You've acquired good friends, knowledge and maybe even a few skills. You've studied abroad, endured the good and not so good internships, listened to dull lectures rendered over and over with little updated information. You've joined clubs, played sports, tutored and volunteered.
And, now what? Some of you are off to senior week with friends, off to your last year of a fun summer job, some of you are preparing for graduate school, and others, well, others of you are off to your first professional job. The job that will start your career.
Regardless of which group you are in, each of you need to build your professional brand, who you are, what you have done, what you aspire to do. It's the message that people will receive whether they meet you in person or see you online. It's not the hundreds or thousands of Facebook pictures or the tweets on Twitter. It's the professional brand. In some ways, it's who you will become.
Andrew Reiner, a professor at Towson University, (Towson, MD) spoke at last weeks Tedx event and shared the idea that you should figure out who you want to be so you can figure out what you want to do. This sentiment fit nicely with the theme, Goodness Proceeds Greatness and how it's important to put these two thoughts together. I like that a great deal, my generation didn't really think like that. Ahh, some of us came to that conclusion, it just took a while.
Consider this carefully and begin to put it all together.
Take the experiences, the joys and the disappointments and merge them with your skills [social media, digital, technology, emotional intelligence, volunteerism, interpersonal connections, writing] and create the new marketable skills of the 21st century.
Let's be clear, you will need to know what skills are now required, (I hate to say this but this is one area you may not want to listen to your parents, unless, of course, they have looked for a job in the last three years, are in the know and well informed) and how to find a job (please don't do only one version of your resume). You will need to know how to build a LinkedIn profile that begins to set you apart from everyone else. Start today, set it up, tweak it, add in all the sections LinkedIn includes just for emerging professionals (edit profile, scroll down until you see Add Sections).
Watch Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn's CEO at the Bay Area Council's 2012 Outlook Conference and learn more about you need to know to start your professional life.
See where you need to be? Get started today, not to worry, you are ready. Here you go!
Need some help, let me know, @colleenintero
Most of us spend a lot of time talking about how to leverage our network and build new opportunities. Today, let's consider five ways you can build into your network.
You are the giver not the receiver.
Do it every week and you will definitely be a network builder.
1. Write two unrelated, unsolicited recommendations this week. Consider writing this recommendation for a client, colleague, business associate. Keep it simple, consise and business oriented. Check for typos, there is no spell check in LinkedIn.
2. If you have a highly engaged network, you probably know who might connect well within your network, introduce them. Once again, if you can, do it without being asked. Think about who would benefit from being introduced, make it happen.
3. Share your knowledge. Answer some questions and share what you know with others in your network and beyond.
4. Check out the jobs area and if you come across a job that looks like it would be a good fit for someone you know, share it with them. They will probably be able to see who posted the job, they may even be able to apply for the position within LinkedIn, depending on how the company created their post.
5. Sign up for JobChangeNotifier and receive notice via your email when someone in your network changes their position. Reach out and congratulate them. Let them know you are excited for them. 
Don't forget be yourself, be genuine and be grateful you have a network!
Let me know how you bring value to your network?
Need some additional resources...here you go.
Everyone loves a title, right? A good title can get you in the door and it often comes with perks and bonuses. You make sure it's included in all your correspondance and you mention it once or twice during the course of cocktail conversation. That's all good.
But there are lots of professionals with the same title. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of sales professionals, ceo's, engineers, IT professionals etc. describing themselves the same way. Often a title means one thing in one industry and something else in another industry, that invites a bit of confusion for your profile.
And, titles don't really let you stand out on LinkedIn. Think Headline.
Here are five reasons to go from a title to a descriptive headline in your LinkedIn profile.
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A headline that describes who you are and what you do allows you to start optimizing your profile with keywords, from the start.
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Who-you-are-and-what-you-do-headlines gives you a greater chance of being found by others when they do a search. That's important, that creates a potential opportunity for you.
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Recruiters, in many cases, are looking for passive candidates for their next job search. Recruiters will be more likely to find you if your keywords are blended into your profile starting with your headline.
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A headline is the first thing someone sees when they come across your profile. It draws others in and compels them to read more about you. That's what you are going for.
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A headline, by definition, publicizes who you are and what you do. If it is less than forthright or is vague, it potentially discourages others from connecting with your and may call your credibility into question.
Tips
You have 120 characters available in your headline area, use all or as many of those 120 as you possible. Be consise, inviting and authentic.
Practice writing your headline, ask other colleagues their opinion. Test it, tweak it. But don't give up on it. Take your headline to the next level and make it work for you. Make it your own, make it a reflection of who you are and what you do. It builds your competitive advantage.
Not sure if a headline is all you need to make your LinkedIn profile? Check out Intero's LinkedIn resources.
If you still wonder whether LinkedIn deserves your time and attention and is all that it's cracked up to be this post might be for you. I may not persuade you to become a LinkedIn uber-user but I do hope to point out a nugget or two that encourages you to take a deeper look.
Where do you find current information about prospects, customers, candidates, employers, business associates? Current is the operative word in that question.
Do you rent lists that others have compiled? Do you rely on top-level lists? In today's ever-changing and tumultuous job market any list in print or compiled by other organizations is out-of-date before it's delivered to your inbox, or worse, your snailbox.
If so, let's take a look at LinkedIn and how it works and what you can do. LinkedIn, in it's simplest form is a large database with incredibly sophisticated and smart algorithms running in the background that feeds you insight based on who you are, what you do, where you went to school and worked and now even the volunteer and cause organizations you support and are involved with.
Take a look at the top right corner of your profile and take a look at the people LinkedIn suggests you may know.
Click through on the See more link and you will see this:
Click on any of those choices and you will begin to go deeper within your professional networks.
Now go to Contacts on the Linkedin navigation bar and click Add Connections and then go to Alumni. LinkedIn has really built out their Alumni page to give YOU greater insight into a natural network.
Choose a school
And then, the wow. Take a look...
And now, you can start finding and connecting the dots. Look at your alumni network from several perspectives and see what works for you. Notice how LinkedIn presents views of where your alumni network lives, where they work and what they do. This insight creates opportunity for you.
Remember, don't connect with people until your profile REALLY represents who you are and don't connect directly with people you don't really know.
LinkedIn continues to build out and deepen the insight for its members. Why? It's the point of social media, after all. LinkedIn's missions is to help make the world's professionals more sucessful and productive. How? By helping its members connect and engage in far more precise and meaningful ways with other professionals.
In 2010 there were 2 billion people searches on LinkedIn and in 2011 there were 4.2 billion people searches. I don't know of any other sources that is as complete and up-to-date (obviously, this is based on each person has to keep their profile updated) as LinkedIn. Everytime they rollout a new feature it provides even greater depth and detail allowing its members to have a greater chance of making the right connections and developing their business. How are you using LinkedIn? Are you mining it to the extent you can? Let me know, I am interested in hearing how people use LinkedIn.
Okay, it's been a while since I have posted. I did not go missing or give up, nope. Perhaps I detoured a bit but it was a detour with purpose, no doubt.
What am I talking about? I usually talk about LinkedIn and why it's so important, how to use it well and what's new. And, I will continue to do that but today I want to share a glimpse into my last four months.
I had the incredible privilege of being a part of something I could not quite imagine a year ago. I re-connected with a former client who asked me if I was interested in working on a new project. If you know me, you know all I have to hear is "new" and I am interested. This project included working with Marin Alsop, the Music Director at Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and her BSO associates along with Jude Kelly the Artistic Director at Southbank Centre and her team. Really? I remember thinking, where do I sign up?
Jude Kelly founded WOW-Women of the World Festival in 2011 in conjunction with International Womens Day. Marin participated, loved it and came back determined to bring WOW to Baltimore. We talked about what WOW would look like in Baltimore, a city pretty different from London (I like the description of the differences Kwame Kwei-Armah, the new artistic director at Center Stage mentions). We talked and talked and then we went to work.
We hosted over 400 hundred women in the fall of 2011 asking them what they were interested in talking about. Jude Kelly and her brilliant programmer, Domino Pateman came from London and dove in, learning and connecting and networking. We listened. Ideas sparked new conversations. One conversation led to three others.
At the end of November with a final nod from the BSO we were ready to create the first WOW-Women of the World-Baltimore Festival. We were organized, networked, energized and passionate about the vision Marin and Jude set forth. In January, Allison Livingstone, my partner in WOW (and the BSO's Director of Institutional Giving) and I talked and/or met with over 160 women (and some men). Some people we knew and most we didn't, it never stoped us though. We searched for connections and asked for introductions. Each encounter ran deep fast. We connected, brainstormed, talked and created content that spanned three days with over 50 sessions, 195 speakers, mentors, performers and vendors.
It was a crazy three days filled with unexpected surprises and many moments of sheer brilliance. Brilliance in all the connections, the way women (and some men) came together to talk about big issues; Women and a Civil Society, Men Talk, Mothers and Daughters, The Cultural Kaleidoscope, Are We Educating Girls for the 21st Century?, Understanding Human Trafficking is Here, and more. Speed mentoring connected women and girls across generations and with their peers. Through words, music, dance, knitting and the marketplace women joined together to celebrate who we are and discuss and debate what more we need to do to find and hold our half of the sky.
Why do I share this? It's where I've been for the last 120 days. People, mostly women ask how we did it. We had a goal; to enlighten, entertain, and educate the women of Baltimore and beyond. We did it by digging in and reaching out to our networks, to those women who are influencers and connectors. The women we reached out to (there are too, too many to list but you know who you are) graciously gave their time, talent and networks to make WOW-Baltimore a reality.
I am not one to underestimate the value of networking, I do too much of it and see the value and revenue it drives everyday to doubt it's place in today's social world. I live it. My network helped me launch my business fourteen months ago and in those fourteen months my network grew significantly and now includes new colleagues and friends in so many industries and walks of life I often can't keep up.
And WOW, then there is WOW, the most humbling project I have ever worked on. Why? Each day I talked with women who every day do amazing work in and for Baltimore. Women who reach out and strengthen the lives of those around them and don't get much recognition. Women who reach out and knock down the barriers so other women won't have to. Women who capture the stories and milestones of each of our stories and give them voice in the world.
Never underestimate the power of a network. Never.
So I am off to connect with many of my new "connections" on LinkedIn. Then, I won't lose track. My question for you today, who are the people in your network that are infuencers and connectors that could make a difference for you? The people who could help you take your project; you, to the next level?
Need to create a lead generation plan for 2012? Want to work differently next year? Think this social media fad is not a fad, after all?
Make your first 2012 resolution and set a goal to go social...business social, that is.
Create new business opportunities through a commitment to LinkedIn
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Use LinkedIn every workday for 10 or 15 minutes a day for 30 days
Assumptions:
Your Linkedin profile is complete, as close to 100% as possible and is optimized to increase the chances of being found.
Spend 60 minutes in LinkedIn every day.
1. Create a LinkedIn strategy; stick with it for 30 days.
2. Decide who you will connect with; make sure you are networking in person to continually add to your LinkedIn network.
3. Join industry groups for ongoing knowledge and research; join the groups your prospects and clients participate in.
4. Take a look at your Alumni Page; see how you can leverage your network.
5. Listen and add value to the group discussions. Answer questions and link to valuable information to further the discussion. Consider answering some questions privately,it works.
6. Post status updates 2‐3 a week initially; up to five for more active users. These updates can be articles, blog posts, videos that your network will find interesting and relevant. LinkedIn Today is a great go‐to source; customize LinkedIn Today by following the industries and sources you are interested in following.
7. Post your updates to your groups; include a question to start a new discussion.
8. Answer a question in the Questions area. Drill down and find the questions you want to answer to demonstrate your expertise.
9. Make sure you show up on and follow your company’s Company Page. Since you are now able to post updates from your company page you will receive these updates; consider sharing them with your network. [p.s. that counts toward your weekly updates.]
10. Follow the companies you work with, would like to work with and are competitive with.
11. Be generous to your network: recommend others, comment on or like their updates, send a quick ‘hello, how are you?’ email, introduce others.
12. Add applications to increase interest and promote you and your company.
13. Build searches around your ideal customer; save them [you get to save three with a basic account and five with a professional account].
14. If you have a basic account create a folder on your desktop; save profiles of interest.
15. Never sell on LinkedIn; create and build your network.
Measure your progress.
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Goal: Create a LinkedIn profile that is as close to 100% as possible
and positions you for your next career move.
Commitment: Use LinkedIn for 10 or 15 minutes a day for 30 days
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Create a LinkedIn strategy; stick with it for 30 days. Complete all sections and include appropriate additional sections built especially for students and young professionals.
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Decide who you will connect with and find those people; make sure you are networking in person to continually add to your LinkedIn network.
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Join various types of groups: industry groups for ongoing knowledge and research, groups with hiring managers and recruiters, groups with potential employers and your alumni group[s].
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Take a look at your Alumni Page and see how you can leverage this network for your job search.
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Listen and add value to the group discussions. Answer questions and link to valuable information to further the discussion. Consider answering some questions privately, it’s a strategy that works.
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Post status updates 2-3 a week initially; up to five for more active users. These updates can be articles, blog posts, videos that your network will find interesting and relevant. LinkedIn Today is a great go-to source; customize LinkedIn Today by following the industries and sources you are interested in following.
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Post your updates to your groups and include a question to start a new discussion.
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Answer a question in the Questions area. Drill down and find the questions you want to answer to demonstrate your expertise.
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Make sure you show up on and follow your school’s Company Page. Since you can now post updates from your company page you will receive these updates and may consider sharing them with your network. [p.s. that counts toward your weekly updates.]
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Follow the companies you would like to work for; consider following their competitors too. Check out their Career Page on their company profile.
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Be generous to your network: recommend others, comment on or like their updates, send a quick ‘hello, how are you?’ email, introduce others.
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Add some applications to increase interest and showcase your accomplishments.
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If you have a basic account create a folder on your desktop and save profiles of interest.
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Apply for jobs from LinkedIn.
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Connect the dots and use the advanced search to filter your searches for greater insight.
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Go to LinkedIn as well as the Student Job Portal to look for the right job postings.
Measure your progress.
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Need to hire but can't find qualified talent?
Do you feel like it's an uphill battle?
Where are you looking? A client recently asked me to look into using LinkedIn for recruitment purposes. I wan't surprised to learn LinkedIn offers several options to find highly selective passive and active talent.
Now hiring managers can be proactive. The days of placing an ad and waiting for a response are over. Today, hiring managers and recruiters seek out the talent they want.
LinkedIn remains the single easiest place to gain insight and connect, to encourage business, to build smart and strategic marketing and sales engagements, to humanize and showcase your company and to find your next employee.
Five tips to get started using LinkedIn for your next recruiting campaign:
1. Make sure your profile looks good. You represent the company; does your profile represent you? Is it as close to 100% as possible?
2. Build out your Company Pages. Turn your Company Pages into a 'microsite' and include an overview with a good value proposition in your Overview, Products and Services Page and a Career Page.
3. Have your employees follow your Company Page; get as many real followers as possible.
4. Post a status update of the job from your company page. This sends the posting to the activity pages of your followers. Create evangelists, it further disseminates your job posting.
5. Do a search and look for your ideal candidate. Sixty percent of potential candidates are not actively looking for a job but are open to talking. Find those people and see how you connect to them. Use your network to find potential candidates.
There are other LinkedIn recruiting solutions to consider, here are a couple:
LinkedIn Jobs Network LinkedIn's matching algorithms target candidates with suggested jobs based on their LinkedIn profile. Members can also forward jobs to connections and share on on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. You can then check the analytics and see who is viewing your jobs by role, company, geography and more.
LinkedIn Work with Us Recruitment Ads turns your employees into brand ambassadors. Your recruitment ads will appear on your employee's profile pages connecting passive talent and connections with relevant jobs. LinkedIn says 'Work with Us' ads have a click through rate of up to 4 times the average banner ad, this makes sense since it appears more like a referral than an ad.
Finding the right candidate has changed. Today, it's easier to vet potential candidates, gain critical insight and engage the the strongest and most viable potential employees. Make your job easier, find the best talent for your company today. Need to work on your profile first, check out the LinkedIn resources on the Intero Advisory website.
Now, turn your non-profit organization into a sales force!
In the efforts of being found, connecting, engaging and creating opportunities, building a strong and compelling profile and Company Page is both necessary and strategic. Tell your organization’s unique story. Take the donor’s point of view (i.e. business professionals you are targeting in LinkedIn will become engaged if you fully portray and develop the need, the crisis, the imperative of WHY they should choose YOUR organization to volunteer their time and money. But first you have to get them to follow your progress.
Outside of LinkedIn, if your Company Page is complete and “key-worded” properly, you will rank higher, and strengthen credibility, in search engines such as Google. Optimize these tools to displace another non-profit competing for the same donor dollar.
Expand and analyze your reach. How can you extend it? Rally your colleagues, teams, and associates to stay current on LinkedIn, and to build new content within their profile. If a new section is added to Linkedin remind them to add to it. A great new section is Volunteer Experience and Causes. [Go to edit profile and scroll down to Add Section, click there and choose Volunteer Experience and Causes]. Promote, promote, promote!
Building digital assets are vital in the B2B world. It’s how prospects and consumers learn about individuals and companies. These digital assets level the playing field between non-profits and big companies! Use this unique opportunity intelligently, and for the exact purposes they are intended.
Also rather than a drawn out bio taking up valuable website real estate, place link from your site to the appropriate LinkedIn profile. Remember to hyperlink so a new page opens instead of leaving your original site. Drive people to View My LinkedIn Profile.
Another helpful hint: LinkedIn gives you a unique code for your Company Page. Take the code and add it to your site and display the "Follow us on LinkedIn" badge on your blog or website. Or add the LinkedIn logo alongside the other social media logos.
There is no question that “followers” equates to visibility. Your employees should be followers of your page as well. [Click the arrow on Following and choose settings. See below.]
Every tab in your Company Page has its own URL, promote those and remember to use the Analytics tab to check how your page is doing.
Summary and Take-aways
The Most Important LinkedIn Company Page To-Do’s for Non-Profits
1. Create a Company Page
2. Set up proper administration rights
3. Build and develop your Overview Section with keywords and value propositions
4. Add to your Services tab with up to 640x220 banners that link to specific URLs of your choosing (i.e. map to pages on your website)
5. Add YouTube videos and connections to provide specific recommendations to your Services tab
Again, your Company Page can carry the same weight as a website, and certainly more than a Facebook page, once it’s developed and properly managed.
Need help with the Company Page plan? Let Intero Advisory and Connect2Collaborate know!
Need a refresher on parts 1-4? Feel free to visit Intero Advisory’s Resource Page or Connect2Collaborate’s blog, and get more free tutorials on how to be the most successful on LinkedIn.
Putting your profile together may seem daunting after having read through Parts 1-3, so in Part 4 you’ll find more helpful specifics.
Analytics provide a lot of insight, but in the end, what will you take away from the information? In regard to your non-profit’s profile, check out who’s looking at your site and what they’re looking at. Now, do this with other sites; what are people interested in looking at on other sites? Look for patterns.
As previously discussed, the difference between a LinkedIn profile and a standard website is how much more interactive your non-profit profile will be. Many successful non-profits use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to establish and present their vision and strategy, each presented differently to the different audience in each social media platform. They always have a great website too. In turn, this creates conversation and connections.
In its entirety, your not-profit Company Page will help you gain the following:
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Recruiting opportunities. Young professionals have been the most immersed and engaged in the newest ways to market and network. LinkedIn provides non-profits the ability to post current job openings on their Company Page, and with a couple clicks, they can apply right there on your profile.
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Donor Relations. As non-profits educate and create value as a resource, donors will be become more invested in the organization. Donor relations is no longer about solving the last problem, but instead thinking about how to engage in order to build greater traction for the future.
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Donor Development. Donors want to work with non-profits that are shaking and stirring it up, moving things forward, that have a recognized voice, and are seen. Let your non-profit development staff come out from behind their desks and have a presence in front of their constituency via LinkedIn. Let LinkedIn work for you.