If you’re tired of hearing about building Your Brand, I understand. It’s a tiresome buzzword concept. But tending to the Story of You – your accomplishments and career highlights – in LinkedIn is truly one of the most powerful tools you have to maintain or increase your visibility in your professional community.
Some call that brand management. I think it’s just common sense to take advantage of one of the largest networking platforms on the planet.
Think about these stats for LinkedIN:
- 400 million members – 100+ million in the US
- A professional photo increases the likelihood that you’ll be found by 14 times
- Listing your skills in the Summary increases your ‘hits’ 13 times
You don’t have to be looking for a job. You don’t have to tweet, post or publish. If you want to do those things, it can be very helpful. However, management of Your Brand is a time consuming process and most people don’t have the time or the inclination.
I think one point that you need to know is very significant:
- Companies are trending to using a LinkedIn profile over a resume, and in some cases, in place of a resume, for their hiring strategies.
Executives that I talk to regularly voice concern when a candidate’s LinkedIn profile is neglected, out of date and skimpy. If you’re going to be a part of their company’s brand, you have to look the part.
Are resumes going away? No, not yet. But I think it will go the way of cover letters – mostly gone, mostly unused and unappreciated. When? I’m guessing 10 years. In 2005 LinkedIn was a small professional networking tool. Now it has 400 million members. What do you think?
