Yesterday, I presented what I call a DIY LinkedIn Profile Audit at the SFPCN meet-up in San Francisco. It was a fun as well as interesting training session because I had an audience at all levels of LinkedIn knowledge. One thing we spent a good deal of time talking about is something I consider to be one of the most valuable sections of “real estate” on your LinkedIn profile: Your Headline.

As an example, currently mine is: Professional Networking Expert, Author & Keynote Speaker, Training & Professional Development

Your Headline matters because, next to your name, it’s one of the few things that shows up to practically everyone. And when you hover over someone’s name on LinkedIn’s desktop version, it’s what you see right after the name.

For the folks that attended the SFPCN session, and anyone else that reads this post, below you’ll see a screen grab of where you need to go to find the Headline field so you can edit yours (click on the image to enlarge it). Note: the default for your LinkedIn Profile Headline is usually populated by your most recent position, but my advice is you change it to reflect your personal brand or the expertise for which you want to be found.

In a recent Payscale.com post titled, “How Employee Referrals Facilitate Job Recruiting,” they share an infographic from Jobvite which illustrates the importance of employee referrals when it comes to the hiring process.

I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share some of my thoughts on this part of the process because getting referred for a job is all about my favorite topic: NETWORKING.

My thoughts:

1) You have to stay connected to people in your career via in-person or social networking activities in order to get referred (this applies to business as well as jobs). Using LinkedIn to do this is easy and costs you nothing except a little bit of worthwhile time.

2) You learn about what’s referred to as the “hidden job market” by networking and being connected to and trusted by other people.

3) If you spot an opening at a company for which you’d like to work, and then confirm that you have a 1st or 2nd degree connection into said company (typically via a LinkedIn search), one of your best bets to get referred for the job is to ask your direct contact to ask their contact at the hiring company whether they have an employee referral program or not.

Why? The person that refers you will likely get an employee referral bonus (usually if you stay at the job for at least 3 months), and when reminded of this, they’re more inclined to make the effort on your behalf, and may even suggest you connect so they can feel even more confident about supporting you as a candidate.

So, if you really want to get hired, getting referred by someone the hiring manager or recruiter trusts is the way to go. And, as the Jobvite research shows, not only do employee referrals have a higher hire rate than candidates from other sources, they’re also hired faster!

Yes, LinkedIn has done it again. They’ve taken a feature, that at first seemed to be something of an afterthought, and which also appeared to be released mainly just see what members will do with it, and they then apply what they’ve learned via careful observation (of their site analytics, no doubt), and enhance the heck out of it…basically knocking it out of the park. I’m talking about LinkedIn Company Pages.

It’s been for some time now that you could add very basic content to your company page on LinkedIn, but they’ve recently added a whole bunch of bells and whistles to enable you to create a powerful promotional tool by having what is essentially a microsite within LinkedIn. This article from Inc.com today did a great job of highlighting ways to make the most of a LinkedIn Company Page, so I thought I’d share some of it here and encourage you to read the whole piece after you’ve read my thoughts on why you should bother.

A few highlights include:

• Description: Though you are allowed up to 1,500 characters for your Company Page description, LinkedIn only displays the first few lines as a preview–so as any good journalist will tell you, put your key info in your first sentence or two. Your full description can also provide info not otherwise found on your LinkedIn page, like your company phone number or the URL of a particular page.

• Specialties: Specialties are keywords used to describe what you do or the key products you produce. You can have up to 20 specialties, so long as the total number of characters describing them does not exceed 256.

• Blog Feed: If you have a corporate blog or news feed, you can enter its URL and have LinkedIn automatically pull in recent titles.

• News Headlines:  Decide whether you want LinkedIn to display when your company appears in the news.

Why bother?

If you are starting a business, or have realized that your current Web 1.0 site needs updating, and you’re wondering how you’ll be able to afford a new website, consider holding off on that expense (perhaps until some revenue really starts rolling in) and instead just enhance your “LinkedIn Company Page.”

You can begin by allocating no more than an hour to start building an online presence for your company on LinkedIn that will rival even some of the  slickest, lower budget WordPress sites out there.

I’m still putting some finishing touches on mine (and getting the company name changed), but if you’re curious to see what I’ve done so far, here’s the direct link to it so you can see what the URL looks like and check out the page: http://www.linkedin.com/company/bella-domain-media/products

BTW, while you’re there, if you’d like to help me make my company presence on LinkedIn really shine, please consider following Bella Domain Media and/or, if applicable, writing a brief reco about my book (products) or speaking (services) for me. Pretty please? 

Lastly, if you’re just getting started with building a company page on LinkedIn, here’s an earlier and great post also from Inc.com to help you tackle this important marketing-related project from the beginning. Have fun!

It’s no surprise that I’m a huge advocate for in-person networking, and I recognize that I cultivate more meaningful connections when I get out from behind my screens, but I recently had to comment on a Huffington Post article titled,”Networking Tips: Why Facebook and LinkedIn May Not Pay Off” which summarized parts of a study of 1000 small biz owners by Manta (rather poorly, I might add).

The study is a thinly disguised plug/pitch for their platform (content marketing by Manta in its most basic form), and HuffPost abetted by titling their article with the link bait names Facebook and LinkedIn, but I went ahead and called this out anyway because I’m concerned about the misguided conclusions some HuffPost readers might draw about LinkedIn and Facebook:

When asked how they chose partners or vendors, 56 percent of small-business owners surveyed by Manta said they simply ask people they know.

What I wrote was:

Well, how do you think you get to KNOW people to ask for referrals in the first place? You may have met them only briefly at a networking event or bar or wedding, but you get to know then by linking to them online so that it’s easier to stay in touch and connected.

Most of us do the actual linking to a new contact via social networking sites like Facebook and, because it’s less creepy (especially if you met them while throwing back a few in a bar), LinkedIn.

LinkedIn may not always be where a relationship originates, but in today’s world, and more often than not, it’s where the “knowing” that leads to real referrals typically happens.

Most people I know don’t just send business your way until they’ve gotten to know you a bit and feel that they can trust and confidently recommend you whether you’re a new contact (met in an elevator?) or an old one.

IMHO, we need all of the things listed to have a decent network and be successful in this world.

How would YOU have responded to the Manta survey? Here are a few of the questions which you can answer via comments below. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

1) Where do you get your biggest business boosts from?

2) Where or from whom do you seek advice?

3) Where are the most interesting places to connect? (Note: they asked INTERESTING which most likely skewed the answers.)

As a Spring 2012 special, I’m offering a 50 minute career search or strategy session for only $50.

I bring fresh ideas, valuable new strategies, keen insights and loads of actionable advice in these sessions and would welcome the opportunity to help you plan for the rest of 2012.

Maybe you just need to shake things up a bit and get an outside perspective or some new ideas about how to advance your career or find the job you really want? Below is what one happy client had to say:

“I went to Sandy for consultation on career and business matters and got more great advice from her in two hours than most people could give in a month. Sandy is very savvy with knowing how to effectively network and use numerous digital and social media platforms to full advantage….”

-Heather R.

The details: $50 for 50 minutes of focused, brainstorming or one-on-one career strategy coaching (for job search or networking) on a personalized and via a pre-paid via PayPal basis. Use my online scheduling tool to secure your appointment and then please PAY IN ADVANCE (non-refundable if less than 24 hours notice of cancellation, otherwise, 50% refund) – by just clicking here.

After you’ve paid for a slot(s) via PayPal, I will be automatically notified and can confirm your appointment. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Note: All 50-4-50 sessions are held via phone or Skype. Two back-to-back slots max. Offer ends June 30, 2012.

April Fool’s Day fun, but also highlighting some of the bad behavior many of us experience at the in-person networking events we attend.

Watch this for Dear Sandy’s April Fool’s Day fun:

I thought I’d share a recent post I wrote for The Salary Reporter blog on PayScale.com because it’s getting a lot of attention online and just in case any blog followers haven’t see it yet.

You can read Does Size Matter? It Does When It Comes to Your LinkedIn Network in its entirety there, but below is an excerpt and a follow up tweet with a link to a new LinkedIn feature that helps with growing your network:

Did you know that many of today’s job postings list “having more than 250 LinkedIn connections” as a qualification for an ideal candidate? This is especially true in business development, social media management or fundraising positions. And, not surprisingly, more and more employers believe that having a robust professional network connotes success and an ability to connect with others.

Here’s the follow-up tweet and a tip about a new feature LinkedIn added too!

This is the first in a series of “Dear Sandy” networking related questions I’ll answer here or in future posts or newsletters.

Please feel free to send me your own networking related questions and I’ll do my best to answer them in the near future.

Dear Sandy:

I ran into an interesting networking experience this week that I wanted to ask your advice about.

The Rancho County chapter of NALBO held its annual Remarkable Ladies awards event on Thursday. There was a VIP reception at 5:30, followed by a dinner and awards program at 6:30.
I was invited to both, and accepted. A former colleague invited me to the dinner and I was familiar with this particular event because I’d read about it before.

So I arrived, immediately caught up with my old co-worker, and ventured into the affair. She got grabbed away immediately. And I found myself standing by myself in a roomful of people all already talking animatedly with one another. I did manage to say hello to a couple of people I knew, but almost before we could start chatting, someone would run up, hug ‘em, and draw them into conversation. You can see my dilemma.

All the networking advice discusses what to say and what not to say to people at a networking event – but it doesn’t say how to get someone’s attention or break into a conversation gracefully if you happen to be attending an event by yourself. One woman I know approached me at one point and asked why I was by myself. She claimed that everyone in NALBO knows to open up their circle to others. But I didn’t even know how to ask.

At the same time, I did witness an example of how NOT to network during a couple of short breaks in the action at dinner, when two attorneys from the same firm (at different times) ran up to our table and essentially threw their business cards at me and the woman I was seated next to before running back to their seats. They didn’t know whom we were, and didn’t seem to care.

Anyhow, any advice on my introverted ability to network?

You can do it!

Here’s a link to a GREAT primer from Portland’s Neighborhood Notes blog that’s titled, “How Small Business Owners Should Be Networking.” It’s really all about the basics of networking for everyone and even covers how to utilize new school tools to make the most out of in-person opportunities. Below are the first few paragraphs to hopefully entice you into reading the rest of the post:

Networking doesn’t have to feel like a sale. Or an awkwardly ostentatious forum for egotistical schmoozing and one-upmanship.

Networking should feel more like socializing—finding common interests and then sharing ideas and solutions to problems—especially in Portland’s diverse but cooperative small business culture.

So-called networking “events” shouldn’t even necessarily be formal affairs or paid conferences, but rather a real, honest encounter where you can develop professional collaboration or even a friendship. And while networking often means breaking out of your shell and putting your best foot forward, many difficult situations in life are also moments of growth and require going outside of your comfort zone.

LUV this!

Here’s the link again:

http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/news/2012/02/how_small_business_owners_should_be_networking/

I thought I’d said all I could say about LinkedIn, but, boy, was I wrong. Back by popular demand:

10 ways to use LinkedIn to help with your job search

A Happier Networking Season with LinkedIn

This is a good time to refresh your LinkedIn Profile

Hope these prove helpful and please share if you think others might enjoy! Thanks and Happy New Year!