Category

Communications

Mar 16
Love0

Charlottesville Workshop: LinkedIn for the Job Seeker

By Communications

After being approached by no less than four disgruntled or about-to-be-laid off people in the last 48 hours, I’m launching a series of workshops to help. I think the biggest charge I get out of doing what I do is when it helps someone land a job or a new and better opportunity. I love connecting people to one another and to the next great moment in their lives. I’m going to start with a workshop at OpenSpace on Thursday, March 31 from 9-11am – LinkedIn for Job Seekers.

This workshop is designed for active job seekers and those interested in improving their professional online presence.  This hands-on session will include:

  • Developing a searchable professional headline;
  • Optimizing your professional profile; and
  • Strategically increasing your social network.

Participants will be led through active job searches via social networks. Laptops are recommended but not required.

REGISTER HERE

OR . . . pass along to a job seeking friend.

 

Mar 08
Love0

Finding Balance Between the Personal and the Professional

By Communications

I’m not perfect.

Of course, no one is, but in the culture of social media, admitting that — no, owning that, is for the first time, a benefit.

The intersection of the personal and professional in business requires that business show its human side, that the people who represent businesses include a personal element that allows others to know them on a deeper level.

What does that mean?

It’s something people struggle with, or in some cases, the sticking point that keeps some from engaging successfully in social media. They say, “why would anyone care what I’m thinking or doing?” or  “I don’t want to live my life publicly.”

I’m here to tell you that there’s definitely a difference between personal and private — don’t mistake the two. No one, least of all me, is telling you to share your private life online. If it’s private, it doesn’t go on the internet.

You’re not going to get away without being human, however. And the way to be human online is to be a bit personal. Celebrating a personal triumph? Share it! Enjoying what you do? Let us know. Heading to a favorite restaurant? Tell us (maybe we like that restaurant, too). The way people connect to the people who represent businesses is by identifying with them on a personal level. If you don’t give us reasons to do so, that element is missing.

A quick story: people often talk about celebrities as if they know them; morning TV anchors have cornered the market on this relationship development. When Katie Couric’s husband passed away, my mother sent Katie a card. Know what? So did thousands of other people. I’m not suggesting we all pretend we’re celebrities and share all the most intimate details of our lives, but the benefit of connecting with others who understand a (sometimes unique) situation in your life, outweighs the risk you may feel in baring a bit of your person in your professional life.

Need help managing your professional and personal profiles online? Sign up for the next Jaggers Communications workshop, Thursday, March 17 at 9am at OpenSpace.

 

Mar 04
Love0

Building the Business: How you can Help

By Communications

My friend Jennifer asked me a great non-social media question yesterday. She said, “What can I do to help?” She’s lovely and kind and just the sort of friend we should all have. We were talking about business, specifically my new business, which I just launched in January, 2011.

Business is going well and I’m busy, but I am looking for new clients and opportunities (so often we forget to let people know that we’re eager for more or new business — wouldn’t it be terrible if everyone assumed I was too busy to take on new work?)

Jennifer was genuinely interested in the kind of business I hope to gain, so I thought I’d share my answer with the broader audience of my social network.

First, to clarify (someone called me a publicist yesterday and I openly grimaced), Jaggers Communications helps businesses and nonprofits reach their business goals through strategic marketing, content creation, public relations and social media.

Experience is concentrated serving clients in:

  • Life sciences and other science-based business
  • Clean energy
  • Health care
  • Education (institutions and products/services that support learning)
  • Travel and tourism
  • Small to medium-sized business to consumer companies

I’m so appreciative to all the community members who have already helped with referrals and endorsements. As a “connector” it give me great pleasure to connect others to opportunities as well, so don’t ever hesitate to ask.

Feb 28
Love0

LinkedIn: When to Ignore a Request to Connect

By Communications

My friend John posed this question via Twitter, “Say you don’t know someone and they send you a LinkedIn invite. I usually summarily reject. Are there cases where I shouldn’t?”

It’s a good question, and I know that people have differing opinions on this one. There are two schools of thought, as in most things, one is “white hat” the other a more “black hat” or not-so-ethical approach. I am steadfastly white hat; that’s what you get from someone with a background in professional communications, public relations and reputation management.

That being said, I believe in preserving the sanctity of what LinkedIn has set out to do; create business networks of people who actually know one another. I will extend this to fairly loose connections and relationships — I don’t have to know you in person or have worked directly with you to connect with you on LinkedIn. I do, however, need to have context that indicates our commonality — where we met, a common group or community to which we belong. I speak to large audiences frequently and sometimes am invited to connect to someone who I met during that speaking engagement. I often accept these, if I’m given that context and made a personal connection with that person at that event.

This leads to how we send those invitations to connect with others. Several years ago I received an invitation to connect that was so well-written, I have cleaned it up, generalized it, and used it as a best practice example ever since. A good invitation to connect looks something like this:

As you may know, I resigned my position as [TITLE & COMPANY]. It was a rich experience and I value the privilege of access to a very high level of thought leadership during my years there.

Recently, I have begun to work with the [COMPANY] to [DETAILS OF JOB AND INDUSTRY] We are [MORE DETAILS OF THE WORK BEING DONE, RELATIONSHIPS BEING BUILT].

As I value our relationship and appreciate the depth of experience you bring to your profession, please join my network so we can stay in touch on this and more.

Warm regards,

It’s helpful, when you reach out to someone to connect, to give them context — the when and where of your meeting or interaction. Some of us meet and work with many people and our memories are not as clear as we’d like. I may have simply forgotten your name, and if your note says only “I’d like to add you to my network on LinkedIn” that doesn’t do anything to differentiate you from the guy who is just trying to build his numbers.

That brings me back to the concept of the black hat social networker — occasionally you will get invitations from people who are so far outside your network you can’t even figure out why the invitation has arrived. There are people simply playing a numbers game; don’t be tempted to join this tribe or contribute to it by accepting. It devalues the network and the strength of the relationships in it.

What do you think? When do you ignore a request to connect on LinkedIn?