Guest Post: The LinkedIn Approach for You or Your Business

Hands up? Who knows what to do with LinkedIn? I don't. I have a profile and all and I can see who looks at it but so what? I like to keep track of people I have worked with in the past, and it's good for that. I also post my blog updates on LinkedIn and have joined some groups that, well....they are kinda boring. Sometimes I read articles that other's have shared but after that I have no idea of how to get the best of out it. I feel that LinkedIn could be really powerful if only I knew some of the secrets.
 
Luckily last month I attended the Problogger conference on the Gold Coast and luckily I met Merril DeFiddes who runs The Social Media Training School. Merril and her team specialise in helping businesses small and large with training and managing their social media needs.

I was talking to her about LinkedIn and that while I am ok at using other forms of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, I really don't know what to do with LinkedIn and I suspect that many others don't either. I asked would she be interested in writing a post on my blog about it. Luckily she was!

So meet Merril. Whether you are just trying to improve your personal profile or if you are using LinkedIn to improve your business profile this is a great post to get you started on LinkedIn.

Merril DeFiddes from The Social Media Training School
Why should anyone be on LinkedIn? I hear people say often, “It is just another platform that I have to manage, and I don’t have time” - The value you and your business will achieve from LinkedIn is worth the time and the small amount of effort you apply to it. However, LinkedIn needs a good solid foundation, just like any other social media platform and once it is well formulated, and you have put all the elements together, you and your business can be catapulted in the right direction of your hottest prospects.

Yes, you do need a LinkedIn Profile, no question about it, whether you are a small business or a CEO of a large corporation, if you have recently left a job or are looking for a particular position. LinkedIn will help you , when you have the groundwork and a strategy in place.
It all begins with a great LinkedIn profile.

We all have heard that 1st impressions count. When people find you on LinkedIn you need to be that someone that the audience of LinkedIn notices.
How is Your Head Shot?
The first thing people see when they are looking and researching a prospect or connection is our image. Not everyone has a “corporate “shot in the top draw. However, with our iPhone’s and android phones, all with some amazing camera capabilities, that given the right situation, lighting and dress code, they will produce a great shot for you.

·         Make sure that your photo fills the image space

·         Don’t stretch the image

·         Don’t use a small image

·         Make sure the lighting is good in the picture

·         A nice smile will go a long way

·         Make sure it is a current photo of you , not one taken 15 years ago or so.

 
Is your professional Headline current?
Create a winning headline that tells others what it is you do. Depending on your reason for being on LinkedIn your may want to state what benefit your connections will get if they want to work with you.  

·         Ensure your headline epitomizes your core principles

·         Detail your expertise within the headline. Showing that you are the “owner of XYZ etc” is not letting your connections know what it is your can do for them

·         Depending on your profile you may use you job title

·         You have a 120-character limit within your headline – utilise this valuable space.

·         Treat your headline with respect  and don’t be too “salesy” – this has the capability to turn people away from you.

 What does your Summary look like?

This is a valuable piece of “LinkedIn Real Estate” that I see so underutilised and has so much power.  You have the opportunity to use 2000 characters to send a message to the people connecting with you. Use every character to help you build that important connection or next big lead.

·         Do not leave it blank!

·         Write your summary in a conversational tone

·         Share accomplishments and your story, but make it catchy.

·         Seek a copywriter who can help you if you get stuck

·         Your summary is a first chance opportunity – develop it well

·         Use headers or icons to draw attention to specific areas of expertise

·         Use a call to action in the last sentence, a  further way to connect  with you.

·         Write in the first person

·         Use of keywords wisely to shape your summary

·         Make sure your keywords are relevant and kept within the conversational tone of your summary  - this will help will propel your profile  with easy SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

·         Revision is always possible, so tweak your summary until you are happy with.

·         Have it critiqued by a colleague

·         Don’t try to be too “fluffy” and “gushy”. Your summary needs to depict a personality within it.

·         Add extra content by adding links to a video, image, document, or presentation.

By establishing a well-crafted LinkedIn profile you will develop your unique presence. Many people fail to take full advantage of their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is advantages for generating rewarding leads, and to market your business’ brand.

LinkedIn is  the premier social networking site for businesses and business professionals, however, it is fabulous for the job seeker as well. 

By focusing on these 3 tips to begin with, they will help you to develop your LinkedIn presence further.   

LinkedIn is a very powerful social media tool and has been a great avenue for my business. With a solid structure , a strategy and social media marketing plan in place, then your LinkedIn presence will certainly get you in front of the people you need to be connecting with.

 Merril

Guest post: the problem of part-time work

I'm so excited to have my first guest blogger on I-develop-me, Jacqui Simpson. I met Jacqui about 13 years ago when we both worked at P&O Ports. She is one of my favourite people and is an awesome HR Director. I wish I could see her more but it's tricky with her being in New Zealand and me being in Singapore.

Jacqui and I both have two boys and have faced similar challenges at work. Here she writes about part-time work which is a hot topic for any working mum. I ranted wrote about it over here. Make sure you leave Jacqui some feedback.

Take the floor Jacqui!

A couple of weeks ago I asked my manager if I could reduce my hours from full time (40 hours a week) to about 60% of a full time week.  It didn’t go down so well.  
I have two young children, Oscar who is nearly 8 and at primary school and Reuben who is nearly 4 and still at Kindergarten. To cut to the chase, the juggle of two full time working parents with children’s commitments and needs was starting to wear a bit thin.
Don’t get me wrong, we are pretty lucky on the childcare front because we do have a nanny, she works about 32 hours a week for us and we also have my husband’s mother who drops my children off to their respective school and kindergarten one morning a week and does one pick up and afternoon care, dinner, baths, showers etc a week, but that can be a stretch even for a fit and reasonably healthy eighty year old. The thing is, when your kids get sick, or they need extra support with homework, or they are just having a hard time with something…it’s not child care they need, its parenting.
While all that’s going on, my husband and I both have fairly senior roles, he is a principal engineer in a global engineering consulting company and I’m an HR Director for a global health care company. We both love our jobs and we are committed to our careers, but it’s a major juggle, more so when one of us is travelling out of town or overseas with our jobs but also just in the every day.  I also constantly live with the guilt that I’m not putting in enough time at work, or enough time at home. 
The contradiction to this all is I also see it from the organisation’s side, only today I asked why we had a leader in one part of our business working just 16 hours a week and commented that it was pretty challenging to delivering in that role on such low hours (yes call me a hypocrite). It’s also more expensive in direct costs for organisations to have part time workers. When we organise training, events, conferences or any type of face to face communication (which we do a lot of) with our geographically dispersed workforce, having a high number of part timers (which we do) adds a huge amount to the overall cost in flights, travel, meals and accommodation. In my 20 plus years of HR experience, the real commitment I have seen to part-time or flexible work practices in organisations is still in its infancy.  
I’ve worked in part time mode myself in a previous role and have managed people in my own team who were part time as well as working with colleagues who have been part time.  One of the challenges is that in the end all meetings and interactions end up needing to work around the part time person and their needs, it’s creates inequity and over time other employees get very resentful of this. When I was working part time, I never really hid it, but I also didn’t shout it from the rooftops. If people asked if I could attend a meeting on my day off, I could then decide if I thought it was worth me shuffling child care to attend, or if not, I would simply say I was not available on that day, just as I would if I was not available due to other work commitments. In doing this, I know it didn’t advance the cause of part time workers, but I needed to make it work for me and that was what I found to be effective at the time.
I’ve long believed that the companies who can nail the whole part time work issue will access an amazing talent pool; I’ve met so many awesome women who completely opt out of the workforce sometimes for a few years and sometimes for much longer after they have children, because they just can’t find hours that work with their parenting commitments, but who would take on a part time job if the hours and the tasks were right (they don’t want to go back to a role that does not utilise their capabilities either). These people are no less committed to their careers or their organisations; generally I’ve found them to be more committed. All the mum’s I’ve ever worked with are incredibly efficient in the hours they work, quite simply they have to be because you can’t leave a 3 year old standing in the dark outside a closed kindergarten just because you didn’t get your work finished on time!
I don’t know yet what the answer is to this challenge, but one thing is clear to me, there is a major paradigm shift required, the 40 hour week is a man-made creation which is great because it also means we can un-make it. Our thinking (including my own!) is that ‘normal’ is someone being available for 40 hours a week.  We must work harder to change this thinking and find ways to make it work for organisations. But what’s the sweet spot? Where part time or flexible work can function really well for organisations but also is good for the people? What if we said a normal week was 20 hours but you could work more (or less) if you wanted? How would that change our perspectives and make work a more human place?  Keen to hear your thoughts. 
Jacqui.

The Resume Series: Resume Basics - content and structure

There are any number of websites, blogs and career pro's who will tell you how to put your resume together. There are templates you can download and advice you can seek, but here are the basics for the content and structure of your resume as I see it.

  • No matter what job you are applying for, some stuff should be the same. This is the basic skeleton of your resume - name, contact details, qualifications, job position and company, format and length. Some parts should change depending on the role.
  • Put your qualifications, if any, up front. Put your most recent and senior qualifications first. To clarify, a qualification is something achieved through a university or college or school.  No one cares that you attended a course on PowerPoint and this is not a qualification.
  • After your name and qualifications you may want to list up to five career highlights. There are achievements that stand out from everything else you have done. These should be in dot-point-style and succinct. These should be tailored depending on the job you are applying for.
  • Next start with your most recent role stating the company, month and year you were there and your role
ABC Equipment Hire
Operations Manager
May 2008 - current  
  •  Under this you might like to start with a couple of achievements and then list your main responsibilities. Again you could tailor this section depending on the role to highlight what's relevant. Some people also like to include the reason for leaving but as you will be asked about this anyway, I don't think it needs to be included. Do this for each job.
  • I like reading resumes that don't have big paragraphs of words. Short summaries and dot points are best. A resume is like a taste of who you are and what you have achieved. If you get to the interview stage you will be able to elaborate.
  •  It's ok to have one or two gaps in your resume. Perhaps you went on an overseas trip? Perhaps you were on maternity leave? Perhaps you took time out to study? Perhaps you were just unemployed? It's all ok. Just be honest. Good people will understand.
  • Once you have followed the above format for all your main roles you may want to add something about your other interests but do so carefully. Read point number 6 in this post if you aren't sure.
Anything you would add?

Lisa x

The Resume Series: Resume Basics - the 5 don'ts

So back over here I gave you some tips on what you should do if you are pulling together or updating your resume. Sometimes it's easier to say what not to do (and infinitely more fun!). Here we go!

  1. Don't include referee contact information: If the company wants to do reference checks they will ask you. This will give you time to chose the best people to speak about you for that specific role, and give you time to contact them. This is also important if they are travelling or overseas where you may need to provide different contact details. You don't want your referees being contacted without your permission.
  2. Don't include a photo. Seriously. Unless you are a model about to go to a casting, this will just give recruiters and HR people the chance to roll about the floor grabbing their stomachs in mirth make fun at your ill chosen photo. Stop it. Do have a photo on your Linkedin account. A professional one. Not one holding a cocktail. Not one where you eyes are red from a flash and not one with someone's arm around you, that you have cleverly cropped out. It's not clever.
  3. Lose the fancy fonts (thanks Rob). I like me a fancy font. I do. Fancy fonts look great on Pinterest and craft blogs. But unless you are going for a creative type role leave them to the creative types. I recommend just using one font, two at a stretch if you are a little creative. That is it. Also use a fairly normal one. If your resume gets pulled through expensive recruitment software basic fonts and formatting will be your friend.
  4. You don't need to detail your family situation or age. Most employers don't care if you are married, separated, divorced, with 2 kids, 3 dogs, a cat and 2 budgies or whether you are living with an alien. If they do care it's none of their bee's wax and in most developed countries it's illegal to ask. In places where it's not illegal they can ask you at interview where you can tell them in person to mind their bee's wax. It's not relevant to the job.
  5. Don't send the same resume in for every job. Tailor it to each company and opportunity, AND
  6. Yes I know I said 5 don'ts but a friend who works in recruitment (thanks Lynette) made a suggestion about another great don't. It's the section on your resume about your interests. I personally think you should leave this out altogether. If interviewers are interested in you personally, they will ask. If you have to include interests don't put things like "watching TV" or "sleeping" I mean really? One resume I read told me that the person liked to do massage, both kinds. What was I supposed to think about that? I don't remember interviewing that person.

So there you have it folks. Got any other don'ts?

Lisa x

The Resume Series: Resume Basics - the top 10 do's

In times of change and organisational restructuring a good resume is the ticket to your next role. Over this week and the next I'll be covering the basics of resumes. Here is my first post on the topic - the top 10 do's!


Lets face it. Resumes are hard. They are hard because we don't do one very often. They are hard because they get out of date quickly and they are hard because mostly we don't know what a prospective employee is looking for. The job ad may detail a number of things and you may have addressed them in your cover letter and/or resume and you still don't get an interview. Ugh!

I would like to say the process of choosing candidates for interviews is scientific but often it's not. I mean, there is a correlation between choosing resumes that match the selection criteria but it's sometimes a little random. Humans are not particularly rational (despite what some humans tell you) so no matter how closely your resume meets the specification you may or may not get chosen. That's life and unless you have been discriminated against you should just move on. Big companies now use sophisticated resume selection and recruitment software but I'm a little sceptical about how effective it is, though there isn't much choice when you receive hundreds of applicants for any given role.

So what are my top tips for creating or updating your resume?
  1. Include basic contact information:  You don't need to provide two email addresses, two phone numbers and your home address. Cut it down. I think a mobile phone number and an email address is adequate. Put them in the header or footer. Will look good and be easy to find.
  2. Have a "normal" email address. No bunnybuns69@hotmail.com and no sexymamma81@gmail. Also don't use your current work email address. That's just bad form.
  3. Be crystal clear. You can always say something in less words. Make sure you do. Be succinct and if you are not good at this get a friend to read it for you and ruthlessly edit.
  4. Be short. I have seen a candidate for a senior role get the job on a one page resume. It can be done. I think 2-3 pages is fine. No more. 
  5. Stick to the highlights. No one wants to read War and Peace. No one. I promise, your work history is not that interesting.
  6. Be relevant. To the job vacancy. That is all. You look like an idiot when you apply for a job with nothing that matches what the company is looking for. Overseas students pay attention.
  7. Spell check. I can forgive one, maybe two spelling mistakes or typos. More pedantic people will not and if writing is part of the job, you are done for.
  8. Only include your highest and most relevant qualifications. A massive list of certificates obtained by attending time management 101, team building for dummies and "intro to excel" have no place on your resume.
  9. Don't flick it. Online job boards make it very easy to apply for jobs. Don't apply for everything that looks even slightly up your alley. It wastes everyone's time.
  10. Tailor your resume for every role you apply for. That might sound like hard work but you should be choosey what you apply for and not apply for that many roles at the same time. 
 What would you like to hear about in regards to resumes? What do you struggle with?

Lisa xx

Day 5 Small wins - A day in the life of a HR Director

Some days it all comes together. You put on an outfit that makes you feel great (today ripped jeans with circles of gold sequins on them. Too much streetwalker? ) You leave home on time.  You pay attention to where you are driving. The traffic is good. You arrive at work early, and instead of fiddling with emails, you get straight into the hard stuff and get. it. sorted.

Welcome to my Friday. I sorted the very important spreadsheet including the problem with none of the formulas working unless every cell is entered manually, before 8.30am. I sorted 2 difficult expat payroll issues that have been driving me crazy, and got a nice thank you for one of them. Had a great and funny conversation with one leader and a nowherenearasbadasIthought conversation with another. Got out an employee communication and moved forward a difficult issue that should be resolved early next week.

Left work early to pick up Aiden from school who has had a hard week, picked up some medication from a medical centre that have been ringing me every week for, oh about 4 weeks, picked up keys to our mail box so we could actually get out mail (looooong story) and was home in time to take both boys for a swim.

Got to speak to one of my favourite friends Laura, who is coming to stay in a few weeks and the whole day would have been perfect if I could have actually played a movie for the boys and I tonight on the stupid big TV. Had a movie night with popcorn in my head as a nice end to the week. No popcorn was in stock and obviously the technology or my intelligence was lacking, and it didn't happen. Boys watched the movie on a laptop screen, one of the smallest screens in the house. TGIF



Day 4 Glamour in pictures - A day in the life of a HR Director

Thursday 4 September
 After the highs of hump day - lunch not at my desk, Thursday dawned with possibilities. What could happen today? Will there be any glamour to speak of? Let's see shall we?

Left home at 7am to beat the traffic. Don't pay attention to where I'm going or what I'm doing and I end up on a road that I don't know. The phrase "I'm never going to learn the streets of Singapore" runs through my head. Turn on GPS. It takes 25 minutes to get on the road I should be on. And when I get on the "AYE" (no idea what this stands for) but it could be "Annoyingly really congested road that Yes takes me to work Even though I wished I worked in the city"


Isn't it pretty?
Arrive at work and no one else is there. Look how lonely my car looks.

View from my office window. Natural light people!

I basically spent the whole day writing documents and working on spreadsheets. I gotta get me some people action!!

As a distraction I head to the kitchen (we call it pantry in the far east), and discover a new snack. Encouraged by "Aunty" (that's what we call the cleaner/helper in the far east) I take a handful to try. They are a bit like chips with a sweet and spicy flavour. Really nice until they have been in  your mouth for oh about 2 seconds and then they taste like fish. These are the ones I didn't eat!


Then I think, "I bet my readers would like to see where I work". I don't like to disappoint so here it is:

 
You can see here that I'm still waiting on a monitor. FYI For Your Improvement books are fantastic at helping people to develop. Also fantastic at propping up my laptop so it's at the right height. If I have a "development" emergency they are also close to hand. There is always a silver lining.



Here you will see my Houston Rockets bobble head, a free gift from my first visit to Houston and my extensive collection of coloured pens. I keep them there in case I get inspired and need to write in colour. Practically, they get the most use if any kids visit the office.

So there you have it folks.

Lisa x

Day 3 It's hump day! A day in the life of a HR Director

Wednesday 3 September
Ah hump day. The middle of the week. By lunch time you are on the down hill run to the weekend!

In celebration I do three things.

1. I decide to wear sequins because they scream glamour. Or streetwalker. Something like that. I wore a cute Sass & Bide black and white and gold sequin t-shirt. I matched it up with my recently procured short suit. Yes you heard it hear folks. I wore matching shorts and jacket today. Corporate like. I thought I looked pretty good until someone asked if my shorts are culottes. Maybe they are shorts on other people. Taller people. They may need to be taken up.


2. I eat out for lunch. Craazy! I ate at my desk on Monday and Tuesday but not today folks. Check out the spread. Crispy Thai chicken, rice and an egg. Mango juice and some weird soup which I didn't eat.

3. I decide to leave even earlier to beat the traffic. I left home at 6.50, picked up my work colleague and a coffee at 7 and arrived at work just before 8am. Still. Not Good.

Anyway, as it's well and truly into hump day now (7.18pm to be exact) we are heading out for drink for friends.

Lisa x

Day 2. The glamour continues. A day in the life of a HR Director.

Tuesday 2 September
5am - Arran's alarm goes off. Can't get back to sleep. Eventually get up at 5.45am, get dressed into my Country Road "glamour" outfit (seems to be free of food debris), and decide to work on an important legal document. Sit in the dark on the balcony with my laptop. Loser.

6.30am - Marife (our fabulous helper) offers to make me tea and toast. Score!
 
7am - leave the house in a new battle to beat the traffic and get to work at a reasonable time. Pick up a work college from Australia who is staying close by. Arrive at work after 8.30am. Ugh!


Traffic! Isn't it glam? How nice are the trees?
Morning - work on important legal document, work on bonus plan for one country, do some calculations in spread sheet (over the past few years I have improved my skills in excel but I still suck so this is NO fun), answer emails, send emails, speak to team members on phone.

Afternoon - Like the morning but with less human interaction. I like human interaction.

4.30 pm - decide to leave for home at 4.45pm to beat the traffic

5.05pm -leave for home. Drop off work colleague and head home for dinner with my boys.

8.30pm - Global HR Directors teleconference. I sit on our balcony enjoying the view of the pool and the high rise buildings around us.

9.00pm - Teleconference with 2 colleagues in the US to sort out an expat pay issue.

9.35pm - eyes falling out. Close down laptop and go to bed! That's enough glamour for one day, don't you think?

Lisa x

Non. Stop. Glamour. A day in the life of a HR Director

This is glamour....
I like to read fashion magazines. I do. I like the feel of them in my hand, the glossy adds with unattainable glamour and the sheer escapism of them. I like it when they include "a day in the life" stories. Often these stories depict the life of glamorous fashion designers, PR people and magazine editors in their designer shoes and clothes looking glamorous and perfect as they go about their day. It's all so glamorous.

I know what you are thinking. Being a HR Director is also glamorous right? In celebration of glamour I bring you the "week in a life of a HR Director" series.


Monday 1 September
5am - woken by Arran's alarm. He turns it off and goes back to sleep. I lie awake until the alarm goes off at 6.15am. This is how divorce happens. I snooze once because I like me a snooze and then get up at 6.25am. I put my hair in a bun because I can't be bothered doing anything else with my hair, slap some make-up on and put on my glamorous Sass & Bide outfit, which has some sort of white food related crap on both sleeves. Clean white crap off sleeves with soggy washer used to clean small boy faces last night. Are you feeling the glamour? Say goodbye to small boys and leave house with Arran and no breakfast.

7am - meeting at Aiden's school with Aiden's teacher to talk about his current behaviour, which is not great. He is hitting and shoving other kids and won't do as he is told. This conversation happens at a table the same height as my knees. Feel frazzled.

7.30am - meeting at Aiden's school with school nurse. Explain why glasses won't correct Aiden's vision impairment. Nurse promptly asks "why won't glasses help?". Feel a bit more frazzled and am now wondering about the nurse's qualifications. On the way back from Aiden's school spot Aiden and Charlie walking to school with our Helper Marife. Aiden doesn't have his school uniform on. Marife says he refused (thereby proving the behaviour his teacher just spoke about). Aiden is sent home to put his uniform on. Arran confesses that he forgot last Friday was plain clothes day and sent Aiden to school in his uniform. Mood has shifted to stabby.

8am - Breakfast with Arran to do post mortem on meetings at Aiden's school. Bad Singaporean service and coffee not helping with feeling stabby. Realise I have a meeting at work at 9.30am and that I'm not going to make it. Beyond stabby.

8.20am - Kiss husband goodbye without stabbing him. Drive to work. Traffic is even more hideous than a regular drive to the left hand end of the island.

9.35am - Arrive at work. Want to go home.

9.40am - 1pm: check emails, do teleconference with country MD who can't use teleconference numbers. Try to understand whether a management recharge for an expat is correct. It is and it's not really my job. Speak to an expat about his pay. Speak to a leader about a performance issue. Check and approve the weekly payroll for Australia.

1pm - drive up the road to get some lunch and bring back to eat at my desk

1.45 pm to 5.30pm Send overtime data to 2 leaders. Approve team leave request. Post mortem a performance issue. Speak to a manager about how and in what currency we are going to pay someone in Indonesia. I don't know. Catch up with my office buddy and fellow expat to Singapore. Document an expat employee's summary information. Agree to pick up a leader visiting Singapore tomorrow morning from his hotel. Get reminded of all the items on my to do list that haven't been started. Talk to my sister about Aiden's teacher meeting. Attempt to get on a call at 5.30 to discuss an employee performance issue. Call doesn't happen. Pack up.

5.45pm - drive home

6.50pm - arrive home. Aiden and Charlie are SO excited to see me that can't stop talking at me and over each other. Best part of the day. Eat dinner. Talk to Aiden about his behaviour. Write to teacher about Aiden's behaviour. Read stories and complete reading logs for Aiden and Charlie. Organise 3 cheques (for those who don't know a cheque is a piece of paper you fill out promising to let your bank give them money), extract $10 from Arran's wallet for "Little Scientists". Organise Arran to buy Melbourne Cup event tickets for 7 people. Fill out Aiden's school schedule so everyone knows what he needs to wear each day, which ECA (extra curricular activities) he has on, what time he needs to be picked up, what day is show and tell and what day he needs to return his library book.

8.30pm - sit down with WINE to read emails and prepare for teleconference with US on fixing an expat's pay, which I scheduled today. Realise no one has accepted my meeting invite. Check US public holidays. It's a public holiday. Reschedule meeting to tomorrow night. Pour another glass of wine.

10am - finish blog post. Contemplate going to bed OR watching the stupid big TV Arran bought on the weekend while I was out of the country. Might just drink more wine.