums such as LinkedIn groups. There is little concern if you have very generalised conversations that relate to your professional development, or courses that you may be studying, but withhold from topics specific to the side-project you’d like to keep secret.
• Do not add your current business ownership to your resume. Through private messages, you can communicate your plans for a ‘new business’ that will be operating at a later date, if you are confident these connections are not associated with your current place of employment.

How to secure a new job via LinkedIn, while keeping your LinkedIn job search a secret.

Even if you aren’t starting a new business, but are seeking to secure a new position within a new company, your current employer may not be overly supportive. If you start adding in recruiters to your contacts list, and make obvious changes to your profile, you will instantly send off an alert, regarding your intentions.

• Turn off your automated public announcements.
• Keep your current LinkedIn profile positive. Make it clear that you are happy in your current position, enjoy working with this company, and are pleased with the experience they are currently providing you with.
• Avoid mentioning a completion date, for your position within your current company. Leave it open ended, so everyone understands you still work there.
• There is no need to publicly announce your job search, via statuses, updates or through messages on groups.
• Interact with new connections, as though they relate to your current position. There is no harm in adding old or existing colleagues, or people you have met at conferences or other areas of your life. This is very natural for someone who is currently employed, but wants to stay in contact with people they know or expand their professional network.
• Use LinkedIn to connect with people for job search networking and continue interactions offline.