The first real presentation for ASTD 2013 was LinkedIn Networking for Crazy Busy Professionals given by Wendy Terwelp. She did a great job talking about the importance of LinkedIn in your career and how to get more out of LinkedIn.
As Terwelp pointed out, LinkedIn is useful for building careers and selling products. Approximately 73% of recruiters successfully hired a candidate because of LinkedIn. An important lesson learned is that if you are not on LinkedIn, a recruiter cannot find you. LinkedIn shows up on page one of a Google search. It is not an option to be on social media.
- Recruiters will look at LinkedIn before looking at a resume.
- People will Google you and look at your LinkedIn profile before meeting with you.
Profiles
During the presentation, Terwelp had us make updates to our LinkedIn profiles. Before we did, she instructed us to turn off activity broadcasts before making multiple updates. Before making updates to our profile, she had us collect business cards from those around us. It was interesting that no one had a picture on their business card. Lesson learned: 97% of communication is visual. Having a current color picture on your LinkedIn profile helps with the know, like, and trust factor. People remember faces they have seen. However, not having a picture on your LinkedIn profile detracts from your credibility.
Next on the list, we reviewed and tweaked our headlines. Check out Terwelp’s headline for an example that she recommended. She advocated for including your personal email address to be used rather than your business email address… just in case you change jobs on short notice.
Terwelp had us enhance our profiles with the various LinkedIn tools such as Publications, Skills and Expertise, Certifications, etc. She recommended highlighting presentations and clips of training. Basically, you are building a portfolio. She stressed we are CEOs of ourselves. We have to manage our own brand.
Build Your Network
Terwelp moved onto networks and invitations. She stressed to only connect with individuals whom you know and trust because this is your professional network and brand. I totally agree with this advice. When sending out invitations, it is important to customize your invitation by explaining how you know the individual. Canned invitations raise suspicion and lack of sincerity.
The conversation moved to receiving invitations. Terwelp noted that you do not have to accept invitations. She advised the following when you do not recall the individual:
- Look at their profiles. Do they have value-added content? Do they have a photo?
- Look at shared groups. Are they members of shared groups?
- Look at shared connections. Do they have shared connections with you? How many?
- If you want to know more, you can call someone to find out more.
- You can also reply to the individual without accepting the invitation.
Groups
First order of business: join the ASTD National group. It is possible to join up to 50 different groups. Terwelp recommended selecting groups that focused on audiences that you wished to target and groups relevant to your clients. One of the significant benefits of groups is the ability to send messages to individuals in your group and the ability to invite them to connect.
I need to look into the interest in creating a group for the University of Wyoming Extension.
Skills Endorsements and Recommendations
Terwelp also addressed skill endorsements and recommendations. She began with skill endorsements. Skill endorsements are a new feature for LinkedIn. They have less importance than a recommendation but are nice to give if you know about an individual’s performance.
Recommendations, on the other hand, are testimonials about your performance. You should solicit recommendations from your clients, vendors, coworkers, and bosses. As trainers, you should also solicit endorsements from learners. When asking for a recommendation, ask for a specific recommendation. Let people know what you would like to be recommended for. You should not only ask for recommendations but also give recommendations. Terwelp challenged us to identify 3 people to receive recommendations from and 3 to give recommendations to.
Do one thing a day
Terwelp pointed out that it does not take much time to tend to your LinkedIn profile and contacts. You should reach out to your network regularly. Here are some recommendations:
- Endorse or recommend someone
- Invite someone to join your network
- Update your status
- Congratulate someone on their accomplishments
If you are interested in learning more, you can always check out Wendy Terwelp’s book: Rock your network.
You can reach Wendy Terwelp through several methods:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wendyterwelp
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyterwelp
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendyterwelp
- Website: http://knocks.com
As a bonus, here are some LinkedIn tools that will extend your experience.
There are LOTS of ASTD LI groups – just put ASTD in the search field and click “view more results” for Groups. There is one for most every community of practice, and many chapters have their own groups. I manage the group page for the ASTD of Greater Detroit. I highly recommend the ASTD Chapter Leaders Group if you are on your chapter’s board.
Thanks for the tip! I belong to our local group and I found them using the method you described.