Tag Archives: Linked In

A few considerations when writing LinkedIn Recommendations

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I’ve received a few new recommendations on LinkedIn lately and I’ve been tempted, like the rest of ya, to hurry up and do the “courtesy recommendation” because of undue pressure. That pressure doesn’t come from that other person but from myself.

But I’ve been thinking about this and it’s just not a good idea to hurry up and reply with some hap-hazzard-3-line-piece-of-crap for your connection who probably spent an incredible amount of thought and time in recommending you (or not).

Here are a few tips I’ve come up with when receiving a recommendation that warrant your consideration:

  • Do you actually KNOW this person? (Now, you laugh – but we see this all the time. People making stuff up about you or blowing smoke just so you’ll recommend them in the same way. Don’t do this. It’s not genuine and it could bite you in the rear down the road when someone asks you to introduce them to so-in-so and you’re like, “Who?”)
  • Respond with a nice note of “I appreciate the recommendation” in your own words. You don’t have to make a big fan-fare out of it.
  • Mark your calendar and schedule an allotted amount of time to work on that recommendation that you are going to write. (You don’t want to forget and blow it off – you’ll look like a jerk)
  • For goodness sake, put some thought into it. Don’t copy someone else’s recommendation they’ve written for their friend. This is (supposedly) your good contact. You know them. You’ve worked with them (please tell me you have) and you know their work ethic, their experience and perhaps their passions. Write it down.
  • Take the above and re-write. And then again. It just makes it get better and more concise. These are things that (some) folks will look to when thinking of hiring this person whether for a potential job or when using their businesses and services.
  • Just ask. If you’re not that bright to do the above or lazy (whichever the case) perhaps a simple “asking that person what they would like for you to accentuate in your paragraph. It they get pissed about that, oh well.

These things may sound silly and contrite but some folks depend on these recommendations (I don’t) for whatever reason. And taking 5 seconds to reply to their recommendation just because you feel the pressure is not very smart. Simply tell your friend you will work on it and get back to them on it. Be honest with them and tell them that you want to return the favor because they’ve been so generous, but you want to do it up right. And for goodness sake, follow through.

Here’s a thought, how about recommending someone FIRST. Perhaps you have some awesome folks in your contact list that could use a little love on their LinkedIn profile. How about making the first step in helping them (I’m talking to myself, now). Sometimes I forget to do the little things for folks that could mean a lot.

And lastly, if you’re just too busy, or are not great at writing these kinds of things (or writing in general) send it my way. I have a great team of folks who are fabulous at doing these kinds of things.

In box Blunders; Linked In and Twitter

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If you all don’t know it by now, I’ll tell you again. I can’t stand getting sales pitches in my Linked In email or Auto DM’s on Twitter. That’s just not cool. I wrote about some dumb things we all do on social media here on these posts –  ”5 Things I Hate About Linked In“, “What NOT to put on your Linked In Profile“, and most recently “The Dumbest Auto Responses on Twitter.“

Just this past week, I received more. Even AFTER I reprimanded someone on the very same thing, in a private message. These two items were in my Linked In inbox:

Is this really what we want? All 800+ connections inboxing us and asking us to “LIKE” their facebook page? I think she needs to find a new Marketing rep. This is just not good business. Never misuse your Linked In to do this sort of thing.  Now, that being said, I think it’s okay to send a request on facebook to your facebook connections asking them to “like” your page. They don’t have to do it, and it’s not very intrusive. What do you think?

Moving right along, here is the next one I received -

First and foremost, when I received a connection request from this guy, I wasn’t wearing my glasses and was excited that “Alan Alda” would be requesting to connect with me. Only to find out later, it wasn’t him at all :) Note to self: Keep your glasses on.

Let’s review this one, shall we? 1. If I took the time to personally send all of my Linked In contacts an email with a link to my blog I wouldn’t have time to write the blog. 2. Really? You thought I would enjoy? No you didn’t, you are self-promoting. Just call it what it is. 3. This is lame. That.Is.All. This is a sure fire way to have folks unfriend and unfollow you, in a Minnesota minute.

Lastly, I guess I will continue to receive Auto DM’s until hell freezes over, so here are a few I received as of late:

I don’t want to know about your free gift. This is bad social media practice.

Okay, I’mma give her a chance to rebut, and hopefully she will rethink her strategy. If not, oh well.

If you just have to use Auto DM’s for your followers, simple is the way to go. And don’t use it as a sales pitch like these folks.  The last one is by far the way to go, if you must do it. These are just my thoughts. What do you think? (Photo Credit: ViewFromTheDolequeue)

Job Seekers and Social Media Know-How: (#DiscSoc)

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Whether you are in transition, graduating college, or contemplating a career change, the way in which we used to look and or apply for jobs has changed.

No longer do you print massive copies of your paper resume, get in your car and drive all over town leaving your resume with the gatekeeper of an organization. Things have gone social and so it has with recruiting and headhunting (so to speak).

Companies are looking online for candidates and having an online personal brand is key these days.

If you are on the fence about social media and its use for job search consider this: Bullhorn Reach recently released its “2012 Bullhorn Reach Social Recruiting Activity Report.” The report took a look at social media activity of recruiters and job seekers across the “big three” social networks — LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. According to the data compiled from over 35,000 recruiters:

  •  98% of recruiters use LinkedIn, 42% use Twitter, and 33% use Facebook
  • 48% of recruiters use LinkedIn exclusively meaning they use no other online or offline source to find candidates
  • Recruiters are actively building their followings: The average recruiter has 616 connections on LinkedIn, 245 on Facebook and 37 on Twitter.
  • According to SHRM, LinkedIn is the “suit and tie network” and Facebook is gaining interest for the more blue-collar jobs.

So you see, it’s imperative that folks use social media as a job search tool.

My partner in crime Sabrina Baker and I have come up with a way to address this growing trend and the myriad of job seekers that have no idea where to begin in even setting up their social profiles. Not to mention, that Twitter intimidates the hell out of them – and rightly so. Here’s a little about where we are headed:

We will begin our first Discovering Social Workshop for Job Seekers in the Chicagoland area on September 25 – 26 2012 in Downers Grove, IL. Our good friends at Devry University have so graciously agreed to host the event at their beautiful campus. Here’s a little more about the event:

In this interactive day and a half workshop, participants will learn about various social media platforms broken up into three main sessions.  These sessions will cover the most popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google+.  Their learning will include key components of each platform, how to build a profile and how to interact with others.  At the end of each session, attendees will get hands on experience using each site.  Coaches will be present to help individuals who may need one-on- one assistance.

In addition to learning about and getting hands-on experience using the tools, job seekers will also have the opportunity to have their resumes reviewed by industry experts.  A professional photographer will be on hand for any attendee needing a headshot to use in their online profiles.

For more info on this spectacular new endeavor, head on over to www.discoveringsocial.com. We’re both so excited and passionate about helping job seekers and in getting this thing off the ground. We appreciate all the support you guys have shown.

Let’s do this thang.

Photo Credit: CornOnTheJob

5 Things I Hate About Linked In

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A few weeks back when I wrote the post “What NOT to post on your Linked In profile” I mentioned that I would be coming up with this post on a few things I hate about Linked In. I guess HATE would be too strong a word.

Just like any other SM site, Linked In has its crazies. These are a few of my pet peeves:

1. Generic Linked In Invitations – I get we’re all busy and are spending bookoodles of time online but taking five minutes to write an “I’d like to connect with you because….” invite just sets you apart and doesn’t take much effort. I wrote about it HERE. Tell me if you’re coming over from Twitter, or you met me at so-and-so’s networking luncheon. It just helps.

2. “Please Recommend Me and I’ll Recommend You” – We have all gotten these and I tell you, I just don’t dig it! I don’t mind if I actually KNOW you and have engaged with you, but more importantly have we worked together in any capacity? How do I know that you have integrity and a great work ethic? More about that HERE.

3. You’re So Pretty, Would You Buy My SkinCare Line? – First of all, thank you for the compliment. Secondly, no. Don’t use your connection with me to try and SELL me something. I know you are there, if I need it I know where to find you. (Isn’t this how it works?) Let’s don’t abuse our relationships. Let’s instead, help each other.

4. Stop Posting Your Website and Blog Links in my group! – I have to have a little leeway on this because when I was first starting out on the SM Highway, I was doing just this. The more I understood strategy (and felt like a loser – always promoting myself) the more I developed a strategy of engagement and relationship marketing. If you’re doing this, do yourself a favor and go read Kyle Lacy and Erik Decker‘s book “Branding Yourself.“

5. Linking Your Tweets – I know, a lot of folks do this and it can help drive traffic, yes. I agree. But it can also become very annoying to those with whom you are connected. Why? Cause we’re constantly seeing your tweets, not only on Twitter, but on Facebook and now on Linked In. (Maybe this is a personal pet peeve, who knows) And some of the biggest folks in SM and Branding do this, not just us little guys.

All in all, if you’re online anywhere, you’re going to have to learn to just put up with some nonsense. It’s.A.Fact. And Linked In is no different than any other Social Media platform. Groups can be a wonderful tool to engage, share your expertise and so forth. I’ve connected with some fabulous folks on Linked In. And then some, not so great.

Everyone has their opinion of this or that, and these are just mine. Please understand, I think Linked In is a great resource, especially for business relationships and meeting those you’d never have a chance to meet. We’re all evolving, hopefully. And these are a few things we learn along the way.

Heck, Linked In was a valuable tool when I was trying to deal with my Bank. I couldn’t get past the gate-keeper to the Vice-President with my issue, and I went straight to Linked In, sent a request to him and connected, grabbed his email address and shot a two-page letter to him. I received a reply with a resolution within 48 hours.

Photo Credit: HelenArmstrong

Linked In Recommendations; What are they good for?

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In the past week or so I received another Linked In email from a “connection” to endorse them and recommend them for their Linked In profile.

The problem with that? I don’t really know them. Yeah, I’m connected with them but only on Linked In. We are not connected on any other SM platform, we never engage one another, until now, I’ve never received an email or DM from this person. EVER!

Here is the email:

Dear Susan,

I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks in advance for helping me out.

Ms. X (not her real name)

I was tempted to respond with, “My only question is, ‘What would you like me to write?’”

Instead, I responded with:

Dear Ms. X,

While I appreciate the connection with you and the request to recommend you, I am going to have to decline. I cannot, with a clear conscience, do that. Not without knowing you or your work to the degree where I would feel comfortable doing so.

I do wish you well.

You may be thinking “That is totally rude of you, Susan.” But I say, NAY!

How could I pull something out of the air and recommend someone that I hardly know. That’s like recommending a doctor, dentist, lawyer or whatever, to one of your friends without first-hand knowledge or experience of them or their services. It just doesn’t make sense.

Social Media is about engagement. Engaging and staying connected throughout our platforms. We are hanging out on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. We hear about each others businesses, what’s going on with each other, in our worlds, (children, family, pets) and we know, trust and hopefully like our community. Our trusted network. THEN, we can in good conscience, recommend them to our other friends.

This is the only way these things work.

Check out Laurie Ruettimann’s post on Linked In Recommendations. I love it. And, I totally agree.

By the way, do Linked In recommendations really make a difference? I’d love to hear from you, especially from you Recruiters and HR practitioners……

(stay tuned for “5 Reasons Why I Hate Linked In” coming soon)

Photo Credit: The Anti-Social Media

Can Social Media hinder you from getting that new job?

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Ten years ago, the mere thought of using social media to hire or fire someone was completely unheard of. Today employees wonder if their next update on Facebook will also mean the unemployment line for them. How can social media play such an important role in employment today?

It’s a proven fact, that more than half of employers today will use some form of social media to network and screen potential employees before offering them a position with their company. While there are very popular social media sites to choose from, almost 50% choose to use  LinkedIn, just a little over half choose Twitter, and almost 80% decide to use Facebook.

Even bosses sometimes try to avoid any type of confrontation if they can when using social media services, they do not have to depend on meeting the prospective candidate up front. Using social media allows them to feel more comfortable and help them to focus more on the real situation at hand.

Employers will most normally consider and interview a potential candidate for the job shortly after receiving their application. Most employers will have a special group of personnel in human resources to handle this daunting task for them so they can continue to work. There are several ways that HR can handle hiring an individual. Some may choose to use certain HR software, however if the business is run online they may choose to use an online software. This special software for HR professionals is not cheap but once you purchase it you may never go back to hiring people the old fashioned way.

Even positions that are available at a local location are sometimes found online first in order to find someone to fit the description of the ideal candidate and essentially take up less time of employer’s who already have a jammed pack schedule.

Today potential employees must worry about their presentation which all starts with a piece of paper listing who you are.

At the same time, employees who already have a job need to worry about what their bosses may say or do if you start venting on the social media sites about something that is not going right at work. Whether you mean to or not, what you say online can affect your entire future.

Be careful and think it through; you may only get one chance to make the right impression. (Liam Condit)

Susan’s Two-Cents

Here’s a little video I captured from one of Charlie Judy’s posts on Recruitment and HR that scared the padooky out of me!

While I’m at it, what’s your take on the subject?

About the Author:

Liam Condit, an HR Professional, has been writing industry related news and comment since 2006. Other interests include jobs, marketing, politics and sport. He works with Computers In Personnel specializing in recruitment and HR system hostings.

Photo Credit: Flickr

New Years resolutions, Baby Making, and Tired Words

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I recently heard “New Year’s resolutions are like babies: Fun to make, but extremely difficult to maintain.”  Bow chicka wow wow!

That’s funny yet true for most of us. It’s a known fact that most health club memberships are at their highest right after New Year’s Day.

Each January, roughly one in three Americans resolve to better themselves in some way. A much smaller percentage of people actually make good on those resolutions. While about 75 percent of people stick to their goals for at least a week, less than half (46 percent) are still on target six months later, or so a recent study found.

I get it! It’s hard to keep up the enthusiasm months after you’ve swept up the confetti, but is it impossible?

I intend to start back at the gym myself and go back on my “low carb and low sugar” eating plan in hopes to lose a few pounds and start feeling better from the sugar coma I maintained throughout the holidays.

When thinking about 2011 in review I also thought about a few words or phrases we could retire in 2012. Here are my over-used picks: (yeah, I use them too)

  • #Occupy
  • Peeps
  • Tweeps
  • Tweepies
  • Tweeple
  • justsayin
  • fail
  • ugh
  • LOL
  • Seat-at-the-table
  • Swag
  • BFF
  • The American People
I recently read Linked In’s list of overused words /phrases  for job seekers on their resumes. Here they are:
  • creative
  • organizational
  • effective
  • extensive experience
  • track record
  • motivated
  • innovative
  • constipated (okay, I threw that in)
  • problem solving
  • communication skills

What are some of your New Year’s resolutions,tired words and or baby making stories?

Photo Credit: Silverchan20