March 22, 2017 2 Comments

CanPrep Webinar: Using LinkedIn To Build Your Canadian Professional Network

Building professional connections is a great way to find opportunities that could lead to employment – especially when you are a newcomer to Canada. Networking with professionals in your field for information and career growth should be an important aspect of every newcomer’s job search strategy.

Using LinkedIn to build your Canadian professional network

The good news is that you can start building your professional network even before you arrive – for example – by using LinkedIn as a professional networking tool.
This was the topic of discussion for CanPrep‘s webinar.

This interactive webinar shares insights on LinkedIn’s professional profiling techniques and how to maximize this tool to further your job search and market your skills in the Canadian job market. This webinar recording will provide information on:

Why using LinkedIn is important for job search in Canada
LinkedIn profile guide: what’s expected in Canada, tips to make your profile standout
Current hiring trends using LinkedIn
Starting a network from scratch
How to connect to the industry in Canada

[Read more…]

February 20, 2017 Leave a Comment

Get to know the new improved LinkedIn desktop design

There are two kinds of LinkedIn users: those who set up their profile and sit back, waiting to be found by employers — they might job search on LinkedIn and read a few posts, but they don’t interact much with their network — and, then there are those who use LinkedIn to interact with their connections, to start conversations in groups, and extend their network – leading eventually to unseen and sometimes unexpected opportunities.

We know that interacting with your connections and making new ones is the best way to advance your career and possibly get access to those jobs that are not advertised, and yet many job seekers don’t make the best of the opportunities offered by LinkedIn to do so. As with every aspect of social media, there isn’t only one way of getting things done, but there some things LinkedIn users can do, which are worth trying.

To help with that LinkedIn recently introduced new features to the desktop design, with the stated goal of increasing interactivity and conversations among users.

These updates include:

To help you interact directly with your network, there is a new real-time messaging interface, which makes it easier to message a connection wherever you are on LinkedIn. The site also intends to help job seekers by providing information about useful contacts – for example, suggesting contacts in jobs you may be interested in, and offering you other information about relevant contacts worth following up with, based on your profile and activities.

To help you find people, companies, groups, posts and jobs, LinkedIn have enhanced the search bar, allowing users to search for anything from on one search, with options to narrow the search in various ways.

To encourage you to engage with others, LinkedIn plan to offer better insights into who’s viewing your content, including details about the job titles and companies of those who are interested in your updates. This will give you a chance to assess the impact of your posts, to make sure you are reaching those people whom you intend to reach.

To make your profile stand out better, LinkedIn will offer specific suggestions for your profile, including suggesting skills sought by recruiters in your field.

To better understand the impact of your shares, users will be able to learn more about who is viewing their shares with detail about them such as their companies, job titles and locations.

So, if you are one of those more passive LinkedIn users, get onto the site and use this opportunity to change the way you use it, to strengthen your network relationships, have a better impact, and expand their network further.

January 9, 2017 Leave a Comment

Use LinkedIn to Find Work in 2017

Since launching in 2003, LinkedIn has grown into the largest online professional networking site, with over 380 million members worldwide, including over 12 million users in Canada. As economic changes have happened globally, and with the increasing popularity of online job search, LinkedIn is acknowledged as a leader in connecting job seekers to potential employers, with 94% of recruiters using LinkedIn to vet candidates.

What are the benefits of LinkedIn for the average job searcher, then?

First, it allows you to connect with people who may be in a position to help promote your career. Remember – it’s not only what you know, or who you know; these days, it’s who knows you and how easily they can find you that matters.

Second, by setting up a strong and impressive LinkedIn profile, you are showcasing your social media skills; your social media savvyness might be helpful to convince employers that you have up-to-date abilities.

Also, a complete profile on LinkedIn will show up in the top results of a Google search that an employer might conduct. It will help you control your online image, and override anything else that might appear about you online.

Finally, it is a great source of up-to-date information and insights about jobs, companies and trends. You can learn about companies, read up on trends and join discussions with like-minded professionals in your field.

Here are some steps to help you set up and begin using your profile on LinkedIn:

1. Prepare — set aside some time to put together your profile. Have the following ready:

You will need an updated resume, which is complete, well worded and accurate, and includes a well written profile summary
Prepare a list of key words that describe your most relevant skills and achievements; the best source of these skills is from online job postings – have a look at the qualifications employers are requesting and use the SPECIFIC words that they list. Remember that LinkedIn, Google and the rest of the Internet is key word driven – if you don’t use the specific words needed to describe your abilities, you will not be found in a search
Prepare a profile photo to upload – keep it simple and professional
Be willing to access your email address book, from which you will download your contacts to connect with them.

2. Complete your LinkedIn profile – your goal is to eventually achieve a 100% completeness.

Add your jobs and education — include jobs from the last 10-15 years of work, or even more. Use the correct job titles and company names. Include a relevant description of what you did in each job — cut and paste from your resume; you can always edit it later on LinkedIn, if you feel the need to add or modify your profile
Upload your profile photo — images are very useful to validate your profile; profiles without photos tend to be perceived as either fake, or simply incomplete
Connect with people – be open to invite as many people as you know and accepting invitations from a range of people; generally, it’s better to have more contacts rather than less. You never know who might know someone (or something) that may be of use to you. Make sure not to send out mass invitations, and that each invitation is personalized, including a brief reminder about how you know that person
Seek out recommendations – start with offering to write recommendations first, if that helps

3. Use your profile to meet your goals — don’t just set it up and walk away:

Set out to connect with and meet new people – expand your network through joining groups and participating in discussions, online and in person networking sessions
Job Search on LinkedIn – the job search tool is excellent and will help you discover who is hiring and whether you know anyone who can recommend you to a job
Identify a list of target companies, seek them out on LinkedIn and follow them to see who they hire and for what positions
Update your status – share interesting articles and keep your contacts updated about your activities – stay positive and upbeat, but make sure they know that you are looking for work.

As with any job search tool, LinkedIn is only as effective as the amount of time and effort you put into it. Make sure to keep using it, consistently staying in touch with your contacts, reaching out to new people and companies, as well as join networks and discussions. By harnessing the power of the most up to date job search tool available, and using it well, you will be showing employers that you have the cutting edge skills they need for a changing economy.

January 4, 2016 Leave a Comment

Ask the Employment Specialist: The five worst words to use in your Linkedin summary

Dear Joanna,

I’m preparing my LinkedIn summary. I’ve been warned not to use the word “I” in the summary part by the employment counsellors yet I have read opposing advice about what to write and what NOT TO write on my summary. What do you recommend?

Signed: Worst Words (WW)

Dear WW

That’s a great question. In addition to the feedback that I have received from employers as a job developer, as well as Liz Ryan’s blog on this topic, here are five approaches to consider NOT using, when writing your LinkedIn Summary:

1. **“I am a motivated and experienced professional“**

Stay away from fluffy soft skills language including “I’m savvy, smart and strategic”. The same applies for the resume and cover letter. LinkedIn is viewed by many recruiters and potential contacts, who don’t have time to read your whole profile. You have less than 5 seconds to grab the readers’ attention. Make your profile strong. You can do this by building your professional brand in your summary.

2. “I am a Jack / Jill of all trades“

Don’t be a generalist. It is impossible to do everything well. I agree with Liz Ryan when she says that this is a “desperate message that doesn’t give anyone confidence. It’s up to you to decide what kinds of jobs you want and to brand yourself for those opportunities”. Be specific and detailed. Professionally brand your skills, experience and qualifications in a clear and concise way so that the reader understands your expertise and value quickly. Write about your career path – the one you are on and one you want to achieve.

3. “I’m an expert/guru/virtuoso/wizard/smart“

Confident people don’t praise themselves. Fearful people brag about themselves in praising adjectives — savvy, strategic, insightful, and more. What you should do is present your experiences, skills, qualifications, achievements, publications, projects and other concrete and relevant information in your summary for the readers, who might not know you.

4. “I’m open to all job opportunities“

Impossible. No one is open to everything. You sound desperate and unprofessional. Also, the reader has no idea how to connect with you. Focus in on certain jobs and certain organizations, the way good salespeople focus on their most important prospects. It’s not a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s job to decide what you’re supposed to do next in your career; that’s your job!

5. “I…”

There is mixed feedback from employers regarding the use of the first person vs third person in your summary. Most recommend that the content should be consistent with your resume and in the third person. This aligns with your efforts to professionally brand yourself in terms of the value added service and expertise that you can offer employers and your current and potential contacts. Using “I” might make you sound egotistical — as if you are telling a story which has far less credibility than showcasing the facts of accomplishments, skills, experience and qualifications. That said, some sectors respond well to a more friendly tone.

In addition to listening to advice from professionals, make sure to review other LinkedIn summaries of professionals in your field. Look for the successful, well-connected, well established fellow professionals and learn from their profiles.

Joanna

September 14, 2015 Leave a Comment

The Challenge of Being Noticed by Employers – Find your authentic, confident voice

Ever wonder why you don’t hear back from an employer once you’ve submitted your application? Employers are sorting through hundreds, sometimes thousands of resumes and LinkedIn profiles that are sent after each posting.

“I want to say, ‘Why do you work so hard to make your resume and your LinkedIn profile sound exactly the way every single other job-seeker’s resume and LinkedIn profile do?’”, says Liz Ryan, a former Fortune 500 Human Resources Senior Vice President.

Another sign of employers’ growing frustration is the number of recent articles that list words you should never use. Stephanie Vozza’s article in Fast Company suggests that candidates “…stay away from these buzzwords… because you sound like everyone else. These words almost lose their meaning the more that people use them.”

The problem, of course, is that employers use those buzzwords in their own job postings. Effective job seekers know that they have to show those employers that they have the skills and characteristics that those employers demand.

So, what should you do, to be noticed?

The bottom line is to be as honest and confident as possible – don’t undersell yourself.

1. Prepare interesting accomplishment statements

Make sure to share enough detail on your resume and LinkedIn so that you are able to give readers a genuine sense of the depth of your responsibilities. This works well in interviews, as well. Replace uninteresting mundane details with accomplishment statements that follow what Google’s SVP of People Operations, Lazlo Bock, offers as an effective formula:

“But how do you make your accomplishments stand out? There’s a simple formula. Every one of your accomplishments should be presented as:
Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]. In other words, start with an active verb, numerically measure what you accomplished, provide a baseline for comparison, and detail what you did to achieve your goal.”

Find examples that demonstrate your strengths and be ready to share them at interviews. Bock offers a number of excellent examples for candidates, which are worth checking out on his LinkedIn post.

2. Choose a likeable LinkedIn photo
Authenticity is also conveyed through the use of a good profile photo that is not too serious or formal, but rather projects a genuine, likeable yet suitably professional image. Dress as you would for an interview, and make sure to look toward the camera. Also, make sure the picture is current. You don’t want potential employers to notice when you walk into the interview, that you look 10 years older than your photo. Lydia Abbot, writing for LinkedIn, offers some useful tips for a good profile photo.

3. Demonstrate your strengths
Rather than simply listing your strengths, demonstrate them. Upload LinkedIn photos, web links, samples of work and other audiovisuals that showcase your work. Link to them on your profile. Gather good LinkedIn recommendations and professional references. Be active on LinkedIn, especially by participating in groups where employers might notice you. Volunteer, and make sure to point it out in your profile and resume.

Bottom line:

To stand out from other candidates, work on ensuring that in every interaction with potential employers – whether they find you online, talk you on the phone, read your resume or meet with you in person – you are able to come across as an impressive, compelling yet genuine person.

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