Do you find yourself laid-off or seeking a career change? Today’s job seeker needs to learn what savvy professionals who always seem to fall into a new position know that sets them apart when it comes to landing their next career opportunity.
What I’ve observed over the years I have worked with professionals on their LinkedIn profiles is this… frustrated job seekers don’t stay frustrated because they aren’t qualified for a job or can’t show what they’ve accomplished…
It’s often because they think of themselves only as their resume and not as a personal brand.
And what’s worse is that they may not have seen a need to update their LinkedIn profile and position themselves in the present vs the past and yet 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates!
Resumes are subjective and focus on historical data. Recruiters don’t care what your ‘objective’ is that you have placed top and center of your resume, they only care about finding a candidate that meets their requirements.
The old way of positioning your LinkedIn profile has taken a ‘good enough’ approach and you may think your profiles doesn’t matter because you are sending off a resume.
So how do people seeking a career move or have found themselves laid-off show up differently?
1. They adopt a long-term approach to their career
Careers and achievements in every role change in time. A professional that tracks & documents their accomplishments and personal contribution demonstrates their value adding to their personal brand.
2. Develop a strong personal brand. Three characteristics of a strong personal brand include:
- Authenticity is at the core of a strong personal brand. It means being true to yourself, your values, and your beliefs. Authentic individuals are genuine and transparent, and they don’t try to be someone they’re not.
- Consistency is key to building a strong personal brand. This involves maintaining a uniform image, message, and behavior across different platforms and interactions.
- Unique Value Proposition: A strong personal brand often involves highlighting your unique value proposition (UVP). This is what sets you apart from others and makes you stand out. Your UVP can be a combination of your skills, expertise, personality traits, and experiences.
3. Focus on updating the 3 areas of their LinkedIn profile that will help them stand out.
By focusing on your recognizable title, unique headline, telling a compelling career story in your About section and gaining current and relevant recommendations at each step of their career will change the game!
Read the entire article for a deeper dive on these tips here.
4. Utilize LinkedIn’s Skill Match
When searching for a job under the LinkedIn jobs tab, you will want to measure the skills in your profile by matching to the skills required listed in the job description. This gives you the opportunity to ADD any skills you may have and are required for the position resulting in more of a chance to be considered initially for the job.
5. Leverage the network you have
85% of jobs are gained through networking! People who have not maintained a network of people in different industries, companies, social or professional groups will be at a disadvantage when it comes to a career move. Sadly, this was the case for many people early on during COVID where companies were both laying off and furloughing people.
Taking time to review your network connections and either reconnecting or simply reaching out and letting people know what you are looking for can advance your efforts 10x faster!
By click the My Network tab on the navigation bar and then Manage my network and filtering your search, you can locate connections that can help you either with a referral, introduction or professional advice.
And lastly, savvy professionals that are looking for a new job or career move prewrite a paragraph or two and have it ready to share with a network connection who is willing to make an introduction on your behalf. They don’t take a chance on what their connection will say, they rather let their connection know they would like to send them the text they can copy & paste into an introduction. This way they are ensured the recipient of that email knows exactly what you want them to know about you.
Here is an example:
Hello {firstname},
I’d like to introduce you to JoAnne Funch, LinkedIn Trainer & Strategist at Linked In For Business. I thought it might make sense for the two of you to connect and investigate how you might work together. (Introduce name and company)
JoAnne helps companies & sales teams build their brand, develop strategies for filling their pipeline and gain more business through leveraging the power of LinkedIn. (Describe briefly what you do)
She really understands how to leverage LinkedIn and has created programs that make a significant impact on the way professionals connect, engage and grow their business. She will be contacting you in the next couple of days. I hope you’ll take her call, as I believe it will be well worth your time.
If you’d like to reach out to JoAnne, her contact information is:
[email protected]| Phone
CONCLUSION
Which one of these 5 tips did you find most useful? Would you be so kind as to leave your comment below?
RESOURCE:
Not sure how to start a conversation with the network connections you already have?
I offer an online course you can take anytime:
“How to Leverage the Connections You Already Have”
Learn more about the course and register HERE.
