10 LinkedIn Mistakes You Shouldn't Make

Reprinted with permission from http://windmillnetworking.com/

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LinkedIn is the place to not only find others but also to be found as a job seeker. And that is why you need a LinkedIn Profile that not only helps you get found but also will entice people to contact you once they view your profile. I see many people making fundamental mistakes as job seekers that actually work against them in this aspect. If you’re going to spend time putting together a LinkedIn profile, I assume you want to maximize your chances of being contacted by the right people, right?

With that in mind, I have created an easy-to-understand list of a few things to check for with my reasoning. Just like any website owner, you want your LinkedIn profile to stick out and be found! As a job applicant, you want the same thing, so read on.

Enjoy my LinkedIn Profile Tips!

1. Not Displaying Your Personal Photo

It all really comes down to having social media credibility or not. There are too many fake profiles on LinkedIn, so you want to show that you are real. If you have taken the time to complete your LinkedIn profile, why wouldn’t you display your photo? It just raises too many potential questions. And company logos or photos of pets obviously have no value here

2. LinkedIn Profile Headline is Not Branded Enough

See that space underneath your name? That is your “Professional” or Profile Headline. It will appear in search results next to your name, as well as next to any questions you ask or answer. It is, in essence, your elevator speech in a few words. Are you just putting your title and company name here? Don’t! This is the place where you need to appeal to anyone who finds you in a search result to reach out and look at your profile. Your Profile Headline is the single most important piece of real estate on your LinkedIn Profile, and you need to brand it as such. This really ties into personal branding as a job applicant.

3. LinkedIn Status Update is Not Appealing

This is that “What are you working on?” box that I refer to as a “Status Update.” Assuming someone finds you and looks at your profile, chances are they are going to be looking at what you write here simply because that it appears just underneath your Headline Profile. What do you write here? Many people in transition note that they are looking for a job here. What do you use your LinkedIn Status Update for? It is part of your branding exercise, and it should be something appealing that will both inform the reader of your latest activities as well as hopefully add to, not subtract from, your LinkedIn Brand.

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5 Subliminal Tricks That Make an Employer Adore You

Speak in a job interview physically, not just verbally

By Landon Long

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Okay, we know everyone adores you anyways, but even you Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolie’s can’t get everything you want on looks alone. Sure, some of that physical attraction counts, but what counts even more is your subliminal body language. Even if people don’t realize it, this is the thing that creates the vibes people love.

Here are 5 ways to get people hooked on you in one sitting.

1. Maintain Good Eye Contact

Eye Contact is huge. Imagine talking to someone who never looked at you, not even once. Rather, they scanned the room with their eyes: the walls, the floor, the ceiling—anything but you. Would you feel like they were listening? Even an unusually long look in the other direction would throw the whole conversation off.

Good eye contact establishes rapport. The listener should be giving more eye contact than the person speaking, as if receiving the information not simply by listening but through sight as well, which is sort of what is going on with all the body language involved.

Be careful, though, being too intense can have the opposite effect. Try to maintain good contact throughout about 70% of the conversation. Gentleman, the ladies are a lot better about making eye contact when listening, so if you’re having issues watch the way they do it. Many have it down to an art.

2. Posture: Not the Time to Practice Your Gangster Lean

A confident, able individual has good posture, and a slouch creates the impression that you are unorganized, unambitious, and undisciplined. Good posture says a lot about someone, so this is something you should work on long before you walk into an interview. Use posture exercises to learn how to master this skill.

Also, a good listener leans towards the speaker, as if trying to get closer. This is a temporary submissive gesture to ease the exchange of ideas. Don’t get so far up in their grill that they can diagnose your halitosis; just lean forward a bit as if making a conscious effort to hear their words.

When its your turn to speak, remain in a more neutral position. Don’t lean back as if you own the place or you might seem unnecessarily arrogant. Sit up straight and save the leaning for when you’re listening.

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7 Words That Make Your Resume Irresistible

A great resume's ingredients

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Make no mistake about it, writing an effective resume has to be a highly individualized matter, since no two people are alike. Nevertheless, it is such a constricted and standardized format, that we resume writers find ourselves adopting certain phrases or words that each of us tends to prefer and that in fact help our clients get jobs. Every resume writer has his or her own list. Here is mine:

1. "$3,000,000" (vs. "$3M") - To a skimmer's eye, "$3M" looks like three dollars. If you are dealing with big numbers and write out all the zeros, the employer's eye will find it anywhere on the page, no matter how fast they are skimming through your resume.

2. "Created a database for..." (vs. "Developed a database for...") - "Developed" is an overused and nondescriptive word. Often databases, procedures, lists, or whatever other job activity you are writing about is something you actually put together (even if you used a standard software program to do it, for example). "Created" is closer to the truth and is certainly much more impressive on your resume.


3. "Applied xyz methods..." (vs. "Learned xyz methods....") - Many job seekers list important skills or knowledge that they learned on a job on their resume. But that isn't going to impress a potential employer. The potential employer wants to know if you actually used those skills. How and where you learned them is immaterial.

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9 Reasons You Didn't Get The Job

Job seekers - the real reasons you didn't get the job

This post was originally written by Nick Stuart and has been reprinted with permission from Ricochet.com.

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People who write job advice columns for a living make their living by writing job advice columns. Consequently paying their rent requires them to grind out a never-ending series of columns with chipper titles like “8 ½ Secrets Of Job Hunting Success," "How To Chose Between Multiple Job Offers," and "Secrets Of Negotiating A Really High Salary." Usually these are only tenuously connected to reality (especially the multiple job offer and salary negotiation ones). Columns on why you didn’t get hired usually include nifty factoids like “because you stuck a pencil in the hiring manager’s eye.”

Not really helpful because they discuss job hunting faux pas that you are highly unlikely to make like “don’t show up for the interview naked”.

It’s high time for the real reasons you didn’t get hired to come out. This will help you make sense of the fact that after months-and-months of job hunting, and numerous interviews for jobs you were perfect for, you’re still looking.

The Hiring Manager Already Made The Decision

Often the hiring manager already knows who he or she wants for the job, and has it wired up. They’re just going through the posting and interview Kabuki theater because their HR department requires due diligence. HR may or may not be in on the scam, but either way nobody has the moral courage or even the common decency to tell you that the whole exercise is a complete waste of your time because the decision was made before the job was even posted.

HAL Didn’t Like Your Resume

HAL 9000 (the fictional computer villain in the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey), is now in charge of screening most resumes and online applications, and he definitely didn’t like yours. So he didn’t pass it through to the next step. HAL uses completely random criteria that nobody knows what they are so there’s no point asking or trying to figure it out, besides the HR people like their secrets (it makes them feel important). And once HAL rejects you for a particular job opening, he makes an indelible note to himself to never pass you along for any other job.

"Open the Interview Room Doors HAL."

"I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that."

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Ten things your resume shouldn't have

Resume tricks that will backfire on you

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As a Certified Professional Résumé Writer, over the years I have come across many tacky résumé tricks that candidates use in a misguided effort to stand out. Most recruiters are on to these gimmicks. When you use these tricks, you may appear desperate, or worse yet, dishonest. Avoid them because they do not work and are bound to fail.

1- The Extensive Vocabulary Gimmick

Using big words and lengthy sentences will not help you sound important, especially if they are used incorrectly. Don't hide behind your vocabulary. Your résumé should be an easy read. When your résumé is not concise and direct, the reader gets uncomfortable. Use common words and clear sentences to put the focus on your background and abilities. Make sure to include effective keywords and phrases that you know the reader will be looking for, but stay away from industry-specific buzzwords that may get lost on your recruiter

2- The Case of the Missing Employment Dates

Eliminating your dates of employment to disguise career gaps will not work. Recruiters know that missing dates can only mean one of two things, either you are trying to hide a poor career history or you are just plain careless. Always include employment dates to pass the detailed résumé review. To extend the longevity of your résumé and minimize gaps, consider listing the year only, instead of month and year.

3- Hiding Behind a Functional Résumé

The functional, or ‘skills based’ résumé is designed so that your skills and relevant accomplishments are separated from your employment list and placed upfront. Many job seekers trying to minimize career issues such as gaps in employment use the functional format. If you use this technique, you can be sure a perceptive recruiter will go directly to your career history to try to find what you are hiding. In addition, these résumés tend to be disliked by many recruiters because it is difficult to connect where you did what you did. Avoid the functional format if you can. Whenever possible, use a reverse chronological format to keep your responsibilities and accomplishments under their respective job titles. If you must, use a combination of functional and reverse chronological that will strategically minimize your obstacles and meet your prospective employer’s needs.

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Top 10 Hardest Interview Questions

Tricky interview questions to prepare for

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A job interview is no easy task. In fact many job seekers have trouble with the same set of questions. To ease the process of interviewing, we've listed the Top 10 Hardest Job Interview Questions. Focus on these job interview questions, study them, learn them, research them, and ace your next job interview!

1. Why did you get fired/ terminated? - This question is tricky yet needs to be answered with full honesty. The interviewer would want to hear your honesty and your side of the story. Support your answer with a very good explanation. In case you get fired due to legal issues, explain that you were currently working on it and that it does not have anything to do with your performance. Your explanation in your answer is very important; it should be direct and should not contain intersections.

2. Tell me about problems you encountered with Supervisors- Another tricky question that will test how you worked with your superiors. I suggest not to be too honest in answering this question. For example, common observations such as being bossy, opinionated, authoritarian, or being a keen observer are the common traits of a Supervisor that are incorrectly used. Instead, cite a personal experience that you had encounter with a supervisor so that the interviewer would understand why it became your problem.

3. What Qualities do you look for in a boss? - Do not answer with the most common traits that a boss should possess like "being nice to employees" or a good leader. You should relate your answer with your work. For example “My ideal boss is someone who can make time to hear employees' opinions or ideas, and a boss who cares to listen and give fair his/her opinion with my work.”

4. As a professional, do you have any disappointments? - Cite the experience that really disappoints you, as you relay the story behind it make sure that you state something that you have learned after.

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7 Secrets to Making Employers Find You

Job hunting and being seen

Reprinted with permission from theundercoverrecruiter.com.

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The best recruiters out there pride themselves on being able to find you, not the other way around. So what if they haven’t called yet? Instead of calling them and coming across as desperate, do your best to get on their radar by following these 7 tips. These methods will obviously work for being noticed by employers as well.

1. Get Active on LinkedIn

OK, no surprise here but LinkedIn is where recruiters hang out all day and they always keep an eye on the front page feed. So set yourself up on LinkedIn, pimp your profile, get active in groups and discussions so you get noticed. Get recommendations from heavy hitters in your industry and you will get straight on the recruiter radar. Ensure that your profile communicates that you are open for suggestions.

2. Get Active on Twitter

Recruiters love Twitter as they can spray out their new roles to the market. Finding job opportunities on Twitter is very swift and takes very little effort. Follow the recruiters you know have the positions you want, by searching for your skill + recruiter + your location. Start adding value to them by doing some retweeting of their tweets, help them out with potential referrals etc. Before you know it, they will check out your online bio and see if you are keen on a new position as well. This requires you to have an employee friendly Twitter profile, clearly stating what you do and a link to your online bio somewhere.

3. Write and get read

Everyone likes to write but very few get round to it and publish anything. With the advances of technology, it’s never been easier to reach out so embrace this to the fullest. You can write an article in your favorite industry periodical, a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, a post on your company blog or your own blog. The key here is to write something that will get read by the right people (in this case recruiters). Ensure that you are credited with your name, title and company at the end of your piece to make it easy for the recruiter to look you up.

4. Speak and get heard

Next time you go to an industry event, try to secure a speaking slot either as giving a speech or just participating in an open forum, whatever it takes to get listed in the event’s directory. Recruiters are known to sneak in to these functions and to make contact with prolific people in the industry; public speaking is a brilliant way of being included on the hit list.

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