Episode 6 LinkedIn for Success
LinkedIn for Success
Hi and welcome to the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr
I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr.
On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.
Find out more at www.jobhakr.com
On today’s show we’ll talk about using LinkedIn Successfully.
People use LinkedIn!
But what is it?
How can you set yourself up to use this powerful tool?
LinkedIn is a professional networking site.
Your future colleagues will often review your profile to learn more about you and your background.
But, how important is LinkedIn?
With a properly created profile: you are most likely to show up in the top results for any search with your name.
And with 62% of clicks going to your LinkedIn profile, you had better be prepared to show them the best side of yourself.
But how exactly do you do that?
What is the best way to create a profile?
How do you create a profile that accurately represents you?
How do you create a profile that includes keywords for the jobs and positions you are looking for?
Where do you find those good keywords?
A gold mine for them are in the job descriptions for the positions you are applying for.
Think about it.
What words stand out in a Resident Director role?
Coordinator for Student Activities?
First Year Experience Director?
Discover what are the words and phrases that appear most frequently and make sure that they make it onto your profile!
LinkedIn can be a double edge sword.
You should be general enough with your profile so that you are accessible to your viewers.
But you also want to be specific.
You want to be specific enough to cater to the people who are going to hire you.
That means that you must first work to determine your audience.
I’ve learned to create a well rounded profile.
That profile first addresses an industry as a whole: higher education.
Then my profile drills down to a more specific niche: student affairs
That means that you should create a profile that has a funnel effect.
Your profile is the top of the funnel.
You want one with a large enough hole at the top to attract individuals from your field.
But then that funnel will narrow.
You want your funnel to narrow in order to provide the details about your work and experience.
These details are what will keep your reader interested in scrolling through your profile.
Now it’s time to smile!
Your photo is one of the first elements of your profile viewed by your audience.
So make sure that it’s a good one.
Avoid using an old candid photo.
Instead, shoot for your best professional looking headshot.
A professional headshot might not be accessible for everyone.
But, you can always opt for something more formal.
Also, make sure you’re well dressed in your photo.
Dress as if you would for a job interview.
Have great lighting.
Hint: natural light works best.
Then show yourself from the shoulders up!
A photo like this is best taken by your friend.
But you can also take a selfie given you have everything else in the photo.
Your headline is the first sentence that follows your full name on your LinkedIn profile.
The site will automatically change this to your current position.
But you don’t have to accept that.
Instead, customize this for what you want to show your audience.
Do you have a specialty?
A specific skill?
A recent big accomplishment?
Use this space as the “so what?” part of your profile.
Yes, someone found you, but how are you different from everyone else on LinkedIn?
Just remember that the headline is NOT the spot to list everything that you’ve ever done.
You only have 120 characters to work with.
So make this your Tweet sized summary of your career and your future prospects.
What you write will definitely help you stand out from the crowd!
The headline might have been the spot for you to grab someone’s attention.
But the summary is where you really sell yourself to the audience.
You want to make this the location where you can convey the most amount of information.
Specifically information about who you are and what you want to do.
This is the part of the LinkedIn profile that is your “elevator pitch.”
How will you pitch?
How are you going to use this space and your readers’ time?
How will you accurately convey what you want them to know?
Sometimes that could mean including your current position.
Other times you should focus on your skills and aspirations.
I recommend new student affairs job seekers list their functional area here.
That can include student activities, residential life, community service etc…
Then follow this up with bullet points of your most used skills.
Those skills could be conflict resolution, programming, training etc…
You can even include some of your best statistics right here.
An example is “I’ve served as the Orientation Director for over 3,000 incoming new students.”
You can go even further by including some links.
Some good links to include are video or other media that show off your talents and background.
Have you been interviewed by the campus TV station?
Did they post their video online?
If so, then link it here!
The summary is your place to shine.
It would be a wasted opportunity to demonstrate to others who you are and what you can do.
One of the best things about LinkedIn is that you can customize your profile’s link.
The default setting creates a string of letters and numbers.
But that isn’t very meaningful.
Take this as an opportunity to get a vanity URL that links directly to your profile.
Make sure that you put that URL to good use once you’ve created it!
I advise student affairs job seekers to add that URL to several places.
Add it to your personalized business cards.
Add it to your email signature.
Add it to your bios.
Add it to your own website.
I also recommend that you create a QR code for your LinkedIn URL.
You can put this link on your resume and business cards.
That way your readers can easily find your profile online.
Make sure that you list your education on your LinkedIn profile.
This may seem like a no brainer for many people.
But this is important for a few reasons.
First it makes it more likely that your profile will appear in a search.
Second, alumni networking is a large part of LinkedIn.
Making sure that you can find other graduates – and they can find you – is important.
You should take pride in where you graduated.
Tell everyone!
Also, make sure that you include thoughtful experiences for your LinkedIn profile.
Are you unemployed?
Or are you still in graduate school?
Then just make sure that you list a current job entry, even if it’s just “student.”
Are you still looking for what to write in your position descriptions?
Then find someone more senior in the field.
Check out their profile.
Look at what they have written.
What words stand out?
Do you see several words repeated throughout?
Those words could be leadership, collaboration, or program development.
Then these are key ideas that you should include in your own profile.
Another good place is to look are job descriptions.
Especially for the types of positions you are looking for.
These are definitely riddled with all sorts of great keywords.
You should definitely include them in your profile and resume.
First copy this information.
Then use a site like Wordle to determine the frequency of those key terms.
What words appear most frequently?
Add those to your own profile!
Lastly, make sure that your information sings.
Include interesting statistics for your past projects.
Especially if they involve large populations or budgets.
Don’t forget to add other achievements.
They could be graduate school research projects.
Or volunteer experiences.
Or languages you speak.
These go a long way towards differentiating yourself from thousands of other job seekers.
Also work to include your values and passions.
Are you an advocate for LGBTQI rights?
Do you feel strongly about animal shelters?
Make sure that those are included along with a healthy dash of your own personality.
Once your profile is up, make sure that you begin connecting with other people in the field.
You can do this though just searching for other individuals you know.
Or you can take a more active approach.
Request to connect with people after you’ve met them in person or at conferences.
Some argue to have at least 50 connections.
However, I believe that quality is better than quantity.
That means that I don’t usually connect with individuals if I’m not familiar with them.
Or if I haven’t met them in person.
It’s often fine to connect with someone you’ve never met before.
But just make sure that you reach out with a customized message.
LinkedIn provides a pre-made one for you.
But I don’t use that one.
You’ll want to change your first message based on how you met your new contact.
Make sure that you continue to utilize your LinkedIn profile continuously.
You can do that by posting regular updates and changes to your status.
This isn’t a one and done platform.
You’ll have to continually engage with your network in order to keep current.
This is especially true if you’re actively searching for a new job.
If you’re looking for new opportunities then you want to remain top of mind.
Having a constant stream of new content provided by you is one of the best ways to do that.
I also make sure that I take an inventory of my resume and LinkedIn profile every 3-6 months.
I make changes and updates to any recent projects I’ve worked on.
I also make sure that I update any changes to my professional responsibilities.
LinkedIn also allows you to add certain skills to your profile.
LinkedIn will tag these skills and then show them to other people in your network.
Your network will then review them and either endorse or ignore them based on what they know about you.
That means that you can write something like “project management.”
But if your network of contacts doesn’t agree that you have that skill then it won’t get endorsed.
For your best chance at success, list your skills and keywords in LinkedIn’s directory.
Put the especially relevant ones at the top in order to garner more attention.
In addition, you can also include your top skills in your headline and summary.
Recommendations are one of the best values for LinkedIn.
Recommendations take the old “Letter of Recommendation” and digitizes it.
You can use those recommendations to demonstrate value and worth to your audience.
Now, other LinkedIn users can see who recommended you, in what role, and what they said about you.
One of the best pieces of advice that I’ve received on recommendations is to not let them sit.
I make a habit of reviewing my network and my work every month.
I then reach out to those I’ve connected with on LinkedIn in order to garner a recommendation.
One of the best places to look for recommendations are your own students.
Convincing them to join LinkedIn is a good professional move.
That move also gives you another benefit.
You can ask your students for a positive recommendation for yourself.
Just make sure that you return the favor!
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for helping you throughout your career, job search, and professional development.
Don’t let your profile fester!
Get out there!
Network, edit, update, and request recommendations for success!
I hope you found this episode useful.
If you’d like some additional tips on your search then a great place to start is my eBook “Getting Started in your Student Affairs Job Search.”
You can download it for free at www.jobhakr.com/gettingstarted
You can also get a full transcript of this episode including links to references in the description or show notes.
Thanks for joining me!
Again, I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr.
On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.
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Also, feel free to email me anytime at dave@jobhakr.com
Happy searching!
References
Arruda, W. (2017, July 10). How To Write A Stellar LinkedIn Summary. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2017/07/09/how-to-write-a-stellar-linkedin-summary/
Bahler, K. (2018, January 17). What Your LinkedIn Profile Should Look Like in 2019 | Money. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from http://time.com/money/5077954/linkedin-profile-tips-resume/
Blue Sky Resumes. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://blueskyresumes.com/free-resume-help/article/how-to-write-a-linkedin-profile/
Han, E. (2018, November 30). Tips for Writing a Great LinkedIn Profile Summary. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/good-linkedin-summary-with-examples-4126809
Knarr, C. (2017, December 07). 8 Secrets to Building a Stunning LinkedIn Profile. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-newhouse/8-secrets-to-building-linkedin_b_4710151.html
LinkedIn Profile Writing Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.jobscan.co/linkedin-profile-writing-guide
Magill, E. (2018, May 11). The Ultimate Guide for Creating Your Best LinkedIn Profile. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://biginterview.com/blog/2014/06/linkedin-profile-tips.html
The Best LinkedIn Profile Tips for Job Seekers. (2015, November 01). Retrieved January 15, 2019, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-31-best-linkedin-profile-tips-for-job-seekers