Linkedin for Life & not just for Christmas

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LinkedIn for Life & not just for Christmas

by Paul Mullan on January 6th, 2010
25 Comments

ndi0820l

Linkedin (and networking in general) is viewed as a short term commitment by many jobseekers. You start networking when you become active on the job market (whether forced or voluntary) and you finish when you secure new employment. This does make a lot of sense since networking is very time consuming and an uncomfortable experience for most jobseekers. The growth in the use of Linkedin has transformed job hunting in a positive way but I feel that many users take a short term focus approach to using the tool. Linkedin has already proven valuable in delivering short term job goals for jobseekers (seen this with my own eyes) but there is much more value to be achieved by maintaining and developing a longer term focus. Jobseekers should use Linkedin (and other networking tools) to maintain and grow their network even when not actively job hunting. Below are a few arguments why this should be the case.

Permanent Job for Life – RIP

It’s true!! Appleby’s have even moved out of the “Gold Watch” business such is the decline in the retirement party market. The last retirement party I attended was for Bertie in May 2008 . Globalisation, technology, shorter product life cycles and changes in job market perceptions mean that we will be changing jobs on a more regular basis whether we like it or not. There was a saying that a smart employee always kept their CV up to date.
Well a smarter employee will use Linkedin (and other networking) to actively engage and maintain their network. I read a quote yesterday “networking for job hunting is about false friendliness & using people”. There is a small bit of truth here but if you are continually networking then this perception will never be associated with you.

Never need to job hunt again

Would you like it if your next job found you? This wish can be granted through what US professionals call Personal Branding (I call it Self Marketing)!! Developing and nurturing your personal brand may sound fanciful but when executed effectively the results are impressive. Visibility is an essential component of Personal Branding. This means you must stay on the radar to help elevate you to the status of “go-to” person or expert in your field. How? You guessed right! Many professionals are never short of work opportunities or job offers because they have mastered the art of self marketing. Work hunts them and they don’t have to hunt work.

I would be interested to hear your comments and views on the topic.

By the way I would like to point out that I love dogs, I am not mocking the good work of the RSPCA and no dogs were hurt in any way during the writing of this blog post.

Category: HR and recruitment

Tags: Job Hunting, LinkedIn, networking, Social Media Networking

The Author: Paul Mullan

Paul Mullan is an experienced career and outplacement professional with 14 years experience working within careers, outplacement and recruitment in the UK & Ireland. He is a former owner of Eden Recruitment and founder of career firm Measurability in 2006. Paul has delivered outplacement programmes for many leading organisations and ran graduate career workshops for leading third level institutions. He has worked with many individuals helping them define and achieve career goals through creative approaches to personal marketing and job hunting. Paul integrates traditional strategies with new Web 2.0 strategies to deliver optimum results. He is known for his up to date, creative and friendly approach to delivering career solutions. Paul is a recognised career professional regularly commenting on career related topics in the national media. He has acted as Career Doctor with Irish Independent and he is currently an online career expert with RecruitIreland. http://www.measurability.ie

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http://www.channelship.ie/blog/ fred

Brilliant post Paul!! (as usual) Last paragraph is hilarious!
I believe that the entire post can be summarised with one of your questions: “Would you like it if your next job found you?”. People in jobs with just a little bit of independent thinking or entrepreneurship will realise that is fact “they chose to offer their services to the company they work with”. In other words, every single person at a job should feel “self-employed”.
Regarding LinkedIn and networking, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Pingback: Tweets that mention Linkedin for Life & not just for Christmas | People matters -- Topsy.com
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Blogging and social media provide wonderful opportunities for personal branding, if only for that reason alone (and there are many others) people should be engaging. Another great post Paul
Anonymous

Niall & Fred – Thanks for the nice comments and glad you liked the article

I want to share a networking idea for a budding entrepreneur as I didn’t feel that I could mention it in the main post. This was inspired by my dad over Christmas. He pointed out to me that people were much friendlier in snow/icy weather. He felt that as people were moving at a slower pace they seemed to have more time to salute and talk. So what about “Networking on Ice”? Unfortunately I will let this venture pass me by as it would be more like “Bambi on Ice” if I was involved.

Paul
Anonymous

Happy New Year Paul,

Great message and really well put! Keep up the great posts.
Anonymous

Thanks Greg & a Happy & Prosperous New Year to you too!!

By the way – Any jobseekers reading feel free to join my Linkedin Group “Measurability Careers & Jobs Club” — http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2348315/. This is an active group offering tips, advice and discussion to guide you to new employment.
http://www.channelship.ie/blog facundo

Nice post, I also think that there will be (or already is) a shift in the way companies regard their employees particularly in the corporate sector. The more people develop personal branding, the more companies will have to really watch out for the employee not to reach out to his or her network and move on. Of course, early (and constant) adopters will see the benefits of this “independence” much more than the lazy ones or the ones who simply catch up with the trend late.
http://twitter.com/PaulFRichardson Paul Richardson

Hi Paul
Absouluetley agree! I have ramped up my social networking in a bid to build my Self-Marketing, and definately a job is no longer for life. I last worked for the corporate last July and was made redundant – could not be happier now! Coincidently a friend rang me this morning to tell me he finished up with his employer at Christmas and was using my LinkedIn profile to validate contacts and opportunities. We were talking about what the “plan” might be for 2010 – my response is that I have stopped looking for a fulltime job – its entrepreneurial opportunities, consulting, and interim projects all the way for me now!
Regards
Paul
Anonymous

@Facundo – Thanks for the comments. You are 100% right and companies are already taking notice of employee activities. For the minute though it is more the companies who want to snap up/headhunt these people rather than the companies that actually employ them.

@Paul – Thanks for the comments. Glad everything is working out for you – fair play!!! Just visited your blog and you must work even harder than me – blogging on Christmas day
Piaras MacDonnell

I agree with the value to be gained from maintaining LinkedIn and your online profile. I would add that it is not a replacment for traditional networking (I prefer to call conversations), virtual or real world.

It has become so easy to upload your address book from Outlook or Google that to any of the big networking and social media sites that I question the value sometimes.

You are still making a good point
Anonymous

@Piaras – You make a very important point!!! I agree 100%. Posted about this point in a previous blog post — http://tweakyourbiz.com/peoplematters/2009/12/14/not-working-net-working-back-working/

Unfortunately most employees completely switch the lights off on networking once they find a new job – too time consuming, don’t see the point and most not comfortable doing it anyway.

I would say that even some minimal activity on linkedin (or other social media) is an improvement than doing nothing at all. But as you rightly point out – the more effort you put in the more you will get out and there is much more benefit from real world contact.

Thanks for the comments

Paul
Derbhile

That is so true. I was at a networking event and a woman who owns a nursing training service asked another person at the table a lot of questions about her social care course and what she’d like to do afterwards. The person revealed that she wished she could do manual handling, so she could be in line for jobs. The woman said, ‘Well, wel offer manual handling.’ Smooth as. I’ll be doing slick things like that from now on.u00a0
http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

There is an awful amount of B.S. spoken and written about selling, I’m not including your post here Elaine nIn fact there is so much rubbish out there I often wonder how anyone could work it out.u00a0nnIn itsu00a0simplest form selling is about working out how why people buy, and different people buy for different reasons, depending on what they are buying and who they are buying for.u00a0nnTraditionalu00a0marketing is about appealing to the masses, selling on the other hand is about appealing to the individual so byu00a0definition a one size fits all sales approach was and is never going to work.u00a0nnInterestingly perhaps, I think that social media is bringing the gap between marketing and selling. Great social media and great selling have something very much in common – they both heavily depend on listening really well to customers. u00a0 u00a0 u00a0u00a0
Denise Fay

Elaine, great post. nnSo What? is a question I ask my clients all the time when it comes to them communicating with their customers. It really helps business owners to continually think about their message and what they’re selling. And why someone would buy from them. nnThose two little words are so powerful – they smack a mighty punch. nnDenisennu00a0
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Thank you Facundo – and of course some clients don’t quite know what the problem is, so sometimes we have to help them see the wood from the trees
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Derbhile – that’s a great story – same thing happened to me recently – that is the beauty of networking, especially the non-formal type – amazing what relationships and collaborations can happen when people don’t feel “threatened” or “sold to”.nnWhen we tie in with the emotions of our clients, it doesn’t really feel like selling on either side – more a collaboration (where money transfers of course)nnThanks for sharing a great story
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

I agree Niall and I believe “selling” does not deserve to be out on such a limb – when every interaction we have with others is a form of selling anyway.nnWe need a new term – no better man (you are hired by the way!)
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

They surely do Denise – and I really felt that message recently during your #31ways webinar with regard to copyright and sharing a message.nnEverything we do is a form of communication, so perhaps we should concentrate more on having the conversation in order to listen. I do believe it is the preferred approach for most buyers.nnHaving said that, some buyers just want to be “WOWED” so perhaps there is still a place for FAB selling after all
Johnogorman

nnHi Elaine, nnnu00a0nnnInteresting and thought provoking article. nnnu00a0nnnI am coming at this from a B2B complexnsales perspective.nnnu00a0nnnFAB selling for many sales teams can bentough to move away from and it can result in having the wrong conversations atnthe wrong levels with inevitable consequences on conversion rates and stalledndeals. nnnu00a0nnnMost benefits are not worthy of discussionnat the buyers board table because they rarely impact on the bottom line atnleast not tangibly. Business impact is king. Buyers need metrics to justify whynthey are investing!! nnnu00a0nnnNow we all know it is more difficult to sellnbusiness impact because it requires getting access to information on thenresults achieved by others, some view of the results the buyer wants (their businessncase), selling to more number focused buyers and selling to buyers who are quitenoften sceptical of lots of questions from sellers. nnnu00a0nnnSelling with stories, sells the impact andnhelps counters the weaknesses of FAB. nnnu00a0nnnOf course having a view of the buyersnprocess also helps (ties into Niall point above) nnnu00a0nnnHope this adds to the conversation. nu00a0nn
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Hi John,nthanks for sharing your insights – you make some great points. I would imagine stories ties in with demonstrating integrity, experience, expertise, ability to do the job/complete the project and of course the emotional connection also.nnI take your point about some buyers being skeptical about lots of questions. I truly believe the way business is being done is changing and Iu00a0 see less sellers and buyers with their arms so close to their chest.nnTraditional ways will always be there, esp with B2B, but I think the traditional buyer will not be my client (however, I am open to correction on this). nnWe at Mallow Open Coffee (http://opencoffeemallow.wordpress.com/) are trying out a new initiative – meeting with a Nursing Home to chat and share with the entrepreneurs of yesterday. It will be very interesting to hear what they think of how business is being conducted todaynnAnd as I mentioned to Niall, a new term for selling would be cool
http://www.encouragingexcellence.ie/ Mairu00e9ad Kelly

At a network meeting today the guy giving the talk suggested we ask the person beside us how we can help them without trying to pitch any of our services to them…I’ve done this before, somehow when I did it today it made a difference, one person I spoke to said to me afterwards “I’ll be back to you, you are just the type of person I need to help me”.u00a0 nnAt @IrishSmiley’s event just over a week ago she said that the word “sell” comes from the Swedish word “to serve” and when you think of it like that it completely changes how you approach it.nnI’ve both done and had done to me the “so what” and it really does make you think about what you are offering your clients.u00a0 Lots of thought provoking today…keep it coming.
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Mairead – what a great story nnI am thinking we need a new term for “Sell” so open to suggestions – something that is more obviously serving. I think the word alone can scare people off!nnThanks for contributing to the conversation, glad you enjoyed the post as it was aimed to provoke thought
Anonymous

Elaine,nnYour post reminded me of a trend I have been observing both directly and from conversations with small business peers. When all is said and done, the person you are selling to is trying to imagine how he/she can benefit from what you offer and what budget line will pay for it. Asking questions and highlighting their answers (not yours) helps them see more clearly how you are the right person for what they need.
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Very true Elli – thanks for sharing your observations. I feel now like I need to become a second skin for my clients to really feel and understand their needs lol.nnBut I wonder what happens when a client recognises that you have just reflected back their worst fears and insecurities. It would turn into a coaching session :-/
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

Hi there.
Thanks for adding to the conversation. it is always about the other person / people, and if we are mindful of that, we are winning

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