CAREER TIP: Detach From Your Technology

Detach from tech on evenings, weekends and vacations. When you never “leave” work or social networks you become numb to information and less productive in your work.  Constant use of tech devices has been linked to higher stress, anxiety, and depression which leads to lowered work performance and decreased job satisfaction.  Give your mind a break – try working each day after a night off without work emails and social media overload and watch your productivity soar. 

Join a LinkedIn Group

Besides having a great profile, there are multiple other ways to use LinkedIn to help in career management or job search.  One of those options is to join a LinkedIn Group(s).  From professional to hobby-related, there is a group for nearly everyone.  You can contribute to ongoing discussions, start a discussion yourself, see what jobs a particular group has advertised, learn from industry experts, and find potential connections. 

Just go to the Interests Tab at the top of the page and click Groups.  LinkedIn will make suggestions based on your profile.  My suggestion is to join local groups (this is where the jobs will be advertised), professional groups that have a LinkedIn Group as well, alumni groups, and company “alumni” groups.  LinkedIn will allow you to join up to 50 groups, so you can have quite a selection.  Always look at the group description first, how many members are in the group, and how active it is to make the right selections for you.  To your job search and career success!

Use a Beneficial LinkedIn Title

Every time I visit LinkedIn to help a client or see invites in my email box from LinkedIn, invariably there's at least one of the following titles used by a connection or invitee:

"Unemployed"
"Currently Looking for an Opportunity"
"Looking for Work"
"Needing a Job"

None of these titles will help you in your job search!  LinkedIn works through several different algorithms, and one of those is keywords.  Instead of using some sort of "description" regarding your current situation, tell them what you are looking for specifically.  For instance, if you are a salesperson try this:  Sales Professional | Business Development | Customers Needs Assessment | Consultative Sales | Cold Calling | Relationship Management

You have 100 characters and spaces to give Human Resources, Recruiter/Headhunters, and Hiring Managers detail on what you can do for them in the title section, versus just telling them you are unemployed.  What are the keywords and key phrases most appropriate to your industry?  Not only should they be used in your resume, but should be used on your LinkedIn profile, especially in the first thing a hiring professional will see - your title.   To your job search success.

Career Tip: Topics to Avoid at Work (and on Social Media)

It’s almost unavoidable in the workplace and incredibly tempting to take part in when it happens:  the political, religious, or related social issue conversations.  We have all been there, and tried to avoid the conversation, but been sucked in anyway.  So, how do you avoid these topics? 

First, walk away from that inappropriate work conversation, or if it is occurring near your desk, tell people you appreciate their opinion but work probably is not the place to share their current discussion.   While it may be difficult to say this to your colleagues, remember, their conversation, and your involvement can cause trouble for you too!  Being respectful, but letting people know that the conversation is not suitable for the workplace is usually enough to put a stop to the issue.  Second, don’t be the one to bring up these subjects.  We all have opinions, but those opinions can be shared in private conversations offsite from work and away from social media.  You can, and must resist, as the impact on your career or others involved can be dramatic – again, share in private.

Third, is dealing with social media and avoiding the temptation there as well.  Your posts are never private and I don’t care what the privacy policy says, people who know how to access this info can and will do it, and some of them may be your company’s HR personnel (or your future company).  This warning also extends to your “friends” who just can’t seem to help themselves.  You may have to unfriend them or caution them about the problems they can cause with unfiltered and spontaneous posts and let them know you will delete the connection to them if the posts continue.

Lastly, I want to be sure readers understand that you can say you have a belief in a higher power, that you attended a religious service, or take your voting rights seriously at work or online, but keep the interaction very limited.  Remember, if in doubt, don’t say anything.  For social media, you can also leave that post in a Word document for 24 hours, and then review it and see if there is anything you might not want to see, or want someone who holds sway over your career to see at a later date.  Better to be safe in your postings and work dialogue, than sorry and demoted, looked over for promotion, not hired, or fired.  To your career and job search success.      

10 Tips for a Standout LinkedIn Picture

LinkedIn is such an important tool for career management, job search, and even for business owners, yet many hesitate to put a picture on their LinkedIn profile.  We don’t always like our picture, but having a shadow avatar is not the answer and keeps people from connecting with you and taking you seriously.  Here 10 tips to help you achieve a great LinkedIn photo!

--No Selfies:  You look like you took a selfie, and everyone knows it’s a selfie.

--Smile:  Many people on LinkedIn look angry or unapproachable, and it is simply because they don’t smile in their picture.

--Head and Shoulders Shot:  You do not want a full body shot for a photo, as the picture is fairly small, and no one will be able to see your face in a full length photo.

--Makeup and Hair Color:  Ladies and Gentlemen, if you don’t like your hair, get it cut, change the style, change the color, add some color, etc., and for women a little makeup will enhance your look and avoid a very pale or tired look in a snapshot (sometimes a little concealer can help the men too).

--Professional Looking Background:  No garage doors, Christmas trees, closets, plain walls, fountains, etc., in your picture background.  Whether you use a bookcase with books and decorative items that look nice, or a more standard photo background, the setting can matter almost as much as you.

--Professional Photographer:  If you have a relative or friend who takes wonderful pictures you may not need a professional headshot, but make sure whomever takes your picture gives you many photos to choose from and if necessary can fix an issue like red eyes or too much eye crinkle.

--Glasses or No Glasses:  If you like your glasses and wear them all the time, then please include them in your picture.

--No Photoshop Cutout:  Please avoid the cutout of you from another picture at the family reunion, church/synagogue/temple directory, family photo, or any other picture you would need to manipulate heavily.

--No Extras:  Your spouse, your child, funny signs, puppy dogs, parrots, or any other “stuff” with you in the picture can be seen as unprofessional.

--Promote You:  Use a photo of you, not another person, a cartoon figure, your dog, or anything else that isn't YOU!

Remember, LinkedIn is a professional social media venue, not a Facebook page.  To your career, job search and business success!

Do You Need A Resume If You Have A LinkedIn Profile? Yes!

Having been a Career Counselor for 20+ years, I’ve heard a lot of comments that the resume is dead, and yet it is still here and just as necessary as ever.  Recently jobseekers are asking if they need a resume when they already have a LinkedIn profile – and the answer I give them – an unequivocal yes!  While LinkedIn is exceptionally important from both a job search and career management standpoint, in order to develop a quality profile that encourages the reader to ask for your resume, you still need to write a resume. 

LinkedIn was never intended to be your resume, it was meant to entice a reader to find out more about you.  Putting your entire resume on LinkedIn can in fact overwhelm the reader, and you may lose them before you ever get a chance to exchange an email.  Possessing a great resume gives you the option to pick and choose what you put in your LinkedIn profile.  Furthermore, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), interviewers, recruiters, and sometimes networking contacts desire a copy of your resume, not just your LinkedIn profile. 

I advise my clients to do both, and use them both as intended.  No, the resume isn’t dead, nor will it be anytime soon, but will continue to morph with the times and adapt to technology, and be used to enhance both your personal brand/social media presence and your overall job search or career management marketing strategy.  

Using Twitter as a Jobseeker or Employee

I will admit to being a bit of a newbie on Twitter, as I don’t have a ton of followers yet, but there are several things I have learned using this social media tool that I believe will help jobseekers and employees alike.  Here are 10 practical tips to help you get more out of Twitter.

1)      Get a real picture and write a real bio, even my slightly out of focus picture is far, far better than the twitter egg or some silly picture that makes no sense. While a little whimsy in your bio can be cute, don’t go too far – be professional, and think keywords.

2)      Don’t judge a potential follower by their profession (within reason of course), but by their tweets and bio.  Are they positive, in no way trying to take advantage of someone (i.e. buy 10,000 followers), avoiding constant cussing, racial slurs and bizarre remarks in their tweets, not overly political or religious, and can you speak their language at least enough to understand their tweets?  Likewise, just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you have to follow them back.

3)      Please don’t spam people by trying to sell them something via Twitter, especially when you are not connected. 

4)      Don’t engage in arguments and any other negative conversations (on any social media), it just makes you look bad to your workplace or potential employers that might hire you.  

5)      Use Twitter to link with people you might not be able to contact easily via LinkedIn – if they follow you back, you can invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn as well. 

6)      Don’t run your Twitter feed on your phone, as just like your Facebook feed it will take up too much of your precious free time, instead visit Twitter directly a few times a week.

7)      Do post information about your area of expertise, whether you create the content yourself or share it from another source (retweet).  Think work expertise specifically, and try to post at least a couple of times a week so you look active.

8)      Avoid over-sharing, no one needs to know where you are 24/7, or that you really, really, really like hot dogs with sauerkraut.

9)      Use hashtags # to learn and connect with others.  Hashtags are essentially a subject area, like #JobSearch, where you can learn lots of great tips for a job search.  You can also use hashtags in your own posts to help promote yourself to other followers.

10)  Use Twitter to follow company’s you might want to target for employment, as most large and some medium-sized organizations have a career-related Twitter feed that posts jobs available regularly. 

Be positive and professional in your posts and in those you follow and you will see your Twitter grow with quality connections and be seen as a knowledgeable and qualified in your field.