Want more people to contact you on LinkedIn? Make it EASY for them.

Many people think that if someone wants to contact them, they’ll simply send an InMail.

Maybe they will; maybe they won’t.

Relying On InMail

When I was a recruiter, I spent hours on LinkedIn searching for candidates to fill open positions.

If I found a candidate who looked like they were perfect for our client’s job, I would send them an InMail and track down their email address just to make sure.

But, not if they were a “maybe.”
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Do you send your resume out just hoping for the best?

Do you share it with friends with the caveat that you just threw it together?

I’ve looked at thousands of resumes. Many potential clients I talk to today think their resume is “not too bad, probably needs a little tweaking.”

When I look at their resume from the perspective of a personal brand strategist and former recruiter, I see a resume that’s rubbish.

Long boring lists of duties and responsibilities, highlighted as achievements.

✔️ Developed and managed marketing campaigns for key clients . . .

✔️ Managed organizational functions for the largest global . . .

✔️ Worked closely with leadership on corporate communications . . .

Time to change that.

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LinkedIn provides many opportunities for you to sell yourself to recruiters, employers, and potential clients.

But LinkedIn is only a tool. It’s up to you to use it to your best advantage.

Unfortunately, most people don’t use LinkedIn’s features to their best advantage.

When it comes to your profile:

🔹Does it have LinkedIn’s default Profile Banner?

🔹Is your Headline your current position (LinkedIn’s default)?

🔹Do you have 1 or 2 paragraphs in your About section, maybe talking about your employer?

🔹Do you ever comment on anyone’s posts, let alone write your own?

If you haven’t updated your Headline or written your About section because you don’t know the parameters and character counts LinkedIn supports, now you have no more excuses.

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After two years of virtual everything, in-person events are back. I’m headed to 2 holiday networking events this week. It’s the first time I’ll be going to a local industry event in over two years. I’m excited and a bit nervous.

Most people I talk to say they hate networking events. They feel awkward and uncomfortable. They are tired of boring conversations. And they feel like they never met anyone anyway.

If that’s you, I’m going to help you change that right now.

CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE

Let’s start with attitude. A lot of people don’t like networking because they think of it as transactional. They are going to an event to ask people for help.

Wrong attitude.

A better attitude, go to events to meet people, and think about how you can help them.

While walking into a room of strangers who seem to all be friends isn’t easy for most of us. There are many ways to make it easier, even fun.

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Most recruiters and hiring managers are sourcing candidates on social media, particularly LinkedIn.  In fact, 53% of recruiters said they found the highest quality candidates on Linkedin when responding to Jobvite’s 2021 Recruiter Nation Survey. This is great news if you have a robust, optimized LinkedIn profile.

As a recruiter I spent hours on LinkedIn sourcing candidates, often scrolling through 500+ possible matches. Some were easily eliminated due to missing or inappropriate photos. My all-time favorite unsuitable photo is the woman wearing a wedding gown, veil, and all.

Potential candidates fell into 2 categories:1) Yes, contact them immediately and 2) they might be a possibility. The one thing that consistently moved candidates from maybe to yes was if it was easy to contact them.

The point is, don’t make the mistake of thinking if recruiters want to contact you they will track you down or use an InMail. Unless they think you are a perfect candidate, they may not. You can increase your odds by making it easy for them by including contact information on your LinkedIn profile.

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Some people go into interviews and wing it. Others prepare ahead of time. Usually this includes researching the company and planning responses for commonly asked interview questions.

Questions like “what is your management style?” and “where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

But, there’s one key question they often don’t prepare to answer.

“Why do you want to work here?”

When I was recruiting, I always asked candidates if they knew anything about the company. The smart ones would tell me a few things they learned while researching the company. Things they liked, that made them want to work there.

The unprepared would say “no” and leave it at that.

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After 2 plus years, in-person networking events are back. While you may not find pre-pandemic crowds yet, attending these events is an important part of the job-search process.

The truth is that people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. This philosophy extends when it comes to filling open positions. It’s one of the reasons that companies have employee referral programs.

It’s also one of the reasons you should have been attending virtual events, and have to ease back into in-person. There are many networking opportunities out there.

Industry Events

If you’re looking for a new opportunity industry events are the best way to meet your peers. Attending industry conferences is a great way to meet people at various levels from different parts of the country.

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I get a lot of questions about recruiters. The most often asked question is who the recruiter works for. The short answer is the recruiter isn’t working for you.

While, someone who’s out of work recently told me it’s cruel to say this, it’s true.

Retained and contingency recruiters work for the one who pays them. And that’s the employer.

Retained recruiters are paid a fee to find candidates and are generally paid whether the employer hires them or not. Contingency recruiters are paid only if the employer hires one of their candidates. Their fee is a percentage based on the candidate’s first year salary.

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Personal branding is a popular concept promoted by marketers, public relations specialists and, more recently, career professionals. Countless articles have been written on the subject. A recent Google search turned up about 353 million results.

Still, questions abound.

• What is a personal brand?
• Why is it important?
• How do I develop one?

While there is no pat answer, there’s substantial evidence that a strong personal brand can boost your job search and positively impact your career.

What A Personal Brand Is

Your personal brand is how others perceive you. As entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk notes in a 2019 article about personal branding, “Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.”

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Do one thing every day that scares you. — Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s not easy to step out of our comfort zone and do something that scares us.

But, the only way to make those scary things less scary is to step up and do the things we’re afraid of.

I speak from experience.

Although most people wouldn’t know it, I’m an introvert. I used to be one of those who stood alone at networking events too shy to introduce myself. Two decades later, chatting with strangers is pretty easy.Read more