Why having an Attractive LinkedIn Profile is important for people at C-level?

Let me give you the answer straight away: for marketing and PR reasons!

Nowadays when CEO’s, General Managers and other chief executives and board members are mentioned in the press, many times a link to their LinkedIn Profile is used.

If people click on that link and they see an incomplete, boring Profile they might assume that the organisation they represent is also boring and inattractive.

Next to that many recruiting and lead generation opportunities are missed that way.

A few weeks ago I already shared that it is important for managers to have an attractive LinkedIn Profile for recruiting matters and I also gave some advice about what to do.

What can CEO’s add to that from a marketing or PR point of view? A few quick tips:

1) A SlideShare presentation with tips showing their organisation’s expertise.
2) The books they are reading via the Amazon Reading List (this gives a personal flavour to the Profile).
3) A SlideShare presentation with their personal point of view or strategy (or at least that part that can be shared with the outside world).
4) Box.net files application: share their notes, articles or interviews.
5) A movie clip with tips, insights, an empowering message or interview.

What is important is to not focus too much on saying how great your own organisation is, but sharing stuff that can help other people. Remember that it is about building Know, Like and Trust.

To your success !

Jan

PS: get your free light version and free updates (50 pages in the meanwhile!) of the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (or in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken)

Use SlideShare in your LinkedIn Profile When You Are Looking for a New Job

I have already shared many tips in the past about an attractive LinkedIn Profile (see for example the post about new features for your LinkedIn Profile) and the use of Applications in your LinkedIn Profile (for example how to use video in your LinkedIn Profile).

Last week I had a call with Laurence Bret, the new marketing director EMEA at LinkedIn.

Of course I prepared for the meeting (as you should do, whether you are looking for a new job or not, see also my blog post why an attractive LinkedIn Profile is needed for Hiring Managers) and I was impressed with the SlideShare presentation Laurence put on her LinkedIn Profile to present herself, titled “Meet Laurence”.

I advice everybody to have a good look at it and learn from it.

Yes, it is more work, but you will also stand out from the crowd.

Remember the saying “there is no traffic jam on the extra mile”. So go ahead, go the extra mile and update your LinkedIn Profile with a stunning SlideShare presentation !

To your success !

Jan

PS: get your free light version and free updates (50 pages in the meanwhile!) of the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (or in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken)

Networking Skill: Listening – Stop Doing These Things

To finish my series of tips about listening as the most important networking skill, I would like to share some things to stop doing when listening to people.

• Stop judging.
• Stop talking! It is difficult to listen and speak at the same time.
• Stop thinking you already know what’s going to be said.
• Stop hanging on to your own opinion and your desire to be right.
• Stop focusing on what you are going to say next.
• Stop thinking that listening is the same as not talking.
• Stop thinking that you can’t be a good listener.

I would like to conclude these tips about listening with a quote from Dale Carnegie:

“A professional networker is someone who attentively listens…
to a subject he knows everything about…
told by someone who knows nothing about it”.

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is an excerpt from my book “Let’s Connect!”. You can download a free light version of the networking book Let’s Connect in English (or het netwerk boek Let’s Connect in Dutch)

Why Having an Attractive LinkedIn Profile is Important for Managers? (Hint: it has to do with Recruitment)

A few weeks ago we got an interesting question from one of our corporate customers.

They asked us to give them a LinkedIn workshop for their managers.

Not very special you would say.

But what was different, is that they didn’t want to learn how to attract new customers, new employees, new partners, new investors or help some of them find a new job in an outplacement program (these are the questions we normally get), but they only wanted to have a workshop to create an attractive personal LinkedIn Profile.

When I asked them why they didn’t want any other topic and why it was so important to them to have good LinkedIn Profiles, the answer was: “These are managers from our IT department who don’t have to find new customers, suppliers, partners or investors and who are not in an outplacement program. The reason why they need to have an excellent LinkedIn Profile, is that potential employees check their LinkedIn Profiles out before even considering applying for a job with us.”

So let me share what is important as a manager:
– Create an attractive Summary with words that show what you do and how interesting your current job is.
– Share what a specific function you held in the past entails. This might be the job the other person is applying for.
– List all the jobs you did in the past. This shows the career path other people might be interested in following as well.
– Link to the job site of your company in the “Websites” part of your LinkedIn Profile.
– Use SlideShare, Google Presentation, Box.net and other applications to upload the presentations you have given. This shows the topics you are working on. This might have a very appealing effect on potential employees.
– Use SlideShare, Google Presentation, Box.net and other applications to upload job openings in your team.
– Use SlideShare, Google Presentation, Box.net and other applications to showcase what your team or department does. (Note: this might also be beneficial for your visibility WITHIN your own organisation)
– Ask your team members to apply all these tips as well. They might be an even better example to the potential employee.

This is what you can do as a “passive” strategy. If you are looking for new employees I advice to work together with your recruiters to come up with a “proactive” strategy. When you combine the experience of recruiters with the networks of managers in the business units, you will get real recruitment power!

To your success !

Jan

PS: get your free light version and free updates (50 pages in the meanwhile!) of the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (or in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken)