CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER PRESENTATION:
STEVE LABADIE | WEB MANAGER
DARIA WIELEBINSKI | CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER
BUILDING A LINKEDIN PROFILE
Session Agenda
 Who Are We and What Are Our Services
 How Do You Get Started?
 Networking / Connecting
 Questions and Answers
The Career Development
Center
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Individual appointments with Career Counselors
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Resumes
Applications
Cover Letters
Interview Preparation
Internships
Graduate School
Targeting Your Dream Job
Monday – Friday
8:00 – 4:30
Drop in Hours no appointment necessary:
W-TH, 1:00-3:00
Wednesday Evenings open until 6:30
Top Floor University Center
570-422-3219
careerdevelopment@esu.edu
MARCH-APRIL
SO YOU WANT TO BE HIRED?
-An interactive interview event to select the right
candidate for a hiring opportunity
APRIL 15th 5:00-6:30
Social Media Drives Hiring
How Employers use
LinkedIn:
- 96% Searching
- 94% Contacting
- 92% Vetting
- 93% Keeping tabs on
candidates
LinkedIn – How Job Seekers Use
it in 2014
LinkedIn is where they do most of their
job-seeking activity:
• 40% contacts referred me for a job
• 34% contacts shared a job opportunity
• 32% made a new professional
connection
• 32% contacts provided an employee’s
perspective on a company
http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/job-seekers-use-social-media-2014-infographic/
What is LinkedIn?
 Founded in 2003
 LinkedIn is the world's largest professional
network
 It has over 259 million members and growing
Why use LinkedIn?
It’s a great career management tool
 Network with other professionals
 Helps you find jobs and employers find
you
 Target audience is college students
and professionals
Why use LinkedIn?
Gain access to experts in your industry:
 Use the Q&A to ask a network of
professionals questions or advice
 Join LinkedIn groups specific to your
industry for group discussions and news
How is LinkedIn Different From
Other Social Media Sites?
 It allows you keep your private life
separate from your professional life
 LinkedIn is information rich and not
a photo and personal sharing
system
5-Step Quick Guide For Getting
Started On LinkedIn
http://www.careerealism.com/getting-started-on-linkedinquick-guide/#R460TG3D97gOAEwD.99
How to Get Started
• Go to the LinkedIn website:
www.linkedin.com and create a profile
Creating a Profile
• Be detailed about your education, internships,
volunteering, jobs, study abroad
• Be authentic and include a strengths summary
• Use key words in your profile that are relevant
in your industry or desired field
• Check spelling and grammar
Creating a Profile
• Your headshot is the first impression
• Use a professionally taken photograph
headshot that shows you in the best light
Creating a profile
Create a Headline to grab the reader’s
attention
• The headline appears under your name and next to
your picture
• Do not limit yourself to the default job title and
employer
• Use the 120 characters to market yourself
• Don’t use a title, be creative & describe yourself
Creating a Profile
• Complete experiences and use keywords
• Use key words in your profile and experiences that are
relevant in your industry or desired field
• Top 10 overused buzzwords on LinkedIn profiles 2013:
Responsible
Patient
Innovative
Strategic
Expert
Analytical
Creative
Organizational
Effective
Driven
• Be detailed about your education, internships, volunteering,
jobs, study abroad
Creating a Profile
Complete an interesting summary (shows up
higher in the profile)
• Take advantage of the 2000 characters
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Tell people who you are
How to contact you
Why they should hire you
Core competencies
Add your email
• Be sure to use proper capitalization and
grammar
Creating a Profile
• Customize your public profile URL
• Make your URL easier to remember
• Can be edited under profile settings
Creating a Profile
Join Groups
• Create business circles and connections
• Gives you a platform to seek advice
• Gives you the opportunity to showcase your
expertise
Creating a Profile
Add Other Profile Information
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Volunteer Experiences & Causes
Certifications
Education
Honors & Award
Skills Section – tell things you are proficient in
• Languages, test scores, patents & others…don’t
put in basic courses like Accounting 101
Creating a Profile
Call to Action
• Would be different for everyone
• Profile shows what you have done and a call to action gives
the reader further instruction on how or why to contact you
• Can show sample work or direct reader to your own personal
website
Examples
• An author or aspiring writing can show their publications
• An artist can showcase their portfolio
• Tell the reader why to contact you .. Interview, job, advice…
• Failure to include contact information could result in missed
opportunities
Quick Fixes To Improve Your
LinkedIn Profile
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The Minimal-Effort Profile
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Add specifics (such as your full work history for the last 10 years, certifications, or
skills)
The Default Headline
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When you specify the details of your current job, LinkedIn will ever-so-subtly
include a checkbox that is already set to “Update My Headline to (your job
title)”. If you leave this information as is, site users will see “Bob Jones, Vice
President Finance at ABC Company” throughout all your activity.
However, if you uncheck the box and then edit the Headline available when
changing your name field, you’ll have the chance to advertise your career
level and competencies with “Bob Jones | VP Finance, Controller, CFO |
Growth, Capital, Funding, & Technology Strategies.”
The key in altering your Headline is to use terms that will trigger your hit rate for
both your job target and current position (and potentially your industry). Inject
a brand message related to your success, as in these examples:
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Martin Forester, IT Director. SAP, Infrastructure-Building, & User Responsiveness.
Manufacturing & Medical Devices
Claire Wilson | Enterprise Account Executive Accelerating Channel Sales to $40+
Million in Managed Services Markets
http://www.careerealism.com/quick-fixes-linkedin-profile/#qPZ4E6xTiPxOcOiX.99
Quick Fixes To Improve Your
LinkedIn Profile
 The No-Networking-Wanted Approach
 Take steps to be findable and reachable
 Join groups (a lot of them!) that represent
your career goals
 Select the types of messages you’re willing to
receive option under Settings to fully open,
ensuring you’ll receive both introductions and
InMail (LinkedIn’s internal e-mail)
 Look at the contact information -it’s buried all
the way down at the bottom of your profileit’s important
 Did you add a phone number, e-mail address,
or both?
Top 3 LinkedIn Profile Errors
1. Failing To Use All The Space Provided
 Work history only includes titles, or you skipped
sections like Interests or Specialties
2. Mistaking A Resume Summary For A
LinkedIn Summary
 Write a more personalized, bullet-point
account of your background and
qualifications
 Break up the text visually so employers can
quickly scan through for key words, and
consider adding decorative bullet symbols for
easier readability
Top 3 LinkedIn Profile Errors
3. Presenting Data Inconsistent With Your
Traditional Resume
 The problem arises when your job history,
education, or achievements appear
differently online than on paper
 To spot discrepancies: print out both your
resume and your LinkedIn profile, reviewing
the facts you’ve listed
 Must deliver the same value proposition
message as your resume
Getting hired today requires a strong online
identity!
http://www.careerealism.com/top-linkedin-profile-errors/#ug1SsJy5mdvhkDXr.99
Keep Profiles Updated
Make Any Updates to Your Profile
• As you would update your resume, you should
also keep your LinkedIn account updated with
your updated resume, contact information or
profile information
Be Active
• Participate and interact often, the more you
interact the more contacts you make, growing
your network
Networking
Begin Establishing a Network
• Your best network is with those you know and
trust already
Explore Career Fields (Alumni Paths)
• Search Alumni by major, employer name,
career keywords, interests, etc.
Explore and Follow Employer Pages
• Use as a research tool, look for job postings,
announcements for opportunities
Connecting to Others
 Connect with people in industries that
interest you
 Limit of 100 profiles to search by
 With companies that you want to learn
more about
 Geographies that you would like to move
to
When connecting, NEVER use the built-in
message:
“I’d like to add you to my professional
network on LinkedIn”
Connecting to Others
 Accept everyone, but invite
strategically
 Don’t just invite everyone who pops up on
“people you may know.” Invite to build
your network the way you want to build it
 Diversify your contacts
 Use your network – announcements or
questions are ok
 Update regularly
Connecting to Others
State Your Intentions Upfront
Hi Joshua,
I obtained your name through the Boston University
MBA LinkedIn Group. I graduated from the School of
Management last year and I am in the process of
making a career transition. It would be helpful for me to
ask you questions about your experiences as an Sales
Account Manager for Cisco.
I am not expecting to discuss a particular employment
position but I would appreciate being able to talk with
you on an informational basis.
I thank you in advance.
Regards,
http://careerealism.com/common-linkedin-mistakes/#BMfGRtflXuCXt3i0f.99
Searches
 Find one person and search their
contacts to have a richer search
 Job search feature
 Search by zip
Things To Immediately Do On
LinkedIn
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Put Up a Photo
Join About 45 groups. You’re allowed up to 50 groups on
LinkedIn
Post Discussions on Your Groups on a Regular Basis
Participate in threads with useful remarks not self-promoting
Let It Be Known You Are An Open Networker, don’t’ just connect
with the people you know
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Accept all or almost all connection requests, at least from
individuals. (not corporations or those with no photo)
Get Recommendations (Endorsements)
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Proactive recommendation seeking involves reaching out and
asking someone to recommend you. Passive recommendation
seeking involves recommending someone, at which point LinkedIn
asks them to recommend you back. The latter is actually a bit more
effective.
If you have endorsements you will appear higher in the search!
http://www.careerealism.com/immediately-linkedin/#hQyzg1SMJ8dDDtP0.99
Example Profile
Example Profile
Example Profile
Example Profile
Example Profile
Example Profile
4 Clues Your LinkedIn Strategy Is
Working
 Your Search Appearances And Profile
Views Have Increased
 The People Viewing Your Profile Are In
Your Target Industry
 People Are Reaching Out To You—
Both On And Off LinkedIn
 Opportunities Start To Come In
http://www.careerealism.com/linkedin-strategy-clues/
LinkedIn University
- under development
 Broaden your networking with a larger
community
 14,000+ ESU Alumni LinkedIn connections
 Degree/major categories
 Get university & other associated networks
updates
http://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?report%2Esuccess=rQG4wgldM0uVR2GjAv0XoOCYHU_S
Mn-M5w75aOe_F2DbwXqRXus9WyeNCUibMKmMT_BmHBeKRY&id=19250
Questions & Answers
Thank you!