Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with our newest career coach, Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.
Much of this week’s Ask the Coach call revolved around how to use online resources, especially LinkedIn. The first caller said he had heard that the best jobs are seldom posted on job boards, so he assumed it is better to concentrate on maintaining a high visibility, starting with a searchable resume.
Nicola agrees, but says you should not turn your back on job boards, especially specialty job boards like NETSHARE. These niche boards provide better quality postings, and make it easy to apply for jobs and connect with recruiters.
Nicola also points out that you need to keep marketing documents, like your resume, fresh. You aren’t static so your resume should not be static either. Consider using a professional resume writer to help you perfect it and keep it up to date. Keywords are important, but fortunately for senior managers, most executive resumes get a personal review. Your networking efforts will help you make the contacts you need, and your documents help you provide a clear value message.
Another caller asked Nicola how she, as a recruiter, approaches a search. Nicola said it depends on the hiring level, the size of the company, and the nature of the search. By way of example, let’s assume she is searching for a COO for a medium-sized company in the midst of restructuring. First, she would go through her list of contacts, spending a lot of time on LinkedIn. She proactively searches for candidates and LinkedIn lets her use her time wisely and offers a great response rate. Then she looks for the best four candidates. Next, Nicola will go to NETSHARE, where she knows she can find executive-level candidates. Then she will use industry associations (if she has a membership) and try to network to find candidates.
When searching through LinkedIn profiles, what does she look for? It depends on what the client wants. If they are adamant that candidates have specific industry experience, she will limit her search by industry and look for candidates who worked for competitors. These companies are limiting their risk by hiring someone who already knows about the industry. If the client is open to candidates with additional experience, then she looks for those with experience with the same business model and stage of development.
So how can you make the best use of LinkedIn? Make sure you have a solid, dynamic profile. You can’t make the information so dense no one want to read it, but it should contain all the keywords relevant to the position you want. Join relevant groups – Nicola uses groups to search for industry expertise. She also finds that looking for the last book someone read (as posted on their LinkedIn profile) also can be insightful. And she looks for a good picture, not just mug shots. Also update your status line to promote your value and keep your profile fresh.
