Here are some basic things to consider when using a photo on Linkedin:
1. It is not optional. Weird ideas fill a void. If you don't have a photo, then viewers of your profile will use their imaginations to create their own image of you. Leaving people to their imaginations usually is not in your favor. You will inevitably disappoint in person.
2. About disappointing in person, use a realistic image of you that is relatively current. Over ten years? Hair dyed a new color or fell out?  Gained or lost 40 pounds? It is time for a new photo as you will most definitely shock in an in-person meeting. This is definitely a "what you see is what you get" situation.
3. Dress appropriately for the audience and the business demographic you are targeting. If you are looking for business or a job in tech then dressing in a formal dark suit and red silk tie might be off-putting when the business dress code for the company is yoga pants, jeans, and hemp shirts. This is probably the most important tip as to how you are dressed creates a first impression that is hard to erase. Plus, take off your tint-adjusting glasses when outdoors.
4. The setting and pose is a question of relevance. If you are in law enforcement, outdoor sports, or any risky business then a skydiving shot of you at 9,000' might be a great pose . In chartered accounting, banking, brain surgery, maybe not so much. Same could be said for the really cute pose taken at Burning Man or Coachella. Keep your personal life off Linkedin.
5. Look forward at the viewer or towards the center of the screen. This is crucially important now that Linkedin has moved photos to the left side of the screen as you view it. If your body and head are facing out to the left as well, the portrait image creates an unconscious psychological dissonance with the rest of the layout.
6. In the same vein, the background color and view can add or detract. An all white background ranks higher than the ubiquitous corporate photo gray or worse Hollywood black. White is young, edgy and won't fight with your Linkedin background banner that hopefully, you have customized (a topic of another article).
7. Finally, look happy...not cool, inviting, engaging, business-like, professional, or a leader (whatever that is),  Just be happy when the shutter snaps. Happiness is contagious and welcoming to everyone. 

​Trust in the portrait-making process,and hire a professional photographer, not your wife or partner. Pick a decent background and outfit. Don't worry, be happy..

Sometimes it seems nigh impossible to move the dial on an established, but obsolete, traditions like applying to a job posting and spreading your resume all over the Internet to find a job. The article below confirms this with statistics.

It doesn't matter that more management and executive level professionals get hired through their networks than through job postings annually.  That executive search consultants account for less than 10% of the executive positions placed annually in the USA.

It doesn't matter that even before anyone sees your resume, they will see your social profile first. And, even if they get your resume first, they will look you up on Linkedin and search you out on Google to get tmore depth about you. And when they find something they don't like online, more than 50% of the recruiters surveyed say they drop you from their candidate list.

People persist in using their resumes to apply to job postings.  Why? Because it has always been done that way and because when it comes down to the actual interview, HR wants some kind of document to provide to hiring managers for reference. 

When will the transition to social profiles and personal websites take hold? If Linkedin has anything to say about it, it will be sooner not later.  

LinkedIn survey details 'new norms at work'
Matt Kapko May 8, 2015 
 
A new survey of 15,000 LinkedIn users with fulltime jobs, 1,000 of which reside in the United States, draws some interesting conclusions while also reinforcing common perceptions about the "new norms" within the modern U.S. workplace. 

More than a quarter (26.6 percent) of the people from the United States who were surveyed said it's important to maintain separate social media profiles for work and personal. One in five U.S. respondents (20.5 percent) said they make initial impressions based on a person's online profile picture. And one in 10 respondents said they worry about what their colleagues may think of them based on content they shared on social networks that may not seem professional, according to the survey, which was conducted by Censuswide for LinkedIn during the first week of April.

Catherine Fisher, LinkedIn's career expert, says the findings stress the fact that people need to be mindful of how they portray themselves on social media. 

The U.S. responses also highlight notable difference between women and men in the workforce. Almost a third (30.9 percent) of women respondents said they are friends with colleagues on non-professional social networks, while only 16 percent of men said the same. Nearly a third of the women (32.5 percent) feel as though they're judged by what they wear to work, and more than a quarter (26.8 percent) said they believe men have it easier when it comes to the threads they don at work. And more than four in 10 women (41.6 percent) said they tend to dress up more when they have meetings during the day, while only 25.5 percent of the men step up their dress for meetings.

Work experience, education and volunteer history are the three top factors U.S. users weigh to gauge a colleague's LinkedIn profile, according to the survey.

More than one in five (21 percent) of those surveyed from the Unites States said it's more appropriate to self-promote now on social media than in years past. Almost 13 percent said they feel more comfortable sharing their opinions on industry matters via social networks, and nearly 9 percent think doing so is a great way to raise their professional profiles. 
 
Perhaps most surprising of all is that only 12.8 percent of U.S. respondents think a good LinkedIn profile is just as important as a good resume.

What the article does not emphasie is that we the participants deliver the media with comments.


What Facebook Will Look Like by 2024
by Todd Wasserman, Mashable.com

Online empires come and go. At one time, Alta Vista was the top search engine and Netscape was the only web browser. Both are now gone. Will the same happen to Facebook?

It's unlikely the company could completely exit the stage. However, the Facebook of 2024 will look very different from today's version. Primarily, the company will continue to morph from a social network to a more traditional media company.
read full article here

Start thinking about how you can transform your boring white papers into image-driven 200+ slide decks. Not many people are priinting out documents to read today when it is far quicker and easier to graze the information on your tablet or smart phone.  Hence, the movement towards succinct delivery of information with images.

Start  rethinking your next boring 3 bullet powerpoint slide presentation. Re work it into a smal visual ebook instead.

Or would you rather read  formatted as an article?
Note each sentence is a slide so instead of a short article you get to zip through a fun and interesting 70 slide deck.

Launching a Career Comback, Linkedin Blog Post
How to Rock the Perfect LinkedIn Profile from LinkedIn
Matt Henshaw June 11, 2014  

Hello, I’m Matt Henshaw and (like the beautiful Slideshare above shows) I launched a successful career comeback.

What does that actually mean? Well, a little while ago, I realised I was doing a job that was not my dream. So I decided to make a change and follow my dream – to become a singer-songwriter and self-sufficient working musician, like I said, my very own career comeback. Here’s my story and how LinkedIn played a part in it.

From my time at school to the end of 2008, I was in a band called Censored. What started as a few lads from Nottingham messing about soon became serious.

It was a great time – we were even supporting our music heroes, bands like Supergrass and Ocean Colour Scene. And hanging out with the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs and the Arctic Monkeys – what could possibly go wrong?

I suppose I never really thought about the future and without any real guidance, we took on too much and spread ourselves too thin. I got burnt out and had to cancel gigs and festivals. Sometimes when you lose momentum, you don’t find it again.

I was in touching distance of my dream career – then it was suddenly over.

Skip to 2012, I was working as a Computer Science Sustainability Research Assistant – try saying that with your mouth full! It was OK, it paid the bills but it wasn’t my dream.

Then I went to watch some music gigs for the first time in a long time. The Stone Roses had reformed and Jack White was playing solo shows with all the joy and freedom that goes with it. And that’s when it hit me – I’m one of these people, I’m a musician, that’s MY dream! I had to get back in. But the music landscape had changed since 2008. And it hadn’t exactly gone well last time.

That’s where LinkedIn came in. I thought if this can work for office stuff why not music as well? I wanted to showcase my passion, my personality and make sure people took me seriously as a professional – not just another lad with a guitar.

After updating my profile, I soon found endorsements rolling in from my old network backing my music skills.  It was a massive confidence boost.  Then I found people started coming to me! For gigs, festivals and just putting stuff together in the recording studio.  My profile was like a magnet – all because I had added a bit more detail.

I now have a gig at the Camden Roundhouse and the Elevator Music Festival.

You may be thinking “good for him but I don’t want to be a musician”. Well, that’s not my point.

Whether you’re a musician, a lawyer, a scientist or an accountant you can always do better. LinkedIn is for anyone with ambition. It’s not going to magically make things happen for you, but if you want to follow your dream then investing in your profile and having LinkedIn in your corner can only help. LinkedIn played its part for me and it can for you.

What’s your dream?

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

PS. If you like my Slideshare, why not share it on 

The article goes into the details if you are interested. I would think this confirms what everybody knows already.

Rarely do I promote an event especially to global readers. But, this one is cool and will be recorded to watch later from wherever. The news is that companies are going to hire you now based on comprehensive set of data points gathered about you online that are nowhere to be found on your resume.

Forget transferable skills, folks. This is far more comprehensive, intrusive and penetrating into your personality/style, mannerisms, predictable behaviors, competencies/abilities, and unstated accomplishments. None of these are even touched on your resume but they are online.

What if they knew the articles and quotes you shared on social sites? What if they could scrutinize the people you interact with all over the Internet? What impact would that have on how you present yourself for employment opportunities.. 

The solution? Manage your message and your privacy settings. They will be searching for the most recent information on you.My guess is less than a year and two years max. Start now and build a brand/marketing image/ reputation online that delivers the message you want them read.

Algorithm Alchemy: Turning Talent Search into Gold
Thursday, June 19, 2014
LOCATION:
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Knight Management Ctr - Cemex Auditorium, Zambrano Hall
641 Knight Way, Stanford, CA
(Parking and Directions) 
6:00 pm – Registration, Networking Reception & Demos
7:00 pm – Panel Discussion (Q&A) 

Startups are turning the tables on recruiting  with targeted prospecting algorithms.  Applicant search is transformed intoprecise talent-matching through the collection and curation of data from numerous sources. The new platforms level the playing field, reshaping the interaction between job seekers, recruiters, and hiring managers. 

There is a new gold rush in the global talent acquisition market! According to Bersin by Deloitte, the global talent acquisition market is now worth over $150B annually. While online job boards and aggregators continue to hold the largest slice of the pie, new entrants are poised to take away significant market share.

Join us on Thursday, June 19th to find out how today’s alchemists are exploring new frontiers in the job market, disrupting an industry that has become inefficient and unwieldy:

• Will resumes and cover letters become obsolete?
• Do the new tools threaten the work of today’s recruiters or augment their value?
• Will behavioral assessment tools shift the perception of who is considered the most qualified candidate?
• Will new marketplaces replace online job postings in an era of powerful employment matchmaking?

   Panelists:Dan Shapero, Vice President of Talent Solutions, Linkedin
Alex Dévé, Founder and CEO, Whitetruffle
Sheeroy Desai, Co-founder and CEO, Gild
Steve Krausz, General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners
  
Demo Companies:
Readyforce | Venturocket | Whitetruffle

** More panelists and demo companies to be announced soon.  Please continue to check back. 

** Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABtalent

I have been preaching from this hymnal for so long now. All my clients have not just robust social profiles but websites, iPad profiles, and blogs. Every profile and site is well curated and managed  for image and reputation.  Soon everyone will wake up to this and forget to angst over their resumes which nobody really sees in comparison.

Why would you worry about your employer seeing you? They are online touting themselves too. Linkedin is even encouraging high school students to join them now.
~~~~~~~~~~~

Your Web Presence Will Soon Be More Valuable Than Your Credit Rating
by Philip Brewer on 5 February 2014
reprinted with links from www.wisebread.com

When employers first started looking up their potential new hires on social media sites, recent grads started deleting whole Facebook accounts. That was better than having a fully documented history of bad behavior, but in the near future people are going to have to do a lot better. A blank social media history is going to be a bad social media history. (See also: 9 LinkedIn Changes You Should Make)

The whole situation is directly analogous to credit ratings. Time was, a lot of people didn't even have a credit history — back when credit cards were a way to borrow money, rather than a mechanism for making payments. Plenty of people were proud that they'd never had to borrow money — figured it showed that they were responsible money managers. And often those same folks were terribly surprised when it turned out that having no credit history made it tough when they did want to borrow, such as to get a mortgage.

The reason was simple: lenders wanted to see a demonstrated capability to make monthly payments on time, and people who had never borrowed money didn't have a history that showed that. (See also: How to Build Credit From Scratch)

Very soon, having no online presence is going to be worrisome in just the same way. It's going to either mean that you're a complete nobody — or more likely, that your past behavior was so bad you couldn't clean things up by just deleting a few unwise posts.

Building a Good Web FootprintThere used to be a lot of articles on how to build a good credit history. (The advice usually boiled down to: borrow a little money, make the payments on time, make the last payment a little early.)

Now it's time for some similar articles on how to build a good web presence. We don't yet know what's going to be most important, but here are some ideas on how to get started.

Be GradualYour web footprint should be built gradually, with posts spread out over time. Don't imagine that you can fake up a whole web history in a day, or even a few weeks. (For one thing, too many of the posts have hard-to-fake timestamps. But even aside from that, it's just hard to make up anything that has the richness of a real person's life, except by documenting it day-by-day.)

Be NormalYour web footprint should make you look like an ordinary person, with various interests and a reasonable number of friends. A nice mix of posts — some quotidian updates liberally laced with quirky vacation stories, some links to interesting articles, photos with friends and with family, likes of local businesses — is going to look much better than two hundred posts all on the same topic (even if the topic is relevant to the job you're trying to get).

Be ConnectedYour web footprint should make you look engaged. In addition to your own content, you should like and share other people's content — and you should have content that other people like and share. Don't look like you think you're above everyone else; don't look like nobody likes you. (See also: Why You Should Cultivate Relationships)

Be HonorableYour web footprint should make you look unique and quirky — but like a good person. Don't have posts that make you look cruel or abusive. It's fine to have some stories about misadventures, but don't make yourself out to be stupid or incompetent. (Especially, don't make yourself out to be a criminal or a drunk.)

Be DistributedYour web footprint shouldn't all be one place. Right now, probably the most important web presence to have is on Facebook, followed by Twitter, and then Google+. But there are dozens of other places where it's worth being engaged: Reddit, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Delicious, StumbleUpon, your own blog, etc. There's no telling what the next big thing will be. Fortunately, there's no need to be on the next big thing. Just make sure your whole web presence isn't all on one site — a lot of sites are going to disappear (or worse, become a joke for the people who have moved on to the next big thing).

A Web Presence Is Cheaper Than an InterviewThe first time I was interviewed for a job, I was surprised at how little time was spent talking about my qualifications, and how much time was spent just talking. Only years later — after I started doing interviews myself — did I come to understand. By the time you get to the interview stage, the employer has already decided that you have the skills to do the work. In the interview, they're trying to figure out if you'll fit in. They want to make sure that you're not a jerk or a flake. But interviews are expensive — and however limited the picture of someone that you'll get from their web presence, it's often enough to spot the jerks and the flakes. (See also: 13 Ways to Make a Good Impression at Your Job Interview)

If your web footprint makes you look like a jerk or a flake, interviews are going to be few and far between. But if your web footprint is so sparse that someone taking a good look at it comes away without any strong sense of the sort of person you are, there's every reason to fear that you won't get the benefit of the doubt. They'll just look at the next guy, and the guy after that. Soon enough they'll find someone with enough of a web presence that they feel like they've got a sense of the guy. That's the applicant they'll call in for an interview.

Make sure your web footprint doesn't make you look like a jerk or a flake — and make sure it's dense enough that it looks real, and not like the creation of a few days of trying to fake something up (or a lifetime of bad behavior with all the bad posts hidden).

Beyond the Job SearchYour web presence already matters in your job search, but soon it's going to matter for everything. Lots of interactions are already heavily reliant on social media reputation — dating (especially online dating, but also real-life dating), doing freelance work, selling second-hand goods, and so on. Credit scoring won't be far behind, and probably getting insurance as well.

Time to get ready for it.

Are you actively maintaining your online reputation? Has your online persona helped or hurt you?

full article here

I woke up and logged into my phone to read the trending news on Flipboard :

Flipboard is your personal magazine, filled with the things you care about. Catch up on the news, discover amazing things from around the world, or stay connected to the people closest to you--all in one place.

I next click on the news headlines from Yahoo News. Then I check out the weather.com box to see the beach weather and surf advisory. Finally I check the text messages from family. The information is all condensed, succinct and exactly what I want to read. Why? I pick the weather location, choose and curate by topic the magazines, and the news publications that I want to see. Well I don't pick my family.

Then I go to Linkedin.com. I spend a lot of time there helping my clients build jaw-dropping profiles (just kidding, really, how much can you do with an inflexible template?).

I actually help them quickly build out their networks to number in the thousands not the hundreds, decide on the best skills to list for endorsement, the most strategic groups to join, and the optimum wording for the over-structured profile template.

While on Linkedin I go to my home page and there, chosen by Linkedin, are articles they have curated for me (they call it recommended). Why are they there?  They did their algorithms on me and assume that's what I want to read based on my job and work experience.  But, I don't want to read about my business. I know my business. I am an expert in my business. I want to read other news.

I want to choose what I want to read! Search engines, social sites can do their algorithms and then use it to display ads to me and suggest topics they think I want to click on in the sidebar. But they cannot present me with totally curated pages of content they have decided I should read.  I will leave as they aren't the only game in town.

You can't do that on Linkedin.com they have a captive audience who have to follow their rules if they want to benefit from their service. Their rules have always been crystallized into precise, demanding structure that has worked for Linkedin from day one, but not necessarily for the user.

They have been dogmatic and domineering about what kind of profile to fill out and how much information to provide. They demand dates, locations, chronology, and detailed structure. Why? Because then they can better slice, dice, and aggregate the information to sell it to recruiters and hiring entities who have been their main source of income.

But now they are moving to a content model to become the one-stop business portal for all their members. True to form, they have decided what you will read and curated the content for you. Oh sure you can pick from their selected list of "influencers" but then that's all that they display to you. The image with this post is my Linkedin Home page today.  None of it interests me.

The updates that my 7000+ connections post are far more interesting and that's what I read. Just like you are reading this. And my updates to Linkedin come from, ironically, my curated boards on Flipboard
or my blog posts.

Will somebody tell Linkedin that their members would be stickier on their site if allowed to curate and share the content they choose and not what's chosen for them? And that people would work harder to build great profiles if they had more options, flexibility and control over them?

I have wondered by people don't use Linkedin requests more than they do. They don't know how to do it in a way that generates a response.

A Linkedin request was the original function of Linkedin to get people who were separated by degree to connect and exchange value with each other through intermediary introductions.

However, most people have turned to the Groups function to find opportunities and people to open doors for them. And that works until you need to get to someone not in a group who is integral to an opportunity or business deal you want to consummate or explore. Then you must turn to the original way of reaching out to someone through the requests system. They are not easy to do successfully unless you are in sales and coming up with a pitch is your second nature.

You have to give the intermediary a good reason why they dhould pass on the request even if you know them well. Why? Because the recipient of the request will be seeing what you write to the intermediary. The messages have to seam together with a congruent and compelling thread that incites the recipient to accept your request. It is not easy. People are busy and they don't want to be bothered.

Read the suggestions for contacting him that the Linkedin founder Reid Hoffman writes in his profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman. 

Advice for Contacting Reid: Unfortunately, I'm extremely busy.

First: if you have an interest in getting my attention for an investment, working at Linkedin, a business development deal (for Linkedin or another portfolio company), then I *highly* recommend that you get an introduction to me. I am almost certainly not going to engage without a reference/introduction.

Second: I am generally not available for new projects. If it’s a new project, you must have a great introduction. Otherwise, I generally recommend you indicate who you would like to be connected with at one of my organizations to proceed.

Third: sadly, because I’m busy, if your communication to me is just a generic “ask” of me, I’m very likely just to decline it. Nevertheless, I wish you the best success if your project is a good improvement in the world.

A generic "ask" is the kiss of death for any request especially if it self-interested. When making a Linkedin Request, especially job opportunity related, the more important the person is in the scheme of things the better the story you have to make to get a piece of their time. This is not about you and what the recipient of the request can do for you, but rather what you can do for them.

There are two different messages to write and both will be read by the intended recipient of the request. Here is what to write:

1. The message to the intended recipient of the request: tell him the story of the product, why he wants it, and what problem it solves for him. See Reid's points above.
   
2. The message to the intermediary who will pass on your request:  tell me how cool the company/product/service etc is and how excited you are about it and allude to ideas/questions you have for the recipient.
   

This is essentially an abbreviated elevator pitch and your Linkedin summary should echo the messaging delivery and style as it is a full-blown elevator pitch about you.  The better you get at this kind of deliver, the more improved will be your networking and interviewing results as well. Too often we rely on the kindness of contacts who make introductions that go nowhere when we follow up and tell an uncompelling story.

This is probably the most useful networking tool Linkedin has launched since Groups. I always thought Answers, and Polls were for people who needed more to do, but Linkedin Alumni has some merit. I can look at my school and see where people work who graduated from there. The catch is I see 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree connections but nobody out of my network. Given I have 7000+ linkedin connections the reach this tool has can be very helpful. However, those with less than 500 connections will find themselves at a disadvantage. That will be hard on new grads and current students. Time will tell to see who uses it.
 
Start Mapping Your Career With LinkedIn Alumni
Christina Allen, January 30, 2013

Whether you’re a current college student, a prospective student, or a recent graduate, you know that your educational choices – where you go to school and what you study – have a big impact on your future career. Gathered from the profiles of more than 200 million members, LinkedIn’s Alumni tool helps you explore alumni career paths from more than 22,000 colleges and universities worldwide – and build relationships that can help you along the way

Check out www.linkedin.com/alumni. Explore your own school or any other (using the “change schools” button) to see where graduates live, the organizations they work for, andthe types of jobs they pursue. You can also change the dates to track careers of specific graduating classes.

And we just added some new features: You can now explore alumni careers based on what they studied, their top skills, and how you are connected on LinkedIn. All the graphs are interactive, just click on the bars to drill down to the specific careers most interesting to you.
Read more

Yes Linkedin has a new layout and we all still look the same, but prettier. However, since recruiters are paying $8000 USD annually to find us, let's do what we can to help them. In fact let's make it easy on them.

Here are 5 simple and quick things to implement that will put you in a recruiter's headlights. It will wildly improve your visibility to recruiters on Linkedin. But before you go crazy, on Linkedin go up under your name and click on Settings in the drop down menu to close down all you visibility. You really do not want Linkedin to announce to the whole world every time you join a group or add a contact. Yes, you have to set your privacy as the default is total public nakedness on Linkedin...not good.

1. Join 50 groups and, if you can find them, 50 subgroups and follow 50 companies that you would like to work for. This will get your profile out there more. Recruiters do key word searches in the search box on group member pages.
   
2. Fill in all the basic profile blanks: Summary, experience, schooling, interests, awards, contact information and personal, languages. Leave no category not filled in with some kind of information about you.
   
3. Add the Projects section and use accomplishments from your resume work experience as projects. This will increase a recruiter's key word search potential on your strengths. Don't write all those bullets in the Experience section, rather break them out and elaborate on them as Projects. That way you can make dated experience look fresh and put a more detailed description on your accomplishments without endless bullets.
   
4. Add the Skill section and list LOTS of skills: functional skills, technical skills, languages, methodologies, tools, people skills, data skills. List everything that would be of value in your next position and next employer. The Skill section is setup to provide key word searches forrecruiters. You see 88% of the people on Linkedin are really terrible at filing in and writing a compelling, complete profile on Linkedin. Even if the  recruiters wanted to hire them they can't be found because of lack of key words, or even any words sometimes. Linkedin nudges every one into creating skill lists a.k.a key words by urging everybody to endorse everybody else. Endorsing people's skills is officially now the next cool thing to do on Linkedin and it is easier that getting recommendations written.
   
5. Connect to all the recruiters you come across...100's of them if you can pull that off. Find them in those 50 groups you joined. Use the search term "recruitment" on the group's member page. Just go down the list and invite them to connect. They will NEVER turn you down. I had a client go from 50 connections to over the magic 500 in one month. He instantly looked well-networked. Since nobody saw his connections, they didn't know it was 500+ recruiter connections. 
   

These 5 tasks will not take long and the rewards you will reap will be astonishing. Linkedin is really a numbers game to be seen and found. My client who connected to over 500 recruiters on 3 continents in less than a month ended up with 2 interviews. He is at the top executive level so those searches are not plentiful. He got a good return on his investment. Further, every time he posts a blog that highlights his expertise, it goes to his Linkedin updates. His LInkedin updates remind all his recruiter-connections continually of his talents and availability. This is a virtuous circle of creating a reputation and having it be seen on

If you want help in building out the content to make your Linkedin Profile really shine, contact me at [email protected]

TalentBin Takes On LinkedIn By Targeting Recruiters
By David Zax | January 14, 2013
.....That’s because TalentBin doesn’t compete with the services LinkedIn offers to the average user. Rather, TalentBin competes with the behind-the-scenes services LinkedIn offers a very specific, and lucrative, segment: recruiters.

You may not have known this, but LinkedIn makes the majority of its revenue by serving recruiters who want to scoop up talent for their companies. In the third quarter of 2012, fully 55% of the company’s revenue came from what LinkedIn calls “Talent Solutions.” (Premium subscriptions, by contrast, only make up 20% of revenue.) LinkedIn largely achieves this by digesting resumes into what Kazanjy calls “this master database that recruiters pay a pretty penny to essentially get God rights to.”

TalentBin digests data from ... many others. For hackers, it stalks sites like GitHub or StackOverflow; for designers, it scans the likes of Dribble and Behance. It even trolls the U.S. Patent Database, looking for inventive types. Most recently, says Kazanjy, the team “indexed the entirety of the PubMed Life Sciences Publication Directory,” some 20 million articles, to glean information about talented medical researchers and their interests. “It starts to show this approach doesn’t just work with software engineers,” he says. “It also works with physicians, researchers, biotech people, and so forth.” That project was just completed in December.

Gradually, TalentBin has built a “search engine for people,” as Kazanjy puts it, one which he charges $6,000 per year for the privilege of accessing (undercutting LinkedIn’s reported price tag, which can climb to $8,000).
Read more

While TalentBin may nibble at the edges of Linkedin to do specific, niche searches for gurus in the esoteric fields, Linkedin is a runaway train for talent search. The reason is that recruiters for less esoteric positions like the interactive search of Linkedin. They like being chased by candidates who may turn out to be a good fit for something. Recruiters like developing a "presence" online and a following. That makes future, non-esoteric, searches easier and quicker.

One of my executive clients literally went from 50 to 600 connections in less than a month by sending invites to recruiters in all of the 50 groups he had joined on Linkedin. Recruiters never turn down your offer to connect. We pushed him past the magic 500 number and made him look well-connected virtually overnight. Once he was over 500 then professionals he did not know more readily accepted his invitations to connect as they perceived him as a valuable networking contact.

People like communities, even recruiters, which explains why Linkedin groups, even with all their spam, are so popular. The only recruiting category killer lurking on the horizon is Facebook. And it's method for data capture has to be improved to give Linkedin a run for its money.

Who said you can never be too thin or too rich or have too many diamonds? The whole goal of personal branding is not to limit your exposure online but to expand and control it. Linkedin, other social networks, a personal website are not either or choices. This is not a zero sum game. 

Self-marketing online (and where else is it nowadays?) is best done by delivering your message using as many platforms, tools and devices as possible. This also includes a "Presume" on Sliderocket.com and a personal Prezi presentation too. Then link them altogether. 

How weird would it be if Coca Cola used only billboards for advertising and not TV, online and magazines? Same goes for us.

When someone puts your name in google search...not only Linkedin should come up but a whole plethora of branded links about you that you own and control: website, blogs, etc.

But, like everything else online, websites are now commodities and therefore cheap, if not free.  You can build your own with little talent for design and no money and still have a passable result. I will be better than Linkedin because it is uniquely you. A personal website enables us to truly express our uniqueness compared to template-driven social sites. They all have different purposes. Linkedin and other social sites are first and foremost  connectors rather than a branding instrument. 

There are several cloud services for websites where the building and hosting is free as well is the maintenance. Try www.weebly.com . I build all my client's sites there...since 2009 almost 80. My own business and personal websites and blogs are on Weebly: www.pattiwilson.com, www.pattiwilson.net, www.santacruzcalifornia.us, www.joyousdancer.com, 

I don't think it matters in a Google search which site is point as people (especially search consultants) are curious enough to look at everything. When I sign my name in an email, I list my title, company, Linkedin, SKYPE, website URLs, my phone number. People usually copy all of it for their Outlook files or whatever. 

The web is moving towards image driven content and curated content. How better to provide both images and curated content of ourselves than a website? Although I do have my business on Pinterest too.

in addition... 
www.about.me is an online business card that will link and point to all other sites online where your profile and dossier exists. If you can only put one link under your name in an email, then use that site. It is free. The only competitor that I know of to about.me is www.flavors.com . You can do both. About.me is one page and they will provide you will a print business card that matches your about.me profile too.

Send me an email if you want to see a rainforest research science project website that a 9 year old built by herself using Weebly or some of the sites I have done. [email protected]

How long is long? Is the perception of length different in a print document vs an online page? What is the big deal about a one or two page resume when your Linkedin profile, if printed, can run upwards of five pages?

Why are you still worried about having a short, tight, brief, truncated, abbreviated resume to not tax the time and mental agility of a recruiter?

They, meaning search firms, contract recruiters, hiring managers and HR dedicate considerable time and energy to comb and cull through LInkedin profiles looking for the perfect candidate. In fact they pay $8000+ for a seat license to so do.

They read through the recommendations, the summary, each job description, skills lists, projects, honors/awards, interests, education, group membership, certifications, languages,  lists of connections, and, of course, the updates.

Why is there still such archaic rules around resumes? Resumes are held to different standards than an online social profile because the hiring powers, especially the search firms, still see a resume as a page or pages printed on paper.

They have this unique twist of mind that can rationalize the fact that a resume lives entirely a digital life except for a brief appearance on paper during the interview. They still see a resume's online state as temporary because they do print it out when they bring in a candidate. It is this historical, traditional, head-in-sand viewpoint.

It is pretty ridiculous to say a resume has to be short since people are being hired every day on the basis of their very long and detailed Linkedin profiles that are referred to and viewed on a tablet or laptop screen during the interview. Ironically, your resume is stored in the clouds or on a server database for further reference, key word searches, and archive records. Its life in print is very temporary indeed.

What do you do? Make your Linkedin profile as robust and informed as possible? Maybe with great care as it is very public given the networking nature of Linkedin. It matters that you fill out most categories fully and with captivating information. But, that information should be designed to elicit further contact with you, not as data to screen you out. 

The important idea to keep in mind is that both your resume and Linkedin profile exist for one purpose to attract positive attention that results in you being contacted for an opportunity that would be of interest to you. They both, to that end, should be as long as it takes.

You do the math: 150 thought leaders is far less than 1% of its 175 million members. 

LinkedIn Rolls Out Redesigned Profiles, 'Thought Leader' Feature
By Damon Poeter
October 16, 2012 
PCMagazine 
LinkedIn also introduced a new feature for users with the redesign--the ability to follow 150 of "the world's most respected thought leaders" (pictured above). The company called the addition of a "follow" mechanism, which allows users to keep up with this select group of individuals, "a natural extension" of existing tools for following companies and news feeds, but said it had no current plans to monetize the new feature.
Read more

Linkedin has decided for us who these people are. They will be expanding the list and add people who are experts in their field. You can apply at http://partner.linkedin.com/influencer/

Linkedin is doing a one-off from the Google+ style of posts where we can freely put anybody in our circles and follow them and comment on their posts. Linkedin has artificially set-up 150 follows with the same intention. But, how can millions of us get any kind of visibility with a Thought Leader to have a conversation?

There has always been a huge culture difference between Linkedin and Google+. Linkedin is very template-driven, structured and rule bound while Google offers the, "I'm feeling lucky" feature for  search. Google Circles and Follows have grown organically from the bottom up while Linkedin Thought Leader Follows are obviously trickling down.

What do you think of the Linkedin Thought Leader Follows? Do you have a problem with being provided a highly controlled and limited list of chosen elites?

Follow me on Google+ 

I came to appreciate the hidden value of SKYPE as the sum total of all its features: screen sharing, file transfer, conference calls, revamped dial pad, address book management, group video calling  

As my business has grown globally, SKYPE has become a low cost/free option when making calls to remote (from the USA) areas like Vietnam.  

I have gone through numerous GoToMeeting, and other screen sharing websites,paying exorbitant money with my clients struggling to log in and hear me. I came to rely on the file sharing and screen sharing features. When talking to potential and current clients, I could share my screen and show them real time examples and resources as we talked. 

SKYPE's file sharing and IM features quickly transferred data during and in between conversations while keeping a history of all exchanges. Each client contact's profile became a centralized place to maintain a history of what data has been exchanged and content shared and when.   Adding on apps enables me to record video and audio calls as well.

Certainly that all adds up to a client tracking and management system and I have come to rely on it for all my clients not just those off shore. But what is the most interesting is how much more accessible it is to be able to drop a random IM message in somebody's chat box while in SKYPE to engage with someone else. 

It makes keep up and staying in touch a whole lot easier because it keeps of history of what you sent and said most recently. I don't know about you but I can't keep the onslaught of data coming at me in short-term memory anymore.

 

Business Insider has 23 examples of cool resumes using Instagram, the image-based website that Facebook just bought for $1 billion. They said in their intro:

It seems like a boring black and white resume won't get you very far anymore. Inspired by 7 cool resumes we found on Pinterest, we scoured Instagram for some more. Here are the most creative resumes we found. View all 23 here


Some of the examples are stunning, others quirky, and all are young...very young. This really can work for you if you are under 30 and fighting for visibility in this very tough job market for early professionals. Certainly it can give anyone in the creative arts, digital media, and technology an extra edge and opportunity to showcase their talents.

But will Instagram and Pinterest work for mid-career experienced professionals and senior executives? A qualified yes.

It depends on the sector, the role and position level. In heavy equipment manufacturing at the C-level it would not be advisable. At least not this year.  But in consumer packaged goods, fast moving consumer goods, hospitality, sports, recreation, entertainment, consumer electronics, fashion, advertizing, and technology sectors,  those sites could well be a differentiating addition to your online branding.  

The position is important too. Traditional fields of finance, insurance, risk management, facilities management, for example, don't lend themselves, right now, to this kind of treatment. This kind of personal branding would not be expected nor accepted in more conservative sectors or professions.  

With all of the above caveats, in the parade, it is far better to ahead of the elephants and horses than behind. In 2003, when Linkedin launched nobody had ever heard of it let alone wanted to join and connect.  Back then it was easy to get thousands of connections (and I did) and now you have to buy them.

My advice is to register your name on Pinterest and Instagram to just hold a place for your profile. Eventually they will become acceptable social sites like linkedin is now and you then can leverage them for online branding.

See all my blogs and website on Pinterest boards . Instagram is next.

We all know by now about very successful launch of The Startup of You by  the founder of Linkedin. It has good tips and advice for the Social Generation's job search. 

But that's not my point here. I have been mulling the changes that 20 years can make in how we have careers, look for work and create our success.  

In 1990, Tom Peter's published in Fast Company, The Brand Called You.
During the past 20+ years, people, with the help of the Internet, have figured out and mastered how to brand, pitch, promote and market themselves to get or stay employed. 

Everybody is on Google+, Linkedin, Viadeo, Xing, and FB pages with profiles describing their accomplishments.  Many professionals (all my clients) are setting up professional websites, iPad profiles, and even Presumes. 

Yes, we have got the branding part down to the point that everyone is sick of hearing the word used. Unfortunately, being well branded, positioned and marketed isn't enough anymore.  The Startup of You addresses the really salient career challenges that the Social Generation faces today. 
How do you find a job and stay employed in a global marketplace for talent where there aren't enough jobs, the competition is fierce, and everybody is a brand?

Well the message is threefold:

1. Jack and Jill be nimble and quick to respond to market demands just like a start-up because plan A may not work, nor the rest of the alphabet. See my blog on Alice and the Red Queen.
   
2. Know where best to insert yourself into the marketplace while being true to what you want and who you are. And that's a tough one to figure out sometimes without the help of someone like me.
3. But the main take-away is something that the Social Generation really gets: your job prospects are only as good as your network. As I say, and many laugh, "the person who dies with the biggest network, wins."
   

Some reading this may say that this is all old news that is just repackaged. I don't think so. What is interesting to note is the shift in emphasis over 20 years from the sole individual with a brand to a person as part of a collective network.  

As we all live digital lives, building a the global village around us to support our career survival has become a most efficacious route.