Should I Have a LinkedIn Profile?

Question: Is having a profile on LinkedIn critical for professionals? I have asked many of my colleagues with profiles and only one has ever been contacted via LinkedIn.

I get this question a lot. LinkedIn is simply one tool in your job search tool box. I think too many candidates think they can just put up a profile and the phone starts ringing. Nothing could be more incorrect. I do believe you should have a compelling profile on LinkedIn. I speak with many recruiters, human resource professionals and hiring managers and almost all are using LinkedIn in some way. During a job search you must cover all the bases as there is no way to know where the job lead will come from. LinkedIn increases your visibility. It is not much different that posting your resume on a job board. Doing that doesn’t guarantee you will get a call, but most still should do it. An effective job search has a lot of moving parts. LinkedIn is just one of those parts.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

How effective is your job search?  If you are not sure, download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Starting a Job Search? Start By Knowing The Three Required “P’s”

Q. I’m just starting my job search after working for the same company for the last 20 years. What tips can you give me to help me get started and do it right?

I would start by knowing the three P’s required for an effective job search.

1) Presentation. I speak on this all the time. Candidates so often down play this or take it for granted. For some reason candidates just don’t focus enough energy here.  This is the most basic of basics. Remember, the most qualified person doesn’t always get the job. The person with the best presentation and some minimum level of qualification will often get the job.

2) Preparation. If the presentation is working, now it is time to start preparing. This is a big job and again so often taken for granted by candidates.

Prepare your marketing plan. Are you in the right networking groups? Maybe it is time to change the groups you are attending. Are you meeting the right people? Look back over the people you met within the last 3 months and evaluate who and what types of people have been helpful and those that didn’t provide any assistance. Identify companies and people you want to meet. Set up a plan to meet them. If you contacted a company 6–8 months ago things may have changed, so consider reconnecting or finding another way into the company.

3) Practice. This is probably the most important of the three “P’s.” Everyone has heard, “Practice makes perfect.” Well this applies in a job search. Practice your body language, how you use your voice to stress points, answering succinctly, and the important questions you want ask.

Practice exactly how you are going to answer the standard questions asked in just about every interview. I always have the candidates I coach write out complete answers to these. Then we practice them until the candidate has succinct answers. These should be so well rehearsed that they come off as if it is the first time you answered the question.

To download the free chapter on Conducting an Effective Phone Interview from our book “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

How effective is your job search?  If you are not sure download our free 8 Matrix Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. CLICK HERE and then click on the Free Search Resources link.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Is Your Job Search Updated For This Decade?

Robyn Greenspan published a recent article on Huffington Post about what has changed over the last 6 plus years for executive job search.

A lot has changed. Brad and I find that most executives are STILL conducting their job search like it was the mid-90s. That doesn’t work any longer for conducting an effective job search. How are you using new techniques, best practices, social media, and other tools to work your job search that you didn’t use 6 or more years ago?

Here’s an excerpt from her article:

What has changed in the 6-and-a-half years since their last job search? Here are the problems job seekers recently told ExecuNet they were encountering, and our solutions to mitigate them:

Not enough opportunities found at their level – This complaint is not surprising since the large majority of $200K positions are not openly posted, for fear that the recruiter will be inundated with unqualified résumés. Use job boards to research companies, but use your network to find and create roles.

Taking longer to land – You can easily shorten your transition time if you are in a perpetual state of career management. C-level executives always have an eye out for the next business partnership opportunity and so should the professional who is effectively managing his or her career.

Available positions are put on hold – “On hold” does not necessarily mean “eliminated” so stay connected to the recruiter/hiring manager and ensure they continue to see you as the solution to their problems. That doesn’t mean regularly checking in to see if the position has been re-opened; instead keep them apprised with market trends and relevant information.

Recruiters are not returning calls – Friends and acquaintances generally return calls; people you call out of the blue for jobs, might not. Establish relationships with recruiters well before you need something.

No multiple offers to consider – Just over half of the ExecuNet-surveyed executive recruiters reported that candidates had more than one offer to consider, up from 35 percent in 2010. Adjust your job search activities to reflect contemporary conditions and you might have more options, too.

What are you doing different in this job search vs. the last one you did over 6 years ago?

Barry Deutsch

If you would like to read the full article, please click the link below:

Robyn Greenspan: How to Update Your Job Search Strategy to Land Faster.

Short Video for KABC Radio Job Search Program

Here’s a little promo clip for the KABC Radio Los Angeles broadcast on Job Search January 16, 2011 from 3-5 pm PST.  The pre-recorded show will air on the Los Angeles Station and be syndicated to other ABC Radio affiliates across the country.

Once the show airs, you can download it from the KABC radio station or their iTunes Podcast Listing.

Great panel – great discussion – great questions (okay I’m biased since I participated). It’s still an excellent program that all job seekers should tune into.

This segment was about whether the job market is starting to come back with observations at all levels of employment trends.

Barry Deutsch

Is Your Job Search Focused On Employment or Employability?

My experience from speaking with tens of thousands of candidates over the last 30 years as an executive recruiter is that most candidates focus like a laser beam on employment. Finding that next job is all they think about.  Not bad, but I have found that those that find a job fastest focus on employability first.

Changing the focus will change your search. When candidates focus on only finding a job, they often lose sight of why they are employable. This focus changes how they interview, where they look, the process for finding a job, and ultimately leads to accepting the wrong job, which results in returning to the job market sooner than expected.

Focusing on employment can also lead to desperation in a job search. Download a FREE copy of the “Circle Of Transition” CLICK HERE. This shows up in the interview as fear, poor body language, lack of energy, incomplete answers or rambling answers. It impacts the job search as candidates try to demonstrate how they can do everything, in every industry, and regardless of whether they are a 10% or 100% fit for the job, they scramble after it. This only dilutes their search, sends them on wild goose chases, increases the many highs and lows of a search, and in the end gets the candidate no closer to getting a job.

Instead, what if you changed the focus to employability? This will alter how you view yourself and what you have to offer. It starts the process of realizing you have value, you are good at what you do, the company will be better off because they hired you, your boss will look better to their boss for hiring you, and you know you can and will do a great job.

Employability is about what you bring to the party. It is about focusing on what makes  you better than others. What is it about  you that this employer can’t live without? Every person they interview will probably have the same skills and experience to do the job, so why should they hire you?  It puts you in a position of strength.

Employability will expand your job search, not reduce it. It may eliminate some of the long shots that frustrate many candidates and at the same time it will increase the exposure to positions that have a higher probability of success.  I firmly believe one of the main reasons candidates we coach find jobs faster than most is because we work to change their focus to employability and away from employment.

Employability will help you create a job where jobs don’t yet exist. My last article was about finding the true hidden job market before others and recruiters. Employability helps you to not only tap into the hidden job market but it gets employers thinking about why they need you and your unique set of skills and experiences. Employers start to think about how much better they will perform with you on board. They begin to realize the solutions to their issues of growth, expansion, cost reduction, process improvement, etc, isn’t inside company. You become the savior to these problems. Employability turns you into a solution rather than just another candidate applying for a job.

Focusing on employability is much like what a CEO of a public company said to me many years ago. He said, “The focus of many public companies is the stock price and hitting the quarterly numbers. That will never be ours. We focus on building great products, innovation, customer service, and high quality. If we do that, the stock price and quarterly earnings will take care of themselves.”

If you focus on employability, employment will take care of itself.

To help you focus on employability be sure to download our free radio show recordings. They are in our candidate audio library. CLICK HERE to enter the library.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Can You Be Fired From Your Job Over On-Line Comments?

I was reading an interesting blog post, titled “You Can Lose Your Job Over Blog Comments, Too” by a well-known author, Daniel Scocco, who writes about blogging on his DailyBloggingTips.com site. Below is partial reprint of the article:

In the past we have seen people losing their jobs for bad mouthing their companies on Twitter and on blog posts. It turns out that the same can happen with blog comments, even if you are not the one writing the comments!

Confusing? Well, here is what happened. Around one month ago Skype hired Madhu Yarlagadda, a former Yahoo! employee, to be the new Chief Development Officer. Once the news got out, TechCrunch wrote a post reporting the news.

Once the post was a live a bunch of people started leaving comments criticizing and openly insulting Madhu Yarlagadda. These were presumably people who had worked with or for him in the past, and they were claiming he was “dishonest,” “political” and things like that. You’ll still find some of the comments on the post, but the heaviest ones were deleted by TechCrunch, since Madhu threatened to take legal action.

Long story short, the thing blew out of proportions, and as the NY Times reported today, “the comments caught the attention of Skype executives who became concerned about their new hire, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.”

The result? Madhu left the company just one month after joining.

The takeaway message? I am guessing there are many. For one, people are reading blogs, including the comments! Another one would be: be careful with what you put on the Internet.

Here are my comments on this blog post:

As an executive recruiter, I don’t see a lot of this public bashing going on (yet). I do perceive that the increasing ability for individuals to communicate through social media will increase “haters” comments. However, most people will only post “hater” comments when they’ve been mistreated, abused, and wronged.

Imagine all those employees out there who’ve been mistreated, abused, wronged, stomped on, screwed over, back-stabbed, lied to, and humiliated by former bosses. Imagine the ability of these folks to go on-line and vent – just like in this case.

I’m a firm believer of “what goes around – comes around”. You mistreat people – it will come back to bite you.

Here’s a good example: I’m a high school basketball coach. Our former varsity coach left to go to another school. Before he left, he gave an “unfavorable” comment in a published interview about our parents, administration, and players. Some of our parents and players also felt he had wronged them over time.

When the local paper published their announcement of his new position, parents commented on the on-line version of the article – it was a nasty, drag through the mud, public dogfight. The varsity coach almost lost his new job. At a minimum, he goes into this new job with a huge cloud over his head and is now under the microscope from parents, school administration, and players. His reputation is damaged and those “comments” are indexed forever on-line. Probably not the way anyone would like to start a new job.

Moral of the story – be careful how you treat others. “What goes around – truly does come around.” And with the rising trend of people engaging in social media, including blog reading, you run the danger of having your “mistakes” come back and bite you – or at the very least – haunt you!

Are you at risk in your job search of negative comments and information following you around?

Is your reputation being damaged without your knowledge?

Have you done something to encourage people to post angry and negative comments about yourself?

Did you know that more and more employers are checking out your on-line reputation before hiring you?

When was the last time you conducted a check-up on your on-line reputation for your job search?

Barry

P.S. Conducting an assessment of your job search preparation might help to highlight potentially damaging or negative information that could impact your job search. Click here to take our Job Search Self-Assessment yet?

Job Search Booster Shot – Is LinkedIn Working for You?

A lot of candidates have given up on LinkedIn.

I probably speak with 20-30 executive candidates a week who’ve been out of work over a year. When I ask about their thoughts of using LinkedIn to find a job – I can almost hear the frowns and sour expressions over the phone.

Have you given up?

Are you getting job leads and referrals through LinkedIn?

If you are getting an adequate level of job leads and referrals – STOP now – No need to read further.

If on the other hand – you’re not getting enough job leads and referrals, let’s discuss how you can give a “booster shot” to your use of LinkedIn as a powerful tool in your job search.

Before we delve deeper into this amazing tool – I would like to suggest you download our FREE LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment. Thousands of candidates have taken the LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment and have dramatically improved their chances of being identified in a search.

LinkedIn Job Search Metrics

Let’s define some metrics related to your LinkedIn activities. In surveys and informal research (speaking to thousands of executive candidates over the last 12-18 months), here are some average metrics:

• 25 new connections (relevant to your search) per week
• 30-40 searches weekly of which your profile was included in the search
• 15-20 direct views of your profile weekly off of searches
• 5-7 direct inquiries per week from recruiters, hiring managers, or HR staff.
• 2-3 phone interviews per week based on recruiters/HR finding your resume on LinkedIn.

if you could obtain these metrics for investing 10-12 hours per week on LinkedIn, would the investment be a good use of your time?

Let’s tackle the first element on the assessment – your complete work history. I’m probably sounding like a broken record – you’ve heard me say it over and over again – LinkedIn is one of the greatest tools ever created for Job Search.

The problem is like most tools – you’ve got to practice using it, you’ve got to have the skill to use it properly, and it takes time to truly master how it can help your job search.

Let’s step through line-by-line the various elements on our LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment. Upon finishing this blog series, you’ll have the knowledge and skills to master LinkedIn to drive the type of job search metrics listed above.

LinkedIn Profile – Work History

Do you have your full work history described in detail under your profile? Does it match up with your resume. Many employers are now verifying that your LinkedIn Profile is consistent with your resume.

Have you benchmarked your career trajectory with other top talent in your industry – functional area? If you network with other people just like you – how do their profiles compare with your profile? Are there people within your functional area or industry that are considered top talent – what do their profiles look like?

When recruiters, hiring managers, or human resource staff are conducting searches on LinkedIn for people just like you – what words and phrases are they using? How would you find out? ASK THEM!

What is the most impressive element of your work history? What’s the one or two things a potential employer/recruiter might say “WOW” if they saw it on your profile? What gave you a “WOW” jolt when you looked at other comparable profiles? Do you highlight these “WOW” factors to stand out.

LinkedIn Profile – Job Lead Generation

Are you searching for everyone at your former companies that are either currently employed at that company or are alumni of the company? This is a group that would be more than willing to help you. You’re part of their village. You’re one of the clan. When learning of your alumni status, most people would go out of their way to help you. Are you searching their connections for leads/connections to potential hiring managers, recruiters, or HR staff?

Are you elaborating upon your background by creating blog posts, Slideshare presentations, and box.net documents? Have you added video and audio elements to your profile to expand upon your work history? Are you sharing this additional content. You should be thinking content marketing and distribution to grab the attention of potential hiring managers, recruiters and HR staff? Are any of your peers using  content to improve their exposure and visibility?

When you hear of an job opportunity, do you search your extensive network on LinkedIn to see if someone is connected that might help you. If you’ve focused your efforts on connecting with appropriate job search contacts, after a year I would think your network should be in the 1,500-2,000 contact range with a potential reach in the 250,000 contact range through 2nd level contacts.

LinkedIn Profile – Optimizing for Searches

The final step in leveraging your LinkedIn profile is to optimize it so that you can be “found high in the search results”. My partner, Brad Remillard, just completed a webinar on this topic. You can still buy the presentation and slide deck. It doesn’t do you any good if you come up in  a search results on page 14 or 15.

Is your profile embedded in the right places with the right keywords so that when hiring managers, recruiters, and HR staff are conducting searches – you pop up in the first few pages of search results. If you’re profile is not optimized for search on LinkedIn, you’re probably never going to be called or contacted since most individuals in the hiring profession will not bother to view search results 9 pages deep.

A quick and dirty method to determine if your profile is optimized for search is to look at the ratio between total searches done in which your profile appears compared to the total number of direct profile views. If this ratio is less than 50%, your profile is probably not effectively optimized.

In our next blog post, we’ll focus on how to properly convey your accomplishments and achievements in your LinkedIn Profile.

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget to download the LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment so that you can determine your starting point and what is needed to improve your profile so that you stand out to hiring managers, recruiters, and HR staff.

Job Search Firestorm of Controversy

As many of our loyal readers know – I’m not shy about vocalizing (can you do that on a blog?) my thoughts related to job search.

In fact, I’m probably one of the more (along with my partner Brad Remillard) controversial figures in job search blogging. Brad and I give “straight talk” (better known as ‘”tough love” by the girls on my high school basketball team) about why most job seekers conduct ineffective job hunts and why it takes so darn long to find a job.

We’re also two of the most prolific publishers of FREE and inexpensive job search content on the Internet. If you can’t find the answer to your job search question in our extensive library and archives, then it probably doesn’t exist.

We can make this bold statement since we’ve got the credentials to back it up through real experience of over 250,000 candidate interviews, over 1,000 search assignments, training over 5,000 recruiters, and 30,000 hiring executives and managers over the last 30 years.

Now to the real purpose of this blog post – why have I just generated a firestorm of controversy surrounding one of our most recent blog posts?

I put forth the idea in my last blog post that most candidates are NOT effectively using all the FREE job search tools that LinkedIn provides – and as a result – their job search is ineffective and taking far too long.

It’s not the only reason your job search is ineffective (there are hundreds of reasons), but it is a significant reason.

Oh my! You’d think I had just refuted a major law of universal physics.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many candidates weigh in with their opinions.

We can divide the opinions by those writing comments into two main camps:

Group 1: You’re right – I’m ineffective and need to get my act together to learn how to more use LinkedIn to improve my job search

Group 2: I already know everything there is to know in how to use LinkedIn and it’s useless. Being on LinkedIn has not helped my job search and I cannot see any value spending more time on LinkedIn.

To the first group, I applaud you for trying to learn everything you can that might help you in your job search. There are literally hundreds – perhaps even thousands of things you can be doing in your job search to make it more effective.

In coaching high school basketball, we have a saying “It’s the little things that make a difference”. Success doesn’t come from huge or amazing changes, it comes from all the little things someone does that their peers are not willing to do, such as diving on the floor for loose balls, boxing out, saving a ball from going out of bounds, sprinting back on defense (interesting parallel to job search).

Al Pacino, in his role as the Coach in “Any Given Sunday” talks about the success that comes from doing the little things in his locker room talk about “inches’. Again, interesting parallel – metaphor – for job search. The Coach talks about the “inches” (read: opportunities) that are all around us – yet most never reach for the extra inch. The inference is that unless you reach for the extra inch – success becomes elusive.

To the second group, I would say shame on you for thinking you’ve cornered the market on how to leverage LinkedIn. There is such a wealth of knowledge to be gained from reading books on LinkedIn, testing different ideas, experimenting with the tools, checking out how others do it, reading the blogs dedicated to LinkedIn, or taking one of the myriad of courses/classes/webinars on leveraging LinkedIn.

Can someone answer this question:

Why do most candidates not take advantage of the wealth of information, tools, resources, and techniques to improve their job search?

Is the reason most candidates don’t know what information, tools, resources, and techniques are available?

Or maybe the reason is that most candidates just don’t want to grab those extra “inches” that are everywhere around us.

Here are two examples from our own library/archive and resources:

How many of our readers have downloaded our FREE LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment Tool to improve their chances of being picked by a recruiter or HR manager?

How many of our readers signed up for the webinar my partner, Brad Remillard, just taught on how to use SEO techniques on your LinkedIn Profile to improve where you appear in a search of candidates by hiring managers, recruiters, and HR professionals?

Why do you think most candidates do not take advantage of the myriad of resources available to help improve their job search?

Barry

Why Don’t Candidates Use LinkedIn Effectively?

Are you leveraging LinkedIn in your job search? If not, you could be dragging your job search on for a longer period of time than is necessary.

LinkedIn provides one of the greatest sets of job search tools – practically for FREE!

Why then are so many candidates so bad at using it for their job search?

This just makes no sense to me.

If you’re in a job search, help me to understand why you’re not effectively using LinkedIn to cut the time it takes to find a great job by at least 50%.

Here’s a great fresh example: I was interviewing a candidate for National Sales Manager Position this morning. This is a senior level job – compensation is in the $150K-$200K range.

She’s been out of work for an entire year. I asked her how many phone interviews she had in the last year. Her answer was “roughly about 10”. I asked her how many physical interviews she had in the last year. Her answer was “less than 5.” Her activity level is so low it would have been a miracle to get a job offer.

I then asked her how she was using LinkedIn in her Job Search. She says
“I’m really using LinkedIn. I logon all the time. I look at the job ads being posted. I check out the status updates of all my network contacts.”

You’re NOT effectively using LinkedIn. You might not be found by a hiring manager or recruiting unless pure random luck intervened.

You’re lurking. You’ve faded into the woodwork. You’re invisible.

Start to leverage all the great tools LinkedIn provides for your job search, such as:

• Ability to participate in Questions and Answers
• Ability to constantly evolve and change your Profile
• Ability to Get Testimonials/References to say good things about you
• Ability to share books/reviews/thoughts with others
• Ability to participate in group discussions
• Ability to post useful information into groups
• Ability to contact directly potential hiring managers and recruiters
• Ability to post rich content/media of Powerpoint presentations, white papers, video, and audio
• Ability to “LIKE” and comment on the status updates of people in your network
• Ability to easily build a powerful network to generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.
• Ability to include your twitter stream and blog postings

I’m almost embarrassed to ask candidates about their use of LinkedIn in a job search. When I hear their answer of how much they think they are using it and how they see themselves as a “power” user of LinkedIn for Job Search – I want to double over in laughter. I know that in 99% of the time when I go to look them up on LinkedIn, their activity level and sophistication of using LinkedIn is usually in the bottom 10%.

Why?

There is NO EXCUSE not to become a power user of LinkedIn for Job Search. The resources are astounding. For example, Brad and I have authored numerous articles, blog posts, and radio programs on this subject. We’ve got FREE tools to help you – such as our LinkedIn Profile Self-Assessment Scorecard which you can get by clicking here.

Special NOTE: My partner Brad Remillard is facilitating an upcoming inexpensive Webinar on How to Use LinkedIn to pop to the top of a hiring manager/recruiters search for candidates?

Can you afford to end up on page 3 of a search a recruiter is conducting for someone just like you? If you’re not on page 1 – you’ll never have a chance to get noticed. Check out the description of this LinkedIn Webinar by clicking here. I’m really excited about this unique technique Brad has developed to get you to the top of LinkedIn Candidate Searches by Hiring Managers and Recruiters.

This technique of leveraging “SEO” on LinkedIn for your profile is just one of the hundreds you can use to dramatically improve the effectiveness of your job search.

Establish Your Job Search Credibility on LinkedIn – Job Search Tactic #6

Did you know LinkedIn provides an instant credibility building tool for developing your personal brand?

Did you know that within just a few weeks you have an ability to rise to the top of recruiters, hr professionals, and hiring manager radar screens?

Combine the Question and Answer element of LinkedIn with the other recommendations we’ve made in this series of Job Search Tips on LinkedIn:

Everyone Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

Who Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

Don’t Be Like Groucho Marx on LinkedIn – CLICK HERE TO READ

The Instant Credibility Tool on LinkedIn

It’s called Questions and Answers.

You can find at the top of screen on the horizontal navigation menu. Click on “More” and then click on “Answers”.

Look at the questions being asked in a variety of categories where you have an expertise:

• Your job search
• Fund raising for your local soccer non-profit organization
• Industry trends
• Functional issues such as marketing or financial management
• Working with Recruiters
• Using LinkedIn

What expertise do you bring to the job search party?

Step 1: It’s Okay to be a Temporary LinkedIn Lurker

Pick a subject area in which you are most comfortable

Lurk a little to see what type of questions are asked and what type of answers are given. (I know – I know – I told you a few blog postings ago NOT to be a lurker on LinkedIn! Let’s suspend that request for a few minutes). Get a feel for the give and take of asking a question, getting responses, and responding to the responses.

This is what Social Media and Social Networking is all about. Here is the basic core element – engaging in discussion and conversation with others. Giving value back through your contributions and receiving value by taking the bits and pieces others offer.

This element of questions and answers is at a very basic level one of the most important aspects of networking. In the old days – you did this in-person or by phone.

LinkedIn gives you a platform of leverage which is extraordinary for the speed, efficiency, and exposure.

Step 2: Answer a few questions on LinkedIn

Observe, lurk, kibbutz, peek and then after playing LinkedIn Peeping Tom over 24-48 hours, post a few replies to questions you’re most comfortable answering.

Wait for a response – or perhaps someone else besides the original question poser will raise a question, challenge your idea, or build upon your recommendation.

Respond to the responder.

Engage in a conversation.

Pretend it’s a friendly dialogue.

Couple of Ground Rules – Both Negative and Positive

You might call this section – social etiquette on LinkedIn:

• Never put someone else down in public
• Never insult another poster
• Don’t try to dominate the conversation
• Don’t act arrogant or be a know-it-all
• Avoid sarcasm – it’s easy to misinterpret little jokes or having some fun at other’s expense
• Be positive
• Say Positive things
• Give praise frequently
• Recognize when someone has made a great contribution to the discussion – give them an on-line pat on the back. Everyone wants a little recognition when they do something great.

Step 3 – Pose Your Own Questions on LinkedIn

After you’re comfortable answering a few questions, try posting a few questions.

Be a little controversial.

Take a contrarian point of view.

Don’t hesitate to offer your opinion or ideas.

Be yourself.

Stimulate a discussion.

Tie your question to an area of your expertise.

Track your questions –  do certain questions generate a larger response?

Step 4 – Who’s behind the questions and answers?

After responding to a question, look at the profile of the poster. Is this someone you would like to connect with and get to know better? Send him/her an invite to connect on LinkedIn.

When people respond to your questions, check out their profiles. Should you be connecting to them also through an invitation.

Can you imagine how much leverage this is going to bring to your networking efforts? Visualize all those connections and their connections – WOW – it’s as if the old saying is coming true that “we’re all connected to Kevin Bacon through 6 levels of referrals.

We’ll get into how to leverage your network’s connections in a future post in this series.

Action Steps on LinkedIn

As soon as you finish reading this article, go straight to the questions and answers area on LinkedIn. Begin step 1.

Within 24-48 hours I expect to see you responding to questions and posting a few of your own.

Shoot a comment back on this blog post or drop me a note and let me know how this is working out for you.

Before you know it – you’ll have established your credibility. The recruiters, hr folks, and hiring managers lurking in the background will begin to see you, hear you, recognize you for for your expertise, knowledge, and radiating personal brand.

You’ll start getting inquiries, others will look forward to your comments, and you’ll start to generate a decent following of dedicated fans.

It’s so easy I’m practically dumbfounded that more managerial and executive job seekers don’t do this as part of their daily dozen on-line social media and networking activities.

Barry Deutsch

P.S.: I hope you didn’t miss the How to Find your Next Job on LinkedIn Webinar we conducted today.

Mark your calendar NOW for our next webinar on April 30th – Giving Your Job Search a Boost Through Social Media. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements of this program. Just like our Webinar on LinkedIn today, we expect to sell out quickly for this value-packed inexpensive Job Search Social Media Webinar.