Are you making effective use of LinkedIn?
Headhunters are looking for the right people for their clients, and one way of sourcing clients is through LinkedIn.
When you find people with potential, they are going to look you up, will they be inspired by what they find?
Your LinkedIn summary
Too often a LinkedIn summary is boring and the content included should be placed under the career history, so the summary section is wasted. Your summary is the place for you to inspire confidence in the people you reach out to, a place where they can quickly see the benefits in working with you. You want to be able to focus on what you can do for them, your successes and to instill confidence.
I’d like you to open up your LinkedIn page, look at the summary section and ask yourself
Am I
- Focused on one person reading this, writing in the first person?
- Making it clear the benefits I offer to the people I work with?
- Including a hook to what I want the person to do next?
- Demonstrating some of my personality?
- Clear why the reader should work with me rather than anyone else?
LinkedIn groups
I’d then like you to consider if you are demonstrating your competence and positioning yourself as an expert through the use of LinkedIn groups.
How many groups are you actively involved with? You can join up to 50 groups but it is active involvement we need to see. It is far better to be active in 2-4 groups than a passive member of 40-50.
How many people are in each group? The bigger the group, the more people you can potentially reach.
How well do you communicate with each group? You could be getting in touch on a regular basis. When you make a placement why not tell the group that you have had a success and to congratulate Fred Bloggs on his new position. And be sure to encourage people to see you as an expert by answering questions and adding value to discussions.
Brought to you by Denise Taylor, Chartered Psychologist and double award winning career coach with Amazing People.
