11 tips to make sure your LinkedIn profile stands out

While updating your resume might be second nature for you, one of the overlooked feats is revamping your LinkedIn profile. Having a well-crafted LinkedIn page is the most effective way to get the most out of this powerful social media tool. Recruitment consultant for executive search firm Michael Page, Ranjan Dua, agrees, “It’s the first screening mechanism that we use while searching for a job candidate. It’s, therefore, very important.”

Wondering why recruiters are not lining at your doorstep, despite you having all the requisite skills and experience you need for that job you like? Probably because of your LinkedIn profile is not up to scratch

Dua asserts that a good profile can act as the packaging to your talents, skills, and experience, and help you market yourself to your industry. It’s the easiest way to build a personal brand that will make you more attractive to recruiters.

How to update your LinkedIn profile

1. Complete your profile

It might seem like the most obvious step, but you’d be surprised to know how many people don’t realise the importance of having a completed profile. The more informative your page is, the better chances there are for you to be noticed by potential recruiters. “An incomplete profile is a big red flag,” says Dua, “LinkedIn has a very structured approach. It has sections for everything, from stating your educational qualifications to properly mapping your job changes, and recommendations from your peers and seniors. I’m not saying everything should be completely filled to the brim, but every section should have some information, at least.”

Your profile will give recruiters a complete idea of everything there is to know about you, professionally—what your skills are, where you’ve worked before, and what do people you’ve worked with think of you.

LinkedIn also has an indicator that shows you how strong your profile is, based on its completeness—the stronger the profile, the better its chances of getting noticed.

2. Choose a great photo

The profile photo you choose might make or break your chances of being recruited, or even noticed. Humans are visual beings, the first thing anybody will notice when they come across your profile is your photo. This 500×500 pixel image can prove to be extremely useful as it’s the first impression people will get of you. You should be able to communicate your qualities, like being friendly and likeable, through your picture. “It’s the first introduction we get with the candidate, so it should convey professionalism,” says Dua. Lydia Abbot, content marketer at LinkedIn, notes in her blog about the ‘Right LinkedIn Profile Picture’ that one of the key things to ensure here is that your profile picture should be recent and clear. You need to look professional, so avoid putting up selfies or blurry photographs from that one wedding you went to and had great make-up on. Your face should take up about 60 per cent of the frame and you should wear what you would normally wear to work. She also advises that it’s best if you’re looking forward in your photo, or you can look towards the left to lead the viewer to the rest of the contents in your profile.

3. Make your headline pop

This 120-character long description can be used as an advertisement for your profile, when used correctly. “The headline is the second thing a recruiter notices about your profile, after your photo,” says Dua. This is the first text that shows up right below your name in your profile. LinkedIn uses your current job title and your employer as your headline by default. But you can edit this to make your profile stand out. Recruiters go through a lot of profiles when searching for a candidate. By having a descriptive headline, you can catch their eye more effectively. This is your chance to tell a potential employer everything about you in one sentence. You can either list your primary skill, or your most important achievement as creatively as you can.

4. Connect with people

Having a lot of (relevant) connections makes you more visible to people. Dua agrees, adding, “Connections are there to help you build a network of industry professionals that can help you grow, and who you can help as well. LinkedIn’s algorithm suggests connections to you based on the connections you’ve already made, so it’s better to connect with people who can relate to the content you put out and have content that you can relate to as well.”

One of the ways to go about it is to sync your profile to your email contact book. This will let LinkedIn’s algorithm to suggest people you know and could possibly connect with easily. You can also start following up official meetings with an invite to connect on LinkedIn. This will help you grow your network and stay connected with people in your industry.

5. Get the ‘Summary’ right

This is a place where you can elaborate and tell the viewer your story, both personal and professional. But be precise and to-the-point, suggests Dua. “One of the biggest mistakes people make here is that they try to be verbose,” he says, “When you write paragraphs that start with ‘I began my journey with….’, it becomes an ordeal for the recruiter to read through the entire thing.” Don’t use it just to list your skills and professional achievements, this will make it look boring and stale. Write from a first person POV, and be interactive. Another thing to keep in mind here is to back up your claims with numbers to prove them. “Your content should also be quantified. For instance, if you want to say that you increased your company’s business, we want to know exactly how you helped in that, so you should say something like ‘I helped increase my company’s business revenue from 5 per cent to 10 per cent’.”

Share how the skills you’ve acquired have an impact on the industry and the society. It should not be more than three-five concise paragraphs long.

6. Streamline your skills

This section can let you effectively showcase all the skills you’ve perfected over the years. A good way to know what to add to your profile is to check out the skills of the people who are relevant to the job description you’re searching for. This will help you get an idea on how to streamline and curate your skills, which people can also endorse you on. In 2019, LinkedIn launched a feature that lets you take a quiz to determine your proficiency in the skills you’ve listed. It’s an online test that will help you assess the level of your skill and will earn you a ‘Verified Skill’ badge on your profile. According to a research conducted by the platform, candidates who have the ‘Verified Skills’ badge are more likely to be hired for the jobs they apply for. You can take the test multiple times to improve your chances at a ‘Verified’ badge. Additionally, Dua adds that you can also link your Google certificate with your profile to make a better impact, “It shows that you’ve gone out of your way and gotten these certifications.”

7. Accessorise with multimedia

Your profile should be professional, but not boring. LinkedIn lets you add photos, videos, and slideshows, to enhance your profile. Make sure you use this feature effectively to use different ways to highlight your skills, experience, and achievements. Here, you can showcase yourself in action by including videos of any conference you spoke at, or something that exhibits your talent properly. This also includes adding a background photo that doesn’t distract from your main profile photo, but serves to add to your profile. According to Dua, you can use your background photo as a tool too, “Using the company’s branding and logos, as your background photo, shows loyalty towards the company. It’s not mandatory, but it looks good on a profile.”

8. Request recommendations

Don’t be afraid to ask people for recommendations to add to your profile. Reach out to people you work with, or have worked with in the past, and request them to write you a testimonial that speaks of your skills. Aside from being a glowing review of your skills, this can serve to show any potential employer that you are a team player and can work well with different kinds of people.

But make sure the recommendations are not vague and generic. They need to be specific and highlight your abilities and skills. “Recommendations and endorsements on your skills do hold some merit, but if it’s just from your peer group, the recruiter will see right through them. If it’s from your senior, or a senior professional from your industry, then it makes a difference,” says Dua.

9. Ditch the buzzwords

While it’s tempting to pepper your profile with words like ‘motivated’, ‘specialised’, ‘leadership’, ‘passionate’, and etc, avoid these buzzwords at all costs. These words present a very vague image of you as a professional and can make your profile get lost amongst others. Use them very judiciously, if you have to, and back it up with real-life examples, illustrating why you’re saying you have that ability. If you’re looking for effective and descriptive keywords for your profile, then you should look at your target job descriptions. See what your ideal employers are looking for, not the important keywords, and tailor your profile accordingly, suggests Dua.

10. Share your opinions

Another under-used element is the Publishing tool provided by the platform. You can express your opinions and exhibit your thought-leadership by publishing long-form content on the website. Needless to say, it needs to be original, well-researched, and relevant to your industry. This can attract viewers to your profile and start a conversation with people, leading you to develop your personal brand.

11. Follow industry influencers

Identify people who hold influence in your industry and follow them on LinkedIn. Not only will it be an informative experience for you and provide you with interesting and relevant content on your feed, you can share it on your feed as well. This can serve as an extension of your brand and highlight your interests and thought process.

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Effective Ways to Find a New Job

There was a time when people got a job right out of school and stuck with it until they retired. Those days are gone for good. Today, people have to be nimble about locating new job opportunities, preferably before they’re forced to do it. Here are some new strategies to keep your career moving onward and upward.

Website’s to find jobs “digital marketing agency”

1. Naukri. One of the oldest and the most popular job portals in India is Naukri. …
2. Foundit. Foundit, formerly known as Monster is another popular and one of the oldest Job portals of India. …
3. LinkedIn. …
4. Shine. …
5. TimesJobs. …
6. Indeed. …
7. Glassdoor. …
8. Freshersworld.

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Networking

It’s known as the hidden job market: Many of the best jobs are never advertised. They are filled by candidates who learn of them by word of mouth from friends, former colleagues, and ex-bosses.

KEY POINTS

• Networking, online and in person, is one of the best ways to stay on top of what’s happening in your field, including what jobs are open and where.
• Check in on job search sites frequently. For best results, look for one that specializes in your field.
• Don’t snub temporary or freelance work. They often lead to full-time opportunities.

Networking is another word for socializing. You can join professional associations, attend events for graduates of your school, connect with professionals who work in your field, and take every chance you get to meet up, in person or online, with others in your field.

Various online sites such as LinkedIn allow you to broaden your network to include friends of friends. The bigger your network, the more likely you’ll find out about new opportunities.

Referrals

Some employers offer incentives to their employees for referring a successful candidate to the company. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. You get a new job, and your contact gets a finder’s fee for attracting a top-notch employee.

That’s relatively rare, but there’s nothing stopping you from asking a valued friend who works in your field to let you know about any openings. The working relationships you create at every job may open other doors years in the future.

Job Boards and Career Websites

Job boards used to be just that—a solid surface on a wall where vacancies were advertised for all to see. Job boards have moved to virtual format, and that’s good news for all of us since their reach is far greater.

If you’re just starting out, an internship or even a volunteer job can get you in the door.
Anyone can access federal and state governments job boards and job banks.

You can also use job search engines or any of a vast number of career-related websites that post job openings, such as Monster.com, Google for Jobs, CareerBuilder, and Indeed. Many other databases specialize in freelance and contract work, including People Per Hour, Upwork, Simply Hired, and Crowded.
There also are specialized job search sites for particular fields, like Dice for tech professionals and ArtsThread for artists.
These websites function in a similar way to traditional want-ads, but they have a far greater reach and a much quicker turnaround time.

Job Fairs

Job fairs are often targeted toward specific industries, although some job or recruitment fairs are more generalized. The promotional material will include a list of the organizations that will be represented.

Investigate any companies that interest you, bring a batch of resumes and business cards, and get ready to sell yourself. Consider any conversations with recruiters as mini-interviews that can set you apart from other applicants. Some organizations may even offer on-site interviews to candidates that match their requirements.

Company Websites

If you already have your dream employer in mind, go directly to the career section of the company’s website. If you track openings on its site, there’s a chance you’ll find just the opportunity that you’ve been waiting for.

Create a list of employers that you’d like to work for and visit their websites often. If you’re really set on working for a specific company it may take some time to find just the opportunity that fits your skillset. But if you’ve got time, this might be the optimal method for finding your dream job.

Cold Calling

If you don’t see any job listings posted for a company you’re particularly interested in, you might consider making a cold call. Phone or email people in the organization after finding their contact details on the company website. Ask about upcoming vacancies, and attach a copy of your resume.

Keep in mind that this kind of contact may not always be well-received. You’ll be lucky to get any response at all. But there is always a chance it’ll give you the inside track on upcoming vacancies.

Headhunters and Recruiters

If you’re looking for some professional help in your job search, headhunters and recruitment agencies can help.

Many organizations hire through recruitment agencies to streamline the hiring process. Head hunters actively recruit individuals to fill specific vacancies.

Payment is based on commission. Make sure you know up front whether you or the company is paying it.

Keep in mind that many high schools and colleges have job placement services that can help new graduates to develop their resumes and assist both current students and alumni with job searches.

Temping or Internships

Temporary employment and short-term contracts often lead to permanent positions. It’s a great way to get a foot in the door or at the very least provide you with useful business contacts to call upon in the future.

Many recruitment agencies can assist with locating temporary or casual positions and contract work.

Internships are a great choice for students who are just graduating from college. The job placement services of many schools connect their students with opportunities.

If you’re just starting out and you can afford it, volunteering can be a great way to gain valuable industry contacts.

Creative or Outlandish Tactics

In a competitive job market, some job seekers have pulled out all the stops. Billboards, chain letters with a copy of your resume attached, or even pasting your resume to yourself and walking around the city as a human billboard are just some of the methods job-seekers have used to get noticed.

These methods may actually work, but be cautious. Be sure that your creative tactic is appropriate for the industry you’re trying to break into.

Follow these Steps

• Use job search engines and aggregator websites to find job listings that match your skills and experience.
• Optimize your resume with relevant keywords that match the job description, including skills, job titles, and industry-specific terms.
• Use social media to search for job openings and network with professionals in your industry.
• Check job boards and online communities that are specific to your industry or field.
• Attend job fairs and networking events to connect with potential employers and learn about job openings.
• Contact recruiting agencies and staffing firms that specialize in your industry or field.
• Use LinkedIn to showcase your skills and experience and connect with potential employers and recruiters.
• Create a personal website or portfolio to showcase your work and skills.
• Use job search apps to search for job openings on your mobile device.
• Check company websites for job openings and apply directly through their online application systems.
• Consider temporary or contract work to gain experience and make connections in your industry.
• Use informational interviews to learn more about specific companies or industries and make valuable connections.
• Join professional organizations and attend industry conferences to meet new people and learn about job opportunities.
• Use job search alerts to receive notifications about new job openings that match your criteria.
• Research companies that interest you and send targeted applications or cover letters that highlight your skills and experience.
• Consider freelance work or starting your own business to create your own job opportunities.
• Use niche job search websites to find job openings in specific industries or fields.
• Apply for jobs that may be a slight stretch, but that you feel you can grow into with additional training or experience.
• Follow up with employers after submitting your application to express your interest and enthusiasm.
• Stay positive and persistent in your job search, and continue to learn and grow your skills and experience to increase your chances of success.

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A new York The gender pay gap, which measures how much women make for every dollar a male makes, is most often expressed in monetary terms.

Due to the fact that women often earn less than males and must consequently put in more hours of work to achieve parity, this disparity is also indirectly a measure of time.

For how long? Input Equal Pay Day, a roughly calculated indicator of the number of months a woman must work to earn as much as a man did the previous year.

Equal Pay Day falls on March 14 this year. In order to earn what the average man made last year, the average full-time working woman must work almost 2.5 months longer than the average man.

That is based on the Census Bureau’s most current estimate of the gender pay gap, which found an 84 cent difference among full-time, year-round employees. When part-time, seasonal, and gig workers are included, the disparity widens and the period of time needed to catch up lengthens.

The good news is that over the past 20 years, the pay disparity has been slowly closing. Moreover, Equal Pay Day, which was first observed in 1996 by the National Commission on Pay Equality, is currently observed about one month earlier.

The bad news is that Equal Pay Day will still exist in 2023 since pay fairness will not be achieved until much later.

Many groups experience Equal Pay Day differently.

Due in large part to the fact that the actual date varies greatly depending on race and ethnicity, occupation, region, age, and other factors, Equal Pay Day is generally only observed symbolically for women in March.

According to Noreen Farrell, the chair of the advocacy group Equal Pay Today, “March 14 marks the beginning of an entire year of Equal Pay Days that will highlight pay gaps experienced by women of different races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities, as well as by those who are also mothers.

For instance, the group notes that this year’s Equal Pay Day will fall on April 5 for women who are Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, on July 27 for Black women, on October 5 for Latina women, and on November 30 for Native and Indigenous women, relative to the average earnings of a White man.

The pay gap is broken down by occupation in an annual report published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. According to its most recent analysis, women will earn less than men for full-time weekly employment in nearly all professions in 2022, including 19 of the top 20 professions for women and all 20 top professions for men.

In other words, except for the position of teaching assistant, women still earn less than men in professions where they predominate. Only in that profession did IWPR discover no difference between full-time working women and men’s median weekly earnings by gender.

Permanent pay disparities result in significant financial losses over time.

The gender wage gap results in significant financial losses for families as well as for women individually.

This limits their capacity to gradually acquire financial security and raises the possibility that they may have to incur debt in order to pay for necessities and unexpected expenses. A woman’s career-related lower pay will also have an impact on her retirement Social Security benefit.

Consider the current pay disparity, which, according to the National Women’s Law Center, equals $9,954 in median annual wages. According to the group, the difference in one woman’s life could pay for all of the following expenses plus interest: two months of child care ($1,883), three months of rent ($3,573), three months of health insurance premiums ($1,544), two months of student loan payments ($544), and six tanks of gas ($316).

According to the NWLC, the current gender wage gap can cost women and their families up to $400,000 over the course of a 40-year career. For women of colour, the loss is even higher: about $1 million throughout their lifetimes.

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The advantages of a four-day workweek for the climate

The advantages of a four-day workweek for output and employee satisfaction are gaining popularity, but the situation is more difficult when it comes to climate change.

Tyler Grange, a recently established environmental consultant with offices in Gloucestershire, UK, and founded by Simon Ursell and his three fellow co-founders, decided to offer all of its employees one day off per month to participate in volunteer work in 2011.

They discovered that several of their new workers had already started volunteering for wildlife trusts in their spare time. Our ecologists have always enjoyed their work, according to Ursell.

However, Tyler Grange tried out giving every employee a fifth of their workweek off last year, which some could view as a much more extreme step towards worker wellbeing.

The business participated in the largest four-day workweek trial in history, which was conducted in the UK from June to December 2022.

Tyler Grange’s managers and employees enthusiastically welcomed the achievement after learning that daily output had increased by 22%. Ursell was also interested in measuring how the shorter workweek would affect the carbon footprint of the organisation. The four-day workweek also proved to be quite beneficial for this, he claims.

He says with a smile, “On average we witnessed a 21% drop in the amount of miles travelled by car. Tyler Grange eliminated pointless meetings and travel. Many workers increased their involvement in climate volunteerism over their extra days off.

The four-day workweek is a topic of discussion that is spreading throughout the world. A shortened workweek’s effects have also been studied by the public sector in Iceland, businesses in Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Japan, and New Zealand, as well as the non-profit organisation that oversaw the UK study, 4 Day Week Worldwide.

But, the UK study, which included more than 60 businesses and organisations, was the largest so far. The final findings were released on February 21. Since then, some businesses have backed up earlier research that claimed a reduced workweek might be beneficial to the environment.

DO FOUR-DAY WEEKS ACTUALLY WORK?

56 of the 70 businesses participating in the 2022 UK study said they would continue to use a four-day workweek after the pilot programme concluded.

They listed advantages like improved productivity and significant cost savings for workers on childcare and transportation. Employees appear especially eager to establish shorter workweeks as the norm, which is understandable.

A four-day work week, however, may seem advantageous in some occupations, such as those in the technology sector, but some wonder whether it will work in more established industries. Learn more about the potential reach of the four-day workweek.

The principal researcher for 4 Day Week Worldwide and an economist and sociologist at Boston College who worked on both the US and UK pilots, Juliet Schor, contends that a shorter workweek is essential to attaining the necessary reductions in carbon emissions.

Although measuring the benefits for the environment is difficult, a lot of research has shown that over time, as countries cut back on working hours, their carbon emissions decline. According to a 2012 research Schor co-authored, a 10% reduction in hours is connected with an 8.6% decrease in carbon footprint.

A decrease in commuting is one of the most significant factors in the four-day workweek’s benefits for the environment. The companies that recorded commuting time saw a 10% decrease during the pilot period, from 3.5 hours to 3.15 hours per week, according to data from the UK study provided with Future Planet. Even though this is a big fall, Schor estimates savings of up to 15-20%. The decrease was considerably greater in the 2022 US study, going from 3.56 to 2.59 hours per week (a 27% reduction).

The UK and US studies also discovered that many people used the time saved by not having to commute or go to work to engage in low-carbon pursuits like hiking or home-based hobbies. The UK data also demonstrated that the change to a shorter workweek increased pro-environmental behaviours: trial participants spent more time volunteering for environmental causes, were more cautious with recycling, and purchased more environmentally friendly goods.

“When people work less, they have more free time for sustainable activities, which are often more time-intensive,” claims Stefanie Gerold, a researcher at Germany’s Brandenburg University of Technology who was not involved in the UK or US trials but who developed several working time reduction models that were implemented in Austrian companies.

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Employee volunteering increased at both the US study participant crowdfunding site Kickstarter and the UK trial participant non-profit Waterwise. Vice President and head of sustainability at Kickstarter, Jon Leland, claims to have seen an increase in social and civic engagement among employees.

The four-day workweek is intended to increase productivity while preventing overwork. Efficiency also pertains to energy. According to Laura White, project and research manager at Waterwise, more vacation days may lead to more energy-efficient workers. Because they are ultimately responsible for paying the bill, people are careful when they are at home.

The majority of the businesses who participated in the UK study came to the conclusion that the shorter workweek is advantageous for both the environment and business. So having more days off from work in the future is best for the environment?

The advantages of a four-day workweek for the climate

Climate change in four days

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