Andrew is a Baby Boomer and Director at a Fortune 500 company that I was working with last week to write his LinkedIn profile when I asked him why he didn’t post on LinkedIn. He was trying to get more attention for himself while looking for a specific kind of job. He has never posted before and needed some guidance on exactly what to put out there. I turned to Hannah Morgan, a guru of job search information.
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Before becoming a job search strategist and facilitator, Morgan of Rochester New York spent time working in HR recruiting were a lot of hiring was going on. She also worked for Lee Hecht Harrison doing outplacement classes and I asked for her advice.
I asked why people don’t post and she noted three reasons:
#1 they don’t know what to post
#2 they worry it’s self-promotion
#3 they don’t realize it is important to post and share with their network
The easiest thing to do is post about your job, occupation, your company, your industry and share that with your network. If you found it on LinkedIn, then just re-share it. A good place to find articles is Twitter. Also, consider the following business newsfeeds and be the first to post big business news. You need to be fast on these within the first couple hours of when the story breaks. Mergers, Acquisitions, major new product releases. I recommend you follow the NY Times and Bloomberg. You must add a comment before you post. Pick out a key point or simply ask a question.
Why take the time to post?
When you share it shows up in the news feed of all the people that you’re connected to. This keeps you up-to-date with your group and the shares can engage others and get you on the radar of people in front of your network. It might also attract the attention of a recruiter or HR person.
One misstep to avoid does not share anything negative on social media. Always say something positive, for example, maybe your company is doing a layoff don’t post “oh my old company downsizing again.” Remember words live forever on social media so be overly cautious about what you put out there, Morgan recommends.
People using LinkedIn expect to see posts in their feed that are professional (work-related), helpful, educational, useful, and/or informative.
What to Post?
Are you looking for ideas for what to post on LinkedIn? Morgan offered 16 different types of status updates you can adapt and use.
1. Ask a question. Start a conversation about something in your field or industry or ask for advice. You want to get comments to your questions as this keeps the post live in other people’s feed.
2. Use hashtags. If you want to make sure that people notice the content of what you’re posting, just use hashtags. You can use up to three. so if you are writing about the company say for example your writing about T-Mobile you would do #TMobile or if you’re writing about your industry you would do #finance as this allows your information to get more attention and possibly a recruiter might be looking for it.
3. Share a Video. You may not feel comfortable on camera, but you can share a video that educates or inspires.
4. Add Photos. Starting a new job? Did you participate in a group event? Post it and tag people or companies. If there is a hashtag for an event, be sure to use it!
5. Add Documents. Seeing a certificate adds to the authenticity of this achievement.
6. Share Stats. People love statistics. Either create stats from an article or share data other people have shared.
7. Share A Colleague’s Work. When you see a colleague sharing great content, mentioned in the news or an article they’ve written, re-share their work! And be sure to tag them!
8. Give a Shoutout To A Colleague. Say congratulations on that new promotion or accomplishment and tag the person!
9. Get recommendations and advice. Ask your network for tips, tools or resources and this becomes not only a valuable post for you but also a great resource for others.
10. Share an Interesting Article. Sharing articles relevant to your industry or career helps people know where their interests lie. But, don’t just share it- add your logic, reasoning or two-cents! Tag the person who wrote it and add hashtags. A best practice is to add your thoughts/comments/questions to the introduction of the post so your network gets a better sense of why you are sharing the article. Your LinkedIn feed shows content from your network, your shares, likes, and posts, companies you follow, and other content LinkedIn thinks you may be interested in. If you are following Influencers, companies or news topics on LinkedIn, you easily have access to lots of information to share. Just scroll through your home feed and look for an interesting article. (Remember, on LinkedIn people prefer to see updates on industry and company news or tips to make them better at their jobs.)
11. Share Company News. If your employer posts something great, re-share it and add your own words upfront. Add an explanation. If you want to get on a company’s radar, re-sharing an article about them and tagging them is likely to get you noticed.
12. Share Industry News. Every industry experiences change- finance, tech, retail, professional services…and sharing news with your network helps keep everyone up to date!
13. Invite People To An Event. If you are attending an event, why not share the event details on LinkedIn.
14. Share Tools or Resources. Top list of tools, courses, etc. You can either create your own, crowdsource a list or share someone else’s list. People like these because they are helpful!
15. Share Job Listings. You never know who may be looking for a new job. So if you find an interesting job or your company has an opening, share on LinkedIn. (Use hashtags to help people find it on LinkedIn.
16. Self Promotional for a Job Search. You only get one of these posts, so make it count. Be specific, talk about the types of roles you are interested in, the value you add and your desired cities.
17. Celebrate Your Achievement. When you receive an award, certification, degree, promotion or some other milestone, you can and should draw attention to it!
Job hunter’s success tip: Posting just one update a day will increase the number of people looking at your LinkedIn profile by 62%.
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