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The job search process is always evolving.
It's not about going to the job boards, finding the job opening you like, and then applying to it. That method will only have you waiting by the phone for a call that's likely not going to happen. Today's job seekers need to take a more proactive and interactive approach called job networking—and LinkedIn is a resource to help you do it.
Creating a strong LinkedIn profile will help you get in front of the right contacts (recruiters, hiring managers, professionals in the field, etc.) who can lead you to the path of the next job opportunity. However, in order for it all to happen, you need a LinkedIn profile that communicates and displays the right information. Take a run through the LinkedIn profile checklist below to learn how to use your LinkedIn profile effectively.
Make Sure you Have An Appropriate Headline
The Headline is what shows up for your LinkedIn profile when it comes up in search results. It's also what shows up when others look at you through their contacts' connections. By default, your LinkedIn profile headline reads your current job title and employer, but if you want to grab the attention of others it should say more than that. Think about keywords and highlighting your greatest skill sets.
Display Professionalism In Your Profile Photo
A LinkedIn profile that includes a headshot photo is more likely to be clicked on than a profile without a photo. In selecting your profile photo, go with a headshot that presents you professionally and that makes you come off approachable.
Personalize Your LinkedIn URL
Whether you choose to include your LinkedIn profile to your resume or email signature, personalize the URL. It'll come off more professional and memorable. For ex. www.linkedin.com/yourname or www.linkedin.com/professionalkeyword.
Offer Your Value Statement Through The Summary Section
Like the resume, your LinkedIn profile should have a Summary at the top that highlights what it is that you have to offer and how that translates to value for the potential employer. While pronouns like I, me and my are not advised on the resume, on your LinkedIn profile it needs to take on a more conversational tone, so they are okay.
Make Your Work Experience Keyword-Rich
As you describe and highlight accomplishments on the job under Work Experience, think about relevant keywords to include naturally in your writing. The more keyword-rich your profile is, the more likely it'll show up in search results.
Get Endorsed For The Right Skills And Expertise
Review the Skills and Expertise section to prioritize what's important. When you do that, your contacts are more likely to endorse you for the right skills, which in turn show recruiters and hiring managers you have what they are looking for. What you want to avoid is including Skills and Expertise that don't relate to the job or your profession. That will simply dilute your overall message.
Don't Let Your Education Give Away Your Age
Your education, which can include specialized training and certifications received, adds value to your qualifications. When listing the information, take caution with dates. It's not necessary to indicate when you received your degree from college—that can give away your age in some cases. Also don't include anything that may be too dated. You want to show you hold current skills that are valuable to the profession, not dated skills.
Join Relevant Groups
LinkedIn offers Groups to join in all areas—professional associations, industry groups, alumni groups, etc. If they're relevant to your profession or skills needed for the job, share their badge on your profile. It helps hiring managers and recruiters to see that you're connected and active in networks that are important.
You can also benefit by taking things a step further with Groups like participating in discussions and sharing interesting articles to get your name out there. Many hiring managers and recruiters will look at discussions in relevant groups to pull out potential candidates for job openings they have available.
Make Your Profile Public
LinkedIn profiles that are made public allow others to view your information whether you're connected with them or not. This option is best when you're a job seeker.
Looking for more great LinkedIn advice? Check out this "JT Talks Jobs" podcast, where Work It Daily CEO J.T. O'Donnell discusses LinkedIn optimization tips.
Did you know that as a member of Work It Daily you have access to unlimited LinkedIn profile reviews?
Join Work It Daily today and take advantage of our trained career support specialists that will work individually with you to come up with a specialized plan. All of our memberships offer private coaching along with unlimited networking potential, and a library of exclusive career courses. Additionally, and for no extra cost, you'll also receive unlimited resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile reviews by our trained specialists as part of our membership.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Networking is vital to job search success. Networking can lead to referrals, identifying jobs that aren't yet posted, and securing informational interviews. They can also lead to future professional references.
These results can give you a competitive advantage and help you progress towards your career goal. Networking platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are tools that can help you effectively expand your network. Here's how...
via GIPHY
Online or offline, the goal of networking is to build relationships. Every social networking platform offers some means of connecting with new people. Interact with others and share posts that are thoughtful and relevant to your field. Engage your audience by seeking input and sharing your thoughts or review of industry-related topics.
Share these topics and post information onto your own profile for your audience, but also get involved in groups on LinkedIn or chats on Twitter. There are thousands of chats and groups for a wide variety of industries, specialties, or job searching in general. Do some exploring and request to join the group or start following the Twitter chat.
In my experience, people are very receptive to newcomers on these interactive forums. These forums can be a great way to meet new people. After participating, you can begin to follow or request a connection with individual contributors. Depending on your location, there may be the possibility of meeting your connections in person. The social network is a platform to build these relationships and make that in-person connection.
Patience...Patience...Patience! All good things take time.
Maintain a positive attitude and be flexible. Those two skills can save you from many future career headaches. Not everyone will be willing to connect. Remember that networking is a two-way street. Prioritize your connections based on who has a job you'd love to do, or who works for one of your target employers, and focus your efforts strategically.
Always personalize connection messages to new people on sites like LinkedIn to let the potential contact know you're not arbitrarily clicking every "Connect" button in Suggested Contacts. Keep connection messages brief and to the point. I'd recommend not going into personal detail this early on or putting potential connections on the spot: just invite them to be a connection or offer your email address as a point of contact.
Something as simple as, "Hi Jane, I've enjoyed following your contributions to XYZ Group and agreed with your review of Acme Co article you posted. I am also a (insert job title here) and would like to connect with you. Please let me know if I can be of any help. Thanks."
Short, simple, with a personal reference and offer to help, shows that you are trying to form a mutually beneficial relationship.
By building relationships, you can become a resource on certain topics for your network. Gaining credibility takes time, but let the process happen naturally. Conduct research, search for best practices, gain more experience and get in contact with people that share their experience.
This is where actively participating in Twitter chats or LinkedIn groups can help build your knowledge. Sharing ideas with others that are passionate about their field can keep you motivated and engaged in your line of work. After developing these relationships, opportunities can arise off-screen as well. Assisting in a volunteer effort that was coordinated online, attending a networking event that was promoted online, a speaking event, or a job club—read the information about the events your network is posting and try to commit to going when your schedule permits.
A hiring manager may look you up on Google during some point of the job search process. If you actively network across platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter, or attend events in person, your Google search results page may show these stories and profiles.
Any site you join for professional networking purposes should serve as a complement to your resume. That means whether you post blogs, tweets, or share information on LinkedIn, all your content should be professional and error free. These pages can validate your candidacy and make you stand out among the competition.
As you start networking, you'll learn more about your field, gain skills and build confidence. Build relationships and help others in your search. Use social networking for job search success and foster relationships that can help you discover your next opportunity.
Improve your networking efforts by understanding how you communicate with others. Take Work It Daily's FREE Communication Style Quiz.
Work It Daily has a team of trained career support specialists that will work individually with you to come up with a specialized plan. All of our memberships offer private coaching along with unlimited networking potential, and a library of exclusive career courses. Additionally, and for no extra cost, you'll also receive unlimited resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile reviews by our trained specialists as part of our membership. Join today!
A prepared job seeker will have thought about questions that will be asked at the job interview. One of them may be: "Why are you leaving your job?" As you think about a response to this question, also consider how the interviewer may interpret that response.
It's important to take caution with how questions are answered at the job interview because when it's not framed properly, it can be interpreted negatively and cost you the job opportunity.
There can be many reasons to why you want to leave your job. They could be:
Whatever your reason is, it's not always appropriate to tell it like it is to the potential employer. Think of a response that will impress the employer, but that still comes off as an honest reason.
Here are some tips to help:
Communication at a job interview should always come off positive. To start, you may talk about the great opportunities you've been given and how much you've learned through your current employer, before giving your reason. Employers like to hear things like this because you come off as professional and respectful of your existing employer even though you have made the decision to move on. Regardless of your real feelings and the situation at work, never bad mouth the company or your co-workers.
There may be multiple reasons why you want to leave your current job, but you don't need to include information about what you're not being offered. The reason for this is because potential employers can interpret it as action you may take against them if hired.
For example instead of saying, "I don't feel challenged at work anymore," re-frame the message to say, "I'm looking for new challenges in the area of X, Y, and Z, which I can see this job offers," and then go into the experience and skills you have to offer to further impress the interviewer. Re-framing your response in this manner makes it less likely that the employer will take the information and interpret it negatively.
Talk about what you're heading towards—what you want to experience and achieve to continue growing professionally. It works best when you can also tie in how the potential employer could offer that for you. When you answer in this manner, it informs the employer that you are an individual who seeks self-improvement and that you have real interest in the company because of what they specifically offer. It tells the employer you are someone with great potential for hire who will be dedicated to employment with them for a reasonable amount of time.
"Why are you leaving your job?" is only one out of many questions you will be asked at the job interview. Knowing how to respond positively and framing it in a way that informs the employer why you're a great fit ensures you stay in the running for the job and it helps move you on to the next stage of the interview process.
Need help preparing for your next job interview? Check out Work It Daily's FREE list of Common Interview Questions.
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There's no doubt that things have shifted dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, leaders are asking themselves hard questions.
What does the next "normal" look like for them? And, how can they successfully implement new aspects of their culture into this new normal?
Here are four key things leaders must consider if they want to truly live their culture in the next new normal.
The 2008 financial crisis forced leaders to rethink operations, supply chain, vendor management, employee engagement, ethics, and integrity. Layoffs were widespread and money vanished, while the real estate market collapsed amidst big bank failures fueled by consumers inability to pay excessive mortgages.
It's now 2020: The pandemic health crisis is new, yet the economic dynamics seem eerily familiar. With the exception of "essential workers" in the food (grocer), safety, and health sectors, business has shut down. Supply chain vendors, grocers, and healthcare systems struggle to keep pace with consumer need/demand as we experience roller-coaster infection rates, re-openings, and new shut-downs. How to survive this is anyone's guess as every day brings on new cases and more questions.
According to a Fortune 500 CEO survey, 97.2 % of CEO's said keeping employees safe and productively employed is their #1 concern. (1)
A company's strong employee culture and the ability to pivot quickly with evolving dynamics are key to thriving Post-COVID.
A company's culture must absolutely drive this question. Grant Reid, MARS CEO, said, "Part of my job is to import stress and export serenity...how do you bring them back safely into a work environment, keep the social distance and allow them to be successful and safe? Your associates are looking for stability, some hope, some compassion, some trust." (2)
The physical aspect of return is critical. "Companies are re-evaluating physical layouts specific to each employee. They are looking at common areas; multi-tenant commercial spaces...and rearranging reception common areas." (2)
Workstations need more distance and hallways need to become one-way venues. Employers must also evaluate testing protocols for employees, frequency of testing, and qualified caregivers conducting those tests. GoHealth Urgent Care is providing clinical back-up when employer resources are unavailable. (3)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created guidance on engineering and administrative controls for preparing the workplace for re-entry. (4) And, the EEOC has issued updated guidance on how employers can avoid violating the ADA and other employment laws in addressing the virus. (5)
Significant concerns arise for Workers Compensation insurance. Historically, community-spread illnesses (e.g. cold or flu) have been excluded. Six states recently passed "presumptive" legislation, and 14 total have expanded regulations to include COVID-19 as a workplace illness. To complicate matters, other injuries in the workplace may go unreported, or claims closures extended since non-urgent treatment is delayed in most jurisdictions. (6)
One of the many challenges from this pandemic has been dealing with an ever-changing regulatory climate. With Workers Compensation rule changes, amendments to health benefits, the need for Childcare/Adult care, and the implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), companies have struggled to make difficult decisions to care for their employees.
This is the time to look for innovative ways to step up employee benefits such as adding paid sick leave, amending sick policies to ensure employees are paid even if the business is closed, and unlimited paid sick leave even for workers not previously covered, such as hourly workers. Adding child care reimbursement, and increased emergency child care and eldercare benefits can help your employees deal with the pressures of working from home.All group health plans will need to adopt changes to ensure that their plans comply with changes made by the FFCRA and the CARES Act and provide sufficient benefits to combat COVID-19. (7) Under the acts, group health plans will have to do the following:
- Cover the full cost without cost-sharing (i.e., deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance) of testing for COVID-19. This requirement extends to tests provided by both in-network and out-of-network providers and is mandated for the duration of the public health emergency. Both swab tests that collect a specimen from an individual's upper respiratory tract to diagnose a case of COVID-19 and approved blood tests that look for antibodies to the coronavirus must be covered
- Once developed, group health plans will also be required to provide coverage without any cost-sharing for coronavirus vaccines.
To lessen the anxiety of your employees, consider adding or extending mental health benefits that are personalized and confidential, and offer telehealth services.
According to J.S. Nelson, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law professor, "The working landscape has changed, perhaps forever. How employees and management move forward from this experience will shape the workplace for decades to come. These challenges include" :
1. Recognizing individual circumstances
2. Reacting with empathy when feeling out of control
3. Maintaining transparency when feeling out of control
4. Not taking advantage of the situation to push other agendas
5. Remembering the power of healthcare and benefit coverage while not abusing them (8)
Understanding where your organization stands on these ethical challenges is a good foundation for the decisions you need to make for the future. Questions you then need to ask are:
- Are your mission, values, and culture still relevant today and in the near, very different future? Do you have a process in place to continually assess this?
- Is your culture helping or hindering your companies' performance?
- Are your employees weathering this "storm"? What do they need less of or more of to be happier and more productive? Can you even answer this question? Do you know how they feel?
- Are you looking for opportunities for hyper-personalization for your employees and customers? For example, do you give employees whose mental health issues worsened by working from home alone, priority when coming back to the office?
- How your employees view your stand on diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging have always been important, but with the ultra focus in the past few weeks, how would you rate your organization? Have you made this a priority?
Your company's ability to effectively navigate the impact and stress on the employee base will drive resiliency and long-term sustainability. Your associates will be the first to say whether RTWS was successful, which inevitably will be reflected in your organization's product and ultimately in customer satisfaction.
Sources:
1.) See Fortune 500 CEO Survey, May 14, 2020
2.) See James Dean, MARS CEO Talks Life At Mars and steering through COVID-19, Times of London, May 9, 2020
3.) Wendy Knight - A conversation with Todd Latz, CEO, Go Health Urgent Care, May 7, 2020
4.) See Occupational Health & Safety Administration, OSHA.gov, Guidance on Returning to WorkGuidance on Returning to Work
5.) See Judy Greenwald, EEOC Expands Covid-19 Workplace Guidance, businessinsurance.com, May 7, 2020
6.) See Courtney DuChene, Longer Claims, Falling Premiums: NCCI Details on How COVID-19 Could Affect Workers Compensation, riskandinsurance.com, April 30, 2020
7.) See Business Group on Health, Update on COVID-19 Testing Coverage, 03/2020
8.) See J.S. Nelson, 5 Ethical Challenges Employers Will Face As They Reopen, hrdive.com, June 17, 2020
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As you work through this program, you will be coached by J.T. and her team to ensure that you're hitting on the right points and really focusing on what makes your executive presence strong and commanding.
With the completion of this program, you will also receive a certificate of completion that can also be used to showcase your executive presence.
If you're ready to take your executive presence to the next level, then we can't wait for you to join us inside the Work It Daily Executive Level membership.
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Are you interested in writing for a strictly digital platform, while creating content that could make a big difference in people's lives? If the answer is yes, then Work It Daily has a great opportunity for you!
We're seeking 10 multimedia journalism interns for a 4 ½ week virtual internship (May 27 2020 - June 26 2020). The lucky 10 will help us create compelling content for our career advice blog, while also helping us with graphics and social posts.
Does this pique your interest? Great! Let's get down to business!
Work It Daily is a subscription-based online career coaching membership program. Professionals and executives ages 22 to 55+ use the site to get help with all aspects of their job search and career development. Members have access to 15+ online courses and 200+ hours of video tutorials on a wide range of career topics.
Additionally, members get to work privately with our career support specialists via an online support desk to get their specific questions and concerns answered so they can stay motivated and on track. Our mantra is: "Career coaching isn't a sign of weakness, it's a path to greatness!"
Our mission is to drop the financial and physical barriers to accessing good career advice from proven experts. Work It Daily offers professionals and executives an affordable way to get the mentoring and support needed to solve their career problems.
Not to mention, as a fully virtual platform, we are the ideal resource to use during the time of social distancing.
Multimedia journalism interns will work 10 hours/week writing articles for Work It Daily's free career advice blog. Interns will work in teams of two and will be responsible for coming up with the topic ideas. The teams of two will be in charge of the social promotion for their article. This includes coming up with thumbnail and social graphic ideas. They will also learn how to optimize their content for search engines (SEO).
Those interested in the internship should send their resume and a disruptive cover letter to support@workitdaily.com NOTE: watch our Youtube tutorial above on the disruptive cover letter technique to guide you!
Once companies start hiring again after COVID-19, there will be a LOT of competition for jobs. There will be people with the same experience, same degrees, and same hard skills competing for the same job. So, how will you stand out from the competition?
"I can sit there and tell you 'technology, big and important', 'being fast on a computer, really important' - but when it comes to getting the job, it will be about the soft skills because there's too much competition and too many people with the same hard skills."
There are 5 key skills that you can develop to stand out from other candidates. In this episode, I break down what those skills are and why they're so important to master if you want to land a job after COVID-19.
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J.T. O'Donnell is the founder and CEO of Work It Daily, an online platform dedicated to helping people solve their biggest career problems.
She has more than 15 years of experience in HR, recruiting and career coaching.