Your Linkedin Profile and Your Job Brand
Your Brand on LinkedIn
A few more thoughts about branding before you start the details of creating your Job Searching Linkedin Profile.
Your Internet Billboard
Your LinkedIn Profile is your billboard on the internet highway. Like billboards along the freeways, you never know when someone is going to take notice of your billboard. Getting noticed by others is essential. Your Profile needs to be constructed in such a way that it becomes a billboard that others will notice as they travel the internet highway.
The Brand We Call You
You are always selling on Linkedin. You may not think of yourself as a company. You may not have a lot of experience. The fundamental rule of selling is that people buy from people they know, like and trust. Your Linkedin Profile is where people get to know you, get to like you and get to trust you.
They will come to know the brand that is YOU. You will construct your Profile, not only to show your skills and expertise, but also your personality as well. Remember people buy from people not a business. You want your personality to be expressed in your Profile. People buy from people they know and they like!
Building Your Brand
Your Linkedin Profile is the marketing expression of your brand. Your brand is the expertise and skills you can bring to a company. It’s the special something that you give that a company cannot get from your competition. If your profile is like every other profile from others in your industry, why would a person want to interview you? Your profile offers an opportunity to establish your online reputation that will draw others to you. You don’t want to overlook this opportunity.
What do you do? Your first challenge in creating a brand is to provide the prospective company with a clear picture about what you are offering. What skills, expertise, experience are selling do? You must be able to answer this question simply and clearly. Confused buyers never buy.
Write down the answer to this question in simple and clear words. Then show it to three people. Is it simple and clear to them?
What is your specialty? A second branding question is what is your specialty? Companies don’t “buy” from Jack of all trades and masters of none. They have too many buying options. When you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one. Make it clear about your specialty. Can you describe in one sentence what makes you attractive to your customers and different from your competition? How will the company benefit from your skills and expertise? Why should they believe you? Your Profile should answer these questions for a company.
View Profiles In Your Industry
A very good exercise is to view at least the Profiles of at least five other people who are already working in the industry where you want to work. Read them. Study them. Learn what language and terms they use in their Profiles. Check out their backgrounds and experiences. You want your Profile to be consistent with these Profiles so that a company feels comfortable with you. At the same time, I will show you how to create a Job Searching Profile that makes you stand out and get noticed.
To be continued, your comments are welcomed…
Al Hanzal
