This presentation is used in a workshop with executives during a networking session. The objective is to provide some deeper insight into how recruiters use LinkedIn to find and select executive candidates. Half a dussin recruiters and another half dussing social media/LinkedIn experts kindly provided their input.
LinkedIn for the Executive, Social Media Marketing Workshop
1. LinkedIn for the
Executive Job Search
Håkan Söderbom
www.KonsultPartners.com/presentations.aspx 1
2. Topics
ͼSome statistics
ͼLinkedIn Facts & Features
ͼA straw-man strategy
ͼImplementing the strategy
ͼWhat the Recruiters say
ͼExamples
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3. Statistics # 1 (not LinkedIn related)
ͼ Internal Transfers & Promotions – 51%
ͼ Referrals – 26.7% of all external hires
ͼ Job Boards – 13.2% of external hires
ͼ Social Media – growing quickly, still early
ͼ Company Website – significant at 22.3%
ͼ 2010 plans look bright :
o build or emphasize social media
o employ more SEO / SEM
o use more niche boards where necessary
and reduce overall use of job boards in
general – major boards particularly
www.KonsultPartners.com/presentations Source: http://www.careerxroads.com 4
4. Statistics # 2 (not LinkedIn related)
ͼ80% use or plan to use social networking
o LinkedIn used by 95% (up from 80% in ’08)
o Facebook used by 59% (up from 36% in ‘08)
o Twitter used by 42% (new)
ͼ66% of those using social networks reported successful
hires
ͼ76% will add more employee referrals
ͼRecruiters research candidates online:
o LinkedIn (76%), search engines (67%), Facebook (44%),
Twitter (21%)
www.KonsultPartners.com/presentations.aspx Source: http://www.jobvite.com 5
5. LinkedIn Facts
ͼStarted 2003
ͼ600 employees
ͼ80 million members
ͼ200 countries
ͼHalf of members in US
ͼNew member joins every second
ͼExecutives from all Fortune 500
ͼFree, plus subscription premium accounts
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6. LinkedIn Features
ͼ Professional profile w. career, expertise
and education
ͼ Lets people find you
ͼ More control of Google results
ͼ Search, follow and engage connections
ͼ Join Groups to engage people with
shared interests
ͼ Engage on LinkedIn Answers
ͼ Three premium Job-seeker accounts
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7. Your Roadmap
PHASE 1 PHASE 2
1. Prepare your strategy 5. Search on LinkedIn Jobs
o Decide starting brand
6. Engage your network
2. Sign up
3. Complete your profile 7. Become visible in your
o 100% -> 40x network and online
4. Add your contacts o Join & contribute to Groups
o Import from Outlook, Gmail, o LinkedIn Answers
Yahoo etc. o Blogging
o Invite others
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8. 100% and Beyond
100% BEYOND
ͼ Current position ͼ Complete set of keywords
ͼ 2 last positions ͼ Make it worthwhile to read
ͼ Education ͼ Join Groups
ͼ Profile summary ͼ Engage on Answers
ͼ Specialties ͼ Track yourself
ͼ Photo ͼ Add a resume
ͼ 3 recommendations ͼ Add a portfolio
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9. Found and not Filtered
KEYWORDS BE “READABLE”
ͼ Industry relevant ͼ Easy to read, short, concise
ͼ Profession relevant summary
ͼ Certifications ͼ But not too short
ͼ Skills ͼ Make it interesting to read
ͼ Degrees ͼ Your profile is not your
ͼ Memberships resume
ͼ “seeking” & “looking”
ͼ Projected position
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10. Keywords (slide added after workshop)
• During the workshop an exercise was run to let the
participants build a strong keyword list. However it became
clear that keywords are specific to each individual’s expected
role, experience, industry, and overall background.
• Due to time constraints a keyword list was not completed.
• Håkan is conducting a LinkedIn keywords and result study
(Oct – Dec) wrt
1. Being found
2. Getting contacted by a recruiter
• Results and conclusions will be posted at
www.konsultpartners.com/presentations.aspx
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11. Searching for Jobs
ͼSearch the main Jobs board
ͼSearch the job discussion
boards of Groups
ͼSearch the job discussion
boards of Companies
ͼTry the Toolbars for IE and
Firefox
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12. Engage your network
ͼActivate your network
ͼVisible in the Timeline
ͼLinkedIn Groups
o Common interests
o Active online engagement
ͼLinkedIn Answers
o Help others
o Show your expertise
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13. The Recruiter Story
ͼ Advanced keyword searches
o Used to find the most likely candidates
ͼ Activity searches in Groups
o Find people with specific interests, good at networking and likely to contribute
ͼ General candidate review
o Get to know the person, personality/style and potential as a candidate
o Network – ability to grow strong, relevant network
o Recommendations – #1 client references, #2 manager & employee, #n peers
o Answers – mentoring/coaching interest and ability, management style,
knowledge and expertise
o The structure of the profile tells a lot about a persons way of structuring and
organizing things
ͼ Post new job opening announcements
ͼ Network, network, network
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19. Caveats?
PERSONAL BUSINESS
ͼ What happens on the web ͼ Your brand can be hijacked
stays on the web – forever ͼ You need to monitor
ͼ “Digital dirt”
ͼ You need to play by the rules
ͼ You are expected to be there
ͼ It takes time
ͼ Private vs. business brands
ͼ Capabilities changing rapidly ͼ Competition can see you
ͼ “I Don’t Know” ͼ Trap of using traditional
ͼ Tool limits marketing approach – will
backfire
ͼ LinkedIn Mystery Search
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21. Credits go to many…
EXPERTS ONLINE RESOURCES
ͼ Richard Evans, Recruitment Professional ͼ LinkedIn:
ͼ JD Gershbein, CEO, LinkedIn Trainer o http://press.linkedin.com/about
ͼ Ed Han, Writer & Editor o http://www.copyblogger.com/the-two-
most-important-words-in-blogging
ͼ Brian Hartman, Social Media Expert o http://www.copyblogger.com/blog-
ͼ Christine Hueber, Social Media Marketing triggers/
Expert ͼ Research/statistics
ͼ Wallace Jackson, Multimedia Producer o http://blog.careergoddess.com/blog/2010
/08/recruiting-via-social-networks-on-the-
ͼ Sue Morrissey, Recruiter at Parallels rise.html
ͼ Patrice-Ann Rutledge, author of Sams Tech o http://recruiting.jobvite.com/news/press-
Yourself LinkedIn in 10 Minutes releases/pr/jobvite-2009-social-
recruitment-survey.php
ͼ Subramanian Saminathan, IT/Telecom o http://www.patrickomalley.com/linkedin-
Professional training-page.html
ͼ Karen Siwak, Resume Strategist
ͼ Samira Waernlund, National IT Recruiter
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23. Q&A
ͼ Can I combine my resume and my ͼ It is getting very complicated to
LinkedIn profile? update LinkedIn, Facebook and
o Resume customized to fit role Twitter at the same time…
o LI profile connects you o Consider using a tool that allows
o LI profile markets you you to post to several social tools,
e.g. TweetDeck.
o Sometimes they can be the same
o However consider your business vs.
ͼ Why isn’t my profile generating private brands and impact of
interest? frivolous communication
o Too generic, no specialist keywords
o Too short or too long
o Not focused on your job search
goal
ͼ How can I get more attention?
o Drive Content & Conversations
o Stand out
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24. Advanced Strategies
ͼContent and Conversations
ͼGive to gain
ͼCombine traditional marketing with SMM
ͼTrack yourself; # profile views & connections
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25. Late Developments
The Real-Time Stream
Filters
Trending Links
Search Toolbar
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Welcome to this presentation that has been prepared for a Seattle based Executive Networking Group. The purpose of this deck is to introduce some strategic concepts for using LinkedIn as a career tool. It is also meant as a foundation for deeper discussions on the pro’s and con’s of different LinkedIn strategies.Note, social media is evolving as we speak and the tools mentioned are enhanced and changed regularly. Only by using the tools and building experience in the “netiquette” of interacting with people will you really come to understand, appreciate and leverage the possibilities provided.This is *not* a “getting-started” presentation and the focus is not on *how* to set up your profile but rather on *what* to do to reach your job search goal.
We will first cover some statistics from two studies that exemplify how online social media is being used by recruiters and hiring companies.We will then briefly cover key features of LinkedIn to get everyone on the same page, before we dive into the strategy.The strategy proposed covers a basic level most of you will already have achieved, however you will probably learn something new. The strategy then covers more thorough steps for being found and for being noticed.As we drill into some of the strategy elements you will come to learn helpful steps to make you successful.After going through the strategy, we will hear what the recruiters that were interviewed had to say, which will allow us to verify the strategy and put it in perspective.Finally we will explore four LinkedIn profiles and grade them based on some (informal) criteria.
Source: http://www.careerxroads.com/news/SourcesOfHire10.pdfBased on 41 large companies’ responses representing 176,420 positions and 1.8 million US-based employees, employing 1,501 recruiters and sourcers.Internal Transfers & Promotions made up 51% of all filled F/T positions - Conclusion: Your best bet is still to be on the inside of a company. This may impact your choice between taking a good-enough position and grow in the company vs. searching for the perfect-fit position.Referrals make up 26.7% of all external hires – Conclusion: It is as everyone says, networking is the key to finding the interesting and right positions.Job Boards represent 13.2% of external hires – Conclusion: The online sites represent a significant, but not leading, channel to the next position.Social Media, growing quickly but still early stages vis-à-vis attributed hires – Conclusion: The online tools provide a channel that is growing in importance, but it is not yet the primary way of getting connected.Company Website significant source at 22.3% - Conclusion: while the data is a bit hard to analyze, it indicates that a company’s open job postings and career website provide an important source for the recruiters and HR.2010 looks bright – respondents 2010 plans:build or emphasize social mediabuild or rebuild sourcing teams; expand referralsemploy more SEO (search engine optimization) / SEM (search engine marketing) use more niche boards where necessary and reduce overall use of job boards in general – major boards particularlyConclusion: Understanding and using social media will give you a competitive edge today, and its importance will grow significantly in the future.
Source: http://recruiting.jobvite.com/news/press-releases/pr/jobvite-2009-social-recruitment-survey.php Jobvite’s survey focused on the recruiting habits of an even distribution of companies of all sizes. Approximately 440 human resources and recruitment professionals completed the survey, the majority of which, 65 percent, have between 101 and 5,000 employees at their company. Responses came from a variety of industries, with a concentration of technology companies making up 33% of respondents.Full results of the 2009 Jobvite Social Recruitment Survey are available at: http://recruiting.jobvite.com/2009-social-recruitment-survey.html-----------------80% use or plan to use social networking to source candidates, of thoseLinkedIn is used by 95% (up from 80% in ’08)Facebook is used by 59% (up from 36% in ‘08)Twitter is used by 42% (new)Conclusion: This study shows that social tools are already a premier channel for recruiters to source candidates. LinkedIn is the preferred tool, with Facebook and Twitter following.66% of those using social networks reported successful hiresConclusion: Social media works for finding a new job.77% use social networks to find passive candidatesConclusion: Recruiters know that to find the best candidates they need to scan broadly and having updated profiles and resumes are key to being found.76% plan to invest more in employee referralsConclusion: It is expensive and a long process to hire the right candidates. Companies are trying to keep down costs and pinpoint the right candidates by alternative means.Recruitment and HR professionals research candidates online:LinkedIn (76%), search engines (67%), Facebook (44%), Twitter (21%)24% of candidates disclose social networking presence when applyingConclusion: If you don’t have an online profile the questions will be “why not”. If you have an online profile it should be good and representative of the skillset and “brand” you want to project.
Company facts source: http://press.linkedin.com/faq
LinkedIn provides numerous features for you to detail and express your skills, experiences, education and many more details. Since LinkedIn is regularly indexed by the main search engines it is likely to be the most relevant place others will find your information.In fact, since it has relevance in the search engines it is also a good opportunity for you to take control of you own brand to project the right skills and what you can do for a presumptive employer.Today you will find that a huge number of information workers in the US are present at LinkedIn. This makes LinkedIn a fantastic tool for staying connected with your professional contacts, to reconnect with old business acquaintances and to find new.Since we know that connections matter, asking people that know you well to introduce you to other individuals may well put you ahead of any competition.Not only does LinkedIn allow you to connect with individuals based on relationships but LinkedIn also provide Groups (or forums) for like minded people to share, express and discuss topics they have on common. Participating in these Groups is a great way of building your network and creating visibility of yourself into the community.LinkedIn Answers is another way of directly helping peers by sharing your business expertise and experience. This also works towards showing that you are a subject matter expert or that you have the relevant experience to mentor or lead other people.LinkedIn also provide three levels of Premium job-seeker accounts that give you some further features to become more visible and connect with recruiters and other people who may help you towards your goal.
Here is a straw-man strategy to help you focus on what matters.Phase 1 – the BasicsPhase one is about getting you up there. Your profile will work for you 24x7, even when you are asleep.However your presence needs a goal, as that goal should drive what information you express and how you project an image of yourself in the your next role.It is also about being found and recruiters search for keywords to identify likely candidates. When you have an outline of the information you will start out with, sign up (if you haven’t already) and start building your profile to 100% completion.As part of building out your profile you also start building your network.Phase 2 - LeverageWhen your presence is solid on LinkedIn it is time to start using the many tools available to find and be found./jobsFor instance you may want to explore the www.linkedin.com/jobs that are available. Since LinkedIn now knows your profile it does a fair job of presenting suitable positions. Investigating this feature gives the impression that it is very much driven by title matching.Engage your networkSince you may not have been in contact with many of the people you sign up on LinkedIn, why not start connecting with them in person? After all, that is one of the fun and rewarding experiences of networking.Create broader visibility in your network, and beyond.Prepare your strategy.Decide “who” you want to be online. The profile and information you share will be how people get to know you.According to LinkedIn, a profile that is 100% complete is 40 times as likely to receive opportunities (http://learn.linkedin.com/job-seekers)Try to search for jobs on LinkedIn – you may just find what you are looking for!
The left column states the requirements to reach a 100% complete resume.The right column highlights some of the additions that make the profile even stronger.- You can add additional information and documents via the Box.net application.
Keywords:All recruiters agreed they use keywords to find the prospects. Often the boolean search strings they use are quite complex to find, filter and prioritize the candidates.Further feedback is that there is no “perfect” search – each position is unique and the job description is scanned for keywords and phrases that are then input into the search query. Core keywords includes abbreviations and spelled out words that are industry and profession relevant, including certifications, skills, degrees, diplomas, courses and even memberships in professional associations that indicate you are established in your industry.It has also been suggested for the active job-seeker to include words like “seeking” and “looking” in the profile, even in the title headline, to make sure you get to the top with the recruiters who look for active seekers.Remember that your profile needs to “project” the role you want to step into, not only represent previous positions. E.g. if you were a Director at a Fortune 500 company you may plan to step into a Vice President role at a smaller company.Be “readable”:So now you have been found by the recruiter – how do you make sure you don’t get placed at the bottom of the pile? Some advice include:Make it easy for the recruiter to scan and appraise your fit for the position. For instance, a short and concise profile will ensure the recruiter doesn’t put your profile away before he or she has actually scanned it.Don’t make the resume so short that you don’t get the keywords right.Make it interesting to read. At the very least, don’t go on and on with everything you have done. Remember the recruiter scans hundreds of profiles and is most likely *not* an expert in your domain. If you use too much jargon or are too verbose, you may end up at the bottom of the pile.Consider letting your personality come through. You may even want to show some humor.Your profile should raise the recruiters interest for you and compel them to seek out your resume.
Main LinkedIn Job-board: LinkedIn has a strong repository of open positions and it helps by automatically matching your profile against the postings. Try out the main Job-board.Jobs posted to Groups and sub-Groups:Don’t forget to search and explore in the relevant sub-groups of the Groups where you are a member, both for interest groups and for Companies. Many jobs are posted in the groups since it is a great way of directly reaching active members of the community.LinkedIn provides some tools that are useful beyond LinkedIn. E.g. a toolbar is available that interacts with Monster and other major job-boards. This toolbar will tell you if you have any contacts in your network, at the specific company you are exploring.
You have heard it before: Network! We saw earlier that referrals are a key source of filled positions. With the help of LinkedIn it is easier than ever to stay visible and top of mind with your network. However it takes work, persistence and time.Activate your network – there are two main ways to engage your contacts 1) now that you are connected, take the opportunity to meet and enjoy a deeper conversation, and 2) stay visible and top of mind by being active on LinkedIn.Don’t forget to let people know you are looking for a new job, your network is your strongest ally. Present your offer to help and seek those that either need help or knows of someone who does.Visible updates – Your updates and activities on LinkedIn appear in the timeline of your contacts. Relevant updates will poke their interest and keep you top of mind.LinkedIn Groups; Common interests, Active online engagement – The Groups allow you to extend your network beyond those you know personally to engage other people with common interests, be it Alumni organizations, technology focused groups or networking groups. Many Groups have sub-groups and discussion boards, and it is common with a Job discussion board where jobs are posted.LinkedIn Answers; Help others, Show your expertise – LinkedIn Answers is a great tool for professionals wanting to demonstrate they experience or expertise by helping others. Questions are posted in a wide range of topics and the best answers get commendation and visibility. For professionals seeking customers this is a particularly valuable way of showing thought leadership and expertise.Consider using communication in Groups and Answers to gently inform people that you are looking for a job or a project. E.g. you can update your headline to indicate that you are actively looking.
About a dozen individuals, including recruiters and social media professionals responded to LinkedIn Answers and direct questions. Their feedback can be summarized as such:Advanced keyword searches: Everyone uses them. Searches can get very complex and may take place directly on LinkedIn, by using Google’s site search (i.e. site:linkedin.com [search string]), or of course by searching for resumes broadly, including Monster (much appreciated) Career Builder (second mentioned) and others.Activity searches in Groups: More advanced recruiters look beyond the job boards to seek individuals where they engage based on their skills and interest.General candidate review: LinkedIn, and in fact any online presence, acts as a research tool to gain insight into how suitable a candidate may be for a role.Get to know the person, personality/style and potential as a candidateThe network size (and composition, if you link with the recruiter) can indicate your ability to grow strong, relevant networksRecommendations show that other people value you, however all recommendations are not equal. Highest rank recommendations that are client references, second comes manager & employee. At the very end comes peer recommendations since it is a know fact that “I recommend you and you recommend me” is the most common type of recommendation and it doesn’t carry much value.Answers – mentoring/coaching interest and ability, management style, knowledge and expertiseThe structure of the profile tells a lot about a persons way of structuring and organizing thingsPost new job opening announcementsNetwork, network, network
LinkedIn provides a number of premium accounts where you get extra features, or restrictions are raised, for a fee.The most well known are the premium business accounts that mainly are used by recruiters. However there are also three accounts focused on job-seekers. They range from ~$20 per month ~$50 per month and give you extra visibility in front of recruiters plus some premium features for connecting with other people.
This is aprofile used by an Executive in the IT industry. The profile has been selected to show one of many approaches to building a profile.The analysis and scoring is informal and only used for creating a workshop dialogue of what may be a great, good, or ineffective profile.
This is aprofile used by an Executive in the IT industry. The profile has been selected to show one of many approaches to building a profile.The analysis and scoring is informal and only used for creating a workshop dialogue of what may be a great, good, or ineffective profile.
This is aprofile used by an Executive in the IT industry. The profile has been selected to show one of many approaches to building a profile.The analysis and scoring is informal and only used for creating a workshop dialogue of what may be a great, good, or ineffective profile.
This is aprofile used by an Executive in the IT industry. The profile has been selected to show one of many approaches to building a profile.The analysis and scoring is informal and only used for creating a workshop dialogue of what may be a great, good, or ineffective profile.
Considerations for the individualWhat happens on the web stays on the web – forever: consider the information you share online and what information others may make available. E.g. pictures from the latest costume party…“Digital dirt”: even if information stays on the web forever, there are many ways of cleaning up and making it less likely that others will discover embarrassing or negative information, e.g. make sure you don’t have very old profiles on job-boards you have abandoned; remove your name from “bad” pictures that have been tagged with your name; consider to “de-friend” people who may add compromising content to your timeline.You are expected to be there – for many professionsit is now expected that you have an online presence, and you need to invest the time in managing it.Private vs. business brands – consider how you communicate with colleagues vs. family and friends. There is no simple answer and with the rapid development of the online tools the boundaries are blurring.Capabilities changing rapidly“I Don’t Know” – Consider who and how you invite people to become connections. If 5 or more people say “I don’t know this person” then you will be put on the IDK list which will force you to enter the email address for future requests. This is a major hassle and you want to make sure you don’t end up on the list. Make sure to remind people how you met them, or explain why you want to get connected. By making the interaction personal you significantly reduce the risk they will reply IDK.LinkedIn Mystery Search – onlinesearch is a mystery! While online search engines like Google and Bing publish recommendations for search engine optimization (to benefit the searcher) they don’t share exactly how their algorithms work, and they are constantly updated. For LinkedIn the challenge is even harder since they don’t publish any details on how their search engine works. There are plenty of articles on the internet about how some people end up at the bottom of the list even though their names and profiles seem to be more likely matches than the other results.Tool Limits (may change at any time): - Initial send-limit of 3,000 invitations. If no abuse is detected then limit is usually raised. - 30,000 connections is the max limit set by LinkedInFor GroupsIf you already have 5,000 connections or are already following 5,000 fellow group members you will not be able to follow additional people.Can be a member of max 50 groupsMax 10 questions in Answers per monthMax 5 IDK responses or you account gets restrictedTo consider for your businessThere are many more things to consider when you are building an online presence for your company, includingYour brand can be hijacked – not only be malicious individuals but by companies with the same or similar names in other states or countries.You need to monitor – When customers start complaining about your product or service you had better know when it happens and act on it.You need to play by the rules – There are expectations on your online presence. Know what your audience expects, or set the expectations to prevent runaway emotions.It takes time – building trust, generating interesting content and creating engaging conversations take time and dedicationCompetition can see you – everything you do can be copied and refined onTrap of using traditional marketing approach – don’t see social media as just another new channel for pushing traditional marketing material. That is not expected and will likely backfire. Understand the social rules that are forming and build the online brand with consideration to current netiquette.
About a dozen individuals contributed though direct communication and via LinkedIn Answers. I am very grateful since your guidance helped make the workshop very valuable and much appreciated! Thanks!