To get the session rolling, I passed out sheets of paper and let the members write down their questions. Rather than giving them a preset teaching session, I decided to answer their specific questions. I told them that I would share some of those questions here to help others who may have the same questions. Today’s Question:

How do you increase visibility on LinkedIn?

The question was:

Once you create a profile on a site such as LinkedIn, what is the best way to get your name out there? (get employers to see it)

Let’s talk LinkedIn optimization and strategy:

1. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is really complete and update it  frequently. I can’t tell you how many profiles I look at that have no substance. The summary area is often not used at all but yet that area alone holds 2000 characters. Make those characters count! The summary is to be written in the “I” voice so it feels more like a conversation that the detached 3rd person voice of the resume. The quotes below come from a very special client I worked with recently, you see common ground and wording with the keywords but you get a different feel in the voice.
• LinkedIn: Here’s the beginning of one of my client’s profiles: “You will find me to be a dynamic, passionate non-profit executive, with an extensive history of fundraising, fiscal management, program management, and board development. I have been blessed with an exciting career dedicated to the improvement of impoverished communities and families. “
• Resume:  Dynamic, passionate non-profit executive, with an extensive history of fundraising, fiscal management, program management, and board development. Innovative, results-driven professional noted for transforming communities and creating strategic alliances and partnerships with stakeholders, corporations, and community at-large.
2. Build your connections. If you have less than 20 connections on LinkedIn and complain to me that it doesn’t work, I know why. You haven’t expanded your connections on LinkedIn. You need to grow your LinkedIn community with quality connections. I’d set a goal for 1o0 and go from there.
3. Use the resources of LinkedIn to research companies and connect with people who can help you. But don’t be a pest. You need to realize that company leaders are busy.
4. Use your profile link on your business card and post new status messages. If you blog, share your blog posts, but also share other things especially tied to your area of expertise. Be a resource in your expertise to your network by posting status messages of value.

More tips on how to increase LinkedIn visibility:

1. How to make sure LinkedIn is bringing you value
2. Watch your LinkedIn Headline – don’t let it tell you what to say!
3. Who do you connect with on LinkedIn?
4. The top 5 mistakes LinkedIn users often make

Stuck in your job search or existing position? Don’t know how to get unstuck? Hire an expert to do it for you. You will hit your target much more quickly and be doing what you do best instead of trying to figure your way through the job search maze. To find out how, Click here!

Photo Credit

They are two different things. But though for Carly, dog training might be fun, I called Heide from H.R. Max, LLC when I attempted once more to try to get Buddy out the door to go for a walk with me. We didn’t have trainers for Teddy (our first German Shepherd) but I do remember a time period when he was young that I couldn’t get him to walk anywhere with me. Just putting the Gentle Leader on Teddy changed that and he became the best possible walking companion you could ask for.

Buddy is just one year and I still trying options for leashes and harnesses. Heide will be back next week and until she helps me over that walking hurdle, I walk with human friends only. For me, dog training is fun when I am doing some of the exercises as taught by an expert but not when Buddy fails to listen and I get frustrated.

Why Job Search may not be fun for you

Just like dog training without an expert is not fun for me. I love Buddy but learning the right strategies to work with him is well… Work!

Job Search has often been liked to having a job too. You can’t expect instantaneous results. But when you go about job search the wrong way, it will take forever and will not be fun.

I hired an expert dog trainer, just like I hired an expert marketing coach for the past three years and an expert accountant for the past two years, because I know that I am not trained in marketing or accounting. I need the advice of an expert to move me to the next level.

• Before I hired my accountant, I had asked a question about sales tax (which I had asked during a 15 year period from two other CPAs) and he checked with the department of Revenue specifically for my industry. He emailed me the reply. I do not need to charge or collect sales tax. His ability to get the right answer saved me both money and time.
• My marketing coach has saved me money and increased my income dramatically by showing me how to use the tools to attract clients from all over the world to work with me.

Both of these experts needed me to do something to make their advice work. But it was more fun to see the results when I listened to them and followed their advice.

What should you do to make job search fun?

Obviously, I recommend hiring an expert because then you can have results like this:

After a year of waiting and hoping, I just wanted to let you know I have my FIRST EVER interview early next week. I’m interviewing for XYZ District, which is exactly the kind of school district I get excited about. I just wanted to thank you, because I really believe that without your expertise, I’d still be twiddling my thumbs, waiting. Again, many, many thanks!

You can make it fun on your own though:

1. Start with the resume (the foundation of your job search). In the days of electronic applications, your words are still critical in the resume. If you don’t like to write, you have choices. Find an excellent writer friend who is willing to spend hours researching the cutting edge strategies from career professionals like myself and have the friend interview you and write the resume. Make it a game to tell her or him the very best stuff you remember about your career. How did you make a difference.
2. Find job postings you fit… and collect them. Then use them to write your cover letter and reinforce your resume.
3. Set goals to make contacts using online and in-person networking as well as answering job board posts. If you are only looking on job boards, you will get frustrated. Goals are fun.
4. Give yourself rewards. For every contact you make, keep track of them and when you hit a certain number, reward yourself. You can buy a special coffee, do something fun with your friends, or do something you love to do.

With dog training, I have to learn the right way to speak to Buddy. I have to remember to reward him when he does it right. And I have to find fun ways of training both for him and for me. Job Search can be fun too by following the same recipe for success.

Stuck in your job search or existing position? Don’t know how to get unstuck? Hire an expert to do it for you. You will hit your target much more quickly and be doing what you do best instead of trying to figure your way through the job search maze. To find out how, Click here!

When a former client who has implemented a therapy dog program stopped by, she listened to some of my frustrations with Buddy, such as my difficult in walking him without being pulled and other training concerns. She recommended I contact another trainer she likes well. The dog training community in our area is small enough that everyone knows who is who. In fact, the dog-owning community in general is small enough that everyone who is serious about their pet knows someone to recommend as a vet, pet fence provider, specialty pet food store, and more.

Is Consistency the problem?

Buddy is now working with Heide from H.R. Max, LLC who strangely enough was once one of my resume clients in 2003. Small world. Heide’s program is different from our previous trainer and she will work with Buddy while I work with clients but still provide me with direction and clarify. It is a good fit. Her style fits both my needs and Buddy’s. When I admitted that I had a problem with consistency, Heide said, “You nailed it!” Consistency by owners is the number one training problem. Heide will train Buddy and teach me the importance of consistency with training my dog.

How does dog training relate to job search?

As I noted here, there are numerous options for job seekers to be “trained” by experts today so that they can be successful in their job search. But what works for one person may not be the right solution for you. The career professional community like the dog owner community is small enough that career pros all know each other even if they are divided by oceans. Different styles fit different people.

Clients who enjoy working with me are usually drawn to the one-on-one delivery where they get to be part of my interactive process. My clients are willing to invest time with me both capturing their accomplishments and learning how to make their job search successful. My one-on-one style means multiple appointments to pinpoint their talents and convey their success stories to the next employer. It’s not for everyone. My style means you watch me write. This concept has made more than one of my very talented group of career pro peers remark that they would never work this way and couldn’t stand someone watching as they write. I find that I get more information that way. Different strokes.

A job seeker needs to admit they need help and respect that hiring an expert will make a difference. Until they reach that point, they will never justify the cost no matter who they choose for their career marketing professional. I had to decide that my success with Buddy’s training would improve if I hired someone who really knew what works and could teach me how to help my dog reach his goals.

Stuck in your job search or existing position? Don’t know how to get unstuck? Hire an expert to do it for you. You will hit your target much more quickly and be doing what you do best instead of trying to figure your way through the job search maze. To find out how, Click here!

Emailing a resume and cover letter

If you are e-mailing a resume, it will be an attachment. But adding a second attachment such as your cover letter is usually a bad idea. Better idea? Paste the cover letter into the e-mail. Generally, at this point the formatting of your cover letter changes from the more formal letterhead style cover letter that you would traditionally send in the mail to using the format of the email header:

Then comes the body of your cover letter and at the end of the cover letter you can still say “Sincerely” or Yours truly” or any other close you normally would use in a business letter. But after that comes your e-mail signature.

What is your e-mail signature?

The link can be left on or off depending on the circumstances but should always add value.

Yes, some of this information is already in the cover letter and should be in your resume address header but you need to make it easy to contact you.

Your e-mail signature should be part of your e-mail all the time. Never trust that people find your e-mail address just in the top of the e-mail whether it is job search related, writing to a friend, or writing to a company. Make your contact information easy to find and refer back to in the future.