How to Make LinkedIn and Your Resume Work Together

How to Make LinkedIn and Your Resume Work Together It is a known fact that when it comes to employment, being hired is not always dependent on what you know but often times it’s who you know that can be your biggest asset. That’s why you always hear people talking about the importance of networking. LinkedIn is an excellent website created specifically for professional networking but some users just aren’t using it to its fullest potential. In comparing your LinkedIn page to a sandwich your resume would be the bread and your profile page  would be the meat. The bread might come first, but the meat is the star of the show. Try adding your LinkedIn profile link to the bottom of your resume and encourage potential employers to check it out when you submit a cover letter or get interviewed. Your profile not only illustrates your experience but it also shows people you may have in common, provides a complete work history, links out to other things youve done, lists recommendations from former colleagues, and much more. Your LinkedIn page is your opportunity to expand your resume and get all of your great accomplishments that may not fit onto the resume. Here are some tips to help beef up your LinkedIn profile and impress your future employer. Take time to set up your LinkedIn profile page: The biggest mistake (I should say one of the biggest as others come to mind) you can make on LinkedIn is to fill only the required information and upload your resume then leave it alone. Even if your resume was more robust than most of the others you would run the risk of never giving it a chance to be seen. Companies search for different skills they are looking for in prospective employees. You have the opportunity to add keywords and skills onto your profile. Doing so will increase your chances of being seen by employers and give you a shot at being hired. You never know what may stick out. Something like being alumni from the same school as the person in charge of hiring can give you an edge over the competition. Maybe you and the person in charge of hiring both graduated with an online degree and share the bond of online learning  you never know. Here are 10 Tips To Spruce Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Network on the site: LinkedIn is a site created to promote and facilitate professional networking online, but some of the people who have profiles only created it to post a resume. That is defeating the entire purpose. Add contacts that you have worked with in the past, people you know well and would do business with in the future. Again, they may be searching for a job just like you but they may also know someone of influence in the field you are looking to enter. They can pass your name on, if your profile is completely filled out with relevant information, you just may get considered. Give yourself every opportunity to be seen. Check out the 21 Ways To Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn. Beef up your page: Make use of the recommendation section on your profile page. Reach out to current and former professors, managers and co-workers who can put in a good word for you. Telling people about yourself is good, but when they are able to see great things written about you from others it is even better. Getting a recommendation from a person with an excellent reputation is always a positive thing and can only help you. Be sure to have your resume current with your most recent work experience and skills you have acquired. Your resume and your profile page should tell your story and sell you before you have the opportunity to do so in an interview. Make sure both are presentable and professional looking so you don’t sell yourself short. Author: Jesse Langley lives near Chicago. He divides his time among work, writing and family life. He writes on behalf of  www.professionalintern.com.

How to Become the Preferred Vendor - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Become the Preferred Vendor - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Work to serve your clients There is nothing magical about the answer but there are a number of steps to adhere to so that your clientele knows you have their best interests in mind. The principal is key to building business but unfortunately most often these steps are ignored. Take the time on appointments and initial calls to establish the goals your intended clientele has established and why they need help achieving these. Should your offering be a singular item, then find out why they contacted you and how they learned about you. Something is apparently working and you need to know what that something is so you may repeat. On the complex sale side, once goals are revealed, determine all the possibilities you have to offer that may be of interest. Avoid the stereo-typical telling-selling. Instead, ask questions â€" lots of them. Find out where interest lies and why other areas are of no interest. The more you can understand the “why” the more insight you will gain and stand on a butter footing. Should this be a bigger company with a complex sale, attempt to meet all of the people involved with decision-making process. Work to get everyone on the same page. For example, years ago I was the new salesperson selling an unknown brand to a large company. Their in-house provider sold a competitive brand known worldwide. But, upon attempting to make friends with as many as possible inside the company, I soon replaced the in-house vendor. As you unveil multiple possibilities, avoid coming across as a salesperson whose sole purpose is to make a huge sale. Instead, relay that all of these services are available but advise that to begin, your prospective client may wish to test the waters with one or two items before expanding into your entire program. They will be forever appreciative. Questions will arise throughout the sale cycle. Before you answer, clarify any possible misunderstanding. Use your own words to re-state the question. Then provide a complete answer and ask if it were understood. Follow this by asking if they are in agreement and ready to move forward. As you begin to implement installment of your services, should problems arise, do your best to take care of them behind the scenes. Try to make the transition transparent. After the sale, check in for satisfaction level. Take care of any annoyances that might have arisen. By offering upfront to do this, you stop negative comments and instead turn attention to your outstanding customer service. This is what builds your personal brand and what will dynamically build your business. Added final touches to confirm how terrific you are include: Asking for input on areas for improvement Remaining in touch to be certain everything is functioning well Providing a handwritten thank you card and possibly a small gift of thanks for the business Everyone likes to be appreciated and those final touches will be the icing on the cake. The end result is you will encourage larger sales, repeat business, referrals and testimonials â€" all of which will put you on the wave of the Smooth Sale! Author: Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, (800) 704-1499; was designated as a “Top 25 Sales Influencer for 2012.” Elinor authored the International Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, Sourcebooks and best selling, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews”, Career Press.

Debunking Personal Brand Cultural Myths Part 2 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Debunking Personal Brand Cultural Myths Part 2 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career This is part 2 of a monthly series where I am sharing myths of personal branding. While these myths are typical within Japanese culture, they can easily be debunked in other cultures around the world as well. Make sure to also read about myth #1, I have to give up my group identity. Personal Branding Cultural Myth #2:  Personal branding goes against values of humbleness and modesty Japanese are not usually willing to talk about themselves or accept compliments for their performance. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down is a concept that is ingrained in the Japanese mind-set. When faced with a compliment, the standard protocol is to deflect it, deny it, and come up with some kind of excuse that makes you look worse! As such, there is a sense that defining your authentic self and then broadcasting it to others will put the Japanese at risk of being selfish, stuck-up, and separate from, rather than part of the group. How to Debunk This Myth Personal branding is not about making yourself appear superior or better than others. It is about managing your future so people are excited to engage and connect with you. William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson sum this up perfectly in Career Distinction: When you are just one of many others with similar skills and abilities, you dont contribute to the diversity your organization needs to generate creative innovative ideas. Instead you become a commodity. And people dont get excited about commodities. In a competitive job market, you need people to be excited about you. Simply relying on your resume does not make you any different from anyone else with a similar background. By demonstrating your unique promise of value (even in a more modest and softer way), people are motivated to hire you and pay you a premium. What makes you stand out is not your resume, but rather the attributes that demonstrate your values, passions, strengths â€" your unique promise of value. Stay tuned for part #3 next week! Author: Peter  Sterlacci  is known as “Japan’s personal branding pioneer” and is one of only 15 Master level Certified Personal Branding Strategists in the world. He is introducing a leading global personal branding methodology to companies and careerists in Japan and adapting it for the Japanese culture. In a culture where fitting-in is the norm, his mission is to pioneer a ‘cultural shift’ by helping Japanese to stand out in a global environment. His background spans over 21 years in intercultural consulting, international outreach, and global communication coaching.

Eliminate Excruciating Problems Fast With 1 Simple Rhyme - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Eliminate Excruciating Problems Fast With 1 Simple Rhyme - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You know how badly you need some go-to life hacks that really work. We all do. We need super effective strategies that don’t involve buying one more app, signing up for a new dashboard or watching instructions on YouTube. You certainly don’t need to be touted about TaskRabbit or Fiverr or any of these so-called insta-help services, because they actually involve a ton of communication and constant checking up. You can quit pretending that a stranger is somehow committed to your success for the princely sum of 5 bucks. I have coached people through a tidal wave of their worst problems. Some of them were involved in hundreds of micro-projects because big success is often a process of taking countless small steps. What’s worse at this time in your life? You don’t have an abundance of anything. You don’t have a lot of space, money, time or support. You are beginning to feel a weird kinship with whomever said, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” You ARE doing most everything yourself. It’s the way work is set up now. You and everyone else are supposed to do more with less. That means less of you to do more of anything. It’s like you are no longer a person, but more like a self-cleaning oven. You’re pressured to make it, bake it and clean it up fast. Then: next! So I assembled one simple set of 11 rhyming words that can instantly cue an abundance of solutions. These words stand in for heavy lifting like: project management, increased productivity, people skills, and perfected processes. Whatever is stopping you cold or making you pull out your hair, see if any of these words lead you to a fast way past a problem you’re stuck on. 1. Mending (making a quick fix) 2. Sending (getting it off your desk) 3. Depending (on someone else to handle) 4. Lending (or borrowing) 5. Bending (think rules or “normal” ways of doing things) 6. Fending (off and avoiding certain people entirely) 7. Pending (leaving open to see if it’s really worth tackling) 8. Rendering (doing a quick draft and letting it go) 9. Tending (improving rather than wasting) 10. Vending (sell, sell, sell) 11. Wending (finding a way out, to do what you REALLY want to do) That’s my 11 word rhyming solution set for life hacking some of the projects, processes and people who are driving you nuts, and weighing you down. Love to hear if you have other action words that get you over the humps (rhyming or not). Email: Nance@NanceRosen.com. Subject line: Problems