To give you some background information for those who may be unaware, LinkedIn is not only a great social networking tool for maintaining relationships with former co-workers and contacts, but it is also a great place to connect with other professionals in your industry and career field. In my field, Talent Acquisition, LinkedIn is a great partner because I can post jobs, reach out to people interested in new opportunities, and help build my personal and company brand.
For the last several years, LinkedIn has invited Talent Acquisition professionals across the nation (and now the world) to participate in an inspiring event that educates those of us committed to finding and retaining talent. They bring in leaders in the HR/TA field to share best practices, tell stories of overcoming corporate challenges, and most importantly inspire those of us who work within this practice area.
I found this 3-day event to be
engaging, entertaining, educational and informative, but instead of just
tweeting "Great event" to Jeff Weiner, I figured I'd break it down to
share what I learned in 10 great take-aways. Each day over the next 10 days I
will share 1 big take-away from the event to share with you.Takeaway # 1: Rock My Profile
One of the great things about this event is that in addition to the keynotes and breakout sessions, there were resources to help with things like improving your own LinkedIn profile (including a space for new headshots, and a team of LI professionals to show you how to zhoosh up your headlines, summaries, etc).
While I consider myself a pretty robust LinkedIn user, I still wanted to sit down and learn about what I could do to improve.
#1: Headshot- Since I already had a decent headshot this wasn’t an issue for me, but for those of you who think of LinkedIn as more of a social networking site than a professional networking site, you may want to reconsider the pic of yourself in a sombrero, unless of course you work at Chevy’s (or are hoping to be recruited by Chevy's, perhaps).
#2: Headline- This is an area where I needed some help. I used to just write up my job title and call it good. But after reviewing my profile with a LI pro, I realized that it was redundant to have my job title as my headline because it was already listed below. Instead, my pro recommended that I change my headline to inform people of why I would be reaching out to them. Now they know: Connecting with Top Performing Talent! Maybe if you are a job seeker, your headline would be something that highlights your most recent, notable accomplishment in your current role. The headline should concisely capture the attention of someone quickly reviewing your profile, but specific enough that someone looking for your skills would know they've found their match!
#3: Summary– My summary used to be a vague list of skills I used in my job, but now I have it updated and broken into 3 specific parts:
- My Story: This tells people where I came from and how I got to where I am today.
- Present: These are things that I am working on now, and in general really interesting bits about what is happening at my current company. For example, I mentioned that our current VP of Human Resources just got recognized as one of the North Bay Business Journals’ 40 Under 40 Executives.
- My Mission: This section should include your goals, mission, and what you are
trying to accomplish. I updated mine to include a link to my blog: www.highgearcareer.blogspot.com
and a video about working at my company.
While you may not be able to get tailored advice from simply reading this article, LinkedIn has a robust YouTube channel with not only all the sessions from Talent Connect, but yes, also videos on how you can Rock Your Profile: http://youtu.be/Ep2nq_oRYLI
I thought this particular offering because not only are people like me and you interested in how to present ourselves online, but now I can share this information with you all as well.
Check back tomorrow for my second big takeaway from LinkedIn Talent Connect.
No comments:
Post a Comment