HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile. With more than 85 million members in more than 200 countries, LinkedIn is a professional social network worth using, understanding and optimizing. After you've covered the basics of setting up your LinkedIn presence, features including recommendations, applications, LinkedIn Answers, and the Resume Builder can add value to your profile. Many of these highly useful features, though, are often overlooked or underused by newcomers. We spoke with four LinkedIn aficionados to get their top advice on making the best use of these tools. Read on for their thoughts and let us know which tips you'd add for optimizing LinkedIn profiles in the comments below.
Cover the Basics The first step to spiffing up your LinkedIn profile is to fill in as much information about your work experience as possible. It's your online resume; pay as much attention to it as you would your cover letter or paper resume. Ask for Meaningful Recommendations Use Value-Added Applications Here are a few of my personal favorites: InMaps Visualizes Your LinkedIn Contacts with Inter-Connected Webs. 7 Things Not to Say During a Job Interview - FoxBusiness.com. When interviewing for a job, we all want to put our best foot forward, but sometimes we end up putting it in our mouths instead.
Even though you may feel comfortable chatting and making small talk with your interviewer, it’s best to leave some things unsaid. We checked in with experts to find seven things you should never say during an interview. 1.) Don't Compliment the Interviewer's Appearance in Any Way Don’t say: “I love your skirt!” “Compliments on appearance are just too familiar,” explains Patricia Lenkov, an executive recruiter at New York City-based Agility Executive Search . If you are a man complimenting a woman, Lenkov added, it might be seen as sexist or derogatory, even if your intentions are pure. “You’re really taking a risk by saying something even as innocuous as, ‘I like your boots,’” says Lenkov.
What to say instead: “I enjoyed reading about your corporate achievements in the paper last month.” 2.) What to say instead: “It was difficult, but we pulled through.” 3.) 4.) 5.) HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer. David Spark is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of the media production and consulting firm Spark Media Solutions. Spark blogs regularly at Spark Minute. Follow him on Twitter @dspark. For all the advice about how to approach and attract influencers, I haven't seen much written about how to actually become an influencer. It's important, because once you're seen as an influencer, you’re seen as an industry equal and a resource. You're no longer perceived as a nuisance constantly broadcasting your own agenda, hoping others will relay.
Being an influencer yourself is an often overlooked way to engage with other influencers. Always wanted to be an influencer but didn't know where to start? 1. Whether it’s a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or an endless Twitter stream, you absolutely must be a content producer. 2. Failing to be an influencer is often the result of conceding the title of "industry influencer" to someone else. 3. 4. Warner has had similar experiences. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Top 5 Online Communities for Starting Your Career. Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com. It's helpful to have someone with more experience show you the ropes when you're beginning a new journey — this is especially true when it comes to entering the job market. Having a community that shares job openings, tips, resources and words of wisdom is of real value, especially when you can ask the tough questions, such as “Do I really need to write a cover letter?”
Or “What are the job prospects in my industry?” There are several career communities that focus on those initial years of your career and offer resources for you to start off strong — here are five. 1. Intern Queen is a site managed by Lauren Berger, named by Businessweek magazine as one of the Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs Under 25. You can search for internships as well as get on the Intern Queen Hot List, a bi-monthly e-mail of opportunities. 2. 3. Top 10 business etiquette blunders. 5 Job-Hunting Ideas You Haven’t Tried. One of the most frustrating aspects of job hunting is believing you’re doing everything you can and still finding yourself out of work. That’s why it’s empowering to realize you haven’t tried everything, and that new, assertive approaches will help you expand your network and land a job. Here are five action items to help job seekers land an opportunity: 1.
Seek speaking opportunities. Even if you’re unemployed, you’re likely an expert in some subject, so you should be able to identify organizations interested in hearing you speak. Start locally by finding the Kiwanis and Chamber of Commerce in your area. If you don’t feel confident in your public speaking skills, Toastmasters groups are terrific places to practice. Benefit: Speaking in front of a group automatically gives you credibility. 2. [See 6 Ways to Boost Your Job Search on LinkedIn.] Benefit: How often do you find out about a conference or speaker only when it’s too late to attend? 3. 4. 5. 7 Sites That Will Help You Get Hired. When it comes to careers, who doesn't need a little help? It's not just the 14.6 million unemployed, but the millions of employed who are stuck in comatose companies or dead-end jobs. While there are plenty of websites that have useful information for job seekers today, many people still look to the web largely to find job openings.
Here are seven sites that stand out for their intelligence, niche, data, or usefulness, rather than their job listings: Fistful of Talent: Reading the posts on this blog is like listening to a lunchroom full of human resources professionals, hiring managers, and recruiters talk about their likes, dislikes, and strategies. You'll learn things like how recruiters find candidates online, the kinds of questions they like, or their worries about the recruiting process. Sample tip: "A while ago, [SimplyHired] instituted a LinkedIn button. It used to be hidden under their 'more' options, but now it has a prominent display at the top of your job search results. Top Ten Job Search Best Practices. 5 Steps to Getting A New Job | Suzannah Scully - Career Maven.