Each
week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with
leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session
with our newest expert to join Ask the Coach, Christine
Dennison, The Job Search Coach.
It’s interesting how frequently LinkedIn comes up as a topic for discussion in the weekly Ask the Coach calls. This week, Christine revisited the LinkedIn topic, emphasizing that in today’s job climate, networking is the best way to find work; not just a job but work. This is true for consultants as well as full-time job seekers. And LinkedIn has become the “go-to” resource for senior managers and executives looking to connect with other professionals who are in positions of influence. So whether you are looking for consulting work, a better job, a career change, or any other form of advancement, start with LinkedIn.
Before you can start networking, you need to identify your objectives. Have specific goals and targets in mind, whether you are looking for consulting work or a new career. You need to think about what you want, including the work environment, location, job responsibilities, possibilities for promotion, etc. No one can do this for you; no one understands your needs or objectives better than you do. Once you have determined your goals, you can determine what companies or organizations best fit your objectives and which ones can make the best use of your skills.
Once you have a target in mind, then you can determine the best way to identify and approach the decision-makers. If you want to target a hiring authority, then LinkedIn can be a great resource, if you are patient and use it in a smart way. You can use LinkedIn to identify resources within the company, find out what forums they participate in, watch their status updates, and get to know them. And you can start to approach them slowly, demonstrating your interest and your expertise, but not overtly asking for a job.
LinkedIn is a great tool to help hiring authorities find you. If you have a well-formatted profile and know how to use LinkedIn to create a trail that leads to you personal information, then hiring professionals looking for talent will identify you as a fit for their current needs. The challenge is knowing how to use LinkedIn effectively to drive the right kind of attention to your profile.
If you are looking for tips on how to use LinkedIn for personal branding, Jason Alba, author of I’m on LinkedIn- Now What??? will be the guest presenter on the next session of Experts Connection, offering his insight in a session entitled “LinkedIn for Executives: BEYOND the Basics!” where he will explain how optimize your profile, how to use LinkedIn Groups, how to increase your perceived value, and how to improve your personal brand.
