Job Corner: Are You A LinkedIn Loser?

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Monday, January 26, 2015

Lea McLeod, GoLocalPDX Careers Expert

You’re working along in your job, thinking everything’s going great. Then things start crumbling. 

You get a new manager you don’t get along with.  

You’re reassigned to a team, and you didn’t get to vote.

A merger comes along, decorated with rumors of layoffs.  

All of a sudden you need to be on the prowl, looking for the next gig. 

So you get ready for the search. But then you realize one of the most powerful tools you’ll need in your job search has been relegated to a lonely corner of your career. So remote there are cobwebs growing on it. And you slowly realize that you are a  LinkedIn Loser. 

How do you know if YOU’RE a LinkedIn Loser? Here are 3 symptoms. If you have them, now’s the time to straighten up and course correct, so I’ve also included action steps you can take today, to get going.

1. You Think LinkedIn Is Only Useful When You’re Looking For A Job. 

Ironically, it’s only helpful in the job search, when you’ve actually kept it up while you’re NOT job searching.

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “The best time to build a network is before you need one.” When you work your LinkedIn while gainfully employed, that’s exactly what you’re doing. 

Then, if and when you ever DO need to look for a job, you’re not scrambling to bump your connection factor. If you don’t want to be one of those desperate job seekers who only want to connect when you need something, take action before you need to.

Here’s what to do: 

Complete your LinkedIn profile.

Make sure you have a complete headline, summary, job experience descriptions, and education sections at the very least. When you’ve got that done, make sure you have at least 200 connections in your network. It’ll get you started and you can grow from there. 

Oh, be sure you have a decent head shot that makes you look amazingly likeable.

2. You Don’t Participate In Any Groups.

Ok, so you’re ready to job search and you’re frantically looking for people in your network to reach out to. Here’s the problem: You have a low number of 1st level connections, and no action in any LinkedIn Groups. 

When you search LinkedIn, you are only searching the people in your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level connections. The smaller your connection list, the fewer people you’ll find in a search. 

Here’s where groups come in. When you join LinkedIn groups – and you can join up to 50 of them – all the members of those groups count as members of your network. You get those members – and their connections – in your network. 

Here’s what to do: 

Go to the LinkedIn groups directory and find 10 groups that make good destinations for you. 

Easy targets are academic alumni groups, employer alumni groups, professional associations, and job-related content expert groups. Got 10? Boom! You’ve just exploded the reach of your network.

3. You Haven’t Gotten Any Recommendations From Others In Your Profile.

Picture this. There’s a recruiter cruising LinkedIn looking for “passive job searchers.” These folks aren’t necessarily looking, but could be poached by another employer if they are approached the right way. And you could be one!

She stumbles across your profile. You haven’t really completed your profile (see the above points), you don’t have many connections, and there are no recommendations from managers or colleagues. Hm…. She passes on to the next profile. It just doesn’t look like you’ve taken the whole online presence thing very seriously. It’ll be hard to sell you as a candidate to the hiring manager. 

Want a recruiter to stop and look at you more seriously? Get recommendations from others in your profile. 

Here’s what to do: 

Identify 10 people you can reach out to and request a recommendation from. 

Draft a note, asking for a recommendation, reminding them the context in which you worked together (if necessary), and then ask them to comment on specific skills or accomplishments you want to highlight. You will probably get about a 30% response rate short term. So aim for a higher number of requests. 

If you want even more recommendations, start writing them for others, even if they haven’t asked you to. See what happens!

Ok, now you have no reason for being a LinkedIn Loser! If you spend the time now, you won’t be in distress when you have to (or want to) launch a job search! 

Lea McLeod helps people tackle job search overwhelm, develop a pursuit strategy get a dreamy job. Ever think, “I’m not sure what I want to do?” She’ll help you nail it. She also developed The Resume Coloring Book and E-Course to help you write a powerful, professionally done resume, at a fraction of what a professional would cost. She spent many years as a Director Level manager at Hewlett-Packard managing people and programs around the world. If you’re losing confidence in your job, she can help you tackle that too. 

To get more help on your LinkedIn, download Lea’s free webinars on Building a Great LinkedIn Profile here. And stop being a LinkedIn Loser!

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