How To Get Job Lead Referrals. 3 Simple Steps

I preach all the time how important it is in a job search to have a steady stream of job lead referrals coming from your network. Few disagree with this.  Few also do much about it.  Oh they go through the motions, they generate a lot of activity, they meet a lot of people, and they go to so many networking groups they have lost count. Yes, even after all that activity, one of the biggest issues I have to help candidates with is getting referrals from their network. In fact, most of the people that come to me requesting job search help, this is the catalyst that starts our relationship.

The conversation often begins,”I have been looking for X number of months with very little results. I’m actively networking, meeting people all the time and just not getting the right referrals or leads. Can you help me?”

This person hasn’t built a sales force. They’ve built a lot of contacts, but every top sales person knows few contacts buy anything. Connections and a relationship often result in a sale.

So here is the proverbial $64,000 question for you, “How many sales reps do you have out in the field selling you?” If you answered 50 or more you can move on to the next article. If you answered, “I don’t know.” Here is how to find out, “Are you happy with the quality and quantity of the job lead referrals you are getting?” If no, read on. If yes, move on.

I find that most job seekers have less than 15 (usually around 10) really solid job lead referral sources  in their network. Most are getting referrals to other people, usually service providers, but not job leads. Few are tapping into the hidden job market.

The people I work with have a goal of 50 sales reps. I call them sales reps, because every candidate needs to have at least 50 people in the market place promoting and selling them every time a job lead or potential job lead comes up. The larger the geographical area, the larger the number of sales reps required.

My all time favorite line that best describes effective networking was given to me years ago by a person that understood networking before networking was even a word. Bill Ellermeyer said to me,”You have to take a contact and turn it into a connection.” Read it again if you didn’t pick up on what real networking is all about. This hits the problem square on the head.

Job seekers are not making connections, most are making contacts. Many don’t even know if the contact is willing to refer them or not.

So start turning all those contacts into connections. 50 great connections are worth more to you than 500 contacts. So start focusing on getting the 50.

Some ways to do that include:

1. Network with a purpose. Stop going to every networking meeting on the planet. Stop meeting every person referred to you. Start going to networking meetings that will provided you the connections you need to get job leads. If the meeting isn’t going to meet this goal, why go? Do your homework before spending a lot of time with someone. Ask the referring sources some qualifying questions about the person and why they think this person would be a good referral source for you. Don’t just run off and spend all that time meeting a bunch of people.
2. Select or target the people that can help you and eventually you can help them. Generally, if it is a service provider you are trying to make your sales rep,  they want business referrals. They want to meet decision makers. So you should have a list of people you are relying on for help and find out from them exactly what types of business referrals they want. Stop asking the question, “How can I help you?” Every service knows that rarely leads to anything. You want referrals so do they. So ask them, “What business introductions can I make for you?” Have your rolodex with you. Open it up right there and give a good referral. They now owe you.
3. Follow-up with these people regularly. Every sales manager knows you have to keep in-touch with your sales reps and with the customer. So you need to do the same thing.  Since you know the backgrounds of the people they want to meet invite them to meetings, introduce them to a potential referral  over coffee with you there to make the introduction, call and inquire if hey would be interested in meeting this person or that person, invite them to a social event, golf, sporting event, drinks, conference.  Maybe they would like to meet one of your other 50 sales people so they can network together. Why not set up  a small group meeting.  There are so many opportunities to take this contact and turn it into a connection once  you start thinking about it. The problem is very few think about it.

It only takes the ability to focus on the right things that will lead to quality job leads. I can tell you from personal experience, when I can get the candidates I work with in this mode most see quality job leads start coming in. Having a sales force is critical to a successful job search.

So please go out today and start building your sales team.

For a FREE example of a cover letter CLICK HERE.

For a FREE example of a Thank You letter CLICK HERE.

For many more FREE resources and articles, join our Job Search Networking Group on LinkedIn. 5200 people have done this. CLICK HERE to join.

If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t demonstrate you are the expert in your field you may be missing opportunities. Recruiters, HR and hiring authorities often start looking on Linkedin. This tool is critical in a job search. CLICK HERE to learn  how you can build an outstanding Linkedin Profile.

I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions and ideas.

Brad Remillard

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.

Your LinkedIn Profile May Be More Critical Than Your Resume In A Job Search

This is an important discussion that I believe will accelerate over the next few years, especially for professionals and those in managerial positions. However, I still believe that the discussion is very relevant for all others.

Right now this is the, “which came first the chicken or the egg” argument.

So what do recruiters, HR, and hiring managers screen with first? Your resume or your LinkedIn profile?

One side might argue the resume. The candidate emails the resume or replies to a job posting. The person screening reviews the resume and makes a decision to follow-up or not. So in this example the resume was the deciding factor.

The other side would argue that, more and more before companies incur the expense of posting an ad, they first go to LinkedIn. This is especially true for recruiters. They first go to LinkedIn, and if they can’t find a person on LinkedIn they will post an ad. So here LinkedIn is the most important.

As a retained executive recruiter and job search coach, I would take the position that both are important, but LinkedIn is rapidly passing up the resume, and is at least equal to it.

I take this position because so often, and it is increasing at an alarming rate, after the person screening your resume reads it, the next stop is LinkedIn. They want to see your profile. My partner, Barry Deutsch, and I are being told more and more by our clients that this is what they are doing. I just wrote an article about how one of my clients was considering hiring a person until they looked at their LinkedIn profile. BTW, this is becoming true not only for LinkedIn, but for all social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

People screening  your resume are becoming more savvy about LinkedIn. I’m not referring to recruiters. We have been using LinkedIn for years. With the explosive growth of LinkedIn due to the recession, companies are rapidly realizing the enormous value of LinkedIn. So much so, (call me crazy) but I believe that within the next few years, the need for resume databases on the job boards will become secondary to social media sites. After all, why would a person pay almost $10,000 to search a database of resumes when the information is free on LinkedIn and other sites? In a world of cost cutting, eliminating this cost just makes sense to me.

So what does this mean to the job seeker?

1) Make sure  you have a very complete and compelling LinkedIn Profile. A compelling and complete profile can literally change your search overnight. I have seen this happen with people I do job search coaching with. Unfortunately, only about 10% currently have a compelling and complete profile. That is why when you have one, you stand out.

I can’t stress this enough. 90% of most profiles on LinkedIn are at best fair and most are so incomplete they are worthless.  What a golden opportunity to position yourself as the “expert” in  your field. In today’s market, companies are searching for the expert. That can be you. LinkedIn has the tools for you to do this. Why so many don’t take advantage of these FREE tools is beyond me. If you know “WHY” please enlighten me.

2) Don’t forget Facebook, Google profiles, and Twitter. These are often overlooked. Why not have a Facebook page that focuses on you as a professional? Use it for your job search, rather than socially. There is an awful lot  you can do on Facebook to stand out.

3) Twitter is a great tool that builds awareness. It is easy to use and gives you  great exposure. Plus, you can link your tweets back to your LinkedIn status. Now you are killing two birds with one stone.

You have an outstanding opportunity right now (but the window is rapidly closing) to stand out on LinkedIn and be the “EXPERT.” So many people today have such poor profiles that you should take advantage of this by creating a great profile.

How often in your job search have you heard the phrase, “You must differentiate yourself.” Well, this is your opportunity to do so. Why would anyone leave this gaping hole in their resume?

You might qualify to receive a FREE LinkedIn profile assessment, valued at over $300. On March 26th we are having a webinar on how you can leverage LinkedIn to find your next job. We believe this is the most comprehensive webinar we have seen on this topic. We’ll have over 35 slides on how you can build a compelling and complete profile. We will show you step-by-step where the tools are and how you can use them to be the “EXPERT.” These slides and the webinar audio recording are included in the webinar. If you want a profile that puts  you in the top 10% then you should CLICK HERE to learn more.

At a minimum you should download our 8-Level LinkedIn Self Assessment Profile. This tool is a great start to building a great profile. CLICK HERE to get yours. It is 100% free.

Finally, if you are on LinkedIn, join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. There are more than 4,800 members. It is one of the fastest growing groups on LinkedIn that focuses on job search issues. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Who Cares What Your Status is on LinkedIn? Job Search Tactic #4

Lots of people care!

Your network wants to be given an opportunity to clap for you!

That’s why you should be updating your status every 24-48 hours.

• Your network wants to know how your job search is progressing
• Your network wants to know the type of companies with whom you’re interviewing
• Your network wants to know the executives with whom you’re interviewing
• Your network wants to know the techniques you’re using to generate job leads and referrals

They want to hear about the silly interview questions you’ve been asked, the most intelligent questions, the ones that were easy and ones that stumped you.

Your network wants to be able to support you in your job search. If they don’t know what you’re doing, how could they possibly support you?

Status updates are the amazing simple short statements about what you’re doing that you feel is important to share with you network. You have 140 characters to type a status update. Each time you type a status update, everyone in your network will see it on their home screen when they view network status updates.

This is one of the most powerful tools LinkedIn offers and yet, very few networkers use it – forget effectively – they don’t bother to update their status at all – what a waste of a free networking tool.

I am a master networker. Many of you know that I am a LinkedIn Networking Expert. I teach and coach networking to some of the most successful coaches, CEOs, Presidents, and senior executives. How does a master networker and LinkedIn Networking Expert use status updates in social networking?

SECRET HINT: Think of your status updates as frequent alerts to keep your network aware of what you’re doing, how it might impact them personally, and as a “marketing” tool to keep your “brand” in a top-of-mind presence with them every single time they log onto LinkedIn.

Every day or two, I take a moment and I type a short statement about something I think a large portion of my network on LinkedIn might like to hear about.

• Have I just written an interesting new blog post
• Have i just attended a life-altering workshop on self-motivation
• Did I just read a passage from Daniel Pink’s new book, Linchpin, that I wanted to share before I forget it

Are the 3 ideas I got out of the on-line webinar this morning that Brad Remillard taught on Leveraging LinkedIn in your job search (you like the way I worked that shameless plug into my blog post?) valuable to share with others?

All kidding aside,

My partner, Brad Remillard, will be leading a powerful webinar on March 26th to teach you how to leverage all the LinkedIn tools  to find your next job through LinkedIn.

CLICK HERE to sign up right now for this unique LinkedIn Job Search webinar.

Only our private job search network of loyal readers here on our blog, in our LinkedIn Discussion Group, and those who have downloaded our FREE Job Search Tools will receive this special discount.

If you get ONE great idea from this webinar on how to improve your job search, it will have been worth the investment of time. NOT ONLY will you get one idea, I’ll guarantee you’ll get a dozen ideas that you can immediately implement within hours of completing the webinar.

After you finish the webinar, Brad and I would love to hear about the 12 different things you started doing on LinkedIn, such as updating your status more frequently, and which ones immediately started to work for you.

Barry Deutsch

PS – would it help if we put together a status update checklist (like a daily dozen status update ideas) that you could use every day to go down the list and say “I did #2 yesterday, today I’ll do #9)?

Is Your LinkedIn Profile Hurting Your Job Search?

At a recent Vistage meeting of about 20 CEOs we were discussing using social media as a way to find people.  One of the CEOs indicated it is also a great way to eliminate people.

I wasn’t overly surprised to learn that many hadn’t thought about social media for hiring, but I was surprised to learn that many don’t use it as a screening tool. Obviously, after hearing the story from the one CEO, most will reconsider.

The CEO stated that they had been in the process of interviewing a candidate for a sales position, and like most hiring processes, it takes a couple of weeks to get through all of the interviews. Over this couple of weeks the company started tracking this person’s tweets on Twitter and looked up the candidate’s profile picture.

OOPS a major faux pas.

Apparently as it was relayed in the meeting, this person’s picture was – let’s just say not professional, and the tweets were completely inappropriate as viewed by the company. The language was foul, the topics discussed rather vulgar, and for a professional sales person raised a lot of red flags.

The company was afraid of a sexual harassment lawsuit and how this candidate would communicate with employees and customers. Not to mention what customers would think if they saw this person’s profile picture and followed them on Twitter.

Social media is a double-edged sword. I follow Twitter on a regular basis, and I am surprised at how many people looking for a job use inappropriate language, brag about being lazy, tweet about how glad they are about not working, or demonstrate a lack of willingness to be employed. They come across as wanting a job but not willing to work. This is not what a future employer is seeking.

Take care to ensure that you manage your LinkedIn profile properly and professionally during your job search. Others are watching and listening to you.

If this was helpful to you, it will probably be helpful to others. Please consider passing it on so they too can benefit. You might add it to your Facebook page, update it on your LinkedIn status, or email it to friends or to your network. We all need to help out. One tip can make a huge difference to someone.

GET A FREE LINKEDIN PROFILE ASSESSMENT. On March 26th we are offering a webinar on, “How To Find Your Next Job Using LinkedIn.” We will tell you the number one reason  so many recruiters view your profile and never call you. THIS IS NOT A JOKE OR HYPE. It is a fact that most candidates never think of. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to get your FREE profile assessment and the webinar.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group and stay connected with the other 4600+ members. CLICK HERE to join.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

How Would You Rate Your LinkedIn Profile?

I recently asked this question on LinkedIn, “How would you rate your LinkedIn profile?” The choices were, poor, fair, good or very good. I wasn’t referring to completeness based on the LinkedIn scale. I wanted to know how you would rate your profile based on how good or compelling it is.

Would a recruiter, HR professional, or hiring authority be so impressed that they can’t wait to contact you? That is the goal of a LinkedIn profile. Why else would you have one if you are in a job search?

So that is my question to you, “How do you rate your LinkedIn profile?” We would really like to know.

Poor

Fair

Good

Very Good

Now the really important question, “How would you rate your resume?” Let us know that too. Just simply send us a comment. You can do that at the bottom of this article.

Did you rate them both the same? Most rate their resume good to very good and their LinkedIn profile poor to fair. WHY?

Both of these are marketing documents. That is all a resume is. It is put together to market you. In our best selling job search workbook,“This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” we don’t like to use the word “resume.”  Rather, we prefer to call it your Personal Compelling Marketing Brochure.

Your LinkedIn profile is your online marketing brochure. It must sell you. Your profile can be even more compelling than a resume because of all of the added features LinkedIn allows you to add to your profile. Most are not possible on a resume.

So here is the next set of questions, “How many hours have you dedicated to developing your resume?” My experience is that most candidates spend hours not only developing their resume, but revamping it, changing it, redoing it, updating it, and so on. For many, this is a never ending process.

OK, so then, “How many hours have you dedicated to developing your LinkedIn profile?” We would really like you to be completely honest and answer these questions. Just add your responses to them in the comment box at the bottom.

Still  not convinced about why you need a great and compelling profile on LinkedIn?  Here are some additional reasons that might convince you.

• For my last three placements, all of the candidates came directly from LinkedIn.

• Two clients recently told me they hired mid-level sales people directly from LinkedIn.

• Before posting an open position on a job board, most recruiters go to LinkedIn first.

• I’m currently working on two searches and I found all of the candidates using LinkedIn.

• LinkedIn now has over 45 million users.

• More and more internal recruiters and HR professionals start their searches on LinkedIn.

• Companies can save thousands of dollars searching LinkedIn versus searching resumes on a job board.

Given all of this, would you reply to a job posting with a fair resume? Would you expect a call back from a hiring authority or recruiter if your resume was “fair?”

If your LinkedIn profile isn’t better than your resume, you are leaving a very valuable tool in your tool box. When I’m coaching job seekers, one of the first items we work on is their LinkedIn profile. It is not uncommon that within two weeks of completing the profile makeover for these candidates, that they start receiving inquiries.

So let us hear from you regarding how you responded to these questions. We are really interested.

Don’t know how to build a great profile?

Get a FREE LinkedIn Profile Assessment. To help you build a great LinkedIn job search strategy, we are having a webinar on March 26. This webinar will ensure you not only have a great profile, but in addition, teach  you how to find contacts, how recruiters use LinkedIn, and how to ensure that if someone comes to your profile that you are positioned as the expert.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

Also, Barry and I have had extensive discussions regarding LinkedIn on our weekly radio show that airs every Monday at 11 AM PST at www.latalkradio.com on channel 2. We add all of these recordings to our audio library. These recordings are free for you to listen to or download. CLICK HERE to review our audio library.

Finally, consider joining our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. There are more than 4,4oo members, and a wealth of articles and discussions to help you in your job search. CLICK HERE to join.

Brad Remillard

Don’t Be Like Groucho Marx – Job Search Tactic #2

Groucho Marx once said “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member.”

Groucho must not have been conducting a job search when he made that comment.

Joining Groups (like clubs) on LinkedIn is an excellent way to engage with people who hold a similar interest, make new contacts, network, and discover hidden job opportunities.

Your groups display on your LinkedIn Profile. When I click your profile, I can see which groups we have in common. As a recruiter, I usually focus on searches within groups first due to the ease of contacting other group members.

Here are some of the parameters on joining groups on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn allows you to join 50 groups

You can post roughly 7500 news feed items per 24 hour period. These can be multiple feeds within the same 24 hour period into the same group. I have not yet done a test to ascertain the precise number.

You can post unlimited discussions (I have not come across a limit yet within a 24 hours period. Again, I’ve not tried to test the system by posting more than 50 in a 24 hour period.

You can send messages to other group members without using your valuable inmails nor do you have to know the email address. I’m not sure if there is a limit on the number of messages you can send directly to group members. I have yet to hit it if there is a limit.

What groups should I join you might ask?

• Your alumni group
• Geographically based network groups for individuals in your city
• Association or trade groups that focus on your industry, such as Construction or Telecommunications
• Functional specialty groups, such as those for VPs of Marketing or CFOs
• Charitable groups that focus on causes you support
• Job Search Groups, such as the IMPACT Hiring Job Search Discussion Group

Now that I’ve joined a few groups, what should I do next?

Even though in a previous post I suggested you not be a lurker, I give you permission to do short-term lurking. Gain a sense of the culture of the group. Review the other messages in the group first.

• Are group members discussing job search related issues?
• Are group members supportive of each other?
• What type of news feeds are being posted into the group?
• Are there job leads being posted by group members under the jobs tab?
• How passionate are group members in responding to questions or discussion points?

You’ve lurked long enough – it’s time to jump in and become a valuable and active member of the group.

What kind of benefits might I expect from the time investment of doing all these activities within all my groups:

• You’ll be enhancing your PERSONAL BRAND by establishing your involvement, focus, and expertise in the various groups.
• Others will be attracted to you and want to connect with you on LinkedIn directly
• As Hiring Managers and Executives frequent these groups, you’ll become noticed by the individuals who may someday hire you
• You’ll be starting to dramatically expand your connections and the massive net it takes to capture hidden job market leads and referrals.

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget about the Webinar my partner, Brad Remillard is teaching on March 26th, titled “How to Find Your Next Job on LinkedIn”. See the promotion for the Webinar in our right-hand sidebar.

Stop Being a LinkedIn Lurker: Job Search Tactic #3

Sounds like something you could be arrested for – maybe even a felony conviction.

Seriously, if you want to take your job search to another level, you’ve got to engage in communicating and interacting on the primary social media forum for professionals, managers, and executives.

Studies show that 90% or more of all users of social media (including LinkedIn) are lurkers.

What the heck is a LinkedIn Lurker?

A lurker is someone who reads the news feeds in groups, reads the questions in groups, reads the questions and answers in the Q&A section, and observes the status updates of those to whom they share a 1st degree connection.

Are you a LinkedIn Lurker?

YOU CANNOT CONDUCT AN EFFECTIVE JOB SEARCH BY LURKING?

Lurking is like hiding behind your mother’s skirt when you were 3 years old. Why do we do this as intelligent, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, confident adults? I wrote another article a few months ago on this same subject titled “STOP Being A Job Search Voyeur – Let Your Voice Be Heard“

I don’t get it.

I don’t even buy the introversion excuse since you’re not having to meet these people on-line or build a deep relationship. There is no rejection phobia here either.

Engaging in the conversation on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter is just about the most friendly, safest environment to give your job search a little booster shot in the arm.

Here’s a few simple things you could start doing right now:

• How many of you are posting questions in our LinkedIn Discussion Forum and how many of you are helping others in the Group by answering/commenting on the discussions they started?
• Are you looking at the wealth of news feeds in our LinkedIn Discussion Group and commenting on those valuable links?
• When was the last time you commented on a connection’s status update?

We’ll tackle further engagement on LinkedIn in future tactics.

By the way, My Partner, Brad Remillard, will be leading a webinar on March 26th on how to leverage ALL the different elements of LinkedIn to conduct an effective job search.

Click on the link in our sidebar to learn about this very popular webinar.

If there was one place you could invest your time and get the biggest bang for the buck, it would on LinkedIn. Sadly, most job seekers are not leveraging even 10% of the tools, personal branding, engagement opportunities, and other inexpensive techniques to help themselves be found.

Brad and I did a couple of Programs on LinkedIn in our Weekly Radio Show. You can download these from our FREE Job Search Audio Library.

You know it’s much easier to be found than to find the right job.

What’s holding you back right now from signing up for a one-hour webinar (from one of the top experts in this country on using LinkedIn) in which you’ll learn at least a dozen core tactics that you’ll use every day in your job search?

Barry Deutsch

If you’re NOT a member of our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group, JOIN US NOW to start your engagement process and move beyond lurking.

How to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile: Job Search Tactic #1

Brad and I have talked endlessly about how much easier your job search is to found than to find a job. I recently wrote a post on this exact subject.

We did a radio broadcast on how to improve your LinkedIn Profile. We posted our LinkedIn Self-Assessment Scorecard on our site a few months ago –  a download that has become one our all-time most popular downloads. You can get the download and quickly understand how to improve your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

Not only is building an outstanding LinkedIn Profile a job search best practice, but it is also an integral part of personal branding (another key element of an effective job search).

More importantly, every recruiter, HR pro, and hiring manager will google your name and look up on LinkedIn BEFORE they decide to grant you an interview.

Google Profiles will be the focus of our next blog article, Job Search Tactic Number 2.

• Does your LinkedIn Profile capture a viewer’s attention?
• What elements of your Profile are they drawn to?
• Would I as recruiter feel that I just had to call you after viewing your profile?
• Does your profile scream “you’re not going to find a better person” at me?
• What are the steps in creating an effective job search LinkedIn Profile?

Below we’ll list the key elements of creating an effective profile. We could probably spend an entire blog post series on each element of your LinkedIn Profile.

Here are the LinkedIn Profile Best Practices (in no particular order)”:

1. Use a compelling headline
2. Complete all the details of your entire career
3. List all your accomplishments in detail with as much quantification as possible
4. Get a lot of recommendations
5. Recommend others
6. Include Slideshare Powerpoint presentations of your accomplishments
7. List the books you’re ready/comment on other book lists
8. Incorporate Your Twitter Feed and Link
9. Include a link to your blog
10. Include a link to your on-line resume
11. Pull your blog’s feed onto your profile using WordPress
12. Include links for audio/video files of you talking about your accomplishments and achievements.
13. Join Groups that are professionally/geographically appropriate
14. Update your status frequently – as in daily
15. Dramatically build your network with appropriate contacts
16. Make it easy to connect with you – phone #s and email

These are the elements of your LinkedIn Profile that will differentiate you from your peers. Read a couple of our other blog posts on this subject of leveraging your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search, including an article titled “Become a Beacon in Your Job Search” and “Are You Difficult to Connect With on LinkedIn in Your Job Search?“

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to learn more about leveraging your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

Is Your Job Search Stuck in High School Time Warp?

Is Your Job Search an Extension of High School?

One of my favorite bloggers, writers, speakers – Seth Godin, published a blog titled “On Self-determination”. After reading the article, I realized, there was a frightening metaphor for most job seekers. I wrote a previous article about this syndrome on our blog titled “Hope and Luck are NOT Job Search Strategies”

I’ll share the example Seth used in his blog article that literally rocked me back on my heels:

Anyway, they asked for my advice in finding marketing jobs. When I shared my views (go to a small company, work for the CEO, get a job where you actually get to make mistakes and do something) one woman professed to agree with me, but then explained, “But those companies don’t interview on campus.”

Those companies don’t interview on campus. Hmmm. She has just spent $100,000 in cash and another $150,000 in opportunity cost to get an MBA, but…

A little later in his blog post, Seth made the comment:

Do you work with people who are still in high school? Job seekers only willing to interview with the folks who come on campus?

This approach of being a “victim” stems from high school where we let events and others dictate what we do, when we do it, how we do it.

I call it the “High School Time Warp Syndrome”.

If we screw up, we could always blame it on others – my coach, my parents, the administration, my teachers, my classmates. As Seth indicates, for many individuals, this “victim” approach – or what he terms a lack of “self-determination” becomes a guiding principle throughout your life.

Brad and I did one of our Radio Programs on how this syndrome of “playing the victim” or “lacking self-determination” in your job search plays itself out every day. The Radio Show was titled “Job Search Mistakes – Part 2”. You can download it from our FREE Job Search Audio Library.

YOU HAVE COMPLETE self-determination in your job search. STOP pretending your still in high school and others are dictating your actions. You have complete freedom to control, change, improve, evolve, learn, grow, and develop an effective job search.

Most candidates Brad and I meet conduct a job search at about the bottom 5% level. Why? Because they pretend they are back in high school where they never grew past a lack of self-determination or being the victim of circumstances. This is exhibited in the excuses, explanations, and rationalizations of why their job search is not working:

• I don’t do well meeting other people
• I don’t know what to do
• That seems like too much work
• I’m too busy answering job applications on job boards
• I’m waiting for the phone to ring
• I’m not really into networking
• My resume speaks for itself
• Why should I invest time to prepare for an interview, doesn’t my background speak for itself?
• The recruiter didn’t call me back – all recruiters are idiots
• The hiring manager didn’t call me back – all hiring managers are idiots
• I sent my resume in – but no one followed up with me

Stop complaining, kvetching, whining, crying, fussing, and acting like you’re back in high school. Like Seth Godin suggests, become Self-Determinant!  Take your job search effectiveness from the bottom 5% into the top 5% and finish your job search. Apply yourself. Reach past your comfort zone in your job search and do something different tomorrow.

Have you even bothered yet to download our Job Search Effectiveness Self-Assessment to determine if you’re in the top 5% or the bottom 5%? Brad and I have talked about this popular self-assessment over and over on our blog. Thousands of job seekers have taken it and dramatically improved their job hunting plans and success.

I spoke with a Senior Sales Executive yesterday in a phone interview and asked him why he had been out of work for a year. His story (and he stuck to it) was that the economy was tough (victim disorder – lack of self-determination – high school time warp dysfunction).

I can’t present a candidate to my client that has been out of work for a year.  They would slap me so hard my head would spin around.

Don’t let this happen to you. Start down the path of Self-Determination in your job search TODAY!

Learn everything you can about job search best practices. Follow the top bloggers on job search – get an new idea every day. (We’re writing another blog featuring the very best bloggers from across the Internet sharing FREE Job Search Resources and Best Practices – subscribe to all their feeds).

Your effort, intensity, focus, learning, trying different tactics all help move beyond the “lack of self-determination” and victimization that categorizes most job searches. It’s NOT one big thing that will make the difference in your job search – it’s the hundreds of little things you do that are different from what you’ve done before.

STOP being caught up in the HIGH SCHOOL TIME WARP DYSFUNCTION!

Barry Deutsch

Join our rapidly growing LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group to engage in great discussions around job search best practices and how to conduct a more effective job search.