positioning yourself for opportunities on LinkedIn
Dear you,
Last year, a huge company approached me on LinkedIn to become their CMO. I just had to show up at an interview with three other candidates. While I passed on the opportunity, it made me reflect, and I realized that I did not directly apply for most of the jobs I have done in my career. People found my work and reached out to me because they knew I was capable of doing them and because my results were public. I have shared how important it is to be memorable and visible. LinkedIn is one channel you can leverage to be memorable and visible. I know people who have gotten jobs/businesses, found mentors, connected with investors, and accessed many opportunities through this platform.
I wrote an article four years ago about positioning yourself for opportunities on LinkedIn. I read it, and it still made complete sense. So I updated it with more information and thought to share this with you, hoping it helps you maximize this platform even more.
So, how do you position yourself for opportunities on LinkedIn?
These are the five parts to pay attention to.
Your goals: Before you start editing your LinkedIn profile, the first thing you need to do is define what you want from the platform. Ask yourself the following questions and answer honestly - Who are you? What are your career/business goals? How can LinkedIn help you achieve them? What kind of job/clients are you looking for? What are you good at? What are you interested in? What kind of connections do you want to make? What would you feel comfortable sharing on LinkedIn? What would you never want to share on LinkedIn? What companies would you like to work at/with? How do you want to present yourself? What matters most to you at this time in your life - experience or money? Choose and answer wisely. This will guide your profile.
Your profile: This is ultimately "your resume". It contains parts that give key insights, details and questions your potential client or employer (or someone recommending you) might have. This is why updating your profile 90% -100% is essential. Key components of your profile include the following:
Profile picture: Your profile starts with your picture (see this as your passport). Please do not use an actual passport picture. It's an opportunity to use a headshot conveying your identity and the image you want to project. Avoid Snapchat/IG filters, flower filters, funny faces (except you are a comedian), far-distance shots, etc. The essence is to see your face. Pick a clear and presentable picture. Look sharp. Ready to work. Look good. Look at it this way, if you were announcing your interest in running for presidency or the cover of Forbes, what pictures would you use? It doesn't have to be too serious, just presentable, confident, and clear. If you can afford it, contact good photographers who specialize in portraits for great headshots. However, a quick fix would be to use a good phone, take a good picture and upload it. Your chest, all the way up to the tip of your hair, are the most important features, nothing else. Ensure there's some space above your head so that we can see and focus on your face.
Your bio/about: The first part of this is the "title". Please do not write "Looking for a job", "available for a job position", or similar things in your title. It is distasteful, which is different from what this feature is for. Follow LinkedIn guides. e.g. Your Title would be IT Engineer - something explaining your role. Use industry keywords. Like most social media platforms, keywords are very important. When a recruiter is searching, they won't search "looking for a job". Instead, they'll search for the role, keywords associated with the position and maybe location. Fill in your details right. If you are a co-founder of a Startup, write that. If you are a Director of Communications, write that. You can choose to include the company you currently work for beside that description if you want to be associated with the company (e.g. Programs Manager, Google). Draft a short bio (250 words) and include this in the About section of your profile. Take advantage of this page to describe yourself, your skills and your goals. If you were invited to speak at an event, what bio would you share with them? Exactly! Put that here. If you also have articles you have written or been featured in, you can add them to the features section. This part is an opportunity to put key links that give insights into your work.
Experience: Highlight your experience, and be very intentional about it. Write your role, how long you were there, and what you did there, stating your impact. Please don't write your JD; write the things you did, tying them to results. Remember to be as detailed/specific as possible when describing your job positions and titles held in the past. Internship counts as experience. Study online, too and add your online courses. Most online schools have LinkedIn pages. Link them. If your previous company or school has a LinkedIn page, link it. It helps. If you have volunteered in any capacity, include your volunteering experience and highlight your results. Volunteering shows that you are not idle. It also shows that you give back, highlights your skills, and causes you care about. Ask for recommendations from your past colleagues, classmates etc. skill endorsements are essential too. Include accomplishments if you have any. Add projects, certifications and language(s).
Your content: Don't just leave your page dormant and hope your beautiful profile will be enough — post updates. Be active at least once a week. You don't have to be an expert to share. Share your thoughts on articles you've read, share links to the article, or share stories or data points relevant to your industry or causes you care about. Share things that emphasize your value and career goals. Include keywords in your posts and articles. Use your content to help people know what you do and how you can help them. You don't have to be "directly selling" all the time, but every content you create will directly or indirectly sell you as a person, so be intentional. Think deeply about your goals, the people you can add value to, and those interested in hiring or doing business with you. Sharing valuable content makes you visible and memorable. You can also collaborate with your peers to host LinkedIn lives or re-purpose content from your Twitter Spaces, and IG lives into valuable posts. You could start a LinkedIn newsletter and share articles in a regular cadence (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly) about a niche, topic, or your learnings. The advantage of this is that the newsletters get delivered to your subscriber's emails directly from LinkedIn, and it also shows up on your LinkedIn. Be sure that your industry is represented on LinkedIn. For example, in the fashion and beauty Industry, Instagram is their LinkedIn, so you may not get as many job offers/opportunities if you use LinkedIn. However, developing your page for your personal brand would still be nice. You may also find a different spin on it and connect with investors who might be interested in the space or people who view it from a different perspective. You can be a fashion thought leader on LinkedIn and speak to the role of fashion in building people's personal image. Your approach might be different. Don't stifle yourself. Share valuable content - things to reinforce that you're "hireable" and you can think for yourself. Don't write things like "I am a great person". Write without directly selling yourself. Let the content you create, your actions and your results sell you.
Your engagement: It's not enough to create content on LinkedIn; you need to be human and engage. Don't just send connection requests; also include thoughtful messages. Be value-oriented and send a message smartly. Read about the person you are adding, and let this spark your conversation. For example, Hello Blessing, I noticed you're into Branding and Communications, and you're also passionate about the Startup ecosystem in Africa. I would love to connect with you and discuss more about entrepreneurship particularly. Your work inspires me. I have read a few of your articles, and the one on "telling stories with numbers" resonated with me. I would like to speak more with you and ask a few questions.
A gentle ego massage helps people drop their guard. Asking for advice is also a great way to open doors for you. You could go straight to the point and ask if there is a vacancy and state why you are interested in working in their organization, or you could reach out to someone who works in an organization you would like to be employed in, show interest in their work and ask for a "virtual hangout" to chat for 15 minutes, ask thoughtful questions, and probably their story on how they got into their current role. This could help you learn more about the organization and what to look out for if you are applying to that organization. You can send people messages letting them know your intent to work for/with their organization. You could sell yourself well enough that a role/opportunity can be created for you because you are perceived as a person of value. If you want to connect with an investor, you could ask for advice on fundraising while sharing key reasons why you chose to speak with them. Chances are, after the advice, they might get insights about you and be willing to connect you with other opportunities or people who might be willing to invest in your business. This works in terms of partnerships and getting clients too. Cold messages without first building rapport barely go too far in this world where people's attention spans are short. You can build some rapport before you even send a DM. You can intentionally comment on their posts, engage with their content, share content, and reference something they said or did that inspired you. You could attend a virtual event they were part of and make a post referencing it on LinkedIn. Be intentional about how you tag people in your post. Mention people within an article or post if you are referring to something they said or did, giving them credit, or if you want to start a conversation. If you want to start a conversation, you can mention them and ask a question. Don't just mention people in posts that have nothing to do with them. Engaging with people like you would do in real life can create opportunities for you. Engage with posts. Have an opinion. Ask questions. Comment. Like. Share. Take action. People will find you through your engagement. It will make you discoverable. You can access a more expansive network beyond yours by engaging with other people's posts.
Your network: Be intentional about your network. Send and accept requests wisely and purposefully. Ask yourself, does this person need to be a connection, or can I just follow them? Ask yourself why do I want to connect with this person. Can I just follow them? Be intentional. You can start by building your network on LinkedIn with people you know already. You can turn offline friendships into LinkedIn connections and some of your online connections into offline friendships. Once you have built rapport with a person online, you can plan a meet-up at an event or go for coffee and meet in real life. The referral culture is really big on LinkedIn. Once in a while, post your professional stories and the lessons you've learned from them. Then ask your connections/thought leaders for their feedback. Mention them in your posts creatively. For example, if you are new to LinkedIn and have been taking some active steps to be active, you can share a story of how you just joined LinkedIn in the last few months. These are five lessons you have learned from interacting on the platform, and at the end of the lessons, you can add - Haoma Worgwu, LinkedIn Mastermind Extraordinaire, what do you think about this? Would @LinkedIn be proud?
This kind of engagement would make her aware of what is going on with you, your story, your journey, and why you mentioned her in it. Her comment would help her followers see your posts, and she may be able to recommend people who can help you. Don't take your network for granted. Go beyond connection and build friendships.
Again, don't wait to see a vacancy before you try to apply for roles or wait until an announcement before you explore a partnership or pitch your business to someone. If Mohammed does not come to the Mountain, the Mountain must go to Mohammed. If the opportunity is not coming to you, go to the opportunity or create the opportunity. DM, ask, speak up, apply, and follow company pages you aspire to work in or do business with.
Finally, be present. Visit your LinkedIn account at least once every week (Maybe every Monday). Monday mornings are the best times to post (they are the most active times, too, because #MondayMotivation or people approach Monday with a certain seriousness and are often active on LinkedIn then. Check your DMs regularly too, so you don't miss a message from a recruiter or a potential business partner.
I hope this helps you. If you found this insightful, share this with someone.
With Love,
Blessing Abeng
Thank you for this life-changing article. This is just what I needed to see at this moment in my career. I can boldly tell people to look out for Oluwaseun Fagbemi.