Top 10 Strangest Titles You Can Find on Linkedin and Will They Further Your Career

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In the current economic climate and with competition in the jobs market becoming ever tougher, some people have resorted to using imaginative and creative job descriptions to help them take the next step on the career ladder.
LinkedIn

This trend has been seen most clearly on LinkedIn, an online portal where people can ‘connect’ with colleagues and friends and then in turn with these people’s contacts and grow their business network. This will then enable them to use these new contacts to explore employment or business opportunities. Below we look at the 10 strangest job titles that can be found on LinkedIn and question whether using one of these is really the best way to further your career.

1. Digital Overlord. This person is someone who works in IT and sees themselves as something of a guru.

2. Wizard of Light Bulb Moments. A great ideas person.

3. Retail Jedi. Someone who considers themselves to be a great salesperson.

4. Creator of Happiness. Less of a job description and more a description of the type of person you would be employing.

5. Change Magician. Someone who could turn your business around, or who at least thinks they could.

Titles 6-10 and more advice 
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5 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Company Page

By 


Do you have a LinkedIn Company page?
Have you employed the newly designed look and features?
If you haven’t created a LinkedIn Company Page, now is the time to do so.
The new layout makes it easier for people to find, follow and engage with your Company Page.
Here are the new design updates and features that you can take advantage of on your Company Page.

#1: Banner Images

Bring your Page to life! Add a banner image to the top of your LinkedIn Company Page.
banner image
Social Media Examiner's LinkedIn Company Page banner.
The default landing tab for your Company Page is the Home tab. Your banner image will show up at the top of this tab.
This is very similar to the Facebook Cover Image that you are able to utilize on your Facebook Business Page, although the image size is different. The size of the LinkedIn Company Page banner image should be 646 x 220 pixels.
Use the banner space to illustrate and extend your unique branding and messaging.
Note that you will not be able to place a clickable URL behind your primary banner image.
sprout social
Sprout Social's LinkedIn Company Page banner.
Don’t be afraid to make your banner image eye-popping or attention-grabbing! This is an opportunity to earn new followers for your Page.
Without collecting followers, any updates you post to the Page most likely will not be seen.
LinkedIn has stated that you only need 100-200 followers for your Company Page to reach the tipping point to start making an impact and driving engagement. That’s great news!
The “About” section of your Company Page has been moved down to the bottom of the page. Still, it’s a good idea to review this area and make sure it’s up to date.
about houtsuite
The "About" section now sits at the bottom of your LinkedIn Company Page Home tab.
In the Specialties section of your company description, you will want to use relevant keywords for your company so you’ll be found in LinkedIn searches.
Take full advantage of the Home tab and maximize all of the features here!

#2: Career and Products Now Featured on Home Tab

Rather than burying information about your company’s products and services or careers, there are now sidebar spaces on the Home tab that feature these sections of your LinkedIn Company Page. This makes it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for on your Page.
dell sidebar features
Dell's LinkedIn Company Page sidebar.
If you are not utilizing the Careers tab section of your Company Page, you will see a default image of your logo icon and some default text that says “Learn more about our company and culture.”
For the Products and Services section in the sidebar, the first product that you’ve created in the Products and Services section of the Company Page will be featured here. Make sure your first product is the primary product you want featured.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with the products or services that you create. Think outside of the box. They don’t have to be products and services that you offer in the traditional sense.
Rather, you could showcase free downloads or special reports, a free assessment or even a conference or event on your Products and Services tab.
products and services
Showcase interesting offers from your company under the Products/Services tab.
The goal is to get your Company Page visitors interested in learning more about how you can help them accomplish their goals! Showcasing unique content in this tab will drive engagement and potentially encourage recommendations for your business.
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6 LinkedIn Groups to Help You Land Your Next Job

by


Chelsea P. Gladden is the Director of Marketing & PR for FlexJobs, an award-winning service that helps job-seekers find professional opportunities that also offer work flexibility, such as telecommuting, freelance, part-time or alternative schedules. To learn more about Chelsea, visit FlexJobs.com or tweet her @FlexJobsChelsea.


 With the upcoming election, we are hearing more and more about the need to increase jobs. If you are among the 12.1 million Americans who are out of work, continuous networking is key. Because forking out dollar after dollar to attend conferences and events weekly isn’t feasible for someone who needs to be earning money, the obvious option is social networking. LinkedIn is a great option for connecting with friends, former colleagues and their connections who can possibly introduce you to your future boss. To further your reach, consider joining discussion groups and actively participating. Not only can you meet new connections, but the groups often include job listings or upcoming opportunities. The following are six groups to to consider joining right now.

 1. Jobs 2.0: A discussion group that includes the latest tips for finding employment online, join this group to get advice from career experts and interact with recruiters.

 2. Your College’s Official Alumni Group: Find your college’s alumni group and join now. As the University of California Santa Barbara’s alumni group writes, job seekers can “expand their influence, networking, business and career opportunities.” To join your college colleagues, do a search on LinkedIn for your university, and look for the keyword “official” to make sure you’re choosing the real group and not one of the many unofficial alumni groups.

3. Companies You’ve Worked For: Similar to your college alumni group, join any groups affiliated with your current or former employer. It’s a great way to stay connected for a future recommendation or see where past co-workers are working now, as you may want to join them.

Tips 4-6 and Complete Mashable Article
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5 Things Job Seekers Need to Know About LinkedIn

 BY 


I just saw a great blog post on how LinkedIn can cause problems at work on Resume Bear, and it got me thinking that there are some things job seekers should be aware of in addition to the excellent points mentioned in that article:
1. Sudden flurry of updates tell your network something’s afoot.
Every time you update one area of your profile, everyone in your network is updated. So imagine if you really start tinkering with your profile in earnest… that means there’s activity going on… and that you are cleaning up your act, possibly preparing for some action.
Instead: take the profile off public visibility, update it with everything you intend to change, then make it visible again to avoid multiple updates. Better yet: regularly update your profile with one thing at a time, perhaps once per week. If updates are constant and regular, there are no red flags.
2. Reasons to be contacted.
If you include “Looking for job opportunities” or anything that implies an active job search, you could be informing your employer indirectly that you are anticipating a change. If you are employed, keep your reasons to be contacted business-related only.
3. Using your work email address to register.
So you have a robust network, lots of recommendations, and everything is humming along. Except you just lost your job as well as your company email address. Guess what? You could get locked out of your account if your employer decides to exploit this and changes the password on your LinkedIn account too.
It would be a whole world of pain trying to get logged back in – so the point here is: Take your account registrations OFFLINE to a personal e-mail account. You won’t regret it as you will always have control of who logs in YOU!
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Top 10 Tips from “LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day”

by VivekaVonRosen

I was recently asked to write an article on my book, “LinkedIn Marketing:  An Hour a Day” so I decided to sharesome of my top tips from it, chapter by chapter.

My Top Ten LinkedIn Tips

Chapter 1: “Get LinkedIn”

What is LinkedIn and should you be on it?

If you don’t have one yet, get a profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is not just for jobseekers. It is for business people, sales people, marketing people, professionals service people, B2B companies, B2C companies, non profits,  students, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms, and busy executives. If you do any business at all, you want to create an account on LinkedIn.

Chapter 2: “Get Started on LinkedIn”

What are your goals and what are your strategies?

Take a few minutes right now to write down the reasons you’re using LinkedIn. Are you using LinkedIn to:
  • attract new clients and customers
  • create new referral partner relationships
  • attract affiliates
  • position yourself as a thought leader  or subject matter expert
  • share information about your product or service
  • enhance your customer service relationships
  • attract donor and sponsors for your charity
  • position your Internet marketing business
  • sell your book
  • share information about an event or
  • something else
What are your goals for being on LinkedIn that or not in the list above? Write them down. Now prioritize your goals. Although your priorities for using LinkedIn might shift, it’s always good to be clear on what they are right now.

Chapter 3.  “Ready, Set, Profile!”

Do you know your keywords?

You can use the “Skills and Expertise” link on LinkedIn to find keywords that are specifically relevant to LinkedIn. Simply click on the “Skills ” link under the “More” tab and type in any skill that is relevant to your position, your education, your skill set, or your industry. As you begin to type, a drop-down menu should appear.  Choose the skill closest to your keyword or search term.  If the drop down doesn’t come up with the option you are looking for, choose a synonym for your skill set.
Once you select a skill from the drop-down list, LinkedIn will take you to a new page. By clicking the blue “Add Skill” button, you will add that skill to your profile. (So it can be endorsed later by your connections!)
The section of this page relevant to finding keywords is on the left side under “Related skills”. Are there any of those related skills you might want to add to your profile as keywords?
When the list of related skills is in alignment with your skill set (meaning you could indeed offer many or all the skills or services in your business) you might want to copy and paste the entire list into Word document. Delete the irrelevant skills and voila – you have a great keyword list to add to:
  • your professional headline
  • title fields
  • interests
  • summary section
and any other sections that are relevant in your LinkedIn profile.

Chapter 4: Using Your Company profile for Branding and Positioning

Do you have a Company Profile?

With the newest Company Profile release – you no longer have a reason not to have a Company profile!  And if you have one, are you using it?
Did you know you could add video to your company profile? Once you add a product or service, you have the opportunity to add a YouTube link. This will show up as a video that plays when someone clicks on that skill or product. Consider the product demonstration, or a testimonial from a happy client or customer.

Chapter 5:  “Creating and Managing a Network that Works.”

Grow your network to be more visible.

If you’re not having much luck on LinkedIn, it might be because your network is too small. In order to easily grow your network, without directly connecting too many people you don’t know, you might consider going to www.toplinked.com. The folks who pay to be a part of toplinked.com are willing to share their networks with you, because they want you to share your network with them.
By clicking on the “Top Supporters” link on the left-hand side of the Toplinked.com page, you will see a list of 50 to 60 individuals who should accept your invitation to connect. All of these individuals have very large networks. By connecting to just 10 to 15 of these individuals, you should be able to grow your network out past the 10 million mark. Which means you’ll be more visible on LinkedIn. It also means that you will be able to find and connect with more strategic members on LinkedIn. Which should increase your business.
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13 Quick Tips To Optimise your LinkedIn Profile

2. Create a unique extract. Can you summarise everything into a single sentence that makes you unique and special, something that sets you apart from everyone else? I bet you can!
4. Achievements and tasks. One of the best profiles I’ve read lately has been the one set up by Víctor Ronco. His way of listing his achievements and the tasks he was in charge of is sensational. Of course, you do need to be a doer and a tryer for that!
6. Skills and expertise. Don’t mention your management, business and consulting skills only. Include also something more personal: your human skills, abilities and characteristics… as it happens, this side of things is mainly what’s missing in our environment right now and rarities have an added value. Think about what you’re like as a human being, that’s the key!
7. Interests are key words through which you may be found. Catch the drift?
8. A blog makes your profile much more attractive and powerful.
13. Header. The header is the best opportunity available to position yourself. There are already too many experts in social media, senior community managers and marketing directors. If you’re doing what everyone else does, in what way are you standing out for me?
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4 Burning Issues Regarding LinkedIn Etiquette

By 


The newest Endorsement feature on LinkedIn is resulting in a surge of notifications, but do you wonder how to respond? Does it warrant a thank you or response on your behalf? What about reciprocating with a LinkedIn recommendation? Or perhaps you are curious about how to respond to a request to connect from someone you don't know. These are just a few of the many conundrums people face on LinkedIn currently.
1. Do I need to thank someone for an endorsement? LinkedIn's new Endorsements feature is promoted as a way to give kudos with one click. Yet, if it is so simple to give, what does it really indicate? Is it valid to measure someone's skills if there is no context assigned? And why can any connection be qualified to make these endorsements? The feature raises many issues, but the better question is, do these endorsements justify your response? Old-fashioned etiquette would say, yes, you can and probably should thank someone in a message through LinkedIn. However, that takes time and effort; more time and effort than it took the person to endorse you. If you chose to return the favor and endorse them, that is another option and decision you can make. If you do decide to send a thank you, know that it will probably be one of very few the recipient receives. What memorable impression will that have?
2. Someone wrote a recommendation for me. Do I need to return the favor? Often people use the "give to get" principle to entice someone to write a return recommendation. Does this mean you must accept and post their endorsement as well as write one for them too? If you did not ask for their recommendation, it is up to you to decide how and if you want to make it visible on your profile. Also note that if there are typos or if the message isn't quite to your liking, you can ask for the author to modify what they've written. If you feel comfortable and confident enough to write a recommendation of their work, then you could return the favor. However, you are not obligated to do so. In either case, you should thank the individual for their recommendation.
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7 Tips for Marketers To Create Meaningful Connections on LinkedIn

By Ashley Zeckman


Have you found yourself spending more time than usual on LinkedIn within the last couple of months?  I know I have.  Much of that has to do with the recent changes that the company has rolled out which has improved usability and is encouraging users to spend more time actively participating within the platform.
LinkedIn should be viewed as a tool for marketers to connect with other professionals or companies in a meaningful way, not a platform for shouting your marketing message at unsuspecting victims.
For example, you wouldn’t approach a table full of professionals at a networking event that you don’t know and open up with “Buy my B2B marketing automation software! It will save you time and money.” Talk about open mouth and insert foot. I’m sure we can all agree that a first interaction like the one mentioned above would likely squash any chance of having a meaningful interaction with your new connections.
It’s easy for us to forget best practices for interacting on social platforms.  This article serves as a refresher course for marketers looking to improve engagement on LinkedIn.
1 – Form Real Relationships
Have you ever gotten a phone call, answered it, and realized it was a pre-recorded message? Believe me, I know from experience that no matter how many times you yell back at the recording, it wont respond (or stop talking).
On the other end of that pined for LinkedIn connection is a human, and there are certain things that make them tick. It’s your job to find out just what that is.
Apply your general marketing best practices and remember that you’re in the business of getting to know people, and determining how THEY prefer to interact.  These relationships take time and effort to establish. You want to create a dialogue that is tailored to a specific individual, not broadcast a one-size-fits-all canned marketing message.
2 – Reach Out To Customers
Connecting with customers individual profiles and following their company updates on LinkedIn (as well as other social networks) is a fantastic opportunity to stay up to date on any changes within the organization, and learn more about the individuals that you work with on a daily basis.
Say for example that you’re browsing your LinkedIn feed while drinking your morning cup of coffee and read that Teresa from ABC marketing (your favorite client) wrote “The heat went out in our building this week, it’s going to be a cold one!”
Chances are the next time you talk to Teresa, you’ll share that you heard her building was without heat and express concern for how she’s doing. Or better yet, send her an inexpensive but thoughtful care package from your team with a blanket and slippers to keep her warm. Sometimes it’s the small stuff that makes a big difference.
3 – Thank Your Team For Being Awesome
Even though we’ve discussed the dangers of blatant brand boasting, there is an opportunity to utilize LinkedIn to share information on company accomplishments. Say your team broke a record or goal you set for yourself, hired a new rock star employee, or participated in a community event that you would like to share.
Let’s face it, most people like to be recognized for their accomplishments. Sam and Rob from your Account Management team will most likely appreciate being included in an update from their boss.  This could be as simple as posting “Thank you to Sam and Rob for going the extra mile to keep their clients happy. Join our team congratulating them for a job well done!” can put a smile on the face of your employees, attract job seekers, and show prospective clients that you aren’t afraid to thank your team for having an impact.
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5 Easy Ways to Pay It Forward on LinkedIn

By ,


With Thanksgiving right around the corner, why not set aside a half hour each week between now and Turkey Day to show some gratitude to your network by paying it forward on LinkedIn? Here are 5 ways you can:

1. Write an unexpected Recommendation for a connection.
If you worked with or hired someone that turned out to be a rock star go ahead and write a recommendation for them. It’s also a great way to reconnect with a connection that’s drifted off your regular touch base list. Just keep it brief and specific and avoid writing a generic reco because they’re almost always useless to your contact.

Most folks don’t even display recos that sound similar to this, “Bob is a stand-up guy and someone I’d be happy to work with again in the future. Most people think they know sales, but Bob really does!” This might have some posting value if it instead said, “Bob is a reliable, proactive and positive team player, and if I were asked to name a few sales leaders to be on a speaker panel, Bob’s name would be at the top of my list. He exceeded our team goals quarter after quarter and made it to our President’s list 5 years in a row.”

2. Endorse a connection’s skills when you’re reminded of them (maybe via a tweet, status update, blog post or prompt from LinkedIn).

Since LinkedIn added this new “To Do” to our lists, I’ve heard both groaning about as well as praise for it, but why not try to endorse at least 1 connection’s skills during your regular visits to LinkedIn?

3. Invite new or old contacts to connect on LinkedIn.
Just be sure to send a PERSONAL message expressing what you noted, respect or appreciate about them, and if you only “met” them via Twitter or somewhere random like that, just be honest about why you want to be connected on LinkedIn (“let’s not lose touch”). Whatever you do, don’t use the default Invitation to Connect unless you’re using your smart phone right in front of them at an event or on the subway (or whatever) and have opened the LinkedIn mobile app.

Tips 4 - 5 and Complete B2C Article

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We Learned These 14 Things at the LinkedIn Conference




LinkedIn launched a few new tools and tinkered around with some existing ones at this week’s 2,000+ event in Las Vegas.
But that’s not all we walked away with from the user-group conference, including this:
  1. LinkedIn seems to get recruiting: It has sales associates try out recruiting as part of their sales training. Some LinkedIn recruiters would like to hold on to them!
  2. Companies are trying to figure out what skills their employees have — but they can’t. In one session, most everyone raised their hands when asked if they have some sort of intranet aimed at keeping track of employees’ skills. Few said it’s really working.
  3. Companies are racing to get their employees on LinkedIn. One company we heard from has been buying other companies, and trying to get their new employees from acquired firms to change their profiles to say they’re a member of the big parent. Other companies are also trying to increase the percentage of employees who are on LinkedIn, acting as brand ambassadors of some kind.
  4. But, they’re nervous about the above. One Houston recruiter is torn, because she wants people to be visible as mini-recruiters for her company’s employment brand, but know that means they’re visible to hungry competitors.
  5. Companies want LinkedIn to talk better to their other systems. Recruiters have to update too many things, and find it cumbersome to keep doing one thing on SAP and then the same thing on LinkedIn.
  6. LinkedIn is still incredibly concerned about getting non-job seekers to regularly update their profiles. One mechanism they are using is endorsements, which they claim get up to 8 million endorsements a day.
  7. Another is the newer feature of following industry influencers and experts. They have 150 now and there are now 2 million of these follows across their entire network.
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7 Tips For Building a 'Power Network' on LinkedIn

BY


Among the social networks, LinkedIn can be one of the most useful when it comes to cultivating critical, lucrative business opportunities, since it has a high concentration of business decision makers. The trick is going beyond connecting with cousins and college buddies to strategically building a "power network" of individuals who should be potential clients.

But building a power network on LinkedIn doesn't happen overnight. Here are seven tips for making the kinds of connections that can benefit your business the most:

1. Optimize your profile: One of the easiest ways is to update your profile picture. LinkedIn views this kind of update as "freshness" and it can help your ranking when others are searching for someone like you.

2. Tell people who you are, who you help and how you help them in your headline: A headline that communicates these points is often what grabs a person's attention when searching the site. I should be able to read your headline and know exactly what you offer and why I should get in touch with you. Be clear and compelling.

3. Fill out all current and past work experiences: You never know who's looking for you, possibly a co-worker from an old job, or maybe a classmate that's suddenly feeling nostalgic and wants to see who they can find online. By listing all of your places of employment -- including your educational institutions -- you can create a larger net for capturing searches. Plus, these connections could be second- or third-tier connections to people you've been trying to meet.

4. Join targeted groups: This can be one of the most effective ways to connect with like-minded professionals who are serious about using LinkedIn to form deeper business connections. Participating in these groups also enables you to share your knowledge and to learn from other members.

Tips 5 - 7 and Complete Entrepreneur Article
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13 things that really annoy people on LinkedIn


Almost everyone I’m in contact with through business is on LinkedIn these days (and if you’re not, you should be). It’s a brilliant, professional, online business networking site and a place where you’re expected to promote yourself through your own profile and other areas of the site. Having said that, I consistently hear people moaning about a number of things that their connections do that really annoys them.
Since my post on 18 things you should not do on Twitter was so well received, I thought I’d share my candid thoughts on what you should avoid on LinkedIn.
  1. Don’t lie — you will be found out. And it will be embarrassing. After all, look what happened to former Yahoo CEO, Scott Thompson.
  2. Don’t send an invitation to connect stating that you’re a “friend” if you don’t know the person. People hate it and won’t accept.
  3. Don’t be lazy when sending invitations to connect. I get really irritated when people can’t be bothered to write a customised message to me when asking to connect. It makes me think they’re just trying to connect to as many people as possible, rather than looking to nurture a professional relationship. Unfortunately, on some LinkedIn pages like on “People you may know” (and on an iPad and smartphone), LinkedIn sends invitations to connect, without giving people the opportunity to customise their message and without warning. Cringe! LinkedIn should fix this.
  4. Don’t forget to read a person’s profile before sending them a personal message to connect. Don’t send the same message to everyone. True story: I received an invite to connect with a message asking to meet me for a coffee to explore a potential partnership. When I wrote back saying “What do you mean by potential partnership?”, the person wrote back, apologising and admitted that they didn’t read my profile properly. I guess no coffee then?
  5. Don’t use a logo as your profile image. No exceptions. LinkedIn is a professional networking site — people to people, not people to logos. There is a different place on LinkedIn to add your company logo, overview etc. called Company Pages. Here’s an example of Firebrand’s company page.
  6. Don’t use anything other than your full name on your profile. There’s an option to use your first name only with an initial for your family name, but why would you do that? It looks suspicious. I’ve seen spammers do this often. And whilst I’m on this subject, don’t change your privacy settings to “anonymous” when you’re looking at other people’s profile. It makes them feel like someone is stalking them.
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Ranking the 100 Most InDemand Employers Using LinkedIn Data [INFOGRAPHIC]


Michael Li

Picture yourself walking into your dream job. What logo is on the door? Whether it’s a hot tech start-up or a prestigious global accounting firm, some employers are more desirable than others. For companies, this affects how easily they can recruit, and for employees it’s tied to your professional reputation. Using our massive professional data set, LinkedIn has identified which companies are most attractive to potential candidates. Today at our Talent Connect event in Las Vegas, we unveiled LinkedIn’s Most InDemand Employers, a set of rankings of the most sought-after companies on LinkedIn.

A few interesting insights came out about what makes a desirable employer:
  • Tech is hot: Software was the most represented industry on the list, and Google topped several categories including our global rankings.
  • A strong consumer brand helps, but isn’t essential: Consumer powerhouses like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Disney ranked highly. But so did leading professional services firms like Deloitte.
  • Bigger isn’t necessarily better: Big global brands are well represented, but 50% of the top 100 are under 7,000 employees.
What makes these rankings so unique—and exciting to me as a professional data scientist—is that they’re based on the actual actions of over 175 million professionals on LinkedIn. Last year, LinkedIn was home to over 15 billion interactions between professionals and companies. We cross-referenced our data with thousands of survey responses to pinpoint the specific activities that best indicate familiarity and interest in working for a company: connecting with employees, viewing employee profiles, visiting Company and Career Pages, and following companies. After crunching this data and normalizing for things like company size, we developed our top 100 global list. We then applied LinkedIn profile data to rank the most sought-after employers among professionals in five countries and four job functions.
We used a similar analytical framework to develop the LinkedIn Talent Brand Index, a powerful tool to help companies measure and improve their talent brand.
At LinkedIn, data is in our DNA, and we love using it to help our members and companies better understand the professional landscape. Take a look and see if your company made one of our lists at talent.linkedin.com/indemand.

See the full infographic and the complete Linkedin Blog article
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4 Ways to Stand Out on LinkedIn


Nicole Williams

You work hard to ensure that you put your company’s best foot forward but in doing so, you may be letting your own persona become overshadowed. With 175 million members and a new member joining approximately every two seconds, LinkedIn is an excellent way to stand out in your field—if you know how to work it.
Simply filling out your profile isn’t going to cut it. Being a part of an online community means engaging regularly to make an impact. Here’s how.
1) Sharing is caring: Professionals who share articles or content with their LinkedIn network at least once a week are nearly ten times more likely to be contacted by a recruiter for new opportunities than people who don’t share with their network. So ask your network a question via your status update like “I’ve got a new business pitch with Nike tomorrow. Does anyone have any contacts over at Nike?”. Or make a general comment like “I’m heading to the airport for a client meeting in Denver.” Remember it’s about quality over quantity because every status update you share is a reflection of who you are as a professional.
2) Create a schedule: Think you don’t have the time to be active on LinkedIn? With our handy mobile and iPad apps, you can connect on the go. Share industry stories viaLinkedIn Today and also check out what your network has been reading and sharing too—all while commuting to work. Maybe a connection is going to be in the same city as you next week or someone is looking for a freelancer to help with her content development. You’ll know before you hit your desk.
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6 Tips for Mastering Your New LinkedIn Profile

Notice anything different on your LinkedIn profile page? It's not your imagination--and it needs your attention. Here's what you need to know.


The recent LinkedIn profile updates may seem subtle at first glance, but to stay current on this professional social networking site, there are some things you should know and do. First, be prepared to get a professional head shot, given that your smiling face is much more prominent as a result of the updated look that LinkedIn rolled out in late summer.
Wayne Breitbarth, LinkedIn consultant and author of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success, reminds us that this isn't Facebook--LinkedIn is all about professionalism and credibility. It's important to stay current on your profile and give your contacts what they're looking for. Breitbarth stepped in to help with that task by providing this review of the LinkedIn profile changes and simple tips to help you stand out. Breitbarth's pointers might take only minutes to execute but will deliver a powerful impression. Here's how:

1. Put more emphasis on your profile photo.
LinkedIn is putting the focus on your face with a larger profile image. This means you had better have a photo, and it had better be good, now more than ever. Stick with a simple head shot, dressed as you would when meeting a client. People want to do business with people they like, and your photo is the first impression; make it professional and likable!

2. Take advantage of what's no longer featured.Gone are the number of recommendations and the full synopsis of your work and educational experience. And your websites are no longer prominently displayed on your profile page. This means that LinkedIn users need to take greater advantage of the other profile features to make this information more visible.

3. Work on your headline--it's more important than ever!Because the amount of information in your top box has been reduced, the remaining information is more important than ever, including your headline. The 120-character headline is one of the best spots on your profile to explain your brand. You'll want to include your most important keywords as well. Your current job title will be shown in the top box only if you have just one. However, if you have multiple current jobs, only the company names will be displayed, not your titles. In this case, consider the keywords by which you want to be found. If the job title is relevant, include it in the headline.


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With Relaunch, LinkedIn Competitor BranchOut Tries to Persuade Users to Stick Around


The first edition of BranchOut was an app that lived on Facebook and mapped friends’ jobs. Its biggest strength was adding new users, through a variety of tactics thatsometimes got spammy.
After the app reached 25 million registered users earlier this year, the company raised $25 million in venture capital (for an all-time total of $49 million, from Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Mayfield, Norwest Venture Partners, and others). At this point, of 30 million users, 3.4 million use the app on a monthly basis.
So — now what? Clearly, BranchOut has to figure out a way to be more relevant in peoples’ lives. Today, the company is relaunching itself as a standalone site for people to create a sort of living record of their professional identity.
It’s kind of like LinkedIn reimagined in the style of other modern social Web sites — with an activity stream, a Facebook Timeline equivalent for job milestones, and a Pinterest lookalike for collecting professional moments and finding inspiration.
Much of the new BranchOut, including users’ resumes, is public by default. Perhaps another way to look at it would be a more built-out version of AOL’s personal homepage maker About.me.
Users who still want the old BranchOut personal-professional networking tools can find something similar in a “Connections” tab on the new site.
The goal of the relaunch is to “capture and share professional moments that go beyond the black-and-white resume,” BranchOut CEO Rick Marini said in an interview last week.
This is a pretty dramatic change for BranchOut, whose previous Web site had simply directed visitors to its Facebook app. That old app product is now being killed. BranchOut also laid off some staff earlier this year, though Marini justified that as a switch from a sales to an engineering focus as company priorities changed.

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6 Secrets For A More Powerful LinkedIn Summary

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If you are like most LinkedIn members, your LinkedIn summary isn’t very clear or compelling.
In a recent article, I shared a step-by-step process on how to create a powerful LinkedIn headline. Here are 6 secrets for creating a powerful LinkedIn summary:
1. Start smart. Before you write your LinkedIn summary, you need to be clear on why you are using LinkedIn. Are you seeking a job in a new field? Are you happily employed but simply looking to build up your personal brand? Are you looking to strengthen your professional network? Are you looking to land new customers for your business? Chances are you probably have several goals. However, most LinkedIn users haven’t given much thought to who they are trying to impress or why they are using the site, which is why most LinkedIn summaries are not very clear or compelling. As the late, great Stephen Covey would say, “begin with the end in mind.”
2. Highlight the problems you solve. No matter why you are using LinkedIn, your summary should expand on your headline by telling the reader which problems you solve. In other words, discuss who you help and how you help them.
3. Provide evidence for your credibility. Assume that people reading your profile will be skeptical. Anyone can claim that they are a “visionary” or that they have “superior communication skills.” Highlight 3-5 of your most relevant, impressive achievements as “evidence” for your value.

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5 Creative Alternatives to LinkedIn to Showcase your CV & Skills

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Cutting through the noise of your massive competition for exciting job opportunities is a difficult task. Graduates and jobseekers know that having a LinkedIn profile is now a basic requirement of one’s job-hunt, but the contraints of a LinkedIn profile can be very limiting if you want to really show off your experience, skills and creative flair to stand out from the crowd.
We’re going to assume that as an active and creative jobseeker, you’ve already joined LinkedIn and brought your profile to 100% completeness, you’ve joined Twitter, you’ve filled out your whole education and work history on Facebook and locked everything else private down, you’re on Google Plus, you’ve joined BranchOut and BeKnown on Facebook to network with employers…
After putting yourself all over the internet, how do you really show off what you can do? Well, here are 5 alternatives to LinkedIn to showcase your creativity and perfect fit for the job:
Zerply LogoZerply.com
Zerply is a punky little site that lets you create really cool web-based CV’s and portfolios of your work, and let others find you based on your skills. You can import your portfolio of work from a range of sites, like Behance.com, Flickr, Vimeo and Soundcloud, as well as connect your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account.
To set up your funky profile, just import your LinkedIn profile and choose your theme – stand out from all that white space! By having it as an interactive online CV, recruiters can catch your CV at a glance and then press the “+” buttons beside each role and get more detailed information.
Holly Fawcett on Zerply
ResumUp LogoResumUp.com
ResumUp is a new service that’s taking the world by storm – over 9 million timelines have been created so far and they’re only in operation a year! It takes your education and work history, puts them in a timeline format, and adds other information along the side like your status (open to offers, active jobseeker etc), your salary expectations, what kind of positions you’re looking for, how mobile are you etc.
My only gripe about this is that you can’t simply upload your LinkedIn profile and let it fill everything out for you, so it can take a bit of time – but the end result looks quite cool.
ResumUp Profile Bob Smith
Pinterest Logo Pinterest
Yes, Pinterest can really be used to showcase your visual/creative skills, and it’s a great spot for you to host your work. In fact, one applicant to Pinterest’s own team used her Pinterest profile to really great effect and show off her fit to the team.
Jeanne for Pinterest

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