Differentiate Yourself Podcast
A few weeks ago at the Best Practice Showcase in London, Arras People hosted five sessions on “How to Differentiate Yourself in the Project Management Marketplace“. A key statistic in job hunting and recruitment; “80% of vacancies are never advertised” leads many to head scratch and wonder how you can find out where they are. If you interested in the whole session you can download and listen to the podcast we created to accompany the sessions.
As part of the session we discussed that some of that 80% actually comes through someone you know – either very well or through some form of networking. Of course we all know that LinkedIn has risen in prominence as a website to aid professional networking but how well do people use LinkedIn? Well enough to secure a new position when you need to?
As a recruitment business that uses LinkedIn to find project management talent, we also shared with the groups in the sessions – just how do we find people and how does that affect the way you use LinkedIn.
So here’s some pointers for you to think about;
- The professional profile on LinkedIn compliments the CV – but its not a CV
The clue is in the title – it’s a profile and it gives you the opportunity to be a little less formal than a CV – prehaps provide a narrative of what and how you work. It’s a wasted opportunity if all you do is copy and paste your CV in there; here’s a space to try and get some personality onto the page. - If you’re actively looking for a new job – create a new position in your profile and entitle it “Currently looking for a new position in X, Y or Z”
- Job titles matter – if you have an internal job title which doesn’t have “project manager”, “programme manager” or “PMO” etc, make sure you do add it into LinkedIn, possibly in brackets after your “real” title
- Make sure you have checked the box “Interested in job inquiries”
- Add a picture / photo of yourself
- Make use of the applications like SlideShare and upload content that showcases your experience
- Update the status field – little and often and not always about looking for a new position
- Join a few groups – and contribute little and often
When a recruitment business or corporate HR department uses LinkedIn they can search the entire LinkedIn website to find people who may potentially fit their open position or organisation. The search facility on the backend allows them to search for current or previous role titles along with other criteria like location, seniority etc. There is also an option to save search criteria, therefore if you are actively looking for a new position now and update your profile with a notification that you are currently looking – your details will be featured at the top of those saved search criteria. Creating a new position to state that you are currently looking also makes it much easier for people to approach you and open a dialogue based on what it is you have said you are looking for.
Thinking again about how recruitment businesses and HR departments are using LinkedIn in the back end; they are able to search for people using the current or previous job titles. These are open fields intended for Boolean search criteria. So if I’m looking for a project manager, my search criteria will be “project manager”. However if your current title is quite internally focused; “team leader”, “project lead”, “project management lead” etc you will not appear in the searches.
When you initially set up your account with LinkedIn you may not have chosen this option. You can quickly check and change by looking at the Profile > Edit Profile > Scroll down to Contact Settings > Edit. If your settings for job inquiries are not checked; approaches cannot be made to you by recruitment businesses and HR departments.
NB – someone asked at the session about their current organisation being able to see their profile and being able to see they were interested in job inquiries. To be honest, most people’s profiles already have this checked and we wouldn’t be human if we weren’t interested in someone approaching us, potentially with the job of a lifetime. It seems to be an accepted norm and at the end of the day you can always choose to ignore requests or not take the enquiry further.
It’s expected that you include a photo on your profile after all this profile is about being a little less formal than a CV – its still the case that photos are NOT required on UK based CVs.
One of the frustrations job seekers often have is, “If only they would speak to me or invite me in for an interview I could show them what I can do”. Using the applications on LinkedIn allows you to add in other media which you can use to show others your expertise. Applications like SlideShare allow you to upload Powerpoint presentations, and there are options to link your blog and twitter account. All of these additional items can give the reader an insight into what you have to contribute; what your specialisms are; what your brand or USP might be.
This relatively new function on LinkedIn is very much like the Twitter functionality of a 140 character limit “tweet”. A short status update, written little and often, will ensure your profile is seen prominently in your contacts timeline. It’s just a little reminder to your contacts that you are still there; still actively engage in your professional network
There are loads of project management groups in LinkedIn; just a quick search brings up over 3,600 (gulp!). Obviously you can pick and choose the ones most suited to you and also check that the group is active and has a lot of members. This is a great way to extend your project management network – making connections to people who you may not have met in person however they are a quality connection of which you have had some form of meaningful interaction.
The whole idea of LinkedIn is to help you improve on your own professional network; it’s a tool that still needs an operator in the chair making the connections happen. It’s about little and often, not just waiting for a time when you really need a network to work for you, for finding a job for example. The great thing about LinkedIn for me is that the opportunities that come from it are both obvious (a direct contact and request for work etc) yet sometimes random – a little like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon – you never know who is connected to who and where the recommendations and referrals will come from.
Twitter: PPMpractitioner
Hi Lindsay,
Superb insight. Thank you for putting this together. I wish I’d seen something like this earlier in the year.
Neil