Getting a recommendation on LinkedIn can help your career. LinkedIn recommendations are valued by hiring managers. Why? 1. The first-degree connection giving the recommendation is visible, hence “researchable” on LinkedIn, 2. significant effort is involved in writing a recommendation, adding to the authenticity, and 3. the content’s often descriptive nature helps the hiring manager to understand your value. I would suggest getting at least three LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn considers three-plus recommendations to be a factor in “profile completeness,” which figures in it’s search rankings. Read more …
Categories: Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, self-promo, Uncategorized |
One of LinkedIn’s killer applications is its ability to leverage your “first degree network” to get introductions to your second or third degree contacts. My clients make use of these introductions (as do I) for various reasons, including a job search, new business/career opportunities, as a recruiting tool, or just to learn from others. Here’s how to write an introduction request that will get you the meeting you want. Read more …
Categories: Uncategorized |
Every so often I hear the comment that “nobody reads cover letters.” That’s because most of the letters jobseekers send are just too hard to get through! Follow these rules and not only will your letter be read, but you’ll greatly improve the odds of getting the result you want.
Rule #1: Make your letter easily “scannable”
These days, work is too fast-paced to allow for reading through a long, dense letter. DON’T take a page out of your English Literature 101 class. Instead, make your letter a quick, easy read by:
- Using short paragraphs– no more than seven lines in any one paragraph Read more …
Categories: Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Resume, self-promo |
Even if your resume, pitch, skill set, and emails are all stellar, at the end of the day your job search is still a numbers game. To improve your odds of landing a position quickly, you’ve got to actively go for a large number of potential positions. That is, don’t just passively wait for the search firm to call or the ad to show up (and then compete with potentially thousands of other applicants). Instead, take the active approach: 1) create a plan that casts a wide enough net to include enough suitable positions (open or currently filled), and Read more …
Categories: Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy |
Whether your goal is to sell, inform, or land a job offer, telling engaging, relevant stories can turn even a so-so presentation into a great one. Illustrating your points with the right stories will have a far stronger impact than many other things you can do, including slide design, body language, eye contact, and so forth. Read more …
Categories: Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, On-the-job Success |
You can create an effective LinkedIn profile by following many of the same principles that I would recommend for your resume. For example, focus on accomplishments, have a summary section, use keywords that resonate with your audience, etc. etc. (see this blog post and this one for other guidelines). Three key differences in the way that resumes and profiles are shared, however, could have a big impact on how you choose to modify your resume for your profile. Read more …
Categories: Getting Interviews, Resume, self-promo, Social Media |
In Part 1, I covered the top two mistakes that I see clients make on their resumes. In this post you’ll learn how to avoid six more resume pitfalls. Topping off this list:
Your resume places too much focus on responsibilities, not enough on accomplishments
Which phrase do you think is more powerful?
- Responsible for running monthly financial reports.
- Redesigned monthly financial reporting process, cutting production time from one month to five days. Read more …
Categories: Career Change, Getting Interviews, Resume, self-promo |
(Update: Part 2 is here) When a potential employer reviews your resume, s/he thinks: a) Can this person help me to do my job? and b) I have about10-30 seconds to scan this resume. Hence, the Golden Rule of resume writing: Your “how I can help you” message needs to jump off the page in the 10-30 seconds it’s being reviewed. You’ll hear many rules (like this one) tossed around by experts. My suggestion from experience and training is to forget all those other rules, and just follow this one rule. Anything that serves this Golden Rule is good, anything that doesn’t is bad– which brings us to the top two resume mistakes: Read more …
Categories: Career Change, Getting Interviews, Resume, self-promo |
If you market your (or your employer’s) business or organization using social media, and you are open to using Hootsuite as your social media organizer, you need to know about this useful new LinkedIn-related feature. Read more …
Categories: Building a Business, Social Media |
LinkedIn’s “Advanced People Search” feature is a fantastic tool for finding people in your extended network or shared groups who can help you to reach your career goals. Including boolean logic in your search terms such as AND, OR, NOT, parenthesis and quotes around phrases can greatly expand its power. To demonstrate, here’s an example of a client who was interested in obtaining a marketing manager or director position at Pfizer. Read more …
Categories: Building a Business, Career Centers, Career Change, Getting Interviews, Social Media |
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