Brand Yourself on LinkedIn + Relaunch Your Career in Public Relations Transcript
Stacey Delo
Okay, we’ll get going here. Good morning. And welcome to our Tuesday webinar series where we talk about what is it your turn to do. Today, we are talking about a fantastic opportunity to relaunch your career in PR with members of the PR Council who are here with us today to tell us about this exciting a new free certificate program that they have designed. And then on the second half of this we’re going to talk about, we’re going to kind of extend that PR conversation and talk about branding yourself on LinkedIn with some tips from our experts here at our prey. So I’m Stacy de lo and along with these lovely ladies in this photo and some here on this panel, we run prey, our mission at our prey is to stop sidelining women talent. And we do that through a variety of strategies. We have a job board that welcomes career gaps on resumes, and even LinkedIn profiles. We have coaching services, and then of course through these webinars. So what I’d like to do right now is just walk through a few updates that we have going on, and then we’ll launch into what we’re talking about today. Okay, so I want to draw some attention to our job board. If you attend these webinars with us, you know that I like to spend a lot of time spotlighting the companies that are on the job board today, I’ll let you go and take a look at these jobs later. But the PR Council certificate program that they’re going to be talking about is listed there. The registration link for that is live. And Kim will talk a little bit more about when you need to complete the activities that are part of that certificate program. But you can begin them today. So I really encourage you to go and register it is free. And you’ll get more information that way. We have a new opportunity with a company called it’s a peer mentorship or a peer member organization called Tiger 21. And they’re looking for somebody to manage their community leads. This is a an organization that’s in New York, but they’re open to hiring somebody who’s not based in New York. So please take a look at that. The rest of these opportunities are really amazing. And thank you to everybody who’s been messaging me to let me know that you have applied to these positions, we do forward that information to the hiring managers that we work with. So please keep that going. Coming up on October 19, I’m really excited I’m going to be in conversation interviewing Eve rod ski as part of the network of Executive Women talks that they host. Eve rod ski is the best selling author of fair play, which my dog is squeaking her toy right here. Eve is the I call her book sort of therapy in a bottle. For anyone who needs help talking with their partner about needing more help around the house. She has a new book coming out called Finding Your unicorns space, which is all about finding creativity when you don’t really have the room or the space to do it. So it’s going to be a really cool conversation. And we have a link to where you can sign up for that. I also just like to draw attention to our coaching packages where you can work with us one on one. We’ve made these kits sort of we designed them to be very affordable and very buttoned up. So that this is not an extensive coaching package that you’re signing up for. They are meant to be short and sweet and specific to where you are in your career search. So please take a look at those and we have a special code PRC today to save 10% through the rest of this week, I think on these packages, and sorry I’ll put more links about that in the chat. And if you miss our webinars, we do post them and we will Share this one out after the episode sorry about my dog, if you can hear the dog just squeaking away. This is a new one for me. But we, we do have we do post these in our webinars on demand area and check those out, you do have to be an upgrade Plus member. But again, you can save 10% on that. Okay,
so for the inspiration is a little bizarre, I’m sure my kids would be like, Why are you talking about yourself. But because we’re talking about PR, I wanted to do this as our inspiration today, I promise that there’s a point about me talking about myself here today. So as you can see, in this image, I am wearing the same dress as I am in this photo. And when I got up this morning, I knew we were talking about public relations. And I wanted to put on something with a pop of color. And as I put it on, I realized this is the same dress that I wore almost two years ago to the day when our book launched on October 2 of 2019. And this is me at the Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, finding the book on the shelves for the first time and being really ecstatic about it. And those are my kids that are there with me, you know, pointing to the book as well. And it was a really big moment, because I had spent the previous two years really heads down working on the book with Jennifer Gaskey. And Kathleen Harris and the folks at HarperCollins. And also getting the website ready, talking with lots of women talking with lots of employers. And this was like the culmination of that moment. And so it was just a thrilling day. And as I was thinking about that day today, it reminded me that it was just before that event, maybe two weeks that I met these wonderful ladies that are on this panel from the PR Council, who had invited me to speak at their annual conference about strategies that agencies can take to retain new mothers in particular. And that speaking moment was a big event for me because I had been so heads down in writing and researching and thinking about the book, I hadn’t done a lot of speaking. And so when I had that, I it reconnected me with this part of me that just loves public speaking. And I’ve done a lot of it since that day. And that was really the kickoff and the relaunch of a different part of my career. So I thought it was really a nice connection to make, not necessarily just to talk about myself here. But to make that connection that we’re talking about today that your career, even if it’s something that you’ve stepped away from, or it’s something that you are trying to find new directions in. Sometimes there are moments and happenings or opportunities, like what we’re going to talk about today that can help you get there. So I wanted to share that. I also wanted to sort of practice this concept that we’re going to talk about in the second half, which is really PR for yourself on LinkedIn, or resume. And sometimes as women in particular, we are not good at boasting about ourselves. And in order to be able to get a job and to have the confidence in that career search, you really do need to be able to talk about yourself. So I highly suggest, if you’re struggling with that, you’ll get some great tips today. But go back throw on an old dress that reminds you of a time when something sort of sparked for you. Get out photos and remind yourself of those moments, so that you can make connections for yourself, and then talk about them with other people. So thank you for bearing with me on that. That’s my moment of inspiration for today. My dog has chilled out Kim, I think. So thank you so much for being here. Kim sample is the president of the PR Council. I’m thrilled to invite her to tell you about their new certificate program, which for us here at I pray is a tremendous opportunity for you all because it is a training program that they’re offering for free and they’re doing it with the intentionality of helping move mothers back into the workforce, or to help them start new careers in a different direction. So Kim, I’ll let you take it from here. Thanks again for being here, and I can’t wait to hear more about it.
Kim Sample, PR Council
Awesome. Thank you so much. I am so delighted to be here. At the PR Council, we represent 130 of the country’s leading PR firms. And it’s such a pleasure have a job that culminates a 30 plus year career working in agencies for me, and I love them so much. It’s such a great career, especially for women and moms. So I’m delighted to be able to introduce them to you, I have to say that my one regret in life is that I did not take a break for raising my children. So I salute all of you who are doing that or have done that, I think it’s really awesome. And you’re not going to regret it. And hopefully, we’ll get you into our agencies. And you’ll have a really exciting second act, post taking that break.
Unknown Speaker
As I said, I didn’t take a break, my colleague, Andy Hughes, the PR counsel did take a break, we work together when we were in our 20s. We reconnected about five years ago, and she joined me at the council. And I think just like that notion of staying in touch networking with people, you know, thinking about your past and who, you know, is so critical. So I just wanted to mention that. So let me jump in, I have a feeling that many of you may have a slightly outdated view of PR agencies. And it’s very typical, because the agency business has changed so much in the past 15 or so years. So today, our members report that less than 30% of what they do is traditional media relations, that’s the, you know, reach out to a journalist pick up a phone, call a journalist try to get them to write a story. So it’s still a part, but it’s much less a part of what we do. And what has happened in our PR agencies is there has been this incredible transformation with digital and technology, and it’s letting us do so many exciting things. So right now our PR agencies are reporting growth of about 20%, which is awesome for the year, we’re not even at the end of the year, Stacey, if you would mind advancing that slide. So we’ve grown 20%. And there are a few reasons for it. Part of it is because of this new technology and digital in our business, we can really prove that we move business, we deliver business results. And it’s so exciting having been in the industry for so long, where it was a little bit squishy. It’s exciting that we can show the data that proves we’ve really made a difference. At the same time, companies are realizing they can’t just be thinking about their customers or the consumers, they have to think about all of the constituents or stakeholders that matter. And they have to focus on doing the right thing in their communities, for their employees and also for their customers and clients. So that’s been an exciting development, and then through COVID, because there were so many issues related to COVID impacting sales employees, and pure played such a huge role in helping companies communicate effectively. And then when George Floyd was murdered, the whole racial justice movement, that was another opportunity for public relations to really show our effectiveness in helping communities companies communicate around really tough issues. So it’s been a great moment. I think the optimism for the industry is very strong. Yes, it is likely to slow in the next four or five years, you can’t keep growing at 20%. But I think everyone feels that there will continue to be strong growth. But the problem is there’s a talent shortage that’s really curtailing our growth. And so many of our members say they can’t pitch new business because they don’t have the talent to do it. And a particular challenge is folks who have some level of experience, maybe it’s three, five or 10 years in a related field, like we really need people who bring some different experiences into our agencies. So that’s why we’re so excited about this partnership and are so delighted to create something with a pray that we can test out and learn from and hopefully start attracting moms who have taken a break back into our industry. So a little bit more about what’s going on there. are some amazing opportunities to do really exciting work. So our agencies are now owning earned media, social media and owned, which would be a company’s own communications channels like their websites, and then all of these digital activations and technology, and just bringing unbelievable creativity, but really complex solutions that involve all of this. And it’s really huge assignments that have huge business impacts. So our clients, the communications and marketing teams, but also throughout the companies get really excited about the work we’re doing, which makes it all the more exciting for our teams and agencies. So just a little bit about the jobs that are available. We just did a compensation study. And we looked at 142 job titles across 13 categories. So it’s really amazing the depth and breadth of expertise we’re looking for, in our agencies to hire and to develop. So it’s obviously we have account management means strategy, project management, creative data and analytics, digital productions, social media, influencer relations, search, mean, so many different opportunities within the agencies. And we hear from a lot of different areas that, you know, as long as people are bringing the soft skills, they’re willing to train for the hard skills. So let’s take a look at some of those skills that are really valued by our agency.
Unknown Speaker
And you know, what’s really exciting is, our agencies report that the soft skills are almost more important than the hard skills like the hard skills can be taught. So there’s a real opportunity if you have soft skills, like attention to detail, you like teamwork, you like being creative, in ways large and small. It’s not just coming up with the creative campaign. But how do you present results to clients in a way that’s creative, you know, little creative flourishes are really important in our business, critical thinking, listening skills. And I think probably the most important is curiosity, like this desire to constantly be learning, and honestly, that’s what has kept me in agencies for 35 years, I, I honestly have never had a single day where I didn’t learn something new. And just that opportunity to come into a client situation and ask questions and just keep learning and figuring out what is the real problem? And what are the solutions that will move the needle on that problem, it’s really satisfying, and it’s so highly valued, and agency. But of course, hard skills are important. So if you have skills like you really understand high tech, or maybe you’ve worked in technology, sales, that’s really attractive, any kind of financial markets is a really important area. Customer service is great in our business, because that is the core of client service and account management, data analysis, medical terminology, medical sales, people do really well in our business, of course writers and editors, and any experience in different marketing disciplines, whether it’s advertising, demand gen events, all of that is super attractive. So there’s a lot that’s really valued. And so hopefully you’re like saying, Oh, I’m really good at that. And I did work in, you know, technology before something. But, you know, if you bring some of these, there’s really a great place for you and our agencies. So, the relaunch series certificate, we’re really excited to launch this. It’s really simple. As Stacey mentioned, it’s a free program. It’s something we’ve quasi tested before we run an agency ready certificate program for college students and new grads, to give them a leg up on agency careers. So we’ve run that for two years, it’s been super successful. So when we were talking with Stacey about how we could unlock the talent in moms who have taken a break, it made sense to take elements of our agency ready certificate and recreate it for this audience. So it’s 845 minute courses. It’s things that are super important in agency in some ways That’s just learning the language. And the way you know every sector has its own sort of jargon and the way they talk about things, that’s an important thing you’ll pick up just by doing these courses. But then some of them are the hard skills, you need to be successful in an agency. The registration is open for now, I know Andy just posted the link in the chat. You can register for this up until November the 12th. But the program does, we’re going to close the program on the 19th. So hopefully, you won’t wait till the 12th. Because then you’d really be cramming 845 minute courses in a week, which is not recommended. It’s doable, but not recommended. And then the really cool thing we’re doing is, once you earn the certificate, we’re going to invite you to upload your resume into our career portal, where our 130 member agencies go in to search for talent. And that’s where we will hope to make great connections. The other thing we’re working on, is we have a lot of agencies that are starting to get interested in returnships. And so hopefully, as the certificate progresses, we’ll be able to announce some of those. And that might be something that you’re interested in pursuing as well. I forgot to mention, one of the really great things that has happened with our agencies through COVID Is the work from home phenomenon is here to stay, our agency leaders have realized that they don’t have to see people in the office every day. People are just as or even more productive when they’re working from home. So there are great opportunities, no matter where you live in the country to pursue agency career. So that’s been a really positive change.
Unknown Speaker
I think that’s my quick overview. I’m so happy to answer any questions. I think there is one. I think I answered the question about skills in terms of compensation. Listen, I’m here to say you could do really well in public relations agencies. Now, there’s a little bit of a negative stereotype about entry level jobs. So starting salaries for entry level jobs, tend to be it varies a little bit by geography, but they tend to be right around low to mid 50s right now. But you know, there’s a recognition that experience can count, even if it’s not in agencies. So there are lots of different opportunities to come in, beyond that entry level. So don’t be nervous about that. It really just depends on what your experiences and what the job is that you’re qualified to take on. I’m seeing some questions in chat that I just want to make sure I pick up.
Stacey Delo
One of the questions is about part time jobs.
Unknown Speaker
So there is more and more appreciation for part time. I mean, we’ve been talking for my entire career. How do we make part time positions work. And now with the great resignation, I’m sure you’re all reading about this. You know, so many people just do not want full time work. So our agencies are taking steps to accommodate part time. So those roles are definitely out there. And we’ll share some opportunities. One of our member agencies even started an agency that is exclusively staffed by moms returning to work who are working part time, and basically you sign up for how many hours you’re willing to work a week, and they work to fill your dance card. So it’s a really cool concept. And we can expect a lot more creativity like that, because everybody needs to add talent to accommodate the growth.
Stacey Delo
And so one of the questions is, what is the structure of the essay responses? I would assume that that’s guided in the pro inside folks.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, it’s really just to make sure that you actually listened or watched the webinar, and it’s, you know, 250 words or less. What is the key takeaway from the session? It can be so short and sweet. Please, no one should stress over it. It’s just to make sure that you actually watch it. We’re not grading them. Just jot down a few key takeaways and you’re all set.
Stacey Delo
And Kim, is this just for US citizens, or do you have international agencies?
Unknown Speaker
Our largest agencies are global So we in for agency ready certificate, we’ve had international participants. They’re welcome. It is all in English. But totally welcome. And there are opportunities with our global agencies.
Stacey Delo
Okay. And one of the questions is how much is the training? Or how much are the training sessions aligned to the categories that you talked about.
Unknown Speaker
We tried to give a good array as much as we could in eight sessions, there’s one course that’s on media relations, because even if you’re not going to be doing media relations, that earned media is at the core of our agencies, you need to kind of understand how it works. There is a bit of an emphasis on the measurement and the research, because that is critical with everything our agencies are doing, there’s a really great course on strategy, what is good strategy, which I think is important for any profession. There’s a great course on presentation writing, how do you write a winning presentation? You know, regardless of where you’re sitting in agency, you’re contributing to presentations. So having those skills is super important. So it really does cross all areas of the agency, and it’s really intended to give you an introduction to the different roles and the basic skills.
Stacey Delo
And then one of the questions is, is there you know, an acceptable gap. 10 years plus, is that okay, any?
Unknown Speaker
Oh, I would not even worry about that so much. I mean, you’re going to find the right agency that sees the soft skills and transferable skills, and it’s going to work. I don’t I don’t think that’s really a barrier.
Stacey Delo
Yeah. No, and that’s great. That’s, that’s our, you know, that’s what we preach here. Right? It’s a relevant, right. And we see yes, I mean, we we work with women who’ve returned to work after 18 and 20 plus career, you’re right. So yeah. Stacy, it
Unknown Speaker
might be worth mentioning, because I know you partner with 10 lab. Often, we just did a session for our members. And the message in the session was, parents are bringing really valuable skills to the workplace. I mean, our leaders talk all the time about how important empathy is for all different career tracks in our agencies, and TwinLab presented some really hard data about how parents bring a ton of empathy to the workplace. So we’re working on our agencies. Yes, they appreciate those things, but just making it really clear that there is so much value in women who are returning to the workforce.
Stacey Delo
Yeah, we actually have a session in our workshops on demand with Amy, and she talks extensively about how your brain grows and changes. And that those parenting skills can be really helpful in any work setting. So well, I know there may be more questions. Andy is on here answering questions. I know in the chat, hopefully, Kim is going to stick around as well. If you all have thoughts about branding on LinkedIn or your resume, we’d love to get your thoughts there as well, given your expertise in this area. But I also just want to highlight that I think there are two really critical components to what they’re offering, aside from the fact that it’s a free training program. You will get a certificate designation that you can put on your LinkedIn profile and read.
Unknown Speaker
I think that’s Stacey froze, right. And so she was saying that you do get a certificate that goes on LinkedIn, you put this on your resume. Our member agencies are being told over and over to look for this credential. And the other thing that happens is you’re invited to put your resume in our exclusive career portal for members. So we’ll be communicating with everybody who registers for the program and telling you the steps you need to take and how you upload your resume and We’re priming our members to be looking for those resumes. Yeah, that’s fantastic.
Stacey Delo
Okay, great. Anything else you want to add Kim?
Unknown Speaker
Andy, if you want to drop our team, email in I don’t know if we got all the questions, but we’ll put our teen email in and anybody who has questions, feel free to reach out to us. And we’ll get back to you right away.
Stacey Delo
Yeah, absolutely. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. And I am excited now to turn it over to Tina and Meghan, who on our team are going to talk about branding yourself on in, and it’s going to be a great follow up to what we just chatted about. So thanks, ladies.
Tina Mondragon
Yep. Hi, everybody. We’re excited to have you here. And, Kim, thank you for that incredible wealth of information. I love what you’re offering to our community. I’m always working with people who are wanting to upskill and learn new skills. And this is just an incredible opportunity. So thank you for sharing that with everybody. We are going to be talking about how to brand yourself on LinkedIn today. LinkedIn should play a big part in your personal branding strategy. When when letting everybody know who you are, everybody is on LinkedIn, it has over 800 million users. And it’s still growing. And this is where you want to be to manage your professional reputation. With so much competition out there, you want to have a knockout LinkedIn profile, to grab the attention of recruiters your peers. So it’s really important to take some time to set your LinkedIn profile up as you want your personal brand to be. And the best news about LinkedIn is, most of its features are free. So you can do all of this for free right at home on your own time. So you want to be visible. Your headline, you want to write a headline on LinkedIn, that rocks, it’s not just your title, these are the words that go right underneath your name. On your LinkedIn profile, you can use this space to communicate the core of who you are as a professional. In a sentence or a few phrases, the more specific you can be about what’s you said sets you apart from the competition, the better. You could also highlight key skills in that section as well. I love that Kim brought up all those soft skills and hard skills about what people are looking for. I think she said curiosity is a huge one, a lifelong learner, you can put so many different titles in that headline to capture who you are and building your brand. And if you don’t know, some additional items to put in there, you can look at Job Titles of jobs that you want to be doing. And get some key words from there. Those are what recruiters will be looking for. So start playing around with some of some of those keywords, look for other people who are doing what you want to be doing, or who want the brand that you want, look what they’re putting in their titles, those are things that you can grab and put in your title as well. So your headline is big and building your personal brand on LinkedIn. The banner that goes behind your photo, on LinkedIn, there’s a blank banner that’s that’s if you’re just setting up a LinkedIn profile that’s behind your photo. It’s, it’s the first thing people see. And you can put an image back in that banner behind your photo. This gives you another opportunity to get creative and show your brand on LinkedIn. You can choose something that speaks to what your brand is all about an accomplishment that you’re proud of. Maybe it’s a landscape view of your favorite place. That’s a power message. If you’re a chef, you can put a cake that you’ve baked on there. You can get a picture of yourself doing your job. If you’re a public speaker, get a picture of yourself speaking to a crowd of people. You could add your website you could add your key strengths services you offer, you could put a meaningful quote whatever you want that’s behind there but that’s just building who you are on your LinkedIn as well. A great site to check out if you if you don’t have a banner or you’re looking to do a banner is Canva that ca n V A. And they have so many free banners you just put in LinkedIn banner when you go into Canva that you can choose from and that you can easily download to your LinkedIn profile.
your about section on your LinkedIn this is your summary Are your about section where you can write more to really show off your your personality and share your story. On LinkedIn, you can introduce yourself into this section who you are as a professional, what you do, what value do you bring to the organization, you can talk about your strengths, your passions, your personality, what you’ve been doing for companies, what you want to be doing what makes you you, you can really highlight your key skills, your experiences in this in this part of the section on your LinkedIn profile, the two sentences, you could you could write a couple of paragraphs in your about section. But the first two to three sentences are what show up when you first see somebody’s LinkedIn profile. And then you can click More, to find out more so you can expand it, you can talk about what you do outside of work, if that helps build to your brand, you can really add a lot of information to that. And then your photo that’s really important on your LinkedIn profile, choose the right profile photo to put on your LinkedIn. It’s the first thing that people see on your page. When somebody connects with me, if they don’t have a photo, I tend not to connect back with them. So make sure you have a professional looking photo that speaks to your brand and reflects who you are, make sure it’s a clear view of your face, your shoulders, it’s not too close, it’s not too far away, make sure it’s clear, it’s not blurry, you’re not wearing a hat or glasses, smile, use good lighting, the great thing is it doesn’t have to be taken bright professional, you could take it right in your backyard, or in your house that make it just about you and dress professionally for that shot. Okay, next slide. Oh, and this is Stacy’s LinkedIn profile. So this is a great example of everything I was talking about. So her banner is behind. So her picture is perfect. You can see right there, it’s professional, it’s a great picture. Right behind her picture is her banner, where she has your turn. That’s the book that she’s written, which is all about her brand. She’s got great title, a prey, mom, author, your turn right there. It shows you exactly who she is what her brand is. It’s a great looking LinkedIn profile.
Megan Strickland
Okay, our second tip for how to brand yourself on LinkedIn is to be active. So once you have, once you have all the things that Tina just talked about ready, start following people that people companies, thought leaders, experts that also represent your brand, or that you want to learn more about. And that can be, you know, different companies that can be recruiters that can be hiring managers, that can be people who are experts in their field. But all you have to do you search for them, you find them on LinkedIn, you hit the Follow button, anytime there’s new news, or new updates or new jobs that will automatically filter into your feed. The other way you can be active is to like comment or share. So if someone that you’re connected to creates a post, or has a job update, or, you know, shares an interesting article, you can if you like that, or if you comment on that, or if you share that post, and if you share it, we recommend writing one or two sentences about why you are sharing this What is it about this article or this update that is interesting to you, that speaks to you that sort of identifies with your brand. All of that will is becomes public within LinkedIn, and is part of your brand. The other thing to remember about LinkedIn is that it’s often considered a living resume document. So you can continuously update your profile, which also helps keep keeps it fresh and helps build your brand. So if you do an upskilling course, if you enroll on the PR councils course, that your LinkedIn profile that shows that shows what you’re looking to do, what you’re trying to accomplish, who you are the fact that you’re you know, looking to learn new skills, so continuously update your profile, and in fact, the previous slide that it was we use as an example of Stacy’s profile. I don’t think that’s actually her current profile anymore. She’s updated it since then she’s changed some of her headline words. So just you just want to continuously update it as you evolve and as you grow and as your brand sort of continues to grow. And then our last point around this is to join groups. So once you become more comfortable using LinkedIn and use it more often, they will recommend then like, let’s say you’re really interested in environmental sustainability. Once you are reading articles or sharing articles or posting on articles or looking at companies and experts in that space, LinkedIn will even provide groups that you should join. It’ll say like, based on what you are looking at, here’s an industry group that you can join. So it’s a great way to network, if you join those groups, because there are other people in that industry that are, you know, interested in the latest sustainability metrics or whatever in that group. And people who view your profile will see that you are part of these groups, and that you really are this is who you are.
Tina Mondragon
Yeah, I to add to that, LinkedIn groups, I think, are really powerful resource. And it’s just an incredible way to find more professionals in your job or your industry that you can learn from them, because they’re constantly talking about new things. And so you’re, you’re learning from that group. And it can you never know where it could lead, I mean, it could lead to powerful connections, it could lead to your next job, it could lead into an introduction at a company, it could even lead to a working relationship down the road. So it’s really important when building your brand at checkout different LinkedIn groups.
Megan Strickland
Okay, so this is a screenshot of the activity section. So anytime you this is mine, anytime you like, or share or comment or post, it actually shows up in your LinkedIn profile as your activity. So what’s interesting about this is that people if they’re trying to understand what your brand is, or what type of job you’re trying to, you know, apply for, they’ll see like, who are the companies that Megan is following who what are the types of articles that Megan is commenting on or posting on because, you know, I and I consciously think about this, if I read a really interesting article that really speaks to, you know, helping women in the workplace or speaks to the value of coaching, you know, that is really important to me, and I want my connections to see this as well. So I’ll share it or like it or comment on it, and then anyone who is connected with me will see that. So it really is, it really just shows your interest, your personality, what you’re trying to accomplish. So this is a very important part of LinkedIn.
Tina Mondragon
Okay, and our third tip is to be an expert and, and actually to add to Megan with sharing other people’s content on your LinkedIn, I think that it is a sharing content of other people or influencers, it’s a great way to leverage your LinkedIn platform to your advantage. You don’t have to have original content to post if that’s something that you’re not comfortable doing reposting somebody else’s content, which is something that’s fascinating to you or you’re learning from from it. Giving the credit or credit, it helps boost your own profile when posting those on your LinkedIn. So you can share comment, like, it just will ensure more engagement and shows that you are possibly an expert in that field, or you have additional information to add to that field. So our third point is to be an expert. You want to create your own content, if you can, if not sharing somebody else’s content is a great way to do that. You can share information by creating your own content. All LinkedIn users can write posts, articles on the platform. These can help you build up your reputation, you can show people that you’re an expert in this space, you can post your perspective about what’s going on in that field or, or in that industry, or weigh in on a recent product development, you can maybe possibly show off your writing skills at the same time, you could share relevant articles that you’ve come across, and you could even write your own content to that piece. So if you don’t feel like you’re ready to write, you can share those posts like we were talking about. Before, you can also share a video. You can include media in your profile, you can include work that you’ve done in your profile, all of these things to help add to who you are and your brand, and show that you’re more of an expert in this field. Next slide. So this is is an example of a post that I created on Canva that I was talking about earlier. And I posted this on my LinkedIn profile. So this is letting people know Who I am, what I’m wanting to do, I’m reaching out to companies, maybe there will be a company that will read this that has returnship and wants to tap into this amazing talent that we work with here and pray. So this is something that I created on my own. This is just showing you a piece that I put on my LinkedIn to help create my brand. Okay, any questions?
Stacey Delo
One of the questions I saw in the chat was about how, you know, when, when put, you know, algorithms or programs sort of scan a LinkedIn profile? How does creativity and branding yourself fit into that? And actually, I think it’s a really important question. But they’re kind of different. You know, Tina, and Meghan, you all can expound on this. But they’re kind of different concepts. There’s one that’s very tactical around the information that you’re putting into the profile itself, and what your work experiences. But the other piece is using this as a way to present about yourself and show the things that you think about, or the things that you’d like to talk about, maybe what your hobbies are things that sort of round you out as a human, versus just that, you know, the information about why you would be great as a product manager, let’s say,
Tina Mondragon
Yes, I would totally agree with you. So when setting up your LinkedIn profile, those algorithms, I think I mentioned earlier that there, there are keywords, there are some words that if you are becoming an expert, or or setting up your brand on LinkedIn, you’re going to want to research what are those key words or those buzzwords that people are looking for in that space that you are creating this brand for, because then people will will find you. But then once they find you on LinkedIn, then you can have a little bit more of that creativity, what sets you apart? What is it that you’ve got these keywords that they found you with? But what is it that really is? Is that you are passionate about? Or what are you? What are you adding value to whatever that is in that instance? So it is a little bit of both that I would say that I would I would add to that. But those keywords are key in having recruiters find you and other people find you. It’s important to have them on there. But then also showing that extra touch of that creativity will make them want to connect and learn more from you as well.
Stacey Delo
Yeah. And someone in the chat asked why it’s important to kind of continuously update. Meghan, you, you touched on that.
Megan Strickland
Yeah, and just I mean, if you, you know, sort of like you want to always have your resume updated, if you are doing new and interesting if you’re taking interesting courses, or if you have a new volunteer experience that is interesting and could be helpful as you pursue different opportunities. You want that on your LinkedIn. And especially as these recruiters sort of like, what has already been discussed, recruiters are really looking for people who have a growth mindset and can constantly learn new things because the workforce is constantly changing. So just showing that you are learning new things, and you are interested in new things. You know, you want recruiters and other people, maybe you’re not even looking for a job, maybe you’re trying to grow a small business like that show that you’re putting yourself out there to prospective clients and prospective partners. So you just want to continuously have fresh content on your LinkedIn profile.
Stacey Delo
And Kim from the PR council said earlier as well that some of their agencies primarily rely on LinkedIn profiles, not even resumes. And your LinkedIn profile should always be linked on your the PDF of your resume. So they do work in concert, but it’s often the first place that people are going to learn something about you. And so really the first slide of what Tina and Megan talked about today is perhaps the most critical which is needing a photo and a headline about who you are at the top because if you don’t have a photo on LinkedIn, it just you’re kind of you kind of get lost in the shuffle. They people expect that you have a professional looking photo there. And I also just want to mention that that LinkedIn is because it is evolving and because you’re evolving and because you can update it. It really is such a light way to go. work the PR muscle for yourself. And it’s a great entry if you haven’t done that in a while to get going on it because you’re in there in a feed of lots of other people posting about themselves as well. And, and so you can kind of just lightly start to step into that and get ready so that when you are able to talk about yourself in an interview, it doesn’t feel as awkward. I think that there are questions coming in about the course for the certificate. And I think Andy and Kim have been answering them in the chat. But basically, your your, the first step is to sign up and register for the certificate. And once you do that, then everything is going to be walked through for you. It will tell you, you know what order to take the sessions and it will tell you what to do exactly afterward and where to send them. So all of that I think will illuminate itself just by getting yourself registered. So I encourage you to do that as we hang up. And I think that’s it. Questions about where we create our banners. I you know, I we don’t get any money from Canva. I think I say that every time we talk about Canva a lot on these webinars, it is anything that you would like to accomplish. From a presentation perspective. You need to go there. And it’s it’s free. They have paid versions. But you can there are free options to create a LinkedIn banner. I think that’s it, Andy and Kim, thank you both so much for being here. Oh, here’s an FAQ in the chat now as well. We can’t wait to hear how this certificate program goes for you all. And I hope you’ll come back and tell us. I’m really excited about it for you all and for all the women out there. And we’ll continue to do our part to educate and push it to promote it to people that we know could really benefit from this amazing opportunity.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much. We’re thrilled to partner with you and really looking forward to meeting this amazing subscriber base through the program.
Stacey Delo
Yeah, I can see a lot of interests. So that’s exciting. Awesome. All right, everyone, Tina and Megan, thank you as always thanks everybody. Siri thanks for man for for helping with the chat and let us know if you have any questions contact at Andre group.com you can always reach us there but good to see everybody
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
