In Debbie’s video series, “The Bend”, she kicks things off poetically with a favorite quote of hers.
The quote goes:
“The end of the road is not the bend in the road unless you fail to make the curve.”
She dives deep into conversation with networking expert, David Pinkley, about how networking can help you to make that curve and succeed in your professional life. For a recap on the first half of their conversation, click here.
In the second half of the interview, Debbie and David go into more detail on an important subset tool used to network:
LinkedIn!
Listen up! It’s 2020. With the realities of COVID-19 and businesses operating in new and unprecedented ways, having an online presence is truly more important than EVER in your professional life.
You do NOT want to overlook the importance of LinkedIn when it comes to keeping your professional networking up to par. David Pinkley discusses how even the most minimal upkeep on your LinkedIn profile can benefit you in the long run!
At bare minimum, you should:
- Have a profile.
- Have a profile photo.
- Provide a short headline that outlines what you do.
- Check your profile once a month.
Doing JUST these things will give you more visibility and ultimately set you up for more opportunity. If you choose to do more, your networking capabilities are really endless on LinkedIn!
Whether you are actively searching for a job, or just keeping the connection alive, you are bound to run into new business relationships that can get you to where you want to be. Did you know that there are 20 MILLION jobs listed on LinkedIn? Your LinkedIn profile doubles as a resume for you. What do you want people to see? You are in control of what’s out there!
Because it doubles as a resume, David also offers some insight into common mistakes he sees when it comes to completing your resume:
- No room for grammatical errors. He sees this one all the time. Don’t get so caught up in what you want to say that you miss minor punctuation or spelling errors.
- Ask for help. Have your resume independently read by an outside source. Whether it’s a family member or a professional editor, it’s always great to have feedback and see how your words are being perceived.
- Talk about yourself. Some people are uncomfortable bragging about their accomplishments. Don’t be! This is your place to shine. Brag away!
Debbie and David go on to stress the importance of your online presence, especially with more work-from-home jobs coming into play given current events.
Imagine; you’re an employer who’s looking for a tech-savvy person capable of working from home effectively, but you can’t even manage your LinkedIn profile. Someone else, maybe even someone with less credentials than you, has an amazingly well-managed profile and is openly demonstrating their abilities to navigate technology.
Who will that employer be more drawn to?
Don’t sell yourself short of the professional freedom LinkedIn can offer you!
For more valuable information on how to utilize LinkedIn as a networking tool, watch the episode here:
