Creating Connections with LinkedIn (Reformatted)Jan 2014 privacy etiquette NEW
Usc linked in webinar 2 29-12
1. Welcome, Trojans! We will begin the webinar promptly at 5:30pm PST.
In the meantime, you will hear silence.
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speakers OR call in to the toll-free teleconference line:
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For any other questions, please type them into the Q&A box.
http://www.linkedin.com
5. You Have the Achievin
Experience…N g Your
Next
ow What? Career
Goal
http://www.linkedin.com
6. "Your work is going to fill a large part of your
life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to
do what you believe is great
work.
And the only way to do great work is to love
what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep
looking. Don’t settle.”
- Steve Jobs
http://www.linkedin.com
7. Agenda
1 Assess Yourself
2 Investigate Positions and Industries
3 Market Yourself Effectively
4 Network Like a Trojan
5 Q&A
http://www.linkedin.com
8. •Type your question into the
“Q&A” box
•Presenter will answer
questions at the end of this
webinar
•If your question is not
answered, ask it on LinkedIn!
http://www.linkedin.com
9. What
Assess career(s)
Yourself will
make
you
http://www.linkedin.com
11. • Money
• Flexibility
• Title
• Leadership/Influence
• Pace of work
• Helping people
• Expressing myself
• Security
• Location
http://www.linkedin.com
12. • Minimum salary
• Location
• Travel requirements of the job
• Hours (standard + overtime)
• Benefits (vacation time, insurance, retirement plan)
• Management/Supervision
• Professional development
• Work environment
• Colleagues
http://www.linkedin.com
13. • Ask friends/colleagues to describe you
• Take a career assessment test
• Work with a career counselor (Contact the USC
Career Center!)
http://www.linkedin.com
14. Determine your top 3 work values:
1.
2.
3.
Define your top 3 non-negotiable job elements:
1.
2.
3.
Identify your top 3 strengths:
1.
2.
3.
http://www.linkedin.com
15. Investigate Find
Industries, your
Companies &
Positions perfect
match
http://www.linkedin.com
27. • USC Librarians
• USC Career Center LibGuide
• Career Access Resource Library (CARL)
http://careers.usc.edu/carl
• Vault.com (free thorough connectSC Job Portal)
• Career Center events for alumni
• US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook
Handbook O*Net: www.onetcenter.org
http://www.linkedin.com
28. Identify 3 industries you’d like to explore further:
1.
2.
3.
Find 3 companies you’d love to work for:
1.
2.
3.
Determine 3 positions you’d like to learn more about:
1.
2.
3.
http://www.linkedin.com
29. Market Build
Yourself your
Effectively online
presenc
e http://www.linkedin.com
31. “It’s no longer enough simply to
have a resume. You now need a
professional online presence.”
- Holly Paul, U.S. Recruiting Leader,
PricewaterhouseCoopers
http://www.linkedin.com
32. Live Demo of LinkedIn profile
http://www.linkedin.com/in/angelicaurquijo
http://www.linkedin.com
34. • Client-focused, Big Idea Salesperson
• Recent Ohio State Honors Grad and Publishing Intern
• IT Project Manager Seeking New Opportunity
• Senior Public Relations and Internal Communications
Executive
http://www.linkedin.com
52. I will incorporate the following 3 keywords in my LinkedIn profile (and resume!):
1.
2.
3.
I will update my LinkedIn profile in the following 3 ways:
1.
2.
3.
I will drive people to my LinkedIn profile in the following 3 ways:
1.
2.
3.
http://www.linkedin.com
62. I will connect with my fellow Trojans in the following 3 ways:
1.
2.
3.
I will help my fellow Trojans and other networking contacts in the following 3
ways:
1.
2.
3.
http://www.linkedin.com
63. Summary
1 Assess Yourself
2 Investigate Positions and Industries
3 Market Yourself Effectively
4 Network Like a Trojan
5 Q&A
http://www.linkedin.com
66. Upcoming USC Alumni Career Services events
March 13, 2012:
Preparing for the Alumni Career Fair
March 15, 2012:
USC MyWorkster Multi-University Alumni Career Fair
March 30, 2012:
Social Networking and Social Media Job Search in 2012
April 4, 2012:
Bay Area Employer and Alumni Mixer (technical and finance industry focus)
April 25, 2012:
Webinar: The Current U.S. Economy and What We Need to Know About
the Future of Work
To learn more and register: http://careers.usc.edu/alumni
http://www.linkedin.com
If you have any difficulties hearing the audio through your computer speakers, just call into the teleconference.
Welcome from Lori Shreve Blake
Welcome from Nate and intro Lindsey
Here is a quote from the late Steve Jobs, to remind us that being successful and advancing in your career really only matters if you are loving what you do.Jobs said…So I encourage you tonight to think about the great work you want to do…
If you’d like to ask a question at any point, simply type your question in the “Q&A” area on your screen and it will either be answered on your screen during the webinar, or when we pause for questions during the last 10 to 15 minutes of the webinar.
The question on your screen has become kind of a cliché, but it’s an important one to ask.You might not be sure of what kind of career or job you want to pursue, especially if you are a recent grad, someone returning to the workforce after time off, a career changer or someone contemplating entrepreneurship. Or perhaps you feel that you know exactly what you want but you haven’t been able to get hired doing it and you want to cast a wider net in terms of the positions or types of companies you’re targeting. We’re going to talk about a process for answering this big question, What should I do with my life?
The first step is to ask yourself: What are my work values or top life priorities at this stage in my career? The answers will be different for everyone, but here is a list of some of the issues you will want to think about. When you’re super clear on your values, it becomes easier to make career decisions, especially if you end up deciding between two or more possible opportunities.
Next, based on the values you’ve determined are your most important, you can also set some parameters for the kind of position you’re looking for. So, for instance, if you’ve identified expressing yourself at work to be your #1 value, then one of your non-negotiables might be working in a place where you feel your colleagues will accept you. If it’s really important to you to express your unique fashion sense, then you don’t want to work in an environment where everyone wears a black suit every day.If flexibility is the most important value in your life right now, say because you have little kids, then you might prioritize flexible hours over salary or benefits.I encourage you to get really, really specific here. The clearer you are on exactly what you want, the easier it will be to search for it when we get to that stage.
The final piece of assessment is assessing yourself. What are the unique skills and strengths you want to leverage in your next position? These may be skills and strengths you are currently using, but they may not be. Unless you’re really clear on what you offer, you won’t be able to communicate that to potential employers.For some people this comes easily, for other people this is challenging. If you’re not totally sure what your skills and strengths are, here are some suggestions on the screen.1 – sometimes other people can see what we can’t see in ourselves.2 – sometimes these tests can help you identify careers you hadn’t thought of before3 – To take an assessment test or work with a counselor who has experience helping people identify their skills, reach out to the USC Career Planning and Placement Center!
Let’s take a moment now and take action on the three tips in this section.
Let’s talk first about investigating industries. You may know what kind of function you want to play in a particular organization or a type of work you’re passionate about, but you may not realize all of the places where that work is needed. For example, let’s say you aren’t totally sure about your next career move, but you’ve always thought it would be cool to work in baseball. Or, to give another scenario, you’ve been a baseball player or coach and you want to know what other kinds of places you can use your baseball knowledge and skills. In either case, you’re not sure what kids of jobs exist, where they are and what kind of experience you need to get those jobs. Begin your research by simply typing the word “baseball” into LinkedIn’s Advanced Search tool and you’ll see the profiles of anyone on LinkedIn who has the word “baseball” in his or her LinkedIn profile. Essentially, LinkedIn is a database of the career paths of 150 million people all around the world.
In contrast, if you typed the word baseball into Google or another search engine, you’d get lots of information about the sport and various professional teams or players, but you wouldn’t find relevant information for your next career move.
But when you type baseball into LinkedIn,you can see almost 190,000 people on LinkedIn who mention baseball in their profiles. On this first search results page alone there are people working for Major League Baseball, local baseball programs, nonprofit baseball foundations and more. Keep going down the list of results and you’ll see people who work in sports marketing, broadcasting, youth organizations and more.Of course, as you can see from the numbers next to each name, you can also see if you are personally connected to any of these people through your network or if you belong to the same LinkedIn group as any of them. This will be important a bit later when we get to the networking section and talk about reaching out to people in your desired field.So, what do you do with this list? Start clicking on people’s profiles and check them out: where do they work now and where have they worked in the past? How do they describe themselves? What LinkedIn groups do they belong to? Do they have specific education or training? All of this is extremely valuable information to help you determine what’s next in your career based on what has worked for other people.
No matter what field you want to go into, we live in a knowledge economy, so the more you know, the better. This is especially important for students and recent grads. You may not have a lot of experience yet, but you can still sound knowledgeable about the industry or company you want to join by doing your homework.Animportant way to advance in your career is to be up to date on all the news in your industry.Finance: what the market did todayEntertainment: the weekend box officeManagement consulting: everythingOne great place to do this is through LinkedIn Today.LinkedIn Today is a FREE tool to help you follow the news in your industry. It’s essentially a news website totally customized to you based on what people in your desired industry are talking about and sharing on LinkedIn.You can choose which industry news you want to follow and which news outlets. LinkedIn Today will also tell you what your LinkedIn connections and industry peers are reading and sharing.The idea is that if you only have five minutes to catch up on news, LinkedIn Today can help you cut through all the clutter, so you can discover the top headlines you need to read to be better informed everyday.
Here is what LinkedIn Today looks like when you scroll down and click through to an article. LinkedIn Today shows you the professional identity of the users who shared a particular story, along with what they are saying to get a sense of the conversation happening around a given article. This is another way to spark ideas for what your next move should be and what people might help you get there.And if you are interested in multiple industries, then go ahead and follow them all.
Once you’ve investigated industries where you might like to make your next move, start researching particular companies.Keep in mind that you will likely come across companies you’d like to work for that are not currently hiring. Don’t worry about that just yet.Your goal at first is to identify the kinds of employers you’d like to work for and learn about what they do, what kinds of people they hire and what their cultures might be like compared to where you’re working now or where you’ve worked in the past.You can do this on the Find Companies page on LinkedIn.
Let’s take a look now at an example of one of the over 2 million company pages on LinkedIn to see what you can find out about various employers and how that can help you decide what’s next for you…LIVE DEMO TO LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE: IBMSHOW CHOOSING A PERSON TO REACH OUT TO (GREG)
Let’s say I decide that IBM – the company whose page we visited – really feels like my dream employer. I’m going to reach out with a LinkedIn message to the connection I feel most comfortable reaching out to, and I’m going to use some of the knowledge I discovered on the Company page.If there is a particular job opening that I’m interested in I will mention that interest. But let’s say there is not. Here is an example of a general message when there is no immediately apparent opportunity. All I’m going to do is ask to chat and see where it leads. This is called informational interviewing and it’s something you can do at any stage of your career.
Once you receive a positive response – and if you’ve asked politely to someone you have some connection to, it’s likely you’ll receive a yes -- now it’s time to shut down the computer and talk – by phone or, if possible, face to face. The advice I give most often to people looking for a job or to advance in their careers is to talk to as many people as possible who have any experience in the field, company or position you think you want. There is no better way to get information and, ultimately, a foot in the door. Just remember that an informational interview is a time to ask questions, get advice and have a conversation. You don’t want to put pressure on a generous contact by asking directly for a job. Remember we’re still in the research phase now.
Finally, once you’ve done some research on industries and companies that might be a good fit for your values and skills, take some time to research individual job functions. You might research jobs related to your current position, perhaps a job one level above where you are now, you may look at roles related to what you’re doing or you may look at entirely new job functions that would be considered a career change. Review job postings on LinkedIn or elsewhere for requirements, industry jargon and other details on what kinds of jobs exist. Play around with keywords.
You can also sign up to receive targeted, personalized job listings automatically via email. You can sign up to receive these job postings once a day or once a week so you can keep the new ideas coming.
Also keep in mind all of the resources you have as a Trojan for finding information about industries, companies and individual jobs. First – and at first I thought this sounded so old fashioned, but it makes perfect sense – contact someone whose job is to do research! A USC librarian would be very happy to help you with industry or company research. Next, the LibGuide provides tips on researching professional associations,companies, industries, executives or building lists of companies. It’s presented by the Career Center in partnership with the Crocker BusinessLibrary and can help you: Find a professional association. * Build a list of companies. For example, a list of all large consultingfirms in Los Angeles or Beijing.* Research companies including financials, contact information, keyexecutives, competitors, etc.* Find industry information such as the size of the market, key players,trends, etc.* Learn about library resources for USC alumni.The CARL system is an online library search engines students and alumni tosearch hardcopy and online resources for your graduate school, internship,fellowship, & career exploration.Vault.com – member only resource site that gives inside intelligence on salaries, hiring practices and company cultures based on anonymous employee reviews. Vault.com is (free through through USC’s connectSC job portal)Next, Lori Shreve Blake has reminded me to encourage you to engage in the many events that the career center hosts just for alumni. They are hosting an upcoming alumni only career fair on Thursday, March 15 with 60 employer interested in hiring alumni with experience. We’ll share a slide of upcoming events at the end of this webinar. Finally, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook O*Net: www.onetcenter.org – This is a government resource and not a USC resource, BUT there is a connection: The US Dept of Labor Secretary is USC Trojan Alumna Hilda Solis!
Now it’s time to take action again!
The reality today is that many important people – including recruiters and hiring managers --are checking you out online. Especially now, when companies are cutting their travel budgets and recruiters are using the web more than ever to find and vet candidates.
Now let’s look at some Dos and Don’ts for using LinkedIn to build your personal brand online…The first is to incorporate keywords. This is where all of that research comes in handy – check out the profiles of people you admire and borrow some keywords. Do the same with keywords you found through your research on industries, companies and individual positions.
Professional Headline is a prime keyword (SEO) area.Your choice depends on how openly you are job hunting.Look at job postings for the positions you want and match your headline to those titles or important keywords in those listings.Also, look at people who have the jobs you want and see how they present themselves.
Now let’s look at some Dos and Don’ts for using LinkedIn to build your personal brand online…
Recommendations can also enhance the keywords on your profile when people talk about your specific skills and attributes. Recruiters tell me that they are most impressed by LinkedIn recommendations from former managers or direct supervisors. Colleagues and friends are nice, but not as impactful. My rule of thumb here is to try to have one recommendation for each position listed on your LinkedIn profile. Don’t overdo it.
Remember that while it’s very important to complete your LinkedIn profile to 100%, you don’t have to share every personal detail about yourself unless you want to. Remember that LinkedIn is a marketing tool, not a full report of everything about you. Be selective.
For instance, age discrimination is a reality and people often ask me how to best avoid this on LinkedIn. One strategy is not to list your date of graduation on your LinkedIn profile. As you can see on your screen when you are in the Edit Profile view, there is an option to select a dash and thus not list your dates of graduation. You can also leave off some of the earliest jobs in your career if you’d like.
Beyond the basics of your profile, be sure to take advantage of new sections LinkedIn has added to enhance your profile and help you stand out from the crowd.
You can add these by clicking on “Add Sections” which is highlighted in yellow just beneath the summary box at the top of your LinkedIn profile.
Don’t miss the Skills section. This is an important way to include keywords that will draw a recruiter or networking contacts to your profile.You are encouraged to use multiple keywords to describe your skills. Customize to your exact skill sets – you don’t have to use the skills in the drop-down menu.
And finally…
You can also add your volunteer work and interest in causes to your LinkedIn profile.Beyond these two sections, there are also sections to add certifications, publications and other differentiators to help you stand out from the crowd and add more keywords to your profile.
By the way, if you’re not involved in a volunteer activity already, here are some websites that are helpful for finding volunteer opportunities. It’s never too late to gain more experience to add to your LinkedIn profile.Taproot is a nonprofit organization that makes business talent available to organizations working to improve society.Microvolunteering: volunteering you can do in small bits of time from a few minutes to a few hours.Volunteering is also a smart strategy if you are a career changer wanting to build new skills and experience and if you have been unemployed for a while and you want to keep your skills sharp and show potential employers that you’re keeping busy and gaining experience even while you’re not working fulltime.
Now once you have this great profile, don’t just wait and hope that people will find you. You have to drive people to your LinkedIn presence.
Once you are connected to people, they will see your status updates in their newsfeeds, just like on Facebook or Twitter. This means you have to be strategic about what you post!I recommend posting status updates that:Show you are actively “out there” networking and job huntingArticles or links that show your industry knowledge and expertiseThe occasional reminder that you are job hunting, although you never want to appear desperate. If you’re uncomfortable doing that, then regularly send personalized notes to your connections updating them on your job hunt and hopefully sparking their thinking on any opportunities they might know about at their companies or elsewhere.For active job seekers, I’d recommend updating your status between 1-3 times a week. It’s also important to comment on other people’s status updates. This keeps you on their radar screens and shows that you are not just on LinkedIn to find a job and promote yourself. Reid Hoffman, one of the founders of LinkedIn, calls this doing “small goods” for the people in your network and it’s one of my favorite uses of LinkedIn. Give generously and you are likely to receive much more in return.
If you haven’t already, you’ll also want to: Add your LinkedIn URL to your email signature line as you see in this example. This shows anyone you email with that you are eager to connect on LinkedIn, especially if you are emailing with someone about your job search.
A new trend is adding a QR code – Quick Response – to your resume and business cards. If you’re going to try this, a great place for that black and white scan to send people is your LinkedIn profile.
You can feature your LinkedIn URL on your resume directly, as you see on your screen, or with a QR code as well.
If you’re active on Twitter in a professionally appropriate way, you can use your LinkedIn profile as your website link…
A final way to drive people to your LinkedIn profile and to further get your brand out to potential employers is to consider starting a blog related to your career interests. I don’t really recommend blogging ABOUT your job search or career advancement because it won’t really help you land a new job or get a promotion. What I do recommend is starting a blog with a free site like Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and write about issues, news or trends in your particular industry. For instance, if you’re interested in a career in the film industry, blog your movie reviews or comment on changes taking place in digital entertainment.
Now it’s time to take action again!
You are part of an amazing network of people who would be happy to help you determine your next career move. Take advantage!
Next, become active in the USC Alumni Group.The more active you are in a group, the more value you’ll get out of it. How to get noticed in group discussions: remember that every discussion you post, every question you answer is an opportunity to market yourself to people who might be hiring or might know of someone who is hiring. Remember that networking is not just about who you know; it’s about WHO KNOWS YOU. Demonstrate your expertise. Discussions are a fantastic place to be visible in a professional way that highlights your skills and expertise. By demonstrating your expertise on LinkedIn you earn recognition that helps you build your credibility. Be careful with self-promotion. Choose the appropriate place, tone and information to share. NEW PROMOTIONS TAB.
Let’s say for the purposes of this example I am no longer seeking a job in baseball, but now I’m looking for a job in the association industry – working for a professional membership or trade association.So I’m in the USC Alumni group and I see a discussion about why so few women have mentors, a topic that is very interesting to me personally and professionally.In addition to – or instead of – posting a comment publicly, I can use this as an opportunity to network with the person who posted the discussion. I might be able to be a resource to this person and the person could potentially be a lead to a job opportunity for me.
Here is how I would approach this message.READThere are a few elements here that I think are important:Show genuine interest in what the person has posted. Say that you’re job hunting and be specific about what kind of position you’re looking for.Ask directly to connect and/or keep in touch.Be thankful and offer to help the person.If you feel particularly passionate about the topic or you would really like to get to know this person, you might also suggest a phone conversation. Remember, too, to thank the person if he or she writes back and says it’s okay to send a connection request. If the person starts more of a conversation, that’s even better!Note that you are not using any InMail credits to send this message because you share a group with this person.I’ve tried this approach many times and I’ve found that if you are authentic, positive and polite, people will often respond that they are happy to connect. Then it’s up to you to keep in touch, stay visible and make sure your LinkedIn profile and status updates are clear about your skill set and what kind of opportunities you’re hoping to be connected to.
You can also check out the LinkedIn Classmates tool.
As you reach out to connect with people, especially those you’ve just met, remember that it matters HOW you ask people for connections and for advice. You can connect to someone with this generic note, but I don’t think this will get you very far. As a job seeker you want to show that you are someone who is willing to go the extra mile, so you should personalize every connection request you send…
This is what I recommend:Write a brief, customized, polite note to explain your connection and why you want to connect. It’s also a good idea to thoroughly read the person’s LinkedIn profile and mention something that stood out to you or something you have in common. It is not appropriate to directly ask for a job in a connecting request. As you can see in the example on your screen, I recommend using the request to build rapport and establish contact, then once the person accepts you can ask for advice or for the person to keep you in mind if he or she hears of any job opportunities that might be a good fit for you. Remember to use proper grammar and spelling – this is a professional communication that is contributing to your reputation. One great strategy is to offer your help to each person you’d like to connect with. You might say something like, “Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you.” Remember that HOW you build your network is just as important as why you build it. Always be authentic, polite and positive. People will remember that when they hear about job openings.
Finally, remember that you are not just on LinkedIn to find a job and promote yourself. Whenever you log in to LinkedIn, commit to doing something to help someone in your Trojan network or the rest of your network.Reid Hoffman, one of the founders of LinkedIn, calls this doing “small goods” for the people in your network and it’s one of my favorite uses of LinkedIn. Give generously and you are likely to receive much more in return.
Now it’s time to take action again!
Here is a link to the LinkedIn learning center for more information on any of the features you’ve seen today, as well as ongoing information about new features. Thank you very much for joining me today. I look forward to seeing you on LinkedIn! Now I’ll turn it back over to Lori Shreve Blake…
