How CEO’s can have a LinkedIn Profile without being stalked by Sales Reps and Other People

Last week I shared that it is important for CEO’s to have an attractive LinkedIn Profile for marketing, PR and recruiting purposes.

Some organisations recognize the value in these tips, but still many CEO’s don’t have a Profile on LinkedIn. The main reason (next to fear of the unknown and not understanding the value of LinkedIn since nobody ever explained it to them)?

They don’t want to be stalked by sales people (or at least the annoying ones :-)).

The good news is that LinkedIn has many ways to protect privacy and to limit the number of invitation requests, messages and emails.

You can find them in “settings” (click on the small arrow next to your name and it will pop up).

For CEO’s it might come in handy to use these settings (under Email Notifications):
– Contact Settings -> I’ll only accept Introductions.
– Invitation Filtering -> Only invitations from people who appear in my “Imported Contacts” list.

In this way no pesky sales person can stalk you while enjoying the marketing and PR benefits of having a LinkedIn Profile.

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)

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)

How Recruiters Can Use LinkedIn Companies to Find New Employees

After the posts about 5 ways to use LinkedIn Companies to find new customers and 6 ways to use LinkedIn to find a new job, also recruiters asked me whether or not the LinkedIn Companies functionality is helpful to them.

Yes, it is. This is the video: How to use LinkedIn Companies to find new candidates.

More videos about LinkedIn can be found in my my YouTube Channel.

To your success !

Jan

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

Referrals Will Become the Primary Sourcing Channel for All Positions

This week’s blog is dedicated to the trend of the increased importance of networking and referrals for recruiters.

The following text comes from Lou Adler and is part of his 4 Trends Affecting the Future of Recruiting:

“In a recent Execunet survey, 70% of over 6,000 executives and executive recruiters indicated that networking would be the key to either finding a job or finding candidates, compared to 16% through online advertising.

While this would be expected at the executive level, our own 2007 survey of 800 corporate recruiters filling staff and mid-level positions indicated that networking and employee referrals represented about 35% to 40% of their hires.

This is about five points higher than last year, so not only is networking important, but the trend is up. LinkedIn has helped accelerate this trend, in combination with Facebook, MySpace, and some of the niche social networking sites.

At the employment agency referred to earlier, referrals were also a core part of their recruiting efforts. While this group was primarily placing hourly personnel in general laborer or office admin positions on temporary assignments, it seemed like at least 50% of their recruits were from referrals. More important, the emphasis was on getting even more referrals.

It’s a pretty safe bet to conclude that in the future, referrals and networking will be the primary means companies and third-party recruiters will use to find candidates at all levels. For recruiters and sourcers, this represents a critical shift.”

So it’s nice to read someone else saying the same thing as me 🙂

Have a great networking day !

Jan

Read the whole article at: http://www.ere.net/2008/06/06/four-trends-affecting-the-future-of-recruiting/