LinkedIn Endorsements – A Ratner Moment?

As a headhunter, I have to say I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn. It’s changed my world and it’s something I’ve learned to embrace and put close to the centre of my business. They have constantly innovated, and I am constantly impressed…..

….but the new Endorsements tool has left me very disappointed. Has LinkedIn lost its magic touch? Just perhaps…

Have LinkedIn just had a foot-in-mouth moment?…..

When they first appeared recently I have to admit I looked sideways, but I thought I should hold fire for fear of jumping to conclusions too early – I am entirely capable of that! I left all alone…I watched…I waited….I did nothing else….

Slowly people started to endorse me. People who knew me. I didn’t ask. They just started to appear. That’s OK I thought.

Meanwhile I became aware of an Endorsement Fest happening around me, encouraged by the way LinkedIn have set things ups. Whoopeeeee I can endorse 4 people, for the same skills, with one click of a button! And people started to endorse me who had no valid view if I was worth the endorsement. Immediately any potential value is stripped away.

As a headhunter, I will not take any notice of LinkedIn Endorsements. What has driven dear old LinkedIn to this develop this I can only imagine, but the ease with which it can be used removes value rather than adds it.

LinkedIn Recommendations can be taken with a pinch of salt, but the fact that the author had to put their name to them added a certain amount of authority. I could scan them to look for consistent messages, and would be more impressed by recommendations from customers than from colleagues.

I thank everybody who has been kind enough to endorse me without any encouragement on my part, but I am left with a lingering doubt about where this is going.

For the first time since I joined LinkedIn in January 2008 I am holding back. I suspect they have put too much into this to be able to take it away. Hard-earned reputations can be lost on one poor moment of judgement – just ask Gerald Ratner – I fear there’s a risk that LinkedIn have done the same, and that would be a real shame.

LinkedIn remains a great tool. I simply hope they focus on driving the value for their users, because that will drive value to them.

Written by Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

Don’t be Dumb and LinkedOut – LinkedIn announce 10m UK members

LinkedIn has just announced 10 million UK members. That’s 4 out of 5 professionals. That’s a stunning number.

I joined LinkedIn in 2008 when there were less than 1m. I could see it would be big – but never this big.

It has changed my world. How I work is so different to how I used to work.

Having LinkedIn does make it easier to find people, but it also means that engaging them is more difficult too. That’s where the modern headhunter shines.

Some headhunters desperately try to say that LinkedIn is just a side-show. They are either trying to fool you or themselves. Ignore them.

As I have said for some time now, your LinkedIn profile is now more important than your CV. If it’s not up to scratch, you’ll be missing out.

Career Management Has Changed Forever – Hard Evidence

Those of you who follow this blog will know I’ve put a good deal of energy into the changing face of career management and recruitment for the last couple of months. A lot of recruiters are still blissfully unaware of the shifting sands beneath their feet – only 48% use LinkedIn click here to see the stats (what are the 52% doing!!!).

….and LinkedIn is having a massive impact on corporate recruitment – read this Forbes article……

But it’s really noticeable when you read the impact it’s having on real people, the jobs they do, and the lives they lead….

I received an email from Sheree Winslow in California. I’ve taken some extracts:

“I found the process of job hunting this past year to be fascinating and very different from what I have experienced in the past..………..After being an executive at a large agency for many years, I decided to leave the company after it was sold………Instead of applying for jobs right away, I focused on building my LinkedIn profile thinking that would be helpful once I had made some personal decisions.

I spent a couple of weeks looking at profiles, reading job openings to find key phrases that I should use in my profile, and building my content. I also asked for recommendations and started joining groups. …………Because I was actively updating my information on LinkedIn, my connections started to reach out to me and I had a few coffees/lunches with contacts and let them know what was going on with me personally and professionally.

I began my search on August 1 and the next day I had received an email from a recruiter with the description for the job I am in now. Within a few days, I had been contacted by other recruiters and the general manager of a marketing agency. By the last week of August I had the promise of a job offer for my current employer, was in the middle stages of interviews with a Fortune 100 company, and had been offered a position at another marketing agency. All in all, I applied for about 10 jobs, interviewed for four, ruled out one, got offers from two, and pulled away from the fourth. It was the easiest and fastest job search of my career. I had hoped for a little time off between jobs but I ended up in a new job very quickly.

In the past I treated job hunting like a numbers game and literally sent out 100 resumes in order to get to initial interviews with 10 with the hope of getting one or two offers. Now, because of LinkedIn, my information is out there and prospective employers and I can touch base quickly before there is a lot of effort sunk in the application process.

All of this has made me a raving fan of LinkedIn and so now I fully embrace the tool and use it to network extensively. And I have found that it is helping me establish quick credibility with my clients because I connect with them after we first meet and they have an opportunity to view my experience and background. I’m able to sell my skills to them without having to do it in an awkward way when introduced”.

This is the best real-life example of somebody demonstrating what’s happening out there right now. Sheree had the same opportunities as everybody else, but she spotted them and did something about it. Not only has she got a new job, but she has something that validates her with new and old customers.

CANDIDATES: If you’re just armed with your CV or resume and slogging away, you’re letting others lead the way……..

COMPANIES: If you’re recruiter isn’t using (or admitting to) using social networks – dump them. They’re slow and out of touch.

Written my Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

Only 23% think CV’s/resumes more important than LinkedIn profile

I’ve been running a poll on LinkedIn. I wanted to test my assertion that career management is best managed through LinkedIn rather than by CV’s/resumes. I’ve been staggered by the results so far (the poll still has 3 weeks to close).

Of 396 votes (mainly from recruiters, headhunters and career consultants):

• 44% now believe that LinkedIn profiles and CV’s are equally important
• 16% now believe LinkedIn profiles are now more important than CV’s
• 17% aren’t sure which is most important – but they can see the ground shifting
• Leaving only 23% believing that CV’s are more important than LinkedIn profiles

This is a massive shift in thinking in a very short time.

My own belief is that the ground is moving almost daily. We’ve hit a tipping point, and the sooner candidates understand what’s happening, the better they position themselves in their career management.

You can follow the poll if you click here

You can link through to my other blogs on this subject if you click here

I’ll report on the final results.

Written by Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

The Future of Jobs – Everything changes for everyone

There are pundits predicting the future of recruitment with clarity, but in my judgement, many fail to take full account of the massive influences on the job market that are happening right now, and about to happen:

1. The internet is offering job hunters new outlets to market their skills. New CV databases proliferate, and LinkedIn, in particular, is having a massive impact on how senior executives look for, and find, work.

2. The internet is enabling the movement of work from high cost economies to low-cost where labour rates can be 10% of what’s been paid to date. Many services can be delivered over cables rather than physically.

3. The internet enables organisations to construct virtual work teams jut for the period of any project through platforms such as oDesk (https://www.odesk.com/). This reduces costs and moves costs from being virtually fixed, to infinitely variable.

NOTE: From The Economists special report on the Future of Jobs: “To understand why these changes are so exciting for some people and so scary for others, a good place to start is the oConomy section on the website of oDesk, one of several booming online marketplaces for freelance workers. In July some 250,000 firms paid some 1.3m registered contractors who ply their trade there for over 1.8m hours of work, nearly twice as many as a year earlier.”

4. Europe, in enough trouble already, has hardly noticed the emergence of the structural changes to the workplace that North America is witnessing now. The trend will grow in both regions, and have massive structural and political consequences.

5. The emerging economies will welcome these developments as it will bring more work and productivity their way. The developed economies will have a massive problem handling the fall-out.

6. The young want jobs, but the older members of the workforce are staying in work longer. This will have inevitable consequences on the costs of employment and government intervention will probably increase.

7. Those with modern niche skills in developed economies will probably earn more, as they will be able to take advantage of these changes and drive costs down and productivity up in their organisations.

8. The recruitment industry will see continued massive changes. Those that position themselves as “finders” and work with their current physical networks are likely to go to the wall. Those who concentrate on “engagement” are likely to survive, but will have to adapt as the world changes and buffets them.

9. Employers will see massive opportunities to improve productivity, but will fret over the loss of direct labour control and the consequential risk to their brands.

10. Any predictions made with any certainly over the next 5 years (save the general comment about massive disruption) will be invalidated as the landscape changes, technology develops, and governments interfere.

Large organisations will be slower to move and answer the challenges that lay ahead. Their legacy structures and costs will slow them down. Fast moving smaller organisations should benefit, as long as they find viable ways to add value to the organisations they serve, who will, in turn, be ever more aware of the possibility to save costs AND improve service delivery.

If you’re looking for a headhunter, ask yourself if they’re operating in a world as they would like it to be, or they see the world as it is – infinitely challenging, changing, and full of opportunity for those can respond to change. Watch out for the storm!

Written by Martin Ellis: martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

PROOF – Your LinkedIn profile is at least as important as your CV – The Summary

Since December I’ve been running the concept that your LinkedIn profile is more important than your CV. There are those who would argue strongly that I’m wrong, but there’s definitely a change we can see developing in the marketplace that won’t reverse.

I therefore arranged a survey of the recruitment community (survey results so far):

• 44% of respondents think that the CV/resume and LinkedIn profile are equally important.
• A further 16% think a LinkedIn profile is MORE important than the CV/resume.
• A further 17% aren’t sure, but can see that the landscape is changing.
• That’s 77% of respondents now pretty certain that a CV/resume alone isn’t the most important career management tool.
• And only 23% now see that a CV/resume is more important than a LinkedIn profile.

Only a few months ago, that result wouldn’t have been thought possible, and in 6 months time the shift to an online profile will be cemented and just another part of “obvious” career management.

This survey is still active, but the shift is now obvious and irreversible.

Written by Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

Graduates – The world of work isn’t so gloomy……

One of my services is Graduate Career Guidance – as a 56 year-old headhunter who still doesn’t know what he wants to do, I feel uniquely qualified to give a perspective that you may not hear from parents or, unfortunately, career guidance specialists (except me of course!)

RULE 1:  It’s never as black as it’s painted!

Don’t fret about making the wrong decision. It is very likely that today’s graduates will have 7 careers (not jobs, but Careers). So even if you get it wrong first time, the experience will stand you in good stead – just don’t make the same mistake twice, because the second time it was a choice!

RULE 2: Get some experience!

Take a job of any sort as soon as you can (even if it’s working in a bar while you’re learning). Learn to work with others. Learn to interact with customers. Show some willingness and enthusiasm. It goes a long way, especially on your CV. It will give you a head start.

RULE 3: Know yourself

It’s important to understand your behavioural preferences and motivations – you’re probably not quite what you parents tell you, nor what you’d like to be, so get an objective viewpoint – This will give you a better understanding of what makes you tick; the work you’re likely to suit; and your position in any teams. You can go to somebody like me, or you can get a free psychometric assessment at somewhere like http://www.personalitystyle.com/ – Look for D.I.S.C. (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance)

RULE 4: Get a CV

Get a CV. Click here for some top CV tips. Email me at martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk if you’d like me to send you a free CV format

REPEAT Rule 1: It’s never as black as it’s painted!

If this already seems daunting and it’s akin to eating an elephant, just take one bite at a time!

Rule 5: Put your profile on LinkedIn

This will be where people can find you and will start to validate you. In the longer term, I believe this will be the foundation place for career management for professionals. Go to http://www.linkedin.com/ and join 135,000,000 others from all over the planet who start their networking here.

Rule 6: Look smart

Put away those ideas you’ll spend your life in jeans. Nobody ever lost a job by turning up for the interview looking too smart!

Rule 7: Role Play the Interview

Practice answering obvious questions. You will be asked, “So tell me about yourself”, or “Tell me why we should give you this job” or “What are your ambitions?” – so rehearse the answers so they are no longer than 2 minutes without getting lost in detail – at the end of your answer you can always ask the interviewer if they want more detail.

Rule 8: It’s your interview too.

The interview is not a one way conversation. You should be ready with some good questions. Prepare them in advance. It shows you’re interested. Do your own research before and interview, and make it obvious: “When I looked on your website I noticed……..”

Rule 9: Understand your options

There are many more sorts of interesting jobs than you can imagine. You can be inspired by looking at the Jobs on LinkedIn (you’ll see a jobs tab and use the “advanced search” tools) or go to http://www.careers4u.tv/ where you can explore the world of work in all it’s amazing variety.

Rule 10 – Repeat rule 1 again!

Graduates face a very different world then their parents, or even of graduates 10 years ago. It’s a challenging and exciting place at one and the same time. Just remember, high quality people will always be in demand.

Written by Martin Ellis: martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

Your LinkedIn Profile – Careful how you tread……

I’ve recently put in much effort to promote that a candidate’s LinkedIn profile is more important than their CV. I’m going to make a subtle adjustment from my previous 2 blogs:

Dec 9th:  WARNING Candidates – Your LinkedIn profile is at least as important as your CV

Jan 29th: WARNING Candidates – Your LinkedIn profile is at least as important as your CV – PART II

I’ve been making my argument with the mindset of a headhunter, and forgetting that everybody is who is on LinkedIn is not looking for a new role. I’ve just remembered that many people are on LinkedIn to find suppliers, customers, partners and friends. Hell, even I’m not looking for a new role, LinkedIn is a central part of my marketing/sales effort!

So your profile has to work on many levels. It has to engage people. It has to reassure people. It has to have personality. It has to communicate to a very wide audience with subtle dimensions- and that’s what makes it so much more powerful than a dry old CV. So last century!

Written by Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

WARNING: Candidates – Your LinkedIn profile is at least as important as your CV – PART II

Last month I wrote that a candidate’s LinkedIn profile is more important than their CV. I’ve had lots of debate and discussion since, and, if anything, I am more convinced this is the case.

If you’re a candidate, do you realise how much you reveal about your activity on your LinkedIn profile? Recently, I also wrote to prospective employers (and recruiters) what to look for on a LinkedIn profile.

Short bursts of recent activity on LinkedIn can be seen (or assumed) by an experienced reader. Your CV can be exactly as you want it to be, but while you control your LinkedIn profile content, it also reveals more about your LinkedIn activity, which, in turn, could reveal more about you, your circumstances and your motivations, than you may wish to put on display.

If you’ve been managing your profile consistently for a while now – Good. It’s best to show consistent application than frenzy! Be careful also to look who your recommendations come from. If you have 20 and they’re all from colleagues and there’s none from customers, do something about it (unless, of course, your role doesn’t interact with customers). Also, don’t join lots of groups at once – it makes it look like you’ve just discovered them and have become something of a late and desperate convert.

Don’t panic if you know you’re behind the ball game already, but do a little every week, even if you’re not looking for a job – New prospective customers will also check you out – so make sure you look connected and relevant. My judgement is that if you’re not on board very soon, you’ll get left behind.

Written by Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk

How to read a LinkedIn profile – look beyond content alone…..

I’m still pretty sure that most prospective employers (and their HR departments!) don’t yet understand how to read a LinkedIn profile beyond the mere words. Here are some clues about what to look for. You may see much more about the person, and some of it can be very positive if you look at it properly……

1. Firstly the photo. It’s not the most important thing, but it is important. Is it well set? Are they smiling? Just ask yourself if you were them if you’d be happy with the picture they’ve used. Glum square-on photo’s might suggest a lack of self-awareness. Store that thought, and let’s see what the rest of the profile tells us….

2. The summary box and headlines should be just that. Does a long title line (which may include a phone number) suggest desperation? Not sure it does, but it may be worth storing too…..

3. Next, under “Summary” is it clear what somebody really does? Does it highlight their skills? Do you pick a clear communicator – my experience is that people can be quite lazy and the language isn’t thought through. If there’s consistency here between their profile and their CV, then the candidate earns some Brownie Points – they understand the important of alignment between the available platforms.

4. Career – tread carefully here……. The first job may be dated “To present” – No NOT take that as read. Candidates will often leave that standing so they don’t look out of work, so check! If you can, also check the dates on the profile, with the dates on the CV, but don’t get too suspicious if the dates don’t match exactly. For what may be very good reasons (not the least of which may be brevity) they may not include all the detail in both. If you get to talk to the candidate I recommend you check – it’s very rare I don’t get a good explanation – which can still be checked if you’re not sure.

5. Next, look at their “Activity” on the right hand column. Here you can see their recent LinkedIn activity. You can see, for example, if they have 50 connections in total, and if 40 of them have been made in the last week – then you may start to draw some conclusions they’d prefer you didn’t. Like “why has it taken them so long to “get” LinkedIn?”. They may also have joined lot’s of LinkedIn groups recently. Does this suggest they’re getting desperate?

6. As an aside, just below “Activity” is “Viewers of this profile also viewed…” This could be a good source of names or their connections – worth a scan!

7. Next, check their recommendations. This is one area worth dwelling on:

• Are the recommendations all very recent? If so, ask yourself what that could imply? You may even come to the conclusion that at least this candidate has the gumption to organise their recommendations – no bad thing.
• Do the recommendations have any consistent threads? If 10 people each say “John is very thorough” is quite likely that’s the case.
• Who do the recommendations come from? If it’s a sales person who has no customer recommendations, shouldn’t that be checked out?
• I’d start fretting if I have somebody with around 100 connections but no recommendations. It’s hard to have a career with that many people and not get one to say something positive about you!

8. Do they belong to lots of LinkedIn groups? Again, how sensible are these groups to their career, and what does their membership and activity in those groups tell you? Scan these and keep your brain switched on and you’ll be surprised what queries may arise. I don’t imply there’s anything too sinister here, but some of the comments you may have stored earlier may start to raise themselves again…..

9. They may have links to other websites and Twitter and Facebook accounts – check them out! Don’t feel like a spy. It’s worth checking out for consistency across all the platforms – I’d certainly expect somebody to do that to me, and I’d hope they’d be broadly impressed that they’re all aligned in some way.

The truth is, many people don’t start to do something with LinkedIn until they’re pressed by their career position. This could imply they’ve been out-of-touch and not been thinking ahead. I’d expect a senior manager to manage their own career as much as their work responsibilities, so anybody who’s playing catch-up might not be as highly considered as they’d like.

Look beyond the words on LinkedIn. Member activity will add real colour to your insight….

Written my Martin Ellis – martin@corporatehandyman.co.uk