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career management

Build A Branded LinkedIn Header Image You Will Be Proud Of

Paul Copcutt

Unless you are one of those fake profiles, you would not want to use a stock photo for your headshot on your profile. So why are you doing it with the most important piece of visual real estate you have?

One area of a LinkedIn in profile that is really under used is the header image. LinkedIn offers you a few stock photo options, but once you have seen a few of the same one on a few profiles that loses its effect quickly.

This probably more than any other area is a perfect place for you to communicate your personal brand.

Some of my clients have uploaded pictures of their personal passions, hobbies or pursuits. Alternatively some have used it as an opportunity to highlight parts of their personal brands from a professional perspective.

Part of the image area is covered up your profile but with some clever editing and a little trial and error you can get a very effective representation of you, your message and your brand, like mine above.

First here is the template to use so you know which areas are visible all the time and which ones may be covered depending on the device.

Read More »Build A Branded LinkedIn Header Image You Will Be Proud Of

10 Personal Brand Tactics to Ensure That Next Promotion

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30 years ago you were told to expect to work for one employer for life,
20 years ago you were told to plan for extra leisure time because of automation, 10 years ago one quarter of the new jobs being created had never existed previously.

Now graduates are told to expect to be back at school every decade to retrain.

NEWSFLASH: The world of work is changing. Forever. Always.

We have been hearing human resource, organizational development and career guru’s telling us that for years. Gone are the days when ‘Personnel’ came and tapped you on the shoulder and told you about your next career move.

“You can no longer rely on anyone for your career, except YOU” 
Paul Copcutt

Once you make it to the next promotion, there are on-boarding programs, online courses and books, like “The First 90 Days” to help.

But what about before all that happens?

Read More »10 Personal Brand Tactics to Ensure That Next Promotion

7 Steps to Making Your Personal Brand Irresistible

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My Dad had a huge love of genealogy and, tracked down distant family members, wrote letters and, visited local churches for old records of births, baptism’s marriages and deaths. He did it all the old fashioned way without the internet. His legacy is that I have his handwritten, 42 foot long , family tree.

He loved nothing more than to welcome a visitor to his home village and, take them to meet all the relatives – in the local graveyard!  Then he would invite the visitor back for a strong cup of English tea, pulling out the family tree and recall stories of Aunt Edith’s love of a shot of gin or the size of Uncle Bert’s nose, which I swore got bigger every time the story was told!

He was telling their stories, who they were, what they did and what they stood for. If someone were to do the same about you, what would they say?

Your challenge is that you may not be the best person to tell your personal brand story.

If I were to ask you right now to tell me what your personal brand is, how confident would you be of doing yourself justice?

7 Steps to Building Your Personal Brand Story

Read More »7 Steps to Making Your Personal Brand Irresistible

4 Steps to Improve Your LinkedIn Luck

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As it’s Friday 13th I thought you might like to have a black cat ‘walk’ across your screen for good luck.

Success on LinkedIn, however, relies on more than just luck. Getting your profile to ‘All Star’ status is really just the beginning, after all this is not a network like Facebook (although some people seem to think it is) posting a few personal updates and expecting lots of likes and comments is not a strategy. To be successful on LinkedIn you need Read More »4 Steps to Improve Your LinkedIn Luck

How to Hog the LinkedIn Limelight With 3D Activity (Part 2)

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When I was a kid and the local fair rolled into town, the main booth we would go to was called the “Win a Goldfish”. What seemed like hundreds of glass jars were laid out before me and in some of them were goldfish in water. For a few pennies, you got 3 attempts to land a ping-pong ball in one of the jars containing a goldfish and then take it home.

One of us always seemed to proudly be walking home, plastic bag in hand with our goldfish prize. Sadly our triumph was short lived as , a goldfish is not a hardy pet and usually only survived a few days.

Nowadays our connection to ‘goldfish’ has slipped from days to seconds. Read More »How to Hog the LinkedIn Limelight With 3D Activity (Part 2)

Are You Running Up Against the Commercial Use Search Limit on LinkedIn?

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BUT I want to do more searches! With a number of changes over the last several months LinkedIn has also appeared to be playing with how many searches you can conduct. This has always been the case with free accounts but now it seems the same applies to some of the Premium accounts too.

What is more frustrating is that there does not seem to be any definitive number, I have found with my own Premium account that I can run up to this limit just before my renewal date is, but other months it can be in the first few days and I don’t seem to be doing anything different!

Here are some solutions …..Read More »Are You Running Up Against the Commercial Use Search Limit on LinkedIn?

Are You Using the Mini-Profile Feature in LinkedIn Groups?

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Is That Commenter Someone You Want to Know?

If you are regularly involved in Groups (if you are not you should be), often you will see a comment by someone in a post and want to know a little bit more about them but are not ready to look at their full profile, or you do not want to navigate away from the Group.

Now there is a solution! 

Now if you hover…..Read More »Are You Using the Mini-Profile Feature in LinkedIn Groups?

How to Hog the LinkedIn Limelight With 3D Activity (Part 1)

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Read How to Hog The LinkedIn Limelight with a 3D Profile – Part 2 – click here

Growing up, my lasting memory of cinemas was birthday outings when we got the chance to see 2 full length movies with , bags of popcorn and the usherette at the interval selling mini ice cream tubs with wooden spoons that always made my tongue send shivers down my spine.

What are your lasting memories of the movies?

Fast forward a few decades and now we have movies (professional or amateur) everywhere we look. Streaming movies on demand, access through just about any technology device and a cinema industry that is constantly innovative in order to remain relevant and attractive.

For some of us, even visual stimulation is no longer enough.

Read More »How to Hog the LinkedIn Limelight With 3D Activity (Part 1)

What Use is Your Headshot on LinkedIn?

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How Important Is Your Headshot?

According to various sources having a head shot on LinkedIn can increase the chances of your profile being looked at in more detail by between 7 and 14 times. LinkedIn says around 11 times. Like it or not others are making decisions regarding your profile photo, or lack of one.

This may not be as far fetched as you might think. If you are a recruiter, hiring manager or someone looking to buy a product or service and your are searching, or come across an update or comment, you often look for the headshot first.

So what is your reaction if you do not see a face? 

It might be that the person is trying to hide something, or they are not serious about business or you just move on.

So first things first, you need a headshot. 

The first key step is…..Read More »What Use is Your Headshot on LinkedIn?

The 3 Problems Everyone Has With Personal Branding And How We Solved Them

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Growing up, we lived about 30 miles west of Central London and could easily access one of the City’s expansive subway lines (the oldest in the world). They whisked us in to the ‘big smoke’ in under an hour. Day trips to London were events eagerly looked forward to and  I have long lasting memories of standing on an underground platform, hair and face being pushed with warm air as the train whistled in to the station and hearing a clear and authoritative voice say;

“Mind the gap”

Last week, Phil Sayer, whose warning to travellers to “mind the gap” is one of the most used on the London Underground, died at the age of 62. Along with his wife, also a voiceover professional, their voices are heard on trains and at railway stations around Britain. They are often apologizing for cancellations and delays. He was quoted as saying……Read More »The 3 Problems Everyone Has With Personal Branding And How We Solved Them