Power Formula LinkedIn Blog

Are you thinking of making a job switch, but you don't want to let the whole world (especially your boss) know it?

Obviously, you don’t want to use words like seeking, pursuing, or looking in your LinkedIn profile—that’s the quickest way to the unemployment line. But sprucing up your profile, adjusting a few of your settings, and creating targeted search alerts are a few of the easy steps you can take when looking for a new job under the radar.

If you are officially (or unofficially) looking for a new job, consider signing up for one of my specially priced $197 one-on-one virtual LinkedIn consultations which includes a full profile critique. Here is a link to check out the details and sign up today: https://www.powerformula.net/one-on-one-linkedin-consultation/

Here are some specific steps you can take if you want to keep your job search on the down-low (but many of these tips are perfect for general job seekers as well).
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Spruce up your profile

If you have used your LinkedIn account sparingly and all of a sudden there’s a flurry of activity, this might be a red flag to your boss. Therefore, if you plan to make edits to your profile, be sure that the Share with network button is toggled over to "No." Then your network won't receive notifications about the profile changes you're making.

Keywords. Use plenty of the keywords hiring managers and recruiters might use to find people with your specialties and skills (e.g., job duties, titles, industry certifications, software expertise, etc.).

For help on this, download my worksheet Keywords: The Key to Being Found on LinkedIn by clicking here.

About (formerly titled Summary). This is tricky. You need to look like a happy employee while at the same time touting your expertise and accomplishments. Keywords are definitely important. For example, you might try, “Johnson Company always puts the customer first, and my attention to detail and ability to provide excellent customer service make me a good fit at Johnson.”

Experience. Include a detailed description of your accomplishments for every job entry you include in this section. You’re trying to differentiate yourself from other job applicants, so don’t skimp here.

Headline. You only get one shot at a first impression. Make it a good one. It’s been expanded recently to 220 characters—so be creative.

For additional help on this critical section of your profile, download my free worksheet The Definitive Worksheet to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile Headline by clicking here.

Skills. LinkedIn members will give you endorsements for your skills, and you’ll want to focus on including the skills you hope to use in your new job.

Completing this profile section correctly is critical, but it can be a bit confusing. Check out my article Have You Revisited Your LinkedIn Skills Section? for a detailed discussion.

Accomplishments special profile sections. Options include Publications, Certifications, Patents, Courses, Projects, Honors & Awards, Test Scores, Languages, and Organizations. These are a terrific way to impress readers of your profile and differentiate yourself from other candidates.

Education. In addition to your general educational background, include any specialized courses you’ve completed. Describe them in detail and use lots of keywords.

Recommendations. Outside corroboration of the information on your profile is extremely important. Your two most recent recommendations will be prominently displayed on your profile, so try to get at least two current, impactful recommendations. You probably don’t want to ask your boss for a recommendation, but customers, vendors, and college professors (for recent grads) are great options.
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Be proactive

Once your profile is in tip-top shape, you’re ready to start actively looking for a job.

Jobs tab. Use the job search function here to laser focus your search for job postings that fit your desired positions. You can set up to ten job search alerts in the Jobs tab. It’s like having a 24/7 virtual assistant. LinkedIn will alert you when jobs are posted that meet your criteria.

Create search alerts. With a free LinkedIn account, you can create up to three Advanced People Search alerts. Use these for your target companies—the places you’d most like to work.

Alumni. Access this by clicking the name of one of the schools you attended on your profile. Then click the Alumni tab on that university's LinkedIn page. Use the available filters to find out if any fellow alumni work at the companies where you're interested in exploring a new opportunity.

I'm Interested. Signal to recruiters that you're interested in working with them even if they don't currently have a job posting that you're interested in. Just go to the About tab on their company page and click the I'm Interested button.

“Follow” companies. Go to the company page of your target companies and “follow” them. You'll then be notified of job postings and employment changes at the company.

If you follow this advice, HR professionals and recruiters will start discovering your profile. But don’t just sit around and wait for a job offer. Be an active part of the over one billion member LinkedIn community, and before you know it you’ll have landed the job of your dreams.

If you'd like more winning strategies for finding a terrific new job, consider signing up to spend an hour with me and seriously improve your LinkedIn profile and job search activities.

Here is what a few of my past clients have said about my LinkedIn job search strategies:

"Great job offer received via LinkedIn only two days after consulting with Wayne! I've also received many compliments from recruiters saying that they are impressed with my background and what they've seen on my profile…He had some great suggestions that were quick and easy to implement…He also shared some valuable step-by-step techniques for making important connections."

"I attended a LinkedIn workshop by Wayne. Updated my LinkedIn profile using all his Awesome tips and got 4 interviews with top Fortune 500 companies 3 days later."

I spent 30 minutes with Wayne a few years back, and it changed everything for me in my career and job search. A worthy investment in yourself!

"Wayne has an eye-opening way of approaching LinkedIn and it helped me succeed in finding a job.  As soon I sat down and started applying his advice, my LinkedIn started flooding with recruiters for positions and companies that I was interested in. Within a few weeks, I had interviews for multiple companies and an offer from Meridian (Pfizer) which I accepted. Thank you, Wayne! I recommend anyone who wants to maximize the benefits of using LinkedIn to speak to Wayne."

Get your time booked with me now: https://www.powerformula.net/one-on-one-linkedin-consultation/

 

It's amazing to me how many people have been on LinkedIn for six, eight, even ten years or more and still don't know how to find the exact right person on LinkedIn—and it doesn't even require a premium account to do it!

If that sounds like you, I'm about to show you (step by step) how easy it is to search into LinkedIn's over one billion profiles and find top-notch candidates for your job openings. I'll also give you a template for starting conversations with those potential employees.

To learn all of my best strategies for capitalizing on LinkedIn's recruiting potential, join me on Monday, July 10, from noon-1:30PM CT, for my webinar Using LinkedIn to Recruit Top Talent Without a Premium Account.

If you can't attend live, no worries, because you'll receive a link to view the recording at your leisure. Seating is limited, so learn more and grab your seat now at https://linkedinrecruitingjuly2023.eventbrite.com.

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Simple steps to discover highly qualified candidates

The key to this strategy is taking advantage of LinkedIn's robust search capabilities and sending a short message (300 characters) to a potential candidate as part of an invitation to connect.

Here are the steps:

To get to all the free Advanced People Search filters, put your cursor in the top search box > click Enter or Return on your keyboard > click the People button on the left of the new toolbar that shows up right below the main toolbar > choose the All filters button on the right of the same toolbar. What then floats in from the right are all the available filters to get yourself the very best list of candidates.

Use these filters when building your Advanced People Search:
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• Title. Be sure to try some different words for the same job.
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• Keywords. Here you can get very creative, using things like specialty software, skills, specific industries, territories or regions of the country, etc. Find interview-ready candidates by including words like pursuing, seeking or looking.
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• Companies. Put your competitor's name(s) here. You can choose current or past, based on your desire to hire someone who is still there, has left their employ, or both. This is really helpful. It's how I found the last employee I hired.
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• Connections of. Drop the name of one of your connections in this filter box, and then use any of the other filters to get a great list of potential candidates that he or she knows.

Once you find a combination of filters that produces a good list of qualified candidates, spend time reviewing details on the individual profiles of the best-looking candidates.

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How to engage with impressive candidates

The next step is to click either the Connect button on their profile or if the Connect button is not on their profile, click the More button to the right of the Follow button, and then you'll have a choice in the drop-down that says Connect.

LinkedIn will then ask if you want to forward a message to the individual (maximum of 300 characters), and in it you can share with them your desire to have them consider your position. This message can vary, but try something like this:

Hello, [insert first name]:

Based on a review of your profile, I think you might be a great fit for an outstanding opportunity at our company. If you'd like to have a CONFIDENTIAL conversation about this, let me know. In the meantime, I'd be honored to have you join my network. 

I hope to talk to you soon.

Wayne

By simply cutting and pasting the message and inserting each candidate's name, you can quickly reach out to lots of prequalified candidates without spending a dime.

To learn more quick, easy, and FREE strategies to fill your company's open positions with top-notch people, join me on Monday, July 10, for my webinar Using LinkedIn to Recruit Top Talent Without a Premium Account. 

Nearly every week someone asks me, "I currently have two jobs" [sometimes related, sometimes unrelated]. "Should I have two LinkedIn profiles?" 

The answer is simple: No. As a matter of fact, the LinkedIn User Agreement does not permit a person to have two profiles.

But how you list the two jobs depends on your LinkedIn strategy. To help you understand your options, let me take you through several multiple-job scenarios and show you how you can get the results you desire and avoid confusing people who view your profile.

If you'd like to discuss these types of profile strategies and get simple tips for using LinkedIn to land the job of your dreams, take advantage of my special one-hour $197 LinkedIn consultation. This consultation will take place on the phone, and I'll share my desktop screen with you. I will email your marked-up profile to you prior to our session. Click here to learn more and book your session.
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Scenario 1: Career-related full-time job and part-time job unrelated to your career—and probably never will be related to your career

As long as you're confident the part-time job will not be part of your future employment or career, I'd recommend you leave it off altogether.

One exception to this is hobbies that may provide a bit of income and that people in your network might find interesting—like playing drums in a classic rock band that does weddings and parties or a side gig as a photographer or artist if your work could be displayed in homes or businesses. In these cases, I would include a current job entry. Place it second on your profile, and share information that may help you get gigs for or sales to your connections or their friends and acquaintances.

You might also find it advantageous to add a short paragraph at the bottom of your About section to tell people about your part-time job or hobby.
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Scenario 2: Career-related full-time job and part-time job related to your current career or a potential future career

Keeping your current full-time employer in mind and any possible repercussions, I would include an additional current experience entry for your part-time job. Place it in the second position on your profile, and mention in the description that this job is part time. Then explain in your About section which job is full time and which is part time—clearly emphasizing that your full-time job is your passion.
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Scenario 3: Non-career-related full-time job and career-related part-time job or side business 

Include two current experience entries, the first being your career-related part-time job or side business and the second being your non-career-related full-time job. Make sure the first entry is loaded with your most important keywords relating to this job or side business. Share loads of details about your responsibilities, accomplishments, and whether you are open to being contacted about full-time employment in this field.

Your headline should revolve around this part-time career-related position or side business. Use your About section to bring clarity to your current situation as well as where you want to end up—in all cases being sensitive to your current employer if you don't want to lose your job.
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Scenario 4: Full-time job seeker or student and part-time job unrelated to your career or any potential career

Include a placeholder current experience entry that says you're a student or job seeker, and spell out the kind of job you're looking for and what skills and experiences you can bring to your future employer. State when you're available for hire. In addition to including keywords in the description of your experience, put them in your headline and title.

It's up to you whether you list the part-time job or not. Stating that you are gainfully employed will be looked upon favorably by some employers. If you can show how the skills you're developing at the part-time job can be helpful in the job you're seeking, that's obviously a good thing. Just be clear that this is a part-time job you're doing while you seek full-time employment.
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Scenario 5: Full-time job seeker or student and part-time job related to your career or a potential future career

As spelled out in Scenario 4, include a placeholder current experience entry (displayed first) that includes the kind of job you're seeking, when you're available, etc., and include pertinent keywords as mentioned above.

Include a second listed job entry about your part-time job and your desire to find full-time employment in this field. Explain in detail the skills, responsibilities, and accomplishments related to this part-time job so that the potential employer will see how you are ready for a full-time position in this field/industry.

When you embark upon changing your LinkedIn profile for any of the above reasons, be clear, truthful, and mindful of your career goals—and LinkedIn will help you get where you want to go.

SPECIAL OFFER

If you want me to see how "job search ready" your profile is as part of my full profile critique and also help you develop strategies to find your next great position, then take advantage of my special one-hour $197 LinkedIn consultation. This consultation will take place on the phone, and I'll share my desktop screen with you. I will email your marked-up profile to you prior to our session. Click here to learn more and book your session.

Here are a few comments from my recent clients:

"Great job offer received via LinkedIn only two days after consulting with Wayne!"

"I highly recommend Wayne's 1:1 Linked In coaching session. Per Wayne's guidance, I reached out to the SVP of Client Success for a company I saw a suitable role. I used language Wayne provided in our 1:1 session to initiate the contact...Since then I've had an initial interview and interacted with the SVP multiple times."

"He made the learning experience fun, interesting, and was a big help to me. It has increased my exposure almost two-fold in a couple weeks."

Don't miss your chance to get results like these. Book your session now by clicking here. Space is limited.

 

In honor of Mother's Day, I want to reinforce something your mom taught you—writing thank-you notes.

It's time to dust off that time-proven technique—and not just because it's good etiquette but because it's good business, too.

Follow-up thank-you notes—as well as hidden but highly effective LinkedIn features and strategies to crush your 2023 sales goals—will be some of the many highlights of my upcoming virtual workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on May 22. Here is a link to check out the details and register: https://linkedinsalesmay2023.eventbrite.com

When to send a thank-you note

Some people are adding dozens of people to their LinkedIn network each week, and sending a personal note to each person may not be possible. But, at the very least, I suggest sending a thank-you note when:

1.  You accept an inbound connection request from someone who meets one of your most important strategic connection criteria

2.  Someone accepts your outbound connection request

You have their attention; so don't miss this opportunity to send them a note. It may encourage them to give you a call or consider you next time they need whatever product or service you're offering.

They invited you to join their network

In this case, your response can be somewhat standard, but it may be advantageous to mention something the person said in his/her invitation to you.

Here's what I typically say:

Hi [insert first name]:

Thanks for the invitation to connect, and welcome to my network. 

I look forward to helping you with your LinkedIn strategy and tactics. To get started, let me know if you would like to begin receiving my free weekly email of LinkedIn strategies and tips. 

Take care. 

Wayne 

You invited them to join your network

In this case, the note should be totally customized, depending on why you extended the invitation in the first place.

Say "thanks" and mention a next step the person could take. Here are a few easy ways to spark engagement:
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• Include a link to download a helpful resource or an archived or upcoming webinar
• Suggest a time for a phone call or meeting
• Share a reason to check out a section of your website
• Offer to make an introduction to someone they might like to meet in your network

You get the idea.

Does this take extra time? You bet. Will it be worth the effort? Without question. I add twenty to thirty people to my mailing list each week by following these steps—and some of them have become clients.

LinkedIn is so much more than a social media site you should check occasionally. It's a powerful tool to help you grow your business. And if you can make money AND make your mom proud, I say go for it!
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SPECIAL OFFER

If you'd like to learn more simple but powerful ways to use LinkedIn to sell more products and services—or, if you're not directly selling something, maximize LinkedIn for yourself or your organization—join me on Monday, May 22, for my virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects.

 

What percentage of your LinkedIn connections are in your target audience?

That's a question I've been asking the people with whom I've had one-on-one consultations over the past few years. Here are the answers I get from the majority of the people:
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• I don't know
• Never thought about that
• Maybe 10 to 15 percent

That tells me most people aren't being very strategic in adding connections to their LinkedIn networks and maybe need a little tuneup on how to strategically grow their networks.

Building a strong network is one of the main strategies I'll be addressing in great detail at my upcoming virtual workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on May 22. Here is a link to check out the details and register: https://linkedinsalesmay2023.eventbrite.com
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Who should be in your network?

Let's start with this idea. Connections are the gas in your LinkedIn tank, and every time you connect with someone on LinkedIn, it affects the quality of your network—just like the quality of the gas you purchase affects how your car runs. In other words, not all connections are created equal.

Most people add connections haphazardly, but to be highly successful on LinkedIn it's important to develop a strategy for growing a dynamic network that will help you reach your most ambitious goals.

Everyone's situation is unique, but here are some general suggestions that will help you understand what types of people you should connect with to strengthen your network and help you grow your business, find a job, enhance your brand, or assist your favorite nonprofit.
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Who can help you generate sales leads, market your company's products and services, and grow your business?
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• Individuals who are the direct decision-makers for the purchase of your products and services
• People who are indirectly involved in the decision to purchase your products and services (strategic influencers or people from the company who weigh in on the decision)
• High-ranking officers at the companies that purchase your products and services, even if they're not the direct decision-makers
• Individuals who hang around with the people listed in the first two bullets (probably deliver similar services to the same purchasers)
• People who are recognized industry experts
• Leaders of your industry associations and/or people who manage industry events
• Individuals who are well networked in your region or industry
• Experts who provide educational content for the industry
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Who can help you find a new job or advance your career?
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• People who work in your industry and region
• People who work for companies you are interested in
• Recruiters who specialize in your industry
• Consultants and experts in your industry
• Human resources professionals who work at your target companies
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Who can help you enhance your personal brand?
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• People who have had similar career paths to yours
• Leaders in your industry associations
• Individuals who have large networks (LinkedIn or otherwise) concentrated in your region or industry
• People who work for some of the well-respected companies in your region and industry
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Who can help your favorite nonprofit thrive?
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• People who volunteer for or sit on boards of similar nonprofits
• Individuals who work at large corporations, foundations, etc. and tend to support nonprofits like yours
• People who are involved in groups that have large volunteer pools (e.g., religious organizations, schools, clubs, etc.)
• People who work for media outlets

If you strategically improve the quality of your LinkedIn network by connecting with the above-referenced people, you'll be better positioned to grow your business, find a job, enhance your brand, or assist your favorite nonprofit.

A final reminder, if you'd like more winning LinkedIn sales strategies, be sure to register soon for my workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects on May 22 by clicking here. 

 

LinkedIn is contacting more and more companies and trying to convince them to upgrade their sales teams to Sales Navigator accounts. In addition, LinkedIn is putting more limits on the better features of their free accounts. Thus, more and more business professionals are asking me, Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator really worth the $99.99/month?

I've been using Sales Navigator for about nine years. Since it's a fairly expensive upgrade, I've put together some facts, figures, and personal thoughts to help you figure out if it's right for you.

Note: These comments do not address all of the Sales Navigator features but merely the ones I feel might justify the significant monthly investment. As part of my upcoming virtual workshop on May 22 Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects, I do a short live demo of these and other Sales Navigator features and extensively review the best ways to use free LinkedIn to generate leads. You can check out the details of this two-hour workshop and register here.
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What is Sales Navigator?

Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's stand-alone business development platform that works in conjunction with your regular LinkedIn account. LinkedIn says that Sales Navigator will help you "target the right buyers, understand key insights, and engage with personalized outreach."

Users don't have a separate profile or separate login. You access Sales Navigator by simply clicking the Sales Nav icon, which will appear at the far right of your top toolbar after you upgrade your account.

There are three levels of Sales Navigator (with increased features and capabilities), beginning at $99.99/month. A free, 30-day trial is typically available. Click here to check out the differences between the three options. I pay $99.99 per month, and my comments here relate to that version.
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You should consider upgrading to LinkedIn Sales Navigator if:

You're tired of LinkedIn limiting your people searches each month. If you're taking advantage of LinkedIn's expansive database and doing lots of searches, you've probably reached the commercial use limit. No one outside of LinkedIn seems to know how many searches you can do before reaching the monthly limit, but it sure seems to have been reduced over the past couple years. This is the number one complaint I get from people who are hanging onto the free account but should probably consider upgrading to Sales Navigator.

You can avoid the commercial use limit by upgrading to Premium Business ($59.99/mo), but I'm not convinced this upgrade is valuable enough to justify the investment. You cannot avoid the commercial use limit by upgrading to Premium Career ($29.99/mo). Here is a chart to compare these two plans against Sales Navigator plans.

You want more helpful filters when searching for people. As part of Sales Navigator's Lead Builder function, there are currently 38 very specific filters available—and they're adding new ones all the time. This is one of the main reasons you might want to upgrade.

In my opinion, the best filters to help you find just the right people are Company headcount, Geography-Postal code, Years in current position, Years in current company, Posted content-Keywords in articles, Spotlights-Changed jobs in last 90 days, Spotlights-Posted on LinkedIn in last 30 days.

Searching for people with the free account, where you need to use Boolean search rules, can be quite challenging, but it's very easy with Sales Navigator.

You'd like to save your advanced filtered people searches. Once you've done a good job of figuring out the right filters for a people search, it's usually helpful to save those search criteria for future searches. This saving function is no longer available on free or Premium LinkedIn. With Sales Navigator, you can save fifty searches, and LinkedIn notifies you weekly when new people meet your preselected search criteria.

This is, hands down, one of the most useful Sales Navigator features. It's like having a virtual assistant who's looking for the right people for you 24/7.

You want to send messages (InMails) to people who aren't first-degree connections. Sometimes you just don't want to connect with someone in order to send him/her a message. A Sales Navigator subscription includes an allotment of InMails. I get fifty InMails per month, and they carry forward if I don't use them all before month-end.

You'd like to track only certain people (leads) or companies (accounts) and avoid extraneous information. On your Sales Navigator home page, there is a feed that looks similar to the feed on your regular LinkedIn account but with one big exception—the only information in that feed relates to people (leads) or companies (accounts) you've designated.

In other words, there's no advertising and a lot fewer posts that really don't interest you because you handpicked the people or companies, and you get everything they share because there's no feed algorithm where LinkedIn decides what you want to see.

Also, you can designate people or companies that aren't part of your network. In other words, they don't have to agree to connect with you, but you can still monitor their activity. Then, if you use some of the information you've learned about them, you might be able to convince them to engage with you.

So, as you can see, the answer to the question of whether Sales Navigator is worth the $99.99 or more per month is yes, no or maybe. For me, it's definitely worth it, because I do a lot of searches for prospecting purposes. This synopsis should help you decide if it's right for you.

To learn more about the very best sales features on Free LinkedIn, see a live demo of these and other LinkedIn Sales Navigator features, and learn other quick and easy strategies to improve your sales pipeline, join me on Monday, May 22, for my two-hour webinar Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. 

 

Your LinkedIn company page has several important purposes and none more important than to share, influence, educate, and attract your target audience—but none of that will be effective unless people make the choice to follow your company.

Note: I will be covering these strategies and so many more in my upcoming 90-minute virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business on April 24. Check out the details and register here.

Here are the best ways to get more company page followers.

1.  Install a LinkedIn Company "Follow" Button on your website and blog.

2.  Ask people to follow your company in your other channels of corporate communication (snail mail, email, newsletters, advertising, etc.). And it's kind of lame to simply say, "Please follow our company page on LinkedIn." Instead, share with them what's in it for them. For instance, explain what interesting information you're going to make available to followers, like special promotions, job postings, articles, video, checklists, events, etc.

3.  Get more employees from your company to join LinkedIn, and be sure they correctly list and attach to your company as their current employer. This has been done correctly when your company logo shows up on their profile, and it will then click through to your company page.

4.  Allow employees who may have a large number of individuals in your company's target audience to invite people to follow your company page using the new Invite Connections feature. Find more details on this very helpful feature here.

5.  Show your employees how to include a link to your company page in their email signature.

6.  Discuss with all employees the importance of liking, sharing, and/or commenting on posts that come from your company page. Your company's posts will then go to each employee's network—of course, based on the LinkedIn feed algorithm. More views = more followers. (Note: Employees are automatically followers of their employer's company page.)

You can use the new employee notification feature. This is one of the best new features LinkedIn has come up with for improving the effectiveness of your company page posts.

7.  Mention and link your company page on your other social media platforms.

8.  Refer to your company page when interacting with people in your LinkedIn industry groups.

9.  Share good, helpful resources and information via company posts on a consistent basis. If you do this well, over time you will acquire lots of followers. LinkedIn has shared great information on what people want to hear about in its Publisher's  Pocket Guide—How to Spark Meaningful Conversations on LinkedIn.

10. Attract new followers by offering unique content that is only available to your LinkedIn company page followers.

In three weeks, I picked up close to 300 followers for my company page when I shared my free ebook 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make—and how to fix them before they damage your company's reputation. I gave my followers access to it before I released it to anyone else.

If you haven't gotten your copy of 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make—and how to fix them before they damage your company's reputation, click here to download your free copy.

If you want more solid LinkedIn corporate marketing strategies like these, be sure to sign up for my upcoming 90-minute virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business on April 24. Check out the details and register here.

 

LinkedIn's Skills profile section has been rather confusing from its inception, but they've been improving it over the years. With the latest feature changes, you now have complete control over the section, which could have a significant impact on your business and career.

Because LinkedIn has made at least a dozen revisions to the Skills section over the ten years of its existence, we can assume this section is fairly important in the overall scheme of how LinkedIn works and, most importantly, in the way the critical search ranking algorithm works. I can't prove it, but I don't think LinkedIn would spend this much time and effort unless it really matters.

Speaking of LinkedIn changes, have you kept up with all the changes available for your LinkedIn company page? I will be covering many LinkedIn company page changes and strategies at my next virtual workshop on Monday, April 24, Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

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How to optimize your Skills profile section

To help you make the most of your Skills section, I will give you some overall strategies for capitalizing on it, in addition to discussing the updated, new, or revised features. Implementing these strategies will help the viewers of your profile better understand how you can help them, and the result will be great new relationships that should lead to improved business and career success.

1.  You can only receive endorsements from first-level connections and for skills you have acknowledged you possess. If you receive a pending endorsement notification from LinkedIn saying, John Jones wants to endorse you for basket weaving, don't say yes if you aren't a good basket weaver or don't want basket weaving listed as a skill in your Skills section.

2.  You can manage them. Scroll down to the Skills section of your profile, and then you can:

Add any skills that show what you're good at from a professional standpoint. If your job duties include sales, add keywords that relate to the products and services you sell. After you click "+" in the top right of your Skills section, type a skill in the box. LinkedIn will then suggest other skills based on the words you put in the box. If those skills are part of your skill set, be sure to add them to your list of skills.

Attach a specific skill to a specific job experience entry. Just click the pencil on a specific skill, and then you can check off which of your job experience entries you would like that skill attached to and displayed below that Experience section entry. This is the newest change and looks to be a very important one.

Delete a skill. Click the pencil icon in the top right corner of your Skills section, and then click the pencil on a specific skill listed that you want to delete. Next, click Delete skill in the bottom left in the specific skills box, and it's gone—along with any endorsements of that skill, of course.

Reorder your skills. This feature enables you to reorder your most important skills to the top of your Skills section, providing greater visibility and credibility for you. Simply click the three dots on the top right of your Skills section, and then click the up-down icon. You can then "drag and drop" to rearrange all your skills in the order of importance.

Because you can now put your best skills at the top of the list, your connections will be more likely to endorse you for those skills—and soon they'll be the most endorsed skills on your profile. This will help you get closer to the top of the search results when people search for those skills.

Choose (1) whether or not you want to be endorsed, (2) whether you want LinkedIn to suggest endorsements to your connections, and (3) whether you want suggestions for endorsing your connections. Click the three dots in the top right-hand corner of your Skills section. Then select Endorsement settings on the bottom of the page to revise your settings. I recommend choosing Yes for all three settings.

3.  You can be endorsed for up to 50 skills. These skills are essentially keywords, and LinkedIn and other search engines love keywords; so I would use all 50 slots if you have keywords that would help people find you.

4.  You don't have to endorse everyone who endorses you. If you want to endorse them, go ahead, but don't feel obligated to do so.

5.  I'm pretty sure endorsements and the skills they attach to are part of the LinkedIn search algorithm. LinkedIn doesn't publicize its algorithm, but, as I mentioned previously, my guess is that skills are an important part of it, because LinkedIn doesn't invest this much time and effort into something that isn't going to help their top-line revenue. They are making a lot of money on their Recruiting Solutions product, and they obviously think this feature helps them deliver the "best" candidate for a certain skill ("best" meaning most endorsed).

6.  List skills that are important and consistent with your current or future business strategy. The skills you include, especially the ones you pin and move to the top of the other categories, should be important for you on a moving forward basis—and these may not be the same skills that have been historically important for you.

Also, don't worry about putting new skills in the top three spots. You may not have any endorsements for them yet, but you'll get them over time.

7.  You might get someone's attention if you endorse him/her. Your face and name may appear on the person's profile, and LinkedIn will also send the person a message saying you just endorsed him or her.

8.  Endorsements may be the differentiator. If two profiles look similar in all respects but one has 120 endorsements for the skill you're looking for and the other has only 20, you will probably be inclined to choose the person with 120.

9.  Endorsements are great, but LinkedIn recommendations are still important. I recommend you get at least three recommendations, because LinkedIn now displays them very prominently and in full on your profile. This is especially important if you're a job seeker. Great recommendations will increase your credibility—and the more the better.

You should now be ready to impress readers of your profile with your specific skills and affirmation of those skills by LinkedIn members—and greater visibility and credibility are sure to lead to increased revenue or a great new job.
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SPECIAL OFFER

To learn about terrific company page changes, address the mistakes you're making, and formulate a specific strategy for your company page, be sure to check out my April 24 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

 

I'm frequently asked Should I connect on LinkedIn with competitors? My quick answer is Are you nuts? Why would you want to hand over your database of prospects and customers to a competitor?

However, because not all relationships are simple and one-dimensional (competitor or not a competitor), here are some factors to consider when deciding whether to connect with a "competitor."
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• Is the identity of your customers already public knowledge? If it's public knowledge, then connecting with competitors is not as big of deal.

• Do you hide your list of connections from your network? If you do, then they can't see who you're connected to anyway, so there's less risk.

• Do you think you're better at LinkedIn than your competitors? If so, then maybe you're going to gain more from having the ability to look through their connections than they will gain from looking at your connections.

• Are you connected to only people you trust or is your network more open? If you choose to connect with people who are not your trusted friends, those people could potentially allow your competitor to come over to their office and scroll through your list of connections. This is certainly unlikely, but it is possible.

Also, keep in mind that relationships change over time. If a trusted coworker who's in your network goes to work for a competitor and becomes your number one nemesis, then you may want to consider disconnecting from that person.

As you can see, there's no simple answer to the question of whether you should connect with competitors. But after you consider the points mentioned above, you can make the decision with your eyes wide open.

SPECIAL OFFER

To learn about terrific company page changes, address the mistakes you're making, and formulate a specific strategy for your company page, be sure to check out my April 24 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

 

When was the last time you updated your LinkedIn Company Page? One, two, five years?

When was the last time you checked to see what some of your most influential outward facing employees said about your company on their LinkedIn profiles? A long time ago, never?

The answers to these questions may just lead you to the fact that you have been a bit delinquent in not making sure you put your best foot forward as it relates to your company's presence on LinkedIn.

To help business leaders corral this potential value, I have written an eBook titled 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make—and How to Fix Them Before They Damage Your Company's Reputation.

In this 15-page eBook, I address common mistakes, provide solutions, and give tips for using LinkedIn to grow revenues, find new employees and suppliers, and maintain a consistent brand in the ever-changing online world.

Download your copy of my eBook here.

Note: Don't miss your chance to register for my April 24 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business. 

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How many of these five mistakes are you and your company making?

1.  Unprofessional or poor-quality employee profile photos—or, worse yet, no photo at all

2.  Sharing incorrect or inconsistent information about the company

3.  Failing to monitor employees' profiles and activity as well as what's being said about the company through LinkedIn

4.  Underutilizing the features and tools available on the company page—or not even having a company page

5. Having a woefully inadequate corporate social media policy—or none at all

To learn the rest of the mistakes and how to address the mistakes you're making plus formulate a specific strategy for your company, be sure to check out my April 24 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.