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3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

All Hallows Eve is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. It seems fitting that on Halloween we reflect on the personal brand lessons from the news last week that Twitter will be closing down their 6-second video app Vine. It may have come as a surprise to many of you, however, the ‘Vine Personal Brand Stars’ that it helped to create have already been moving on… Read More »3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

Many believe that the endorsements, given by others, of your skills on your profile, are next to worthless. Following several acquisitions of companies in the artificial intelligence (A.I.) space, LinkedIn has been incorporating some of the technology into upgrades of its platform. This includes looking to make the endorsements of skills more relevant to those viewing your profile. We all appreciate the value of a solid recommendation from a colleague or client.… Read More »Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

Don’t Make the Mistake of Telling Your Boss Your Are Looking for a New Job

A big source of revenue for LinkedIn is it’s recruiter focused accounts. Naturally (as in the ad above) they want to make the platform attractive to recruiters. But not all candidates are public about their job searching intentions because they fear their boss may find out. Now LinkedIn has introduced a feature that you can turn on or off which privately advises recruiters that you are open to new opportunities.… Read More »Don’t Make the Mistake of Telling Your Boss Your Are Looking for a New Job

10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

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Imagine standing at a local networking event and every second that passes, two more new people walked in the door. It would soon get packed!

This is exactly what is happening 24 hours a day on LinkedIn as 7,200 new members join ever hour. As the world’s largest professional network, with over 450 million members, LinkedIn offers a huge global business opportunity.

But can it be useful on a local level and can it help you build new relationships and grow your business or career? Yes!

LinkedIn is business focused unlike Facebook or Twitter where the lines are blurred. On LinkedIn it is understood that you are connecting for business purposes. Around 40% of LinkedIn’s 12 million Canadian members live in Ontario. A simple postcode ‘Advanced Search’ can connect you with people as close as a 15 km radius to your location or target area.

You can also search by industry, company, job title and specific keywords to accurately pinpoint the connections your business needs. It is important for you to be very clear about who you want to connect with and why.

With that in mind, here are my TOP TEN ways to use LinkedIn effectively;

Read More »10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

Do you have a personal brand day?

‘We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.’ – Sir Winston Churchill In my personal brand consulting with clients I often recommend that they pick a day that means something to their brand and that they can use to make contact with their network at least once a year.  I usually advise them not to pick the usual days that everyone else does like… Read More »Do you have a personal brand day?

Congratulating Me on LinkedIn is a Mistake

Last week I had an anniversary related to one of the collaboration projects I am involved in. It is listed on my LinkedIn profile. When this happens all of my 1st connections are told either on their home page under ‘Ways to stay in touch’, or now in their messages area it welcomes you with the ‘Hi Paul. Some ideas for conversations’   LinkedIn makes it very easy for these connections… Read More »Congratulating Me on LinkedIn is a Mistake

Don’t Leave Your Personal Brand to Chance – 5 Tips for Success

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“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan

The Fall is a busy time for everyone. Many companies view the last 4 months of the year as an opportunity to spend the years budgets, or individuals look to make that all important career move, ready to start the new year in a new opportunity.

Recruiters are also very active, between now and the end of the year can make or break their commissions or bonus, and for some those payments can be significant. Unfortunately that can sometimes mean they lose sight of what is best for the candidate.

A word to the wise when you get that next headhunters call!!

I am reminded about a certain recruiter who I think only ever worked for one client and therefore when he was contacting people to talk about a great new opportunity he could really only have one ‘sales pitch’.

One September he called a friend of mine who had, to that point, a successful career in sales in consumer goods and proceeded to tell him that industry was dying, no future, consolidation was happening everywhere – to an extent it was true. He went on to say Now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions, was how he described it – we knew it was double glazing!

Three years later, again in September, my friend, who had by then switched to the medical industry, had a call one evening from the same recruiter – his opening line after finding out what my friend was doing was “That’s a dying industry, lots of consolidation – now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions……..!!!!!!”

You should not be leaving your next career move to the whims of anyone else, it’s up to you to own the definition of who you are.

Here are 5 ways to ensure you have better control of your career;

Read More »Don’t Leave Your Personal Brand to Chance – 5 Tips for Success

Why can I only make connect automatically with some 2nd connections on LinkedIn ?

This weeks tip comes via a reader question “I’m wondering why sometimes I can do a “connect” invite to some secondary connections (without having to say how I know them), but not others? Thanks Paul” – Joe This is not something you can control because it is how others have their settings on accepting invitations. It is something that you want to check for your own profile so that if you ensure you… Read More »Why can I only make connect automatically with some 2nd connections on LinkedIn ?

Is Your Personal Brand Like the iPhone 7 or More Like the Galaxy Note 7 ?

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In recent weeks we have seen two very different brand stories when it comes to the latest smartphones.

The launch of the iPhone 7 has been accompanied by all the pre-launch build up that Apple does so well and that leads to increased demand. We have seen images of the ‘Apple Junkies’, who have already secured their new phone by pre-order, but still queue up overnight to be one of the first to physically have their phone.

Contrast this with the total product recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. There have been reports of a risk of it exploding and airlines have even advised passengers not to get on the plane in possession of one.

These events are accompanied by Apple dropping the price of its ‘older’ models, Samsung having to dispose of whole technology divisions to pay the expected $1 billion+ in compensation, and of course Apple’s share price rising.

Until the next launch or product recall.

After all, it seems like never a week goes by without another new phone hitting the market. Apparently the lifespan for a smartphone, before it becomes ‘obsolete’ and overtaken by a faster, sleeker, more buttons and gadgets phone from someone else, is between 3 and 6 months.

Is this same risk of obsolescence happening for you in your career?

Read More »Is Your Personal Brand Like the iPhone 7 or More Like the Galaxy Note 7 ?

How to share content directly from a LinkedIn Pulse article

Pulse is one of the most useful areas on the LinkedIn platform to read longer form articles, thought leaders and find useful insights and information. For some bizarre reason LinkedIn decided a few weeks ago to ‘hide’ the Pulse channel and I shared how to now find it, – read Are You Getting the Full Story on LinkedIn? Hopefully you are now regularly reading various articles (including mine 🙂 –… Read More »How to share content directly from a LinkedIn Pulse article