1. LinkedIn
one piece of your career hunt…
building professional relationships
Dr Ira Kaufman
Lynchburg College School of
Business and Economics
2. How to Get Your Profile to 100%
•Upload a professional photo
•Create a convincing headline
•List your current job and two previous
positions
•Add your education
•Add a profile summary
•Include your specialties
•Receive 3 recommendations
4. Tips
• Get the LinkedIn URL you want. Most LinkedIn
profiles URLs will have be a slash and then your
name (/your name) at the end of them. Names
can be common, so try to get yours first.
• Make sure your LinkedIn profile is public (go to
account settings to check). If you want to tap all
the capabilities of LinkedIn, and be able to have
people search for you and examine your career
experience, you need a public profile.
• Matchmaker – connecting your strong points with
a company's needs
5. Headline –
~7 words (120 characters)
1. Think value proposition - how do you provide value? Be as specific as
possible here and remember the old saying: "the nicher, the richer".
2. Think target audience - whom do you provide value for and who will
read this? It's not always the end customer that is the decision maker.
3. Unique selling point - you are likely to be stacked up against your
competitors and you had better have your USP in the headline already to
stand out.
4. Think keywords, pepper your headline with the keywords that you think
people will do searches for. The more technical terms here the better
(software, standards, certifications etc).
5. Think memorable. Your greatest challenge online is to be remembered
so be creative and/or funny so that your headline sticks with the people
that matter
6. Ask the ?
By reading this we instantly know what the
person does, whom they do it for and what is
their unique offering – even it’s a sense of
humor.
7. Headline – samples
• Sales executive with 15+ years in the
entertainment industry | ABC, NBC, Sony
Music & Warner Bros | MBA, Wharton
• Visionary Results-Driven Senior Sales
Executive
• Helping British Farmers Sell Truckloads of
Class I Turnips
8. Summary…Online Resume
• 2000 characters
• Share your enthusiasm, values and work ethic
• Emphasize your value to a organization
• Not boastful, clear
• Use keywords
– What are targeted companies using in their job
descriptions; match job requirements (exact wording)
– Use on profiles-- website, LinkedIn
• Clean up spelling and grammar
• List specialties
10. Ask for Recommendations
• Business contacts
• Internships
• Business neighbors
• Members of your place of worship
11. Optimize Your Profile to Get Found
•Edit your public profile URL
•Include custom links for your website/blog
•Write your summary in first person
•Include keywords in your summary
•Add your Twitter accounts
•Use specialties to list your areas of expertise
•Include your skills by searching first targeted
companies
•Make your profile publically visible to everyone
12. Updating your status
•Best to update during business hours
•Include links back to your website/blog
•Use LinkedIn Today for “TOP NEWS”
•Share trending news
•Choose posts that are relevant to your target
markets
• Less is better; don’t be wordy
•Share your content to multiple sources
•Updates can be sent to Twitter
13. Groups to Join
• Delta Sig 3000 +
http://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectory?ite
maction=mclk&anetid=36964&impid=36964-
2407547&pgkey=anet_about&actpref=anet_a
bout-gbm&trk=anet_about-gbm-
group&goback=.gdr_1323141499742_1.anb_
2407547_*2
• 10+ groups that are associated with the career
path and expertise
14. Applications Enrich Your Profile
•Share your slideshows with SlideShare
•Display your portfolio
•Amazon shares your reading list and reviews
•Display your latest Blog entries
•Add your latest events
•Huddle Workspaces
•Latest Tweets
16. Do's and Don'ts of LinkedIn Etiquette
• Remember the reason people join LI is to connect
• Be honest; don’t exaggerate
• Include a personal message on invites
• Don’t say You know someone or are a friend if you
don’t – you can be blacklisted
• Be professionally appropriate (no pets, quirky
backgrounds or funny expressions)
• Develop your credibility – and build relationships
• Never to ask directly for a job -- it’s not polite or
appropriate- unless its listed
• Be prompt in your exchanges
17. How to network?
• Status updates with keywords to your targeted firms,
jobs
• Interact with groups
• Build connections--Expand your contact list.
– Family, friends, neighbors, members of your church and
college friends
– Ask your connections to introduce you to their network or
a contact
– Engage with LI Answers
– Target LI Skills aggregates all LI data related to your skill;
connect with thought leaders in your network
• Use LinkedIn’s in-mail system to contact any members
19. APS
add content -helps make the match
• Behance – creative portfolio
• Slideshare
• Reading list
• Box.net file upload
20. How to write about their job?
• Prepare
• Understand their company culture
• Know what they want and
• Find people (in the company who are alumni/
contacts from LI Answers) who have similar
interests and ask to connect with them- develop
a relationship
• Be brave – they can only say no
• Demonstrate your value
21. GET TO KNOW COMPANIES
You Are Interested
• Listen to conversations --Facebook , Twitter
• Target advanced company search – drill down-
(accountants, Virginia, strong values)
• Research Employees median age ,
backgrounds, degrees, schools and fields
– core mission
– ST/ LT directions
• Company Culture
• Value proposition
22. Upload a resume
• Cut and paste it in your profile
• Create a free website site, YouTube video and
upload it as a PDF as the website – list URL
• Box.net application – for uploading files to LI
24. 6 Point LinkedIn Strategy
1. Every Monday: Change something within your
profile and review for keywords/SEO
2. Invite people to connect with you;
3. Update your status 2 times/ day during business
hours
4. Join groups in an industry that you want to be in
5. Ask Questions and Answer Questions
6. Put your contact email in your professional
headline