Top 5 LinkedIn Mistakes with Amber Beam
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (47.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS | More
Navigating the world of online resumes and social media can be daunting. LinkedIn has made it much easier to keep yourself in front of the people you want viewing your resume but it also has it’s own rules and etiquette. Many of us make simple mistakes in how we handle our profiles that can cost us great opportunities.
Amber Beam is here to talk about the top 5 mistakes she’s seen when helping people just like you. Amber is a career coach for women in STEM who want to land their dream job, transition to a new field, or score a promotion. For nearly 15 years, as an I-O psychologist in HR, she helped executives design and implement corporate programs to attract, develop, and retain STEM professionals.
Whether you’re looking to score more work life balance, jumping into a completely new field, or eyeing the corner office, Amber will show you how to promote your skills with authenticity and authority to land the most coveted jobs on (and off) the market.
These common mistakes are not to say that you’re profile is bad or that you haven’t put in a lot of effort on creating a good profile. They are here to show you how to better your professional image on social media, specifically LinkedIn. As platforms come and go you’ll be able to use these no matter the job site or social media network you find yourself using. So take a moment and review your profile for these common errors that people make.
Episode Breakdown
WAIT!?!? DO THIS FIRST
Before you do anything, turn off your “sharing profile edits” in the settings. (under settings & privacy) so that your network isn’t constantly pinged with the changes you’re making.
10:15 Using Your Job Description for Your Headline
It’s an easy trap to fall into…but using your job description for your headline neglects your personality and isn’t memorable. Instead create an eye-catching headline that has personality and SEO-cred. Want help? Grab Amber’s How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Headline in 5 Minutes cheat sheet.
14:20 Treating LinkedIn Like Your Resume
“If you want to get more recommendations, give recommendations.”
You’ve been taught that resumes are formal and professional. Thus, you assume LinkedIn is as well. Nope. LinkedIn thrives on a more conversational tone. Using “I” statements and dissolving the use of third person. Personality is essential.
22:15 Visuals, Visuals, Visuals
Resumes are limited to an 8.5 x 10 sheet of paper. Black ink is the only color. But with LinkedIn you can excel at visual storytelling. Want to keep a recruiter’s attention for longer than 6 seconds? Create a visual presentation of your work.
31:50 Ignoring the First Impression Stuff
You’re so busy worrying about quantifying your accomplishments, you forget to make connections, add your email address, and update your location. If your goal is to get more attention from a diverse group of people, then you must tie up these loose-ends.
40:00 Dull, Dull, Dull Summary
You’ve written an essay on your journey in tech. Too bad no one will ever read it. Instead, create a brand statement that paints a picture of your experience and passion. Keep it between 450 and 650 characters.
IoTease: Art
Environmental Art
Stanza is an internationally recognized artist, who has been exhibiting worldwide since 1984. His art focuses on the participatory system the ‘city’. He represents the city through real time environmental data, surveillance and security data, news and real time information systems. His themes include the urban landscape, surveillance culture, and the real time city. He uses networked IoT devises to explore concepts of the behaviors, activities, and changing information. He works by “bringing data from the outside to the inside, then presenting it back out again.” His work focuses on the now and the present moment that we live in all the time. It is about patterns and systems in the city.
Tricks of the Trade
Will didn’t write anything this week. The first person to submit a write up of his Tricks of the Trade will get a Complete Developer Podcast water bottle and mentioned on the show.
Editor’s Notes:
We had some technical issues with recording this episode. We did the best we could but could not remove all the pops and clicks.
Tricks of the Trade:
Failure is one of the greatest teachers in life, and that is why all of your unit tests should fail before they pass.
Cheers from Brazil. I enjoy your podcast and how you explain the subjects.
I enjoyed this episode so much, after my run, I went straight to LinkedIn and updated my profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfaquinojr/