Get 5-Star Reviews on Your LinkedIn Profile
By Coach Cyrille
Let’s face it. A recruitment process is the absolute form of discrimination. Out of dozens of potential candidates, only one will be hired. As a seasoned Executives, you will be competing with a number of candidates with similar seniority and experience and also with younger more junior profiles highly motivated to get what could be for them the opportunity of a lifetime. It is not going to be easy to end up on top of everyone else.
Hence, every detail count. Of course, your professional track record and your ability to persuasively communicate with each stakeholder involved in the selection process will play an essential part in the final result. But you should not underestimate the importance of your LinkedIn profile whether at an early screening stage or when at the final stage, a coin has to be tossed to separate the final contenders. a final decision has to be made.
Research has proven that the selection of a candidate often involves a lot of “irrationality”. You remember the survey saying that interviewers have made their opinion about a candidate within the first 90 seconds of an interview. Well, unfortunately it rings a bell.
Recommendations can play a surprisingly big part in the final hiring decision.
First things first – Know what you want to achieve
If you have been part of our Career Management & Personal Branding coaching programs, you have a very clear idea by now of what your professional goals for the next five to ten years are.
If not, now is the time to write things down.
Like your CV, your LinkedIn profile shall resolutely be focusing on the future. Not the past.
If this idea is new to you, don’t hesitate to reach out and I will be glad to share a few thoughts with you.
Instead of exhaustively listing all the skills, competencies and achievements of your great career, you should be able to very carefully select the ones that will be the most relevant to support your upcoming career goals.
No point bragging about your exceptional sales results achieved over the past two decades if you really don’t want to be directly involved in sales anymore in the foreseeable future.
Identify contacts in your network who could – one way or another – help you to achieve your goals
Most candidates tend to underestimate the depth and reach of their professional network. Most likely because they haven’t spent much time cultivating and nurturing their contacts over the past year, they have forgotten they were in contact with quite a number of them over the years.
Now is the time to freshen things up.
Priority shall be given to the “low hanging fruits”. Family, friends, school alumni and close colleagues shall be approached first. It will give you an opportunity to hon your “approach” skills and experiment “live” the “asking for recommendation” process.
Next shall be colleagues and professional connections who know you well and appreciate you. You have had good professional relationships with them for many years. You backed each other up during hard times. You know they will move mountains for you. They won’t hesitate a second when asked to post a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile.
Last but not least are people who should know about you. You may not have worked directly with them, but they have enjoyed the fruits of your efforts. They benefited from your achievements. They may not necessarily agree to support you. But it is definitely worth getting in touch with them to try.
Associate each Contact with a specific Skill, Competency or Achievement
Asking for random recommendation from equally random contacts is not going to be very useful. Furthermore, collecting dozens of recommendations saying that you are a great guy and that working with you as been fun will contribute little toward the achievement of your professional goals.
Now imagine how impactful it would be if a seasoned Executive recognized by his peers and competitors across his industry or function for a specific skill or competency were to endorse you for that particular skill or competency. That would be great indeed.
Stretch your imagination even further and imagine that the circumstances in which the recommendation is given further highlight that particular skill or competency.
For example, I remember a senior Advertising industry Executive who was invited to Singapore to be a Keynote speaker at one of the most important industry events of the year. She gave a great speech. Instructive and fun. Thousands of Executives from across the region were in awe in front of her achievements. The best part is yet to come. Shortly following the event, a wildly recognized Public Speaking professor and coach wrote a great recommendation on her LinkedIn page. Saying how great she had been when giving her speech during the congress in front of a large and demanding audience.
Public speaking skill endorsed by a Public Speaking expert during a real-life Public Speaking experience. You could not ask for a more perfect recommendation.
Approach your Contacts tactfully
Nobody likes to be taken for granted. Be mindful of the way you approach your contacts. Understand that people are usually busy and not sitting on their hands just waiting for you to ask for a recommendation.
People also tend to be careful not to endorse the wrong person or to mistakenly endorse the wrong skill or competency.
Don’t forget that by endorsing you, they invest part of their own professional reputation to your own future performance. In a sense, you become accountable for their own personal brand. This is a huge responsibility, not to be taken lightly.
The good news is that most people – when politely approached – are more than willing to help. You will be surprised how supportive people in your network will be.
Please note that nobody likes being asked for something out of the blue. Especially if you have not been in contact with them for a number of months/years.
I suggest a 3-step approach over two to three weeks to minimize the risk of “irritating” your contacts.
Step 1 – Inquiry about your contact. Especially if you haven’t received any news from her for a number of years, it is important to ask how she is doing? How her job is going? What challenges she is facing? And so forth. You may also take the opportunity to share – succinctly, remember it is not about you – some news about yourself.
Step 2 – Make a deposit in your relationship account. I also call it your “karma” account. Share with your contact information that most likely will be valuable or relevant to her. It could be a link to an article or video you found online. It could be an interview of a person who could be of interest to your contact. It could also be an introduction to someone in your network who could be useful to her. In a few words, bring something to the table.
Step 3 – Politely ask for the recommendation.
Asking for a recommendation
Before you start asking for recommendation from your contacts in your network beware that you don’t want to alarm everyone (especially friends and colleagues) about your future professional plans.
Hence, it is important to de-dramatize your initiative.
Your reassurance could be along those lines: “After xxx many years working with my current Company / in my current role, I am very happy with what have been achieved so far and very excited with the numerous projects to come. In the meantime, I am in the process of “refreshing” my LinkedIn profile in case some interesting opportunities were to come up.”
As mentioned earlier, most people are more than willing to help. And they will readily agree to post a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. And yet, they have no idea where to start and most importantly no time to spend on this. Furthermore, a number of your willing supporters are concerned of not writing the “right” thing about you. They are worried to disappoint you in the process. Clearly not a situation we want to create.
Write the recommendation yourself
The best way forward is to propose a “draft” of recommendation that you would like to see posted on your profile. You can’t imagine how relieved your contacts will be when they see your draft. They will love you for making their life simple.
As you have already associated a specific skill or competency with a particular contact, you know exactly what you want that person to say on your behalf.
I strongly recommend you follow the same structure for each recommendation:
- Facts: You describe the business environment, the circumstances you were operating in.
- Problems: You highlight the challenges you were facing and the various options available. You present the actions you took and how you overcome all those difficulties. Ideally associating in the process, the person “writing” the recommendation.
- Solution: You summarize your achievements by sharing the actual results of your actions. Please be specific and tangible. Provide relevant metrics that will allow your future reader to appreciate your performance for their true value.
Of course, you shall offer – as a courtesy – your correspondent the opportunity to make the changes and modifications she shall see fit and appropriate.
Thank you & Final Thoughts
Once, the recommendation has been posted on your LinkedIn profile, don’t forget to promptly and warmly thank your contact for her endorsement. Please make sure you had her to your end of the year mailing list and that you keep her updated with your career progress. Nothing could be worse than to become a stranger again for years to come until you need her support again. In that case, it is likely that her future reaction may be lot “cooler” and less supportive than today.
Of course, endorsements from your contacts in your network will not land you your dream job just by themselves. It will take a lot of talent, poise and conviction to achieve your future career goals. However, if you follow the Career Coaching by Cyrille program’s recommendations and suggestions as described above, you will be in total control of the message and the medium – who is speaking – itself. Hence, ensuring maximum efficacy in building the Personal Brand that will help you to stand out from the crowd.
For any questions or advices, don’t hesitate to contact me directly by WhatsApp at + 852 63067145 or by email [email protected] -Visit our web site: www.careercoachingbycyrille.com
References & Further reading:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-keys-to-scoring-amazing-linkedin-recommendations
Forbes contributor, William Arruda: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/#67ea72f6668d
Job Search Expert, Alison Doyle: