BUT FIRST, A NECESSARY DETOUR TO LINKEDIN
When a recruiter from Amazon Web Services scheduled a room on Clubhouse, she posted the following on LinkedIn: âJoin us today to meet and ask questions of recruiters from across Amazon â we are HIRING!!â For the prepared candidate, this kind of Q&A session provides the perfect opportunity to show up and get inside information or even talk yourself one step closer to a new job. This user collaboration between LinkedIn and Clubhouse is a complete disruption of the conventional recruiting and hiring process. As more companies recognize the ability to connect directly and start a conversation with the talent pool on Clubhouse, I expect to see similar rooms started every day by companies small and large.
The Amazon recruiter wisely promoted her Clubhouse room on LinkedIn, where many people actively seek work and took the conversation to Clubhouse where she could have a dynamic discussion with potential candidates. In a later chapter, Iâll more specifically describe why LinkedIn and Clubhouse are perfect complements to each other. For now, know this. When youâre actively looking for employment, many hiring managers and recruiters will check out your LinkedIn profile. If you donât have one or its incomplete or underwhelming, they wonât take you seriously as a candidate. Instead, theyâll focus on the person who has a robust and relevant LinkedIn presence because that presence allows them to get to know the candidate better. The same applies to entrepreneurs looking to secure contracts, attract more clients, and start strategic partnerships. Many of those people will check you out on LinkedIn to get a feel for how serious you are about your business. If they canât find much about you, theyâre likely to move on to someone else.
If you follow the process I lay out in this book, in the way I lay it out, you can expect to get results on Clubhouse. However, you canât implement these strategies fully without tapping into another resource youâve got right at your fingertips. Whatever you feel about LinkedIn, stick with me and know this detour is integral to creating the kind of success you want to have on Clubhouseânot just getting more followers or speaking on more stages, but achieving your specific and measurable professional goals.
I suggest you implement as much of this chapter as you possibly can while youâre reading through it. That way, you wonât miss any details or have a chance to procrastinate. Donât worry. I promise you weâre coming back to Clubhouse in the very next chapter.
If you happen to think LinkedIn is boring or you rarely use it because you never know what to post there, youâre not alone in your opinion or your experience. Iâve heard people liken LinkedIn to âchurchâ or âa black hole.â Their point is that it feels stuffy, overly formal, and not very social to them. Their expectations have been set by platforms like Facebook and Instagram, where personal posts tend to outweigh business posts. Theyâre accustomed to cat videos and family pictures mixed in with business posts and ads. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is designed to be a professional social networking site, but I have good news. Professional doesnât have to equal boring, and you donât have to spend hours every day on LinkedIn to get results.
With over 720 million users worldwide and more than 170 million in the United States, thereâs absolutely someone, or more likely many people, on LinkedIn who can help you achieve your professional goals. If you think this site is just for older people, think again. Millennials comprise thirty-eight percent of users. This site is for anyone whoâs serious about advancing their career or growing their business regardless of age, gender, or geography.2
Eighty-seven percent of recruiters looking to fill roles regularly use LinkedIn.3 If youâre looking for a new job opportunity, you absolutely need to be active on this platform. And for those of us who own our own businesses, the opportunities available on LinkedIn are just as impressive. Event planners search the site to book speakers for conferences and seminars. Business owners shop for professional service providers and look for suppliers and employees, and investors research business owners on the site. As an entrepreneur, LinkedIn can help you find team members, strategic partners, customers and clients, and more.
If youâre already present and active on LinkedIn, this chapter will give you a chance to review some basic best practices to make sure youâre set up to make the most of your LinkedIn presence. And if youâve avoided LinkedIn or you created your profile years ago and left it to gather dust, donât worry. Iâll walk you through some simple steps to get started, set up or refresh your LinkedIn presence, and prepare to use the site as your secret weapon to maximize your time on Clubhouse. Trust the process. Youâve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
GET ON LINKEDIN
Donât let the siteâs reputation intimidate you. LinkedIn is a social media platform open to anyone who wants to join. Itâs accessible regardless of whether youâre on a Mac or PC, an Android tablet, Windows tablet, iPad, or any smartphone. To create your account, download the app on your phone or tablet, or visit LinkedIn.com on your computer. Tap âJoin Now,â and follow the simple prompts to create your account. Itâs that simple.
YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE
Before you start connecting with people on LinkedIn, itâs important to create a profile with elements that will appeal to the people already in your professional network and those you want to connect with in the future. This is a place to show your authentic self, of course, but always in a professional manner. Users visit this site to conduct business of various kinds, and itâs important to project an image of yourself as someone who understands the purpose of the site. Donât skimp or get lazy on this essential step. It shouldnât take you more than a few hours to create a comprehensive and appealing profile. Going forward, periodic updates will only take you a few minutes.
Before you update your profile take the time to do a little research. If youâre looking for job opportunities, search for other people in your industry, in similar positions, and in positions you might want. If youâre a small business owner, look for people who own similar businesses or offer similar services. Choose people who have large networks and comprehensive profiles. If you know who the top players are in your field, include them in your search. Make a list of the keywords they have in common, and when they apply, use these words in your profile.
Use all the available real estate LinkedIn gives you including:
- Your name
- Profile picture
- Headline
- Current position
- Education
- Geographic location
- Branded URL
- Contact information
- About (Your positioning statement)
- Skills and endorsements
- Recommendations
- Accomplishments
YOUR NAME
To start, use your real name for your LinkedIn profile. This isnât the place for nicknames or even your business name. (You can create a business page for your business.) People on LinkedIn want to know exactly who theyâre interacting with, considering doing business with, and considering for job placements. Besides your name, you should also include the abbreviations for specific certificates or degrees, like CPA, MD, JD, PMP, MBA, or the like. My LinkedIn username is Adriane Simpson, PMP, MBA, LSSGB. At a glance, recruiters, business owners, and potential clients can see some of the qualifications that separate me from other people in my field. (Note: If you donât yet have any letters to drop behind your name, donât let that stop you from using LinkedIn. Theyâre not a requirement for success on this platform.)
On the mobile app, you can also record the correct pronunciation of your name. If your name has an unusual spelling or people often mispronounce it, consider taking advantage of this function. Some people will be more comfortable reaching out to you if they know how to say your name, so make it easy for them.
PROFILE PICTURE
When choosing your profile picture, make sure it represents you as a professional. Even if your industry is a more creative or casual one, your picture should reflect a level of seriousness about what you do. If youâre a professional clown, then you may want to appear in your clown makeup, but for most of us, a friendly-looking headshot with a professional appearance is the best choice. Make sure the photo is bright, crisp, and clear with a solid, uncluttered background.
HEADLINE
Your headline should include the roles you want to be associated with in searches. As a job seeker, you can list your current role and roles youâve held in the past. As a small business owner, you can list the work you do and for which people are likely to be searching. Rather than call herself CEO in her headline, an entrepreneur might have a headline that reads: Cyber Security | Remediation Services | Security Testing. Sheâs CEO of her company, but she doesnât want to be found in searches for CEOs. She wants potential customers who need help with cyber security to find her.
LinkedIn is a huge search engine, and like all search engines, it has its own set of rules. For instance, it doesnât recognize commas between words in your headline. Rather than use commas, li...