What’s Wrong with This LinkedIn Advice?

This morning, I accepted a LinkedIn invitation from someone who fits into my connection strategy on LinkedIn.  Yes, I’ve had a LinkedIn Strategy for many years that I’ve stuck with on my way to a nearly full LinkedIn network.

Immediately after accepting the new connection invitation, a LinkedIn page popped up suggesting that I send invitations to 436 people. Not only was this a suggestion, 436 names with titles and photos popped up with the connect box conveniently checked 436 times.

If I were to click the “Add Connections (436)” button, what do you think the odds are the LinkedIn would freeze my account for sending connection invites to 436 people I don’t personally know?

• If you’re going to use LinkedIn, create strategies for your personal use of LinkedIn and stick to them.

• I like shiny objects just as much as the next person. In this case, LinkedIn offered up a “shiny object” that on the surface looked great. Once I thought about the potential penalties that would likely be levied against my LinkedIn account if I were to add 436 people to my account all at once, the “shiny object lost its luster.

Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

In Job Search Mode? You Should Do This

 

LinkedIn's New Feature

First, understand that your Resume and your LinkedIn profile both make first impressions in a matter of seconds.

Second, explore LinkedIn’s new feature that lets you tell visitors to your profile that you might consider a career move.

Third, don’t turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have strategically optimized your LinkedIn profile to show the best version of you. You are making a first impression when someone visits you on LinkedIn.

Fourth, don't turn on the new LinkedIn feature unless you have a stellar resume that can be visually scanned in a matter of seconds.  You are making a first impression when you send a resume.

Here’s How to Unlock the New LinkedIn Feature

• Go to the top of your LinkedIn Profile and click on JOBS
• Click on PREFERENCES
• Set yourself up to be contacted for opportunities based on your parameters.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, Resume Writing, 719.686.8810

LinkedIn Job Search Coaching Results

My LinkedIn Coaching clients are taught how to build their LinkedIn profile so it is attractive to recruiters and hiring authorities.  These results belong to a Resume Writing client who also took advantage of my LinkedIn Coaching services.  Out of 1,599 people in his company, his LinkedIn Profile sits in the top 1% of profiles viewed.  

This top 1% ranking has everything to do with the LinkedIn Coaching this particular client received from Jeff Snyder Coaching.

Friday Coaching Results Report

Jeff Snyder Coaching

Resume, LinkedIn, Interview...Your Message Should Be Aligned

Resume, LinkedIn and Career Coaching Testimonial

Jeff Snyder Coaching

You Are Unique: What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You?

What are Your Gifts?

If you’re a gifted technologist for example, odds are pretty good that you’re not gifted in sales and marketing. This is not to say that a technologist is never gifted in sales and marketing but this skill mix is an anomaly rather than the norm.

Marketing and Packaging

When it comes to packaging and marketing yourself, if you can blend technical writing, business writing and a little bit of creative writing simultaneously, you’re in good shape.  However, if you are not sure how to blend technical writing, business writing and creative writing, this activity is probably not your gift.  You might want to seek help from someone who understands your giftedness and who also possesses the gift of writing, sales and marketing and has a results-filled track record.

First Impressions and Personal Branding

If you have a LinkedIn profile, you are making first impressions whether you’ve strategically thought about it or not.  LinkedIn offers a tremendous opportunity for personal brand building.  If you haven’t invested time to strategically build your personal brand on LinkedIn; consider doing so soon.

Consider this when you think about personal branding and how to package and market yourself. 

1.       LinkedIn and Resume Audience: Always build your Resume and your LinkedIn profile for the benefit of other people who make up your audience.  While your Resume and your LinkedIn profile are about you, they are not for you.  It is always someone in your audience who will be forming a first impression when they review your Resume or your LinkedIn profile for the first time.

2.      Align Your Communication: Be sure that the message on your Resume aligns with the message on your LinkedIn profile. Your audience may see your Resume first and then look you up on LinkedIn.  Or, a recruiter who is searching for your skill set may find you on LinkedIn and then ask for your resume.  These two modes of packaging and marketing your background should project the same message and a similar first impression.

3.      Clean, Clear and Logical: Write your resume in a clean, clear logical manner that can be visually scanned in a matter of seconds.  Because your resume is about you and not for you, it is important that your resume not require any interpretation from your audience.  You can apply these same ideas to the building of your LinkedIn Profile.

4.      Align Your LinkedIn Message, Resume and Interview Approach: Start with the end in mind.  If your purpose in building a resume is to get to the next step in your career, think about what message you need to project in order to attract the next step in your career.  What you plan to say in an interview should align with what you wrote on your Resume and the message you projected on LinkedIn.

No matter who you are, you have the potential to deliver a great performance.  Find out how you’re able to deliver your best performance and then build your personal brand around your unique giftedness.

Jeff Snyder Coaching, Recruiting and Public Speaking

How Old Is Too Old To Look For A Job?

At one of my recent speaking engagements, a woman came up to me and asked a question about searching or a job. Her question grabbed my attention and continues to stick with me.

         How old is too old to look for a job?

This question came to me from a woman whom I would guess to be in her 50s. I politely asked her what she thought the appropriate answer to the question was. She didn’t have an answer. 

I told her the correct answer was whatever she thought the correct answer was.  I wasn’t trying to be funny. There is no age when someone should stop thinking they can be productive. It’s up to the individual.

If you were to ask some of the guys I skate with who are in their 50s or 60s when someone should stop playing hockey, I suspect they would tell you when it’s time.  In these guy’s minds, the time to stop skating would be when they can no longer skate and not a moment sooner.

I’ve shared a testimonial recently from a 60+ year old career coaching client of mine.  I share this kind of information to let others know that success can be achieved at any age.  This 60+ year old client was having trouble getting interviews when he first approached me.  After opening his mind to coaching, his resume changed, his LinkedIn presence changed and his job search results changed for the better.

Don’t let anyone else tell you when you’re too old for something.  Decide for yourself!

JeffSnyderCoaching.co

Resume and LinkedIn Coaching Success for a 60+ Year Old Information Security Professional

Resume Coaching Success for a 60+ Year Old Information Security Professional

Client Profession:  Information Security Architect / Engineer

Client’s Problem:  Client’s original resume was not generating any interviews in a hot job market for information security talent.

Client’s Original Resume: 8 Pages in length covering 40 years of professional experience

Client’s Original Resume Content: 5 of 8 pages focused on managerial skills.  The coaching client disliked managerial tasks.

New Resume after Jeff Snyder Coaching: 3 Pages covering 40 years of professional experience that aligned with my client’s LinkedIn profile message.

New Resume Content after Jeff Snyder Coaching: Hands-on technical information security topics with no mention of managerial skills.  The new resume generated interviews.

Coaching Client’s Results:  Coaching client found a Cybersecurity job 20 minutes from his home. 

“I wanted to let you know that I have found a new - and very good - home here. I think it's fair to say that I am about as happy as the law allows. I also wanted to let you know that I got the job largely as a result of the resume and LinkedIn profile you helped me construct. I have to say that one of the other things that helped me was my attitude.

Thanks again for all your help. I fully expect that this job will last me into retirement. (I'll be 66 in just over two years and if I end up liking it as much as I think, I may well continue working a reduced schedule past then.) From what I can see now, it looks like I'll be living the good life for the foreseeable future."

Jeff Snyder Coaching is found at www.jeffsnydercoaching.com, 719.686.8810

What is the value of LinkedIn Endorsements?

When LinkedIn created a new way to endorse others a few years ago, many people formed many different opinions regarding the value of these endorsements.

LinkedIn Endorsements

This is what I'm referring to when I talk about LinkedIn Endorsements:

These endorsements came from my own LinkedIn profile.

Check Box Endorsements

Prior to what I call the “Check box Endorsement System”, we were encouraged to write written recommendations.  Written recommendations are seldom written any longer.  If you want to capture someone’s attention and you want to make someone’s day, consider writing written recommendations for a couple of your LinkedIn connections every week.

Don't Endorse Me!

One of the first people I endorsed through the new check box endorsement feature got a bit upset with me.  He made a quick decision to dislike the new endorsement system and he didn’t like it when I endorsed him for many skills which I knew he had.

This reaction to being endorsed was surprising to me.  Surprised or not, it was this LinkedIn member’s choice to like or to not like the endorsement system.

Don't Miss This Opportunity

Whether you like or dislike the endorsement system and whether or not you think the system has any value, if you’re not leveraging the opportunity to endorse your peers and/or colleagues from the present or the past, you’re missing a golden opportunity.

There will be a person here and there who doesn’t like to be recognized.  You’ll have to be prepared for that.  For the most part, there aren’t going to be many of your LinkedIn connections who don’t appreciate being appreciated and recognized. 

20 Seconds to ROI I Can't Even Measure

I just endorsed one of my connections and I can tell you that it took 20 seconds for me to exert this effort. 

A 20 second investment in order to make someone else’s day is a minuscule investment of time and energy.  The ROI from this 20 second investment could be priceless.

www.jeffsnydercoaching.com

A Successful Week of Public Speaking, Resume Coaching and LinkedIn Coaching

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I was busy fulfilling commitments to ClearedJobs.net, the Colorado Springs ISSA and to MBA Research, a company that contacted me to have me sit on a panel related to the future of education here in Colorado.

On Wednesday, on behalf of ClearedJobs.net, I gave resume reviews to groups of primarily Cybersecurity professionals in Colorado Springs.  I did my best in a very short time to teach each group how to create a clean, clear, logical resume that would speak effectively to the resume's audience.  This was fun!

Yesterday morning, I was privileged to work with a group of entrepreneurs and business leaders in Denver.  We were assembled in order to provide information that will ultimately end up in the hands of the Colorado Board of Education with regards to curriculum adjustments that should be made in Middle School, High School and Colleges and Universities in Colorado.  This was fun!

Yesterday afternoon, I was privileged to have been invited back to the Colorado Springs ISSA for second year in a row.  I was asked to speak on the topic of LinkedIn.  It was a relatively full room and I know I had fun delivering what I could deliver in less than an hour to get a highly diverse group of technology and cybersecurity professionals up to speed on the topic of building a personal LinkedIn strategy.

"JEFF, WE MET TODAY AT THE ISSA CONFERENCE. THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTIC TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF LINKEDIN, YOUR TALK WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND I APPRECIATE THE WORK YOU DO TO HELP OTHERS IN MARKETING, MYSELF INCLUDED."

Now I'm back at my desk where I'm providing Coaching Services, Recruiting Services for Security, Risk Compliance and Privacy skills and I'm about to write up several new brand new IT Risks Management and Security Strategist positions.

Jeff Snyder's Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

ISSA Colorado Springs, August 19 and 20, Jeff Snyder Public Speaking

If you're in Colorado on August 20, and you'd like to learn more about LinkedIn as a business and professional networking platform, come on out.  I'll do the best I can to tell you what you need to know.  I've been invited back to speak to this group for a second time.  

On August 20, I'll be speaking on a topic entitled:

LinkedIn Is Here To Stay…What’s Your Personal Strategy?

On August 19, I'll be at the job fair connected to the Cyber Security Training and Technology Forum to provide resume reviews provided by ClearedJobs.net.

Jeff Snyder's Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

"Jeff does a great job with every service he offers"

I love to help my clients get from where they are to where they want to go

"Jeff does a great job with every service he offers whether it is resume coaching, emotional intelligence improvement, LinkedIn coaching, etc. He is the ultimate professional you want on your team!"

Jeff Snyder's Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

What are Jeff Snyder's Qualifications to Provide LinkedIn Coaching?

What Are My Qualifications To Provide LinkedIn Coaching?

This is a very good question that was recently brought to me.  I like questions and I’m happy to give this one an answer.

Back in 2004, I was one of the first 800,000 members of LinkedIn.  That might not sound like such an early-on experience but when you consider that LinkedIn has over 300,000,000 profiles today, I was somewhat of an early adopter.  I've been studying the functionality of LinkedIn pretty much from its inception and many of my early predictions were spot-on.

At this point, I have one of the larger LinkedIn networks in the world with over 29.300+ direct connections.

Its not all about the size of my network. Its more about the relationships I’ve been fortunate to make because of my network and the business I’ve been able to develop through LinkedIn.

My LinkedIn Ranking

As of the writing of this blog, this is where I stand relative to my 29,300+ direct connections on LinkedIn.

“You rank in the top 2% for profile views among your connections.”

My LinkedIn Coaching Client's Results

My last couple of LinkedIn Coaching clients have experienced 27% and 28% increases in LinkedIn visits within 1-2 weeks of implementing the changes I suggested they should implement when I coached them.

Most of my LinkedIn coaching clients are people who are in an active job search mode.  In this case, they want to be found more frequently and they want to be found by the right people.  This is happening for my clients.

Why I Bundle my 1 Hour Resume Coaching services with my LinkedIn Coaching Service

My LinkedIn Coaching is most effective when it is bundled with my 1 Hour Resume Coaching service.  The reason for this effectiveness is that achieving improvement on LinkedIn requires outstanding content and a well-thought-out LinkedIn Strategy.  All of my Resume Coaching clients all have outstanding content.

You're Already Making a First Impression

If you’re on LinkedIn, you’re making a first impression.  That impression is bad, neutral or great.  I know that not everyone thinks like me but I can’t understand why anyone would want to settle for a bad or neutral first impression when you could make a great first impression.

When you’re ready to take your LinkedIn presence to the next level, I’m ready to help you through my LinkedIn Coaching Services.

Jeff Snyder’s, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810

A Job Seeker's Question Regarding LinkedIn Coaching

Q: I have a Phd in optical sciences and I would like to have a support in building my profile for apply to specialized companies. Do you offer this kind of support? 

Answer:  

Thank you for your message.  I can definitely help you.  Would you mind sending your resume so I can see how you are packaging and presenting yourself in that regard?

The most effective way my clients have found to leverage LinkedIn is to first create outstanding resume content and then to align their LinkedIn presence with their resume.

 Here is an example.  I hope my analogies make sense.

•  Think of LinkedIn as the “Cliff Notes”
• Think of your resume as the “First Chapter” of the book
• Think of your phone interview or face-to-face interview as the opportunity to walk the interviewer through your entire book.

Getting your Resume Message, LinkedIn Message and Interview Message aligned is where you’ll find success.

Regards,
Jeff

 PS:  I’ve just accepted my next speaking engagement with a group of 500 technology professionals.  I’ve been asked to speak on leveraging LinkedIn as a personal marketing platform.  I’ve been developing my LinkedIn strategies and philosophy since I firset joined LinkedIn back in 2004.

Jeff Snyder's, Jeff Snyder Coaching Blog, 719.686.8810