Hey, guys.
I'm Caroline from New Horizon Coaching, Career Coach and Job Search Strategist.
Today, I'm going to talk you about why you shouldn't write seeking or an unemployed on
your LinkedIn profile.
I'm also going to advice you what you should write instead, to make sure it's powerful
and effective for people who are looking at your profile to be picked up for job space
today because that's the ultimate goal, isn't it?
Before we dive in, I want to quickly tell you also that I'm running a live training
next week Tuesday, the 20th.
It is basically about getting job search ready and this is by no means a beginner's training.
It's going to be advance and it's going to be live.
With advance, I mean that it's going to really how to articulate yourself when you're talking
to employers and really writing on your resume or talking to an interviewer and explaining
them why you.
It's going to cover that.
It's going to also talk about the different job search strategies.
It's also going to tell you how to optimise your job search strategy and how to really
make a difference.
If you are looking for a new job in 2017, this is really a training, a live training
you don't want to miss basically.
Back to the question.
Should I write I'm unemployed or seeking for employment or I'm searching on your LinkedIn
profile and the answer is no.
Now, the opinions are very diverse on this matter and some people say yes because they
have seen so much success with other people.
I understand the concept and I have seen really post of people that are reaching out to other
people and it's going viral on LinkedIn with great success.
The majority of people, it doesn't work like that way unfortunately.
I want you to actually just put yourself on the other side.
If you're a recruiter looking to profiles and you suddenly see somebody that has in
their title unemployed or seeking for a new opportunity, then, the first thing that you're
going to think about is why doesn't this person have already beeing picked up by somebody
else?
If he would be any good, he would be picked up.
Now, this is irrelevant whether it's right or wrong or true or untrue.
It doesn't matter.
It just like psychologically, you're going to make that assumption and you don't want
that when you're actively looking for an opportunity.
You want to actually use that space for something eye-catching and the way to grab attention
is you basically write the job title that you want, that really confirms your ability
or skills.
Whether you're a national marketing manager specialise in product launches or you're something
else.
Or an IT director specialise in setting up IT transformation projects.
You really use that space to not really say that you're unemployed but to articulate what
they can expect to reading the rest of your profile, really enticing them in, inviting
them in to read the rest of your profile.
Now, this is also good for something else.
First of all, you don't do it because basically, you really look desperate when you put unemployed
and seeking for new opportunities in your job title.
This is not always the case.
I know there are exceptions but there are exceptions to anything.
The general rule of thumb I would say this really is a no go.
Definitely on the senior level, I see people with 20, 30 years experience doing that and
it's like sometimes, I really want to reach out to them and say like, "Please, don't do
that because you're harming your profile more than you actually are benefiting it."
Take that away.
Instead, you write a job title that is really a representation of you.
What you can bring to the table, who you are.
The other reason why this is highly effective is, you have to imagine that LinkedIn operates
as a search engine.
It's like a Google.
Recruiters that use LinkedIn to search for talent in the talent pool of LinkedIn, they
are going to enter keywords and those keywords will bring up your profile if suitable for
the role.
Now, the keywords that they're going to put in are very unlikely to be like seeking or
unemployed or looking for.
No, they are going to be really job specific base.
If I'm looking for a marketing director or senior marketing manager, then, I'm getting
to write that in the job title.
Sorry, write that in my search and then, I'm going to see which candidates come up.
That's all base on your profile and your job title.
Because your profile, it will become base on the number of keywords.
It's basically having in that search but the job title, it's going to show on my search.
It's like anything, like in online, you click on the one that really appeal and jump by
to you.
You have to make sure your title is really representing what you can do, what you can
bring to the table.
Don't mention I'm being unemployed or I'm seeking for a new opportunity.
That's my personal opinion like I know there are diverse opinions out there, but I hope
it helped you a little bit and gave you a little bit of guidance to why not what to
do instead and an extra reason why this could actually harm you more and it's more beneficial
putting something else in place.
All right.
Checking out for today and thank you very much.
Bye.