LinkedIn Career Expert Andrew McCaskill joins TheStreet to explain how you can make yourself more noticeable to employers.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00So how does a person make themselves stand out?
00:05I think number one is skills.
00:07Skills, skills, skills. I say that all the time.
00:09But you really have to optimize your profile as well as your resume for skills.
00:15Most recruiters are sourcing talent based on skills.
00:18The other thing I would say is really optimize for your network.
00:22Your network matters.
00:24Having someone that you know at a company, even if it's what we call a weak tie.
00:28Not your work bestie or somebody that you work for directly.
00:31But even if you have a weak tie at a company where you're interested in finding work,
00:36you're much more likely to get a job there.
00:38So really optimize your network.
00:41Do things like reaching out for maybe a cold, not just do a cold email to somebody, but say, OK,
00:49I know you and you know somebody who works at this company.
00:53Maybe you can give me a warm introduction to that person and they're much more likely to engage with me.
00:58The other thing is that you've got to be really strategic about how you look for work.
01:01You can't just say, oh, I'm going to apply to everything and anything.
01:05Really start to look at those job descriptions and say, where are my skills matching up?
01:10Who do I know who works there?
01:12How can I write this email or write an application that makes it really easy for this recruiter?
01:18Do I already know exactly who my references are going to be?
01:21Am I able to answer and respond to these questions really well?
01:24Got to stand out and be really strategic.
01:26Speaking of LinkedIn, we're all in this age of your personal brand.
01:31How does a job seeker leverage their personal brand better on LinkedIn?
01:38To circle back to your comment about that human contact, getting that next job through human interaction.
01:46Right. It's about your it's also about your network.
01:49Think about LinkedIn is that we are a professional network, right?
01:53So this is about your personal brand, but your personal brand of telling who you are as a professional.
01:58So thinking about, OK, what are companies that companies that I might want to go and work for?
02:03What's my industry? Follow companies that you might want to potentially where you might potentially want to work.
02:08Follow search for things like the industry that you are that you're currently in so that you can stay current on news and information.
02:14The other thing that I think is really important for LinkedIn is as a professional network is you start to you start to then think about how do these jobs that I'm seeing or these connections that I have.
02:29How do they set me up to then build a better strategy for my career? Right.
02:34I think that that's one of the biggest things. And what about the actual postings that you post?
02:39You're looking for a job. So you're not just connecting with people.
02:43You want what you post to say something about you. So talk to me about that.
02:47Yeah. So this, again, is your professional story. Right.
02:51And so what I think you have to think about is, am I posting things that are germane to the work that I do every day?
02:58How does what I post showcase what I'm really good at, what I'm interested in, in my professional life? Right.
03:05And maybe how do I then strike conversations with other people so that I can engage with people who are like minded?
03:12So when you make a post, make a post about something that's interesting in your industry, a data or a point or a stat that is really that you find fascinating.
03:20And then have a call to action at the end and say, join me in the conversation or what do you think about this?
03:25Or post an article about something that's happening in your industry or something that maybe is happening in your in the role in life of your company.
03:32Not every post has to be about you and how magnificent you are, but it's a great place to talk about your wins.
03:39And I think that people shouldn't shy away from from that on there as you build that sort of brand.
03:45But I always think about a professional brand, your professional brand as like, what is your superpower?
03:52Right. What is it, something that you do incredibly well?
03:56And then how have you used your superpower at work or at church or in your volunteer life or as a community servant?
04:06And then in service to what? Because people want to be able to think about, oh, Drew's a storyteller and he does corporate storytelling at work.
04:13He helps other people in their lives tell their story better and in service to what?
04:17A lot of what I do is to help people do a better job at telling their story or shining a light on people whose stories don't often get told.