A Recruiter’s Perspective of a Strong LinkedIn...
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In the professional realm, having a profile on LinkedIn can be about as fundamental as having an undergraduate degree. Like earning a college degree, the same is true for your LinkedIn profile - if you don’t put much effort into it, you probably won’t get much from it. Helbling & Associates are execuDve search consultants who specialize in engineering and construcDon, faciliDes management, and real estate development. While LinkedIn is not one of our primary tools, depending upon the level of the search we are performing, it can be part of the iniDal stages of our recruitment process. LinkedIn can offer immediate informaDon about a professional, provide insight prior to an iniDal call, and help us to determine if we have mutual connecDons with that person. What is the purpose of a LinkedIn pro3ile? Ryan Pugh, Senior Managing Consultant, sums this up quickly, “LinkedIn, itself, is a venue for connecDng with people in your industry and profession and sharing knowledge, which is why having a profile is so important. A LinkedIn profile basically funcDons as an online resume. Beyond that, it shows that you are progressive, career-minded, and involved in your profession.” Essential elements of a LinkedIn pro3ile Summary and informaDon beyond current employer and Dtle Pugh says, “The first thing I look for in a profile is depth of informaDon. I consider if the individual simply provided his/her current and previous employers and respecDve Dtles, or if they took the Dme to elaborate on what they do/did at those organizaDons. To capture aRenDon, a user will want to provide specific informaDon regarding their responsibiliDes, projects, and other iniDaDves in which they have had involvement.” Jim Lord, Managing Director, says, “Not all of us need an elaborate posiDon descripDon on LinkedIn, but if you do something specific in your role such as focus on a parDcular industry, or verDcal market, or perform certain funcDons that people may not realize from your Dtle, then that informaDon should be included. A good profile is relaDvely detailed and covers an enDre career. It does not have to be as thorough as a resume, but it should be more than just a lisDng of Dtles. As a recruiter, I want to see a person’s career progression so I can make an iniDal determinaDon of their skills and capabiliDes.” The profile summary provides an opportunity to include more keywords and skills for which you want to be found. It’s also an opportunity to highlight your employer, what it does, and the markets in which it focuses. This secDon is especially useful for professionals who may have changed careers, posiDons, or industries. Professional Photo As humans, we are inclined to relate to visuals and photos. Your profile photo is the first thing people see and, as studies have shown, it literally only takes 1/10 of a second for someone to draw conclusions about you. There are many psychological reasons why providing a profile photo is impacZul, and we won’t go into all of those details here. A Recruiter’s Perspective of a Strong LinkedIn Profile by Sami L. Barry Ryan Pugh Jim Lord Tom Dunn
Transcript of A Recruiter’s Perspective of a Strong LinkedIn...
Intheprofessionalrealm,havingaprofileonLinkedIncanbeaboutasfundamentalashavinganundergraduatedegree.Likeearningacollegedegree,thesameistrueforyourLinkedInprofile-ifyoudon’tputmucheffortintoit,youprobablywon’t
getmuchfromit.Helbling&AssociatesareexecuDvesearchconsultantswhospecializeinengineeringandconstrucDon,faciliDesmanagement,andreal
estatedevelopment.WhileLinkedInisnotoneofourprimarytools,dependinguponthelevelofthesearchweareperforming,itcanbepart
oftheiniDalstagesofourrecruitmentprocess.LinkedIncanofferimmediateinformaDonaboutaprofessional,provideinsightpriortoaniniDalcall,andhelpustodetermineifwehavemutual
connecDonswiththatperson.
WhatisthepurposeofaLinkedInpro3ile?
RyanPugh,SeniorManagingConsultant,sumsthisupquickly,“LinkedIn,itself,isavenueforconnecDngwithpeopleinyourindustryand
professionandsharingknowledge,whichiswhyhavingaprofileissoimportant.ALinkedInprofilebasicallyfuncDonsasanonlineresume.
Beyondthat,itshowsthatyouareprogressive,career-minded,andinvolvedinyourprofession.”
EssentialelementsofaLinkedInpro3ile
SummaryandinformaDonbeyondcurrentemployerandDtle
Pughsays,“ThefirstthingIlookforinaprofileisdepthofinformaDon.Iconsiderifthe
individualsimplyprovidedhis/hercurrentand
previousemployersandrespecDveDtles,oriftheytooktheDmetoelaborateonwhattheydo/didatthoseorganizaDons.TocaptureaRenDon,auserwillwanttoprovidespecificinformaDonregardingtheirresponsibiliDes,projects,andother
iniDaDvesinwhichtheyhavehadinvolvement.”
JimLord,ManagingDirector,says,“Notallofus
needanelaborateposiDondescripDononLinkedIn,butifyoudosomethingspecificinyourrolesuchasfocusonaparDcularindustry,
orverDcalmarket,orperformcertainfuncDonsthatpeoplemaynotrealizefromyourDtle,thenthatinformaDonshouldbeincluded.AgoodprofileisrelaDvelydetailedandcoversan
enDrecareer.Itdoesnothavetobeasthoroughasaresume,butitshouldbemorethanjustalisDngofDtles.Asarecruiter,Iwant
toseeaperson’scareerprogressionsoIcanmakeaniniDaldeterminaDonoftheirskillsandcapabiliDes.”
Theprofilesummaryprovidesanopportunitytoincludemorekeywordsandskillsforwhichyouwanttobefound.It’salsoanopportunity
tohighlightyouremployer,whatitdoes,andthemarketsinwhichitfocuses.ThissecDonisespeciallyusefulforprofessionalswhomay
havechangedcareers,posiDons,orindustries.
ProfessionalPhoto
Ashumans,weareinclinedtorelatetovisualsandphotos.Yourprofilephotoisthefirstthingpeopleseeand,asstudieshaveshown,itliterallyonlytakes1/10ofasecondfor
someonetodrawconclusionsaboutyou.TherearemanypsychologicalreasonswhyprovidingaprofilephotoisimpacZul,andwe
won’tgointoallofthosedetailshere.
ARecruiter’sPerspectiveofaStrongLinkedInProfilebySamiL.Barry
RyanPugh
JimLord
TomDunn
A Recruiter’s Perspective of a Strong LinkedIn Profile
Theonlythingyouhavetorememberistoincludeaphoto
withyourprofile.Bythis,wedon’tmeanonetakenofyoudressedupatawedding,vacaDoningatthebeach,orposingforanimaginaryphotoshoot.Whileyoudon’tneeda
professionalphototakenbyaphotographer,aclearphotoofyourfaceoronetakenfromthewaistupinbusinesscasuala[reisrecommended.
Skills
ThinkoftheskillssecDonaskeywordsinhowpeoplewillfindyouinthemassiveLinkedIndatabase.You
willwantyourskillslisttobecomprehensiveandaccurate,includingonlytheskillsthatyoufeelaremostimportantin
yourcareer.Donotlistsomanythatyouwilllosesomeone’sinterest.Ge[ngendorsedforcriDcalskillsbyyourpeersisevenmoreadvantageousasyourskillswill
belistedaccordingtohowmanyendorsementsyouhaveforeachofthem.
ConnecDons
Thelessonhereis“growyourconnecDons.”TomDunn,SeniorManagingConsultant,says,“OneofthefirstthingsthatIlook
atwithinaprofileistheindividual’snumberofconnecDons.A500+connecDonstatusshowsthatthepersonacDvelyusesLinkedInasanetworkingtoolandstrivestomaintainvisibilityandaccessibilitywithintheirrespecDveindustry.While
connecDonsdon’ttellthewholestory(becausethatnumbercanbeinflatedordeflatedforvariousreasons),ifsomeoneisusingLinkedInprofessionallyandhasalargenetwork,it
typicallycorrelateswiththestrengthoftheirprofile.”
RecommendedelementsofaLinkedInpro3ile
ContactInformaDon
WhileLinkedInprovidestheabilityforyourconnecDonsandotherstoInMailyou,it’seasiertohaveyourcontact
informaDonprovidedpubliclyonyourprofile.Evenjustan
emailaddresscanmakeiteasierforotherstocontactyou.
RecommendaDons
RecommendaDonsaredifferentfromskillendorsements.WhileaconnecDoncanjustsimplyclickabuRontoendorseyouforaparDcularskill,arecommendaDonisashort(orlong)paragraphaboutyouandwhythatpersonrecommends
youprofessionally.Pughelaborates,“RecommendaDonsareagreatwaytomakeyourprofile,andconsequentlyyour
capabiliDes,standout.Whensomeone
takestheDmetowritearecommendaDon,itboostsyourcredibility.WhenIseeaprofilewithanumberofrecommendaDons,
ittellsmethatthepersonmusttrulycareabouttheirperformanceandarepassionateaboutwhattheydo.”
PrivacySe[ngs&SharingUpdates
ThewholepointofhavingaLinkedInprofileisbeingvisible.Whilestrictprivacyse[ngsmaybeprudent
forsomehigh-levelprofessionals,itdoesn’tmakesenseformost.
Dunnexplains,“Whenprofessionalshavehighprivacyse[ngs,theyaren’ttakingfulladvantageofthemainpurposeoftheplaZorm,andmaybemissingoutonviablecareerand/ornetworkingopportuniDes.Justsharinganupdatecanlead
peopletoyourprofile.But,ifyouhaveprivacycontrolson,mostwillneverevenfindyouoryourupdate.Thisthoughtextendstoprofileviewsaswell.IfyouareusingLinkedInfor
itsprimarypurpose,youshouldnotbeconcernedifsomeonecanseethatyouviewedtheirprofile.”
TheboRomline
LinkedInisaresourcethatshouldbeleveragedbymosteveryprofessional.ItprovidesnumerousbenefitsthatnootherplaZormcanoffer.Furthermore,aLinkedInprofileisatool
thatshouldbedevelopedtoitsfullestpotenDal.Otherwise,justlikethatcollegedegree,thereisnosenseinhavingone.
Helbling&AssociatesisaretainedexecuDvesearchfirmspecializingexclusivelyinconstrucDon,
engineering,faciliDesmanagement,andrealestatedevelopment.
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