LEVERAGING LINKEDINTO
BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
CHARLOTTE HR MEETUPDECEMBER 21, 2009
Jason Tarazi, MSHRM, SPHR
Vice President – Corporate Recruiting
Bank of America
http://www.bankofamerica.com
Mark Weber
Managing Partner
Darton Group
http://www.dartongroup.com
Hallie Hawkins, JD
Co-Founder and Trainer
Get It Together
http://www.get-it-together-today.com
AGENDA
Hallie Hawkins: How companies leverage LinkedIn
Jason Tarazi: How recruiters and job seekers leverage
Mark Weber: How to create a strong LinkedIn profile
WHY LINKEDIN?
Huge global reach: 50+ million users, 95% of whom have a college degree, and the average user age 41 (64% male, 36% female)
The power of recommendations (i.e. your references)
The ability to form and join groups of common interest for networking, and sharing business and employment opportunities
Companies use it to post jobs, and candidates use it to search for jobs
Recruiters use it to source passive candidates: the traditional “job boards” are too expensive and over-saturated, and companies want people, not resumes
IMPORTANT TIPS FORNEW USERS
LinkedIn is intended for business professionals to connect with others who they trust, know, and whose work they can recommended
“Open networking” (i.e. connecting with anyone just to amass connections) is discouraged
LinkedIn suspends or revokes membership privileges of users who practice “invitation spamming”
PROMOTING A COMPANY’S PRESENCE
Home Page: Create a company page and post network status updates to promote products, services and announcements(can now be linked with Twitter)
Profile: Create a profile that effectively markets both personal expertise and the company’s mission
Connections: Leverage connections to facilitate introductions to others, and keep contacts current with network status updates
USING THE ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURESTO IDENTIFY BUSINESS PROSPECTS
Search people from specific companies or people with specific positions with those companies.
Search companies based on industry, location, company size, and who is hiring
Search groups by using key words that relate to your target market of potential customers – this can include regional areas, experts in your field, and specific fields of subject matter experts
Everyone can start their own group
COMPANIES USE POSTINGSTO PROMOTE THEIR BUSINESS
Companies post items that are relevant to their business – such as events, Wordpress Blogs, Google Slideshow presentations, and Slideshare presentations
It’s critical to keep the marketing message clear – avoid postings that are unprofessional or inaccurate
Other experts scrutinize these postings – paying attention to details such as grammar is crucial
Never post confidential or copyrighted material
USING ANSWERS TO IDENTIFY OTHERSWITH SIMILAR INTERESTS AND EXPERTISE
Post a question or search for an answer in the Answers section, which has forums for all industries and specialties
Answers is not a place to sell – never market a product or service when posting or answering a question
When posting questions, always select the “best answer” as a courtesy
See the Learning Center or search Answers before posting a question with an obvious answer
THE INS AND OUTS OFPASSIVE RECRUITING & SOURCING
LinkedIn people searches returns those profiles that are:
Direct connections (1 degree of separation)
Connected to a connection (2 degrees of separation)
Connected to a connection’s connections (3 degrees of separation)
Exception: searching by first and last name will always return that person’s profile (if available) even if further than 3 degrees of separation.
When searching by anything other than a person’s name, profiles greater than 3 degrees of separation are shown as Private – only the profile title is available with some limited information, but the person’s name cannot be seen
SEARCH TIPS FOR RECRUITERS
Use Advanced People Search to search for people by using company names and titles in the keywords field – using the company and title search fields will not return users who have “skeleton” profiles (i.e. profiles without a completed work information section)
LinkedIn’s free account allows users to see only the first 100 search results – so when using keywords, be specific, yet not too narrow, since the goal is to get as close to 100 results as possible
If only 50 results are received, the search may be too narrow and miss up to 50 other qualified profiles – and if 150 results are received, the search may not be narrow enough because only the first 100 results are viewable (50 others cannot be accessed)
Further limit search results by radius around zip code and by industry by checking the appropriate industry in the industry checkbox.
HOW RECRUITERS BREAK THROUGH 3 DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Search Private profiles on Google using the exact profile title in quotation marks – usually returns publicly published profiles with names
If unsuccessful, remove quotation marks and add additional search criteria such as city, university, or previous companies
If still unsuccessful, most likely that person did not publicly publish his/her profile
A WAY FOR RECRUITERS TOACCESS LINKEDIN’S “BACK DOOR”
Use Google to search for publicly published profiles, including “skeleton” profiles:
“Private Client Advisor” and “Wells Fargo” site:linkedin.com
The string above returns all publicly published profiles of Private Client Advisors from Wells Fargo, regardless of degree of separation or completeness of profile
Profiles can be seen by anyone even without being signed into a LinkedIn account – complete profiles can be access once signed into LinkedIn
THE COMPOSITION & BENEFITS OFA STRONG PROFILE
LinkedIn Profile = Your “Electronic” Business Card 100% Complete First Impressions Count Provide Details Spelling & Grammar Matter
Your Online Teacher = LinkedIn Learning Center http://learn.linkedin.com/
GETTING STARTED:LINKEDIN LEARNING CENTER
Overview + Site Features + User Guides
THE MORE COMPLETE THE PROFILE,THE STRONGER THE PROFILE
A HIGHLY DETAILED PROFILE ISA STRONG PROFILE
MORE DETAIL ISALWAYS BETTER