Friday, 24 April 2020

🙋‍♀️ How To Keep In Touch Professionally With Your LinkedIn Connections

Do you say “let's keep in touch” when you really mean “I look forward to staying in touch whenever I lose my job”? Yup, there's a better way.

Green coffee mug on a wood table
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo

This is a guest post by Daniel Alfon.

The worst time to work on your LinkedIn profile, CV and networking is immediately after losing your job.

Most people know they should keep their network warm; at one point they’ll need a killer LinkedIn profile and CV, right?

But it’s so hard to be disciplined…

So many job seekers wait until their job ends, losing access to data about achievements that could make them stand out from the crowd, and then harass their network for opportunities.

Sorry to hear about your impending layoff. Unless that LinkedIn invite was just random. Then never mind.

As a result, their most recent position is often the least well-written of their profile or CV, when sadly that’s the first (and sometimes the only) section everyone will look at.

Here's an easy-to-follow process you can use to avoid that happening to you.


Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Simple 3-step process to manage your network

Step 1: Choose a job direction

Ask yourself this: if your company had a mass layoff (or worse) tonight, which job will you want next? Are you qualified for that job?

If you are qualified for it, start building a list of growing companies to target.

Don’t put it off until COVID-19 is gone, now is the time to do this research. Looking into companies in a certain field? Of a certain size and location? Don’t focus on a company's current job openings, just check that you’d be thrilled to join them if they have the type of position you’re after.

If you aren’t qualified for the job you want- get qualified.

Video information interviews is just one idea out of many for job seekers during the Covid-19 outbreak, and a great way to learn which qualifications or skills you're missing.

Once you know which ones you need, boost your skillset with online courses. There are plenty offered for free on sites such as Udemy or even LinkedIn itself, including career-related courses and resources related to the new-normal of remote working.

By following this thinking, you can aim both for jobs that will be easier to land today and for jobs you'd love tomorrow.

Step 2: Choose who to network with

For 4 hours every year, or if you just lost your job:

1) Map out your LinkedIn network

Start by identifying 30-50 of your LinkedIn connections who you like but are out of touch with.

Analyze the list and categorize those connections, such as:

  • VIP Connections: the top 10-15% of people you want to immediately reach out to, chat or meet
  • Recruiters and headhunters you’ve connected with in the past
  • Influencers who you may feel less comfortable reaching out to
  • Connections you don’t actually know but look interesting
  •  (any criterion you like)

This mapping provides 3 benefits:

  1. You’ll remember plenty of people, and your head will spin with possibilities and opportunities. No one can really follow all the notifications once you have many connections. Great!
  2. You’ll notice that various people have moved to new companies – some of those companies may be interesting in themselves!
  3. You’ll have a better understanding of the number of people you don’t know, and can decide about reconnecting or even disconnecting.

You'll want to reach out to them in the coming weeks in a casual way. Listen without asking them for help, just asking how they've been, hoping there's a way you can help them somehow. Being proactive will also help you cheer up and not feel down during this tough time.

2) Refresh your LinkedIn profile

Before reaching out to your connections, make sure your profile is as impressive as possible.

Is your headline selling you?

Can you upload any rich media (video, audio, images) of your accomplishments since the last update? (Reviewing your contacts in the previous step should have given you ideas you wouldn't have thought to include otherwise.)

Could you plan some LinkedIn articles to demonstrate your expertise, maybe incorporating videos?

Step 3: How to stay in touch professionally

Now that you have a direction, a new-and-improved profile and know who you want to reach, how do you go about it?

The secret is a simple system you can tweak as radically as you wish so it suits your specific needs.

For 15 minutes every week…

  1. Send 1-2 customized LinkedIn connection invitations to people you feel you now know well
  2. Leverage two common types of LinkedIn notifications from people in your mapping: birthdays & new job announcements

1) Birthday notifications

Birthday notifications represent a fine way to reconnect… if you do it right.

Instead of ignoring it or clicking on the default “Say Happy Birthday!”, treat birthdays as a way to strengthen your relationship with that person:

  1. Visit their profile
  2. If you haven’t been in touch recently, see where they work and what they’re up to. Does their recent LinkedIn activity present an item you can intelligently refer to? For example, have they moved to a new position in their company, or to another location?
  3. Click on your connection’s Contact info, and copy their email.
  4. Send them a nice, short message, not a formal email. In some cases, a phone call could work. Anything BUT LinkedIn. If the person answers but sounds busy, aim for a very quick ‘happy birthday', maybe agreeing to chat at a later date. Listen. Make it about them.

2) New job notifications

Much like birthdays, when done right, new job notifications are an excellent opportunity to touch base.

Resist the urge to click on the default “Congrats!” that LinkedIn suggests, to add to the dozens of such meaningless congratulations they're likely to receive.

Scroll down to see when the person actually started the new job. Never assume it just happened. The new job notification you received simply means the person has updated their profile. It could be that they have joined the new company months ago, if not more.

Copy their email address from the Contact Info section, and shoot them a short email genuinely congratulating the person, wishing success, and add a personal note. If the new position is in a different field, maybe ask something about it. Snooze the answer to ping the person again down the road…

For 30 minutes every month:

  • Pick the best piece of content you’ve read in the past month, and share it on LinkedIn.
  • Reach out to 1-3 dormant connections from your mapping, people you liked but lost touch with.

For 30 minutes every quarter:

Review your LinkedIn profile and your resume/CV. Has your job changed since your last update? If it has, such as promotions or new accomplishments, update both.

Most people don’t appreciate folks who only remember them when they need them. Unless you contact them soon, you will feel much more awkward on the day you really need to.

If you touch base 2-3 times a year when you don’t need anything, both of you will feel more comfortable down the road if you actually have to reach out to that person.

You’d rather pay for your car insurance before and not after having a road accident, right? Your warm network is your insurance policy: invest in your important relationships ahead of the time you need them. Staying in touch means less time – and more opportunities.

More LinkedIn networking tips with Daniel Alfon

Question of the article

What's your favorite way of staying in touch with your contacts? Tell us in the comments.

What others are saying

About the author
Daniel Alfon
Daniel Alfon is the author of Build a LinkedIn Profile for Business Success Daniel joined LinkedIn in early 2004 and publishes articles and exclusive content about advanced LinkedIn strategies for his clients and subscribers to his website, danielalfon.com.


Join us for the next JOSH video chat with job search experts

Time: Monday, April 27th, at 9:00 PM Israel Standard Time (click here to check your local time)

You'll need to be a JobMob subscriber to receive the meeting room link from me a few hours before the chat.

You can join in the chat using any smartphone, tablet or desktop computer that has an Internet connection.

You'll be able to ask or comment on anything over text chat or video chat.

Whether you have a job search question or just want to say hi, it would be great to meet you online.

Look forward to seeing you!


READ NEXT: 3 LinkedIn Job Search Basics For Targeting Companies

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for more pro tips on how to keep in touch the right way.


via JobMob More Information Here..

Saturday, 18 April 2020

😨 How 2020 Could Get Worse For Your Job Situation If You’re Not Careful

Between the coronavirus economic impact and the fear of catching COVID-19, it's easy to be anxious all the time, but things could be worse.

sunlight passing through cactuses
Photo by Robert Murray

Can you relativize?

Can you see the bright side of things when dark clouds arrive?

Are you able to compare your situation with that of other people to understand when you're better off?

(It's ok to do, you can still feel bad for them without feeling guilty.)

Let's hope this is true:

I completely agree: if you understand how things can go wrong, you're more likely to avoid them happening to you.

With that in mind, here we go…

Free bonus: Download The Job Search Depression Report which contains insights and resources on how to manage if you're too depressed to look for work.

18 ways the coronavirus economy can make your career worse before it gets better

1. You keep your job, but you get a worse boss

2. You lose your job and get depressed

3. You lose your job due to catching the coronavirus

4. You lose your job due to your employer ignoring the coronavirus

5. You lose your job due to catching the coronavirus, and then the health workers get laid off while treating you

6. You lose your job due to a family member getting sick and needing to care for them, and they eventually die

7. You lose your job due to the coronavirus economic depression

8. You lose your job due to the coronavirus economic depression and future companies downplay the whole situation after the fact

9. You lose your job after spending a lot of money to keep it going

10. You lose your job after your internet goes down so you can no longer work from home

11. You lose your job “temporarily” and your company expects you to come back in better shape than you left

12. You lose your job “temporarily” and your company discovers how to replace you with robots or software, making the furlough permanent

13. You need a new job but finding a good one, or just one, has gotten a lot harder

14. You need a new job but you don't know how to find one in 2020

15. You need a new job but you can't find one, get evicted and lose healthcare access

16. You need a new job but you can't find one, and you need to crowdfund just to survive and pay the bills

17. You find a new job, but it puts you at risk of catching COVID-19 while trying to stop other people from catching it

18. This all eventually blows over, and you have to go back to a job you hate

On the lighter side…

19. This all eventually blows over, and you have to go back to a job with stinky, spoiled yogurt on your desk

Keep your chin up! It's not all bad

I recently co-hosted a chat with Jason Alba of JibberJobber and JobSearchProgram.com about some of the things you can do to make the best of the current job market:

You can also share your feelings and ask your own questions in the next JOSH chat-


Join us for the next JOSH video chat

Time: Monday, April 20th, at 9:00 PM Israel Standard Time (click here to check your local time)

There's NO registration for this chat, but there is a password that I'll email you on Monday. When it's time, simply visit the link to join the Zoom chat and paste in the password.

You can join in the chat using any smartphone, tablet or desktop computer that has an Internet connection.

You'll be able to ask or comment on anything over text chat or video chat.

Whether you have a job search question or just want to say hi, it would be great to meet you online.

Look forward to seeing you!


Question of the article

How do you think things could get worse in 2020? Tell us in the comments.

READ NEXT: 🏡 What You Need To Be Doing To Job Search at Home in Quarantine Today

Free Bonus

Download The Job Search Depression Report if you're getting depressed because you can't find a job. It contains:

  • 15 Causes of Job Search Depression and How To Prevent It
  • 13 Signs of Job Search Depression
  • Unsure About The Signs? Take The Test
  • 9 Ways To Deal With Job Search Depression

Click the image below to get access to The Job Search Depression Report:

The Job Search Depression Report - wide

JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free!

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for more ideas about avoiding the worst of the coronavirus economy.


via JobMob More Information Here..

Friday, 3 April 2020

😆 Funniest Memes About Being Dangerously Overqualified

Some people really are overqualified for jobs they apply for. The rest of us can just laugh at these memes about it.

Brown dog wearing sunglasses
Photo by Josh Rakower

When was the last time you saw someone working and said to yourself something along those lines of “they are too good, they should be on stage somewhere”?

Here are some amazing examples of that, and other funny overqualified memes.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

When you're overqualified for the job memes

The greatest drummer of kids' music ever

😆 Funniest Memes About Being Dangerously Overqualified

 

10 years experience overqualified meme

follow the leader overqualified meme

1 year of 0 experience overqualified meme

Some kids romper room, but others…

😆 Funniest Memes About Being Dangerously Overqualified

real programmer overqualified meme

dog overqualified meme

petting cats overqualified meme

via GIPHY

manager overqualified meme

crowbarcomics overqualified meme

lie on resume overqualified meme

willing to accept the terms of job overqualified meme

I don't even care if he's using practice dough:

harvard appliction overqualified meme

village idiot overqualified meme

im your world overqualified meme

experience overqualified meme

desperate for love overqualified meme

didnt get the job overqualified meme

slack off the work overqualified meme

cant find job nowhere overqualified meme

😆 Funniest Memes About Being Dangerously Overqualified

cheated and graduated overqualified meme

dungeon master overqualified meme

too awesome overqualified meme

not good enough overqualified meme

experience reliable transportation positive attitude overqualified attitude

minimum wage job overqualified meme

so much experience overqualified meme

im sorry youre overqualified come back when youve forgotten some things overqualified meme

youre overqualified for our entry level position overqualified meme

😆 Funniest Memes About Being Dangerously Overqualified


Join us for the next JOSH video chat

Time: April 6th, 2020 at 9:00 PM Israel Standard Time (click here to check your local time)

There's NO registration for this chat. When it's time, simply visit the link to join the Zoom chat.

You can join in the chat using any smartphone, tablet or desktop computer that has an Internet connection.

You'll be able to ask or comment on anything over text chat or video chat.

Whether you have a job search question or just want to say hi, it would be great to meet you online.

Look forward to seeing you!


Question of the article

Do you know anyone who's demonstrably overqualified for their job? How can you tell? Tell us in the comments.

What others are saying

READ NEXT: 😨 9 Scary Reasons Overqualified Job Seekers are Rejected

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for more funny memes about recruiters and employers.


via JobMob More Information Here..