April 18, 2011
LinkedIn tips from a 'LinkedIn Rockstar'
NWjobs
This Thursday and Friday, April 21-22, Mike O'Neil and Lori Ruff, co-authors of "Rock the World with your Online Presence," are presenting a "Rock The World!" with LinkedIn Intensive Workshop at the Langley Center for New Media on Whidbey Island.
I had a chance to speak with Mike, a Minneapolis/St. Paul-based LinkedIn expert (and rock music enthusiast who also brands himself as "The LinkedIn Rockstar"), on tips he could share with Hire Ground readers that could help them with a better job-search process.
Keywords
The first tip he shared is to understand how people search LinkedIn. Some might use keywords to search, and the goal is to make sure your profile intersects with what they're searching for. For example, Mike, who is a trainer, uses these word variations in his profile to maximize the chances he will be found in a search: teacher, taught, training, educator, educating and student.
Having the right keywords is step one; having a large enough network is step two. When someone is searching for keywords, LinkedIn will only show results limited to that person's first-, second- and third-degree and group members. If your network is small, chances are high you're not being pulled up in the search results.
Profile and headline
Once you are listed in the search results, remember you are on a page with nine other people and the recruiter can click the next set of ten results and so on. To get someone to click on your profile, Mike says there are two areas you need to optimize on your profile: your photo and your headline.
Your photo should be a professional headshot. Your headline is limited to 120 characters that are crucial to enticing someone to click on you. You should focus on the most important keywords and avoid wasting space with words such as "the" and "and."
Once someone clicks on you, Mike says that most people get to see, at most, the first three paragraphs of your profile. If you bore them to death at this point, they've already moved on. Make sure you represent your industry knowledge well and have strong selling points in the top of your profile. This is key to a recruiter or hiring manager wanting to read more and ultimately contacting you.
Interests
The last tip Mike offers for being found in search results relates to the "Interests" section of your profile. This is an area where you can strategically connect to other professionals with similar interests. To do this properly, list your interests separated by commas, such as, "Skiing, basketball, golf." Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn will create clickable links between you and other professionals.
Meet Mike and Lori
While this weekend's workshop is geared toward small-business owners, any professional can benefit from this course. Cost is $548, but Mike and Lori will award one scholarship to the person who contributes the best, most original tip for using LinkedIn. Can't make it to this weekend's retreat? You can also meet Mike and Lori at the upcoming Linked:Seattle meetup in Renton, on Wednesday, April 20.
Paul Anderson of ProLango helps professionals in transition find their desired employment.
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job search, keywords, LinkedIn, networking, profile
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Karen Burns is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl, a career guide based on her 59 jobs over 40 years in 22 cities.
Lisa Quast is a certified career coach, mentor, business consultant, former corporate executive and author based in the Seattle area.
Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.
Former contributors
Matt Youngquist is the president of Career Horizons, a career counseling firm.
Natalie Singer is a Seattle writer, editor and small-business owner.
Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide."
Paul Anderson helps professionals in transition find their desired employment.
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The following feedback from Linked In regarding SEO is interesting!
Search Relevance and Rank on LinkedIn Search
Why doesn't my Profile rank at the top of LinkedIn search results?
Below are some of the reasons search results may vary from user to user.
1. There is no single rank for LinkedIn search. Unlike the standard search engines, LinkedIn people search generates its relevance score uniquely for each member. As a result, even though a query will return the same results for everyone, the order is determined in part by the Profile, activity, and connections of the person searching. Testing a query from a handful of users is not likely to reflect the overall rank any Profile has across the millions of queries that LinkedIn has every day. A better measure would be the number of views your Profile gets (check the "Who Viewed My Profile" module and statistics on your home page).
2. Searcher relevance is based on a variety of factors. Relevance is a proprietary algorithm which we are constantly improving. Our goal is simple - optimize search results for the searcher. Before we return results, we consider the searcher's activity on LinkedIn, the Profiles returned by the query, and other members who have made similar searches in determining the sort order. These, along with other factors, combine to provide us with data to improve the overall quality of our members' search results.
3. More keywords aren't always better. Our advice would be to only include the keywords (including repeated keywords) in your Profile that best reflect your expertise and experience. If you integrate an extended list of keywords into your Profile, you are likely showing up in a high number of searches. The question you need to ask yourself, however, is whether members consider your Profile relevant to their search. If not, their behavior as a collective group may be influencing the algorithm used to rank you in search results.