Work It Like A Mum
Work It Like A Mum
BONUS EPISODE: LinkedIn & Offline Networking: Unlock Hidden Opportunities
In this bonus episode of Work It Like a Mum, I’m joined by brilliant career advancement coach Leanne Cooper to help you raise your profile, grow your influence, and unlock opportunities—whether you’re ready for a new challenge or laying the groundwork for a future move.
Summer break is around the corner, and while the pace of life slows down for many, it can be the perfect time to pause and assess your career progress.
This is the third session of our Momentum Masterclass Series, a six-week programme designed to help you maintain momentum in career growth and job search throughout the slower-paced summer months.
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to:
- Create a standout LinkedIn profile that positions you for promotion or your next role
- Network with intention—online and offline—without feeling awkward or salesy
- Build a powerful personal brand that opens doors to opportunities (without burnout)
- Position yourself as the go-to expert in your field
- Take control of your visibility and influence in the job market
A few key takeaways:
Building a Purposeful Network and why it matters.
How to Craft Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn and Why it's the foundation of your career success.
Unlocking Hidden Opportunities with the power of networking.
Transform Your Mindset for the key to a show-stopping career.
Surround Yourself with Success. You can't be what you can't see, so get inspired!
Show Links:
Connect with our host, Elizabeth Willetts here
Learn more about Leanne’s work here
Boost your career with Investing in Women's Career Coaching! Get expert CV, interview, and LinkedIn guidance tailored for all career stages. Navigate transitions, discover strengths, and reach goals with our personalised approach. Book now for your dream job! Use 'workitlikeamum' for a 10% discount.
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Join over 1 million customers and counting who are saving money on their household bills with Utility Warehouse. Discover how much you can save here.
And here's your invite to our supportive and empowering Facebook Group, Work It Like a Mum - a supportive and safe networking community for professional working mothers. Our community is full of like-minded female professionals willing to offer support, advice or a friendly ear. See you there!
hello and welcome to the latest event in our momentum masterclass series. Today I am chatting with the brilliant, lovely leanne cooper, um, who is an expert career coaching coach for women from you, first coaching, and we're doing this masterclass today on linkedin and offline networking, um, and how to unlock those hidden opportunities, because there's a really scary stat that about 80% of roles are not advertised. It's how to uncover the hidden job market as people are logging on. Let us know if you can hear us all. Okay, please pop any questions, comments, anything you want to say in the comments.
Speaker 1:It's always really good when we have an interactive session, but our Momentum Masterclass series is a six-week online program. We're about halfway through now, so loads of events still to come and brought to you by investing women. It's designed to help you maintain momentum in your career development and job search during what is sometimes traditionally the quieter summer months. So each week, we're joined by the UK's leading career coaches to guide you through practical and empowering strategies that will help you move forward with clarity and confidence, whether you're actively job searching or just planning your next step. So thank you so much, leanne.
Speaker 1:We always have a really, really good session and today we're talking about LinkedInin and, um, how to unlock hidden opportunities. So I guess, as people are logging on, do let us know your thoughts on linkedin. If you're on linkedin, do you use linkedin? What do you like about linkedin? What do you find scary about linkedin? Please pop them in the comments and we will do our best to answer those as well. That's all right. Do you want to give people a bit of an intro to who you are? Because I've just like introduced you, like everyone, everyone knows who you are, but if you're not on linkedin.
Speaker 2:You might not know yeah, oh, thank you for the um for the introduction. I'm really looking forward to this session as well. We've done a few, haven't we? And I always really enjoy them. In fact, before we were backstage, we nearly didn't start did, because we?
Speaker 2:were having a chat about holidays and all sorts of stuff, but we're here now and we're ready to get serious, aren't we, liz? About this. So thank you for joining us. Thank you for being here today.
Speaker 2:For those that don't know me, if we haven't met yet, my name is Leanne Cooper. I am a career advancement coach for women, so I work with senior female leaders who are ready to secure their next internal promotion or to land a new exciting role elsewhere. I'm really excited to get into this topic. It's something I'm really passionate about and I really really believe in. So we're going to talk all about networking, visibility, personal brand, and I'm not talking like the fluffy, wishy-washy stuff. I'm talking about the real practical stuff that's going to get you poached, promoted and paid what you're worth really fast. So if you're new to my sessions as well, here's what you need to know.
Speaker 2:So I'm not here to dazzle you with a shiny, glossy presentation that's full of like vague, googleable tips that you'll forget tomorrow.
Speaker 2:We are all about high impact here.
Speaker 2:We're all about tangible action steps and doing stuff that's going to actually make a difference. So my approach is very straight talking, very no nonsense, and it's designed to get you to move forwards and not stay stuck where you are now, because if you keep showing up to sessions like this with your notebook and your pen and making a load of notes and then not doing anything with them, you'll still be in the same place in three months, in six months, in a year, and you'll feel more stuck, more frustrated and more invisible, and I don't want that for you, and I don't think you want that for you either. So to get together today we're going to lift the lid on the stuff that works when it comes to online and offline and networking. So this is not just theory. This is stuff that really works, and I'm really proud of the fact that I've supported over a thousand women now to secure new roles and to advance their careers. So if we roll our sleeves up together and get stuck in this afternoon, you could be next.
Speaker 2:Before we dive in, though, I just want to say something before we get stuck into the actual um workshop this afternoon. I want to acknowledge with you up front that this work is going to ask a lot of you. It's going to stretch you outside of your comfort zone, because I'm going to be asking you to do stuff beyond what's familiar to you at the moment and I'm going to be asking you to take some action steps after this session that you perhaps haven't taken before, because the outcome that you want lives on the other side of that comfort zone, on the other side of that fear, and so I know it's scary, but I'm here to give you a bit of a shove, but I promise I'll do it with love, because I can see your potential. I know how capable you are and how experienced you are and how talented you are, and and you weren't put here to stay hidden you were here to make an impact and to do brilliant work that lights you up and to build a career and a life that you're excited to wake up for, not to tolerate less than what you're capable of or deserve.
Speaker 2:So I want real, tangible change for you by the end of this year. I want you celebrating that real momentum, not kicking yourself for still being the best kept secret in in your industry. So there is going to be some hard work following this session. So make sure you've got a pen, some paper, so I'm going to set you some action steps as we go through so you can go away and do some stuff differently. So, yes, this work is going to stretch you, um, and I appreciate that, but I want to let you know that I get it and I understand that it can feel really, really scary when we're doing stuff like this and putting ourselves out there when we haven't done it before. And, liz, we felt that fear before I always feel that fear.
Speaker 1:I don't think that fear really leaves you. So I think if anyone's nervous, then you know there's always that fear.
Speaker 2:So I think you just get used to having it normal it's normal to feel fear when you're doing something that you haven't done before. And I remember like, if I rewind, five years ago I didn't even have a LinkedIn profile and then, four years ago, I remember posting for the first time. So I set up my profile and I just like, lurked on there for ages, didn't really do anything with it, and after about a year I thought, right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna post something. And I was absolutely terrified when I posted for the first time, like my hands were shaking, I felt physically sick. Honestly, I felt like I was gonna be sick. My little heart was pounding out of my chest and I was terrified, absolutely terrified about how I'd come across, what people would think.
Speaker 2:But do you know what? I did it anyway, and I made a start and I built on it a little bit, by a little bit, and I just kept doing the things I was scared of and making, making them more and more comfortable by doing them more and more and honestly, hands down, it's been the most career defining decision that I've made, and you can do it as well. Um, so let's get stuck in together. I'm going to go through three sections with you of things that are going to really make a difference to help you in this area. As we go through, like Liz said, I want to hear your thoughts, your questions, your comments, your reflections, um have a chat with us as we go through and Leanne is a real.
Speaker 1:Her posts if you're on LinkedIn are amazing oh, thank you, no, they're really really good, I guess. Then I know you're going through, but I suppose, just to warm people up, um, let us know are you on LinkedIn? Because it'd be good to know how many people are on LinkedIn at the moment and whether you post or not. So, please, please, do pop your um, pop whether you're on LinkedIn and whether you post in the comments, and I will let Leanne quack on yeah, let us know where you're at at the moment.
Speaker 2:Um, I think a lot of people are on LinkedIn, but they don't post. I was scared to even get on there for ages. So yeah, let us know where you're at at the minute. Um, it'd be good to know what's up starting.
Speaker 1:Marina says she's on LinkedIn but doesn't post at the moment.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, firmisk is the same yeah, you're not on your own there definitely not on your own, um, so let's change that.
Speaker 2:So I said we're going to talk about three key areas now the first key area we're going to talk about before we do anything practical and in terms of going out and connecting with people and networking or optimising your LinkedIn profile, the very first step and this is a step that a lot of people skip past is to focus on your thinking. So we are going to dig into the personal brand and the LinkedIn optimisation and the networking, but I want to talk to you about your thinking first, because the thing that's holding you back from visibility and from that momentum that you're in is not your ability, it's your mindset and it's your thinking around getting yourself out there and posting and networking and connecting with people. So it's you thinking that LinkedIn is too cringe or that you're not a social media person. That's the same reason that no one knows you exist. When a role comes up, you thinking, oh, I'll go away and I'll update my profile when I've got something impressive to say. It's the same reason why you're not getting found for those opportunities today.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's interesting, rachel. So Rachel said I'm on LinkedIn post occasionally, but she doesn't know what to say.
Speaker 2:It can feel quite cringy yeah, yeah and I get it. I totally get it. Um, so, in terms of you thinking as well, like you thinking, oh, somebody wouldn't want to connect with me. That's the reason that you're not front of mind for opportunities with key decision makers. You feeling like you have to water yourself down or keep yourself vague and be like low key about your results that you've worked really hard to achieve. That's the reason why hiring managers for your dream role are skipping past your profile today.
Speaker 2:So it's your thinking that is really impacting your results. So you thinking to yourself oh, it doesn't matter, my opinion doesn't count or my take's not important, and skipping past that post and not adding your comment or not joining the conversation, that's why people don't see you as an expert in your field and that's why your name isn't getting mentioned in the rooms that matter. And I know it can be really hard to hear that, but it's so, so true, because our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings create our actions and our actions create our results. So when your thinking is small, your actions shrink in line with that, and when your actions shrink, so do your results. So it's really important to start there like don't skip past this word, can you?
Speaker 1:repeat that again. You're thinking, yeah, so your thoughts?
Speaker 2:create your feelings yeah, feelings then create the actions that you take, and the actions you take then create the results that you get. So it all starts with you thinking, and most situations can be improved by better thoughts, because better thoughts will then result in better feelings, actions and results. So I really want to challenge you to just start here and start thinking about how your thoughts might be standing in your way of the success that you want. So I'm going to share a couple of action steps for you that you can make a note of and go away and do, moving forwards. The first thing, the first sort of activity, is around shifting the thought to shift the outcome. So how we start with this is we become aware of those unhelpful thoughts. So when a thought pops up into your head, be really aware of that thought, write it down, even, and ask yourself what story am I telling myself here, and is it actually true? What evidence do I have? So if you say, oh, I'm not going to post because nobody's interested in what I've got to say, well, what evidence have you got? There's over a billion people on LinkedIn. Have you spoken to every one of them and asked them if they're interested in what you've got to say. You haven't, so you've got no way of knowing that nobody's um, nobody's interested. So you really the step one is becoming aware of those unhelpful thoughts, and then I want you to do a piece of work where you ask yourself what are my thoughts costing me? So what opportunities am I missing because I'm staying silent or staying small? So make a note of that question, because when we finish the session, I want you to go away and sort of have a little bit of quiet time to reflect on this stuff, because this, this really really matters. If we don't tackle this foundational piece around your thinking, it's going to impact the next steps that we're going to work on, um, moving forward. So, yeah, ask yourself what are these thoughts costing me? Um, and then sort of step three to that little activity is how can I choose a more helpful thought? Now, it doesn't have to be a wildly positive thought, it does need to move you forward.
Speaker 2:So if you say to yourself on repeat, I'm terrible at networking, that's not going to serve you and support you. But if you say something to yourself that's slightly different to that, which is I'm learning to be better at building connections, that will serve you and support you. If you say I'm not one of those online people, then you will continue not to show up online. But if you switch that for I'm someone who's building a career and I know that visibility is part of that that will serve and support you. So I really want you to think about those thoughts and what impacts those thoughts are having for you right now. So if you're having those thoughts that I shared there around showing up on linkedin, around networking, around posting, around connecting, around joining conversations, and you're talking yourself out from doing it, then all you're doing is robbing yourself of brilliant opportunities and I really don't want that for you, um. So that's the first action step, that activity around your thoughts.
Speaker 2:The second thing, still on the same theme, um, around thinking is I want you to be mindful about what shapes you're thinking. So if you surround yourself with people who play small, you'll stay small. If you surround yourself with people who are ambitious and have got the same, the same sort of objectives as you, you will step up. So I'm part of a community of other business owners and I'm forever hearing stories from them of how they've secured success on LinkedIn. So that's the norm within the communities that I'm with People do that every single day.
Speaker 2:So that makes me aspire to want to do that, and that was the thing that made me think do you know what I'm missing out here? Like I need to to step up. So I'm friends with people like Liz, for example, so I choose to surround myself with people like Liz. I know if I post, liz is going to support that post. I don't surround myself with with people who are going to go away and slag me off for posting that. That's not who I want in within my, my network.
Speaker 2:And so be really intentional about who you follow, what you consume, who gets to see at your decision making table. Get the right people in your ear. Like people who model expansion. Ask yourself like are these situations? Are these people expanding me or shrinking me? Is this situation keeping me safe or is it helping me grow? So I really, really want you to make a note of that action. Step around, being mindful about who and what shapes you're thinking, because that's really, really important, and so that's the first area you're thinking. Have we got any questions or thoughts around that from anybody? I like?
Speaker 1:hard hitting to start with, it's quite.
Speaker 2:I know I've actually repeated twice, but I that's something that's really resonating me what you think yeah, yeah, it is important and and you know what it is it's quite hard to hear because, like, I remember the first time someone saying to me what? What you're saying? That my thoughts create my feelings, my feelings create my actions and my actions create my results. I don't like that and it was quite hard to hear, but actually, when you think about it, it's a positive thing. It's really true, though you're in control of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are in control of it and you can choose a better thought at any time. Yeah, so it's important to do that work. It doesn't happen overnight. Like I'm not going to say that go away and do the exercise once and um, you'll get over it. It's something that you have to work at and, like liz mentioned before, sometimes you do have that fear like you might post a certain thing or you might show up in a certain situation. You might think, oh, how am I going to be received, or is that going to be all right? You still do it, but it's about not letting it hold you back and choosing a positive.
Speaker 1:Positive. We've had some comments on like the linkedin. So michelle says she um, she hates posting, always worries about what to say. She posted a lot but not sure what hits the mark. Another person, donna's on linkedin but hardly post. Jane reposts occasionally but only very occasional posting. Amy's on linkedin but hardly posts. Terrio is on linkedin but doesn't post.
Speaker 1:They're OVA, so a lot of people seem to be on LinkedIn but not posting. I'd be interested to know what's holding you back from posting. I know that some people are saying volunteered why they're not posting, but it'd be good. What's holding you back if you're on LinkedIn and you don't post?
Speaker 2:let us know in the comments what thoughts are coming up for you? Yes, if you think about the idea of posting on linkedin, what? What pops into your head?
Speaker 1:yeah. So michelle said she thinks when you post, no one engages, it can be disheartening difficult to work out how to get engagement. I'll just say one thing about that I, when I first started posting four years ago, I got zero, zero engagement. I think it's like you kind of need to find your tribe, basically, until you get going with it and start posting. Then you'll sort of then find your community and you know if your stuff resonates with the people and their stuff resonates with you. But I think if you post occasionally, it's quite hard to get traction on your posts. Yeah, it is?
Speaker 2:It definitely is, because, as well like from an algorithm point of view I'm definitely not a LinkedIn algorithm expert but it rewards people who are active on the platform. So if you are consistently commenting on other people's posts and sharing your own content, it favorably posts yours out. If you don't really do that, and then every now and again you pop a post out, it's probably not. You're probably not going to get anything in terms of engagement. But just because you're not getting engagement doesn't mean that people don't see it. Yeah, like there's certain stuff I'll post about and people don't want to engage publicly and say, oh, yeah, that thing.
Speaker 1:You know that is true because I also do utility warehouse on the side and the amount of times I post on that and don't get much engagement, but then I get so many private messages yeah, it's quite interesting that.
Speaker 1:Um well, luke is saying finding the right topic in a way to engage people. Um, amy said Amy and Helen have both said worried they don't have enough interesting content to post. Helen has said hard to, while looking for a job, to brag talk about interesting projects you're working on. She used to post all the time what they were doing as a team, events and new content. So I think that's something maybe to unpick if you're working currently in a job how to use LinkedIn to your advantage.
Speaker 1:And then Tarrio has said something I think will really resonate with people. They're scared of family friends seeing posts and if there are no engagements they will feel embarrassed. I remember that it's like you post and you go. Oh no, I remember that.
Speaker 2:I still sometimes have that, though. Yeah, do you know what I've got? You've got loads more connections than me, liz, but I've got like probably about 12,000. I still do some posts sometimes. I think it's really good that, like there'll be nothing, nobody'll come back with anything. So, yeah, it does happen and I understand that, and I think what we're going to get on to in a minute around um the personal brand stuff will will help you come up with ideas and um and content, um and stuff as well.
Speaker 2:I've been working with one of my clients, actually, and she's been having some of these sort of fears and we we talked about this and um she, we talked about the fact that even if she just gets the post number one out and nobody replies to it, nobody engages with it, nothing comes of it. The win is getting out of her own way and getting post number one out. It's still a success, isn't it? Um? So, yeah, it's one of those things you get out from the platform what you put in. So the more you put in, the more you'll um, more you'll get back. But, um, let's have a look at it. Moving on to the next piece, because this will help people with um, the ones that are wondering about what to post and this comes up such a lot, and so this is before we think about going and touching linkedin and changing anything in your profile or starting to create content or anything. The second step. So we've covered the thinking piece, um, and that's the foundation of where you need to start your work.
Speaker 2:The second bit is around personal brand. So most people skip this, but it's a really key foundational piece and it's right at the beginning of the program that I run through with my clients for a reason, and sometimes it can feel uncomfortable to do this work, so they skip past it. But then later on they come across because when they're like creating the CV or the LinkedIn or the prepping for interviews or the wanting to post on LinkedIn, they're struggling to know what to say because they haven't done this foundational piece around personal brand. So it's at the beginning, because it's important. If you jump into updating LinkedIn without any clarity on your personal brand or posting stuff, what happens is you get inconsistent messaging, missed opportunities and loads of wasted effort. Um, so we want to make sure that you're really intentional about what you're posting on linkedin, how you're showing up on there and how you're portraying yourself moving forward.
Speaker 2:Um, personal brand is one of those topics that gets banded about a lot now, and it's one of those things that when I say it to people, I can tell the face changes and they're like oh, I don't really want a personal brand, or that feels a bit. That feels a bit uncomfortable with personal brand, though, um, we don't get to choose whether we've got one or not. We've got, we've all got one. Right now, people are looking at us, whether it's online or in person, and they're making assumptions about who we are what we're good at, what we stand for, what our skills are.
Speaker 2:What we do get to choose is whether or not we're intentional about how we shape that brand and whether we make the decision to be really intentional about what we want to be known for. So, before you hit edit profile or send a connection request, I want you to grab your pen and paper and sit and reflect on well, what do I actually want to be known for on LinkedIn? What roles or promotions or collaborations or opportunities do I want to be found for? What do I want my profile to represent in terms of my potential, my authority, my ambition? We need to think about this stuff and it's really really important. So there's a few key areas to focus on when you go away and sort of think about this stuff. So the first area is I want you to think about well, what's your unique value proposition? Like this is the core of your personal brand why you? What makes you stand out from other people in your field? So it could be like a non-linear, like unusual career path that you've had. You might have some niche industry knowledge. You might have like a standout leadership style or approach. You might have specific lived experience or technical skills, you might have a certain way of delivering things that other people don't have, and if you can't think of this off the top of your head, then you need to go in and do some work to dig into this, because it's really, really important that you position yourself in the light that you want to position yourself in. The second area that I want you to think about with personal brand is your direction. So your personal brand should point towards your future and what is aspirational for you. So ask yourself, like where am I headed in my career? What kind of opportunities do I want to attract? What would I love to be approached for? The answers to this are then going to determine what you put on that profile, who you connect with, the content that you share, the conversations that you join. If you do it without any intention, sat behind it, you're not going to get the results that you want. So think about your direction and alignment.
Speaker 2:The third area is your strengths, your legacy and your reputation. So how do you want to be perceived Like? What do you want people to know you for, so, when they see your name or your picture? What do you want people to know you for, so, when they see your name or your picture, what do you want people to think about? Like, what do you want people to associate with you? And so, when you're not in the room, what do you want people to be saying about you? What do you want people to remember about you when, when they've left a meeting or an interaction with you? What kind of legacy do you want to build through the work that you're doing? So that's really important as well.
Speaker 2:A couple more. The next one is your target audience. Well, who do you want this personal brand to speak to? Is it line managers? Is it sponsors? Is it hiring managers? Is it new clients? Is it that you're wanting to attract new employers? Like a mentor? What are you wanting to achieve through your networking or through your LinkedIn? Like, be targeted about who your audience is, and then you can create content and connect with the right people in order to help you to achieve your goal.
Speaker 2:And then, the final thing that I want you to think about before you even start updating your LinkedIn is evidence of your impact. So what do you want your personal brand to demonstrate in terms of the impact that you've had in your career, like what results have you delivered? What changes or progress are you proud of driving? What values and behaviors do you want people to associate with your leadership? For example, what are the projects and the performances and things that you've done that you want to stand out as being the evidence of your impact?
Speaker 2:So it's really, really important that we do that foundational work, and it's not something that you can do in five minutes. It's something that you need to go away and and really reflect on and think about and potentially get insight from other people as well. That really works well with clients of mine. So they'll be like, oh well, I don't really know, and they'll go. So they'll be like, oh well, I don't really know, and they'll go away and they'll ask for feedback and they'll be like, oh, it's actually this and people are saying that and that's so true and I need to make sure that comes across because that's really valuable for future employers. Don't skip this. So, yeah, I'm going to pause there because there, um, who who's done this work, like who's sat down and really thought about being intentional, about the personal brand? Um, who shies away from it and it makes them feel a bit awkward. Any thoughts?
Speaker 2:I think there's a lot of personal branding experts isn't there on linkedin and it makes it doesn't give it a bad rep yeah it's like it's a bit of a buzzword at the minute, like I feel like nobody was talking about it five years ago but it was still happening. People just weren't talking about it, whether and it is, it is so, so important. And a lot of the time, like when people say to me oh yeah, I'm just not getting opportunities, and we work backwards and we're like we'll look at the linkedin profile, um, and I'll say to them, like well, it's not obvious selling yourself short. Like it's not obvious. We've just chatted now for half an hour about all of the stuff that you've achieved and the brilliant work that you've done. But if I was, if I was a headhunter and I landed on your profile, I wouldn't know any of this.
Speaker 1:Like as well, from a recruiter perspective this is my that people's profiles are actually very vague. Yeah, you know, people might just put manager as meaning well, manager of what you know. You know, I mean, this is like an extreme example or they'll just put passionate about change, but they're actually not a change manager or something completely different than they do so.
Speaker 1:You know recruiters are searching on keywords as well, so make sure you've got your profile is optimized with keywords for roles you're targeting. Um, but yeah, helen's done this, helen's done the exercise. Rachel is definitely in the awkward camp and michelle awkward personal brand, feels cringe yeah maluka has done it, just not sure if they've done a good job about it so a bit of a mix, bit of a mixed bag.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I know what you're saying about it feeling cringe, because I remember the first time someone saying it to me and I was like, well, I don't really. Well, I'm not an influencer, I don't want a personal brand. And the penny dropped for me when someone explained to me that it's not optional, you've got one anyway. Do you want to control it or not? Like people are, people are deciding about you. Do you want to make sure that they decide the right things? And I was like, well, yeah, I do actually. Like it is important that they decide the right things, um, right things about me, um, so we'll get, we'll get on to optimizing the profile and stuff in just a second. And the things that, um, that you can do, um, but yeah, only when you've done this foundational work around your personal brand can you then go intentionally and update your um, update your profile. So, yeah, the next action step, once you've um reflected on that, is to audit your profile. So you've got clear on who you are, what you stand for, what your strengths are, who your target audience is, how you want to be remembered, all of that stuff. So what we then need to do is audit your linkedin to see whether it's it's reflecting all of that Like. Is it in alignment? Most of the time it's not. So most of the time, you'll have wrote down that you want to be remembered as being an expert in this area and nobody knows that, like Liz said.
Speaker 2:So it's important to do the audit piece and have a look at. Well, if this is how I want to be perceived, where are the gaps? Then you can have a look at making those changes and going into edit mode and optimising your profile, which leads us on to the third area, which is finding the opportunities. So we want to find opportunities, and the first way that we're going to be able to find those opportunities is to optimise your LinkedIn profile from top to bottom, in line with your personal brand, and so I'm going to do a quick run through of um of things to consider, and that's really important. So if we start at the top, you've got a banner, you've got a space to add um a banner. Most people leave that gray um and don't do anything. It's a mistake, because that's prime real estate, so don't waste it. Don't use it as an advert for your existing employer. Don't leave it blind.
Speaker 1:You get some nice free templates as well from Canva yeah, you can.
Speaker 2:You can go on Canva. It's free and you can put and put something on there, a banner on there, so that when it stops its roll and it catches people's attention it makes you look serious about it, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:yeah, it looks like you've bothered, it, looks like you're taking it serious and you've put a little bit of effort into um, because it's your shop window, isn't it linkedin like it's your shop window, um? So you know, if you, if it's a shop that's all decorated nicely and like it looks like they've put people have put some effort in probably going to get more footfall, isn't it than than one that's a bit unloved and out of date and and not being taken care of.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's a big mistake to miss that off, because we want people to land on your profile and want them to instantly be drawn to you and and to and for that banner to communicate who you are and what you do, and so don't skip that bit. Then, moving down, we've got your profile picture. Um, it still surprises me how many people haven't got a photo um on there. People buy into people, people hire people, not silhouettes. You don't have to have a professional brand photo shoot, but you do need a decent um photo if you're looking professional and approachable and um and confident.
Speaker 1:So say that again and smiling, and smiling, yeah like look like a real person, um.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, have a look at your profile picture, like, does that need a bit of a refresh, if you're honest? Um. Second thing is your headline liz touched on this, so so important. These are really valuable. Like 220 characters, um, and they follow you around on linkedin. So every time you comment um that, that headline follows you around, so it's important to make it count. And so we want to know, like, who you are, what you do, like who you do it for, the result or the value that you create. And it's really important that you don't just put a load of vague words in that headline, um, and that you that it's searchable. So when recruiters, headhunters, are searching for people they're not searching for, like I am available for a immediate start. That's something that I see people wasting the headline on. I see people putting like daft stuff in there. Like they'll put like, oh, what is it? Um spreadsheet wizard or hr ninja or something like that. Nobody's searching for that.
Speaker 1:Like, we need searchable keywords manager is so much better than hr ninja, yeah, I know like if you were headhunting for a role as you're not.
Speaker 2:You're not typing in, you're not doing a search for hr.
Speaker 1:Ninja are you so? You might want to tell us that yeah please let us find you first.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, what roles do you want to be found for? Make sure that's clear in your um, your headline, so that we can find you and you come up in the right searches and when we land on your profile it's really clear what you do. So, um, keeping it vague isn't helpful, like a lot of headhunters and recruiters are super busy. At least they don't got time to sit and try and figure out what you bring to the table or just move on to the next person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially in a flooded market like it is at the moment yeah you love applications yeah, you've got to stand out.
Speaker 2:And then you're about section. So I see this um wasted opportunity, so so much. So this is your opportunity to to promote yourself, like so, let's say, we found your profile and we scroll down and we start reading about who you are and what you've done. We want to be so impressed by that that we think we need to get her on the phone. Um, we need to get her to interview. We need to find out more like the experience that she's got, that she sounds brilliant and so you want to share a bit about who you are, like a human approach, a bit about who you are and talk to us about.
Speaker 2:Don't just put platitudes on there. So I see a lot of the time people put. I am results focused, but there's not a single result on the whole of their LinkedIn profile. So put a couple of key achievements in there, like what you, what you're proud of, and If you're looking for work and you can openly say so. I know not everybody can, but if you can openly say so, put in your about section what it is you're looking for, who you want to be connecting with. If you can't say that you're open for work, because you're working somewhere and you don't want them to see. You can still put a strong call to action in there about who you want to connect with. You can still talk about your approach and your expertise and um and your results like. It's really, really important. This is your personal profile, um, and it's people's first impressions, um, and we want people to to see why you like, what makes you different, and this is a real big opportunity that a lot of people miss out on. So have a look at your about section. Is it online with your personal brand, that the things that you've got that you want to be known for and the people that you want to find you is it aligned um? So that's really important set.
Speaker 2:The next bit is your experience section. So this needs to tell a story, um, this needs to be all about results and and the biggest mistake Liz, I know you'll back me on this the biggest mistake that people make here and on the CV is talking about the tasks that they've carried out, the jobs that they've done, the meetings that they've been to, but they don't talk about the results. We really need key achievements. We need any results to be backed up, where possible, um by metrics. We need quantifiable um. We need to know about the projects that you've led, the results that you've got like those high visibility things that you've done, the work that you've worked so hard to to deliver. We need to know about that. So many people just put the name of their employer in the date um and it's a waste of real estate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and absolutely yeah, put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter or a headhunter and they land on your profile. They've got the the up against it time wise. There's a million other people like let them find you and let them think, wow, yeah, like let me move heaven and earth to get her on the phone because she looks amazing. Don't let them skip on to the next person, um. So yeah, don't miss that out. Really, take some time to fill out all of your key achievements and the impact that you've made.
Speaker 2:Another bit that people miss off and again it's back to that. It's cringe thing, um, for a lot of people. But it's recommendations and you know what. This is the stuff that is a difference of you getting the job that you want, earning the salary that you want, living the life that you want. So if it's a bit cringe for a minute asking someone for a recommendation, cringe for a minute because it's going to be so worth it at the other side when you get the role that you want. So social proof really speaks for you when you're not in the room and most people ignore the recommendation section of the LinkedIn Again, wasted opportunity.
Speaker 1:Get in the habit, and I've made decisions on who to hire. Oh, yes. Yeah, based on recommendation. I've literally gone and seen someone's recommendations. It is that social proof, isn't it?
Speaker 2:It is, yeah, and it's an opportunity for people to get to know who you are before you're even in the room having a conversation with them. So ask for recommendations from like former managers, colleagues, clients, mentees, anybody. Ask for recommendations and don't be scared to be really clear on what you want the recommendation to be about, and also do the same for other people like think about your personal brand, what? What do you want? Do you want to be known as a leader? Then what is one of the qualities of a leader? And that's supporting other people. So show up on linkedin as somebody that gives feedback and recommendations and is supportive to other people. If that's what you want your personal brand to be, um, so don't skip the recommendation section. It's important um as well. So summary about that, then, is your linkedin. It profiles your shop window, it reflects your brand, it tells your story, it shows your direction, it helps you build connection and it positions you as someone to know, hire or promote. Um. So that's really, really important. But the final bit is, um thinking beyond that profile and, again, something that a lot of you are missing right now. So, yes, your linkedin profile is important, but what moves the needle is your daily brand behavior.
Speaker 2:So I want to talk to you for a minute before we wrap up about how you can maintain and amplify your presence and influence, not just online, but in real life as well, and I want to talk to you about what will really build that traction and that visibility over time, and that's the four C's. That's comments, content, conversations and connections. So this is what most people skip. They think, oh, I'll do the work on my LinkedIn, I'll get it updated and then that's the job done and opportunities will come to me. You will get more opportunities and but you will get even more if you focus on all the elements of LinkedIn the comments, the content, the conversations and the connections so comments really quickly then this is how you get visibility by contribution. This is where you get seen by new audiences. This is where you can get relevant in new circles without having to create your own content every day. So those of you at the beginning of the call who are struggling with what to post, this is a really easy starting point because you can join conversations and comments of people that have already posted and, if you're consistently commenting on the right people's posts and contributing something meaningful, that can do absolutely loads for your visibility. Um, so really think about thoughtful reflections and additional perspectives and personal examples and comments that you can, that you can add and who you want to add them to. So again, this comes back to your personal brand work. Who do you want to notice yet? So are you going to comment on posts from hiring managers, from industry leaders, from organizations that you want to work for, from key decision makers and from peers that you want to be top of mind with? So that's the first one comments. Get that visibility by contribution and be really intentional and tactical about the comments that you add on the platform.
Speaker 2:The second thing is content. So how to position yourself as credible and memorable, so how to show yourself as a thought leader and you don't need to be a LinkedIn content creator to create content. You just need to show that you've got a perspective, a passion and a presence. So you can share all sorts of stuff on there Career lessons, leadership reflections, your take on an industry trend or a challenge Behind the scenes of an event you've been to or a project that you've run or a lesson that you've learned. Like you can amplify other people so you can shout out somebody else or somebody's post or article. You can share your personal insights that are linked to your professional identity. But use your voice, be human, um. Don't aim for viral, don't aim for loads of engagement. Aim for valuable, like. Aim to share something. Forget about the vanity, vanity metrics. Aim to share something that's going to help somebody and let that be your win, that you've shown up and that that somebody somewhere has read that and and got something valuable from it. So this really really does work to help you to be connected to new people, and content really positions you as a person of authority.
Speaker 2:The third C out of the four is conversations. So this is how you move from being passive to proactive. So your goal with this is to build connections, not just collect connections, but to get the connections and build relationships and plant seeds for future opportunities. So we can do this online and in person. So online you can do it in the comments and then you can follow up in dms and you can inbox people. So send a message to someone whose work you admire or if their role aligns with where you're heading, and if someone likes or engages with your post, like, send them a message and thank them.
Speaker 2:Invite a connection and a conversation if you've got somebody that you admire or that shares content that you love and let let them know that and then in person you can start really small with this um as well with um in person stuff. So you know, if you're at your next team event or industry meet up, speak to somebody that you've not spoken to before. If you're at your next team event or industry meetup, speak to somebody that you've not spoken to before. If you go into a panel talk or a training session, connect with the speaker or connect with somebody there from like a different area of the business or a different company and ask genuine questions and, like, start the conversation with people.
Speaker 2:You don't need to be perfect, you don't need to have like a perfect pitch, you just need to get that dialogue started, because conversations lead to connections, which lead to introductions, which lead to opportunities. So it's really, really important because opportunities, like Liz talked about, they're not always in job ads, they come from conversations and you can't be top of mind if you're silent and you're not having conversations. And then the last one of the four c's is connection. So this is your network and it sounds really cheesy and I and I'm feeling cheesy saying it but your network is your net worth. It's really important. I just really forced myself to say that, but it's really important to have like a purposeful network that reflects where you're going, isn't it?
Speaker 2:because if you lose your job, yeah people, then you can contact to try and get another oh yeah, absolutely, and it's one of those things again the more you put in, the more you get out as well. I'll see people and they haven't posted on linkedin ever and then they must have lost a job and they're like they'll put a post, like if anybody wants to connect, and then they'll probably be disappointed that people haven't. But they haven't been building those relationships, they haven't bothered with people until they've needed something. So it's really really important that this is something that you do proactively, not just when you need something. To create that purposeful network. Connect with peers, mentors, industry leaders, recruiters, ex-colleagues, um, and build those relationships like in person. If you go into like um an event, like make sure that you connect with new people there, like volunteer for stuff, join different communities and organizations, add more people into your circle and don't just like have like an echo chamber of people that are the same as you like get that diverse perspective from other people, um, who know a question to ask yourself like who knows you outside of your existing organization? A mistake I see loads and loads is people they're really well known within their job and then they're made redundant and suddenly they don't have a network outside of that organization. So it's really, really important. Your next opportunity will likely come through someone that you know, um, or someone that you're about to to get to know, um. So those four c's are your like career accelerators and they're the things that will get you, get you the traction, and so if you do all four of them consistently and with intention, you'll get seen, you'll get remembered, you'll get recommended and then you'll get hired and promoted. And I'm just going to finish off with a couple of examples I've got so many examples, but we're out of time of people that I work with, clients, people that I know that do this stuff and it works.
Speaker 2:Whether that's reaching out to people who work in organizations that they want to work with headhunters and hiring managers um, the opportunities are endless. In fact, this morning I had a group call um and one of the women in my group. She's been daring herself for about a week to put a post out. Um, it was a brilliant post as well, just sharing what she could add to her industry and explaining that she was looking for a new role. And she was so frightened to do that and she and she'd got like lots of lovely supportive comments and she'd had somebody reach out to her one of her old contacts and said saw your post, really great post. I've actually got a job in mind for you. Can we have a chat? So that was this morning on our call this morning. I don't know if anybody any of my clients are watching this now, but they'll vouch for that but yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 2:The opportunities are endless, um, but you've got to help yourself get found. You've got to meet people halfway. If you do those three things that I talked about there address your thinking, get intentional about your personal brand and go out and create those opportunities for your LinkedIn profile from connecting, from conversations and sharing that valuable content then you will find that that massively, massively pays off. So that's everything from me. I've gone about three minutes over, I'm sorry liz, I'm sorry about this.
Speaker 1:The webinar is recorded, so everyone that's signed up will get the um the webinar. Amy, just before we had one question. If that's all right, um, can the headline be types of roles versus actual current job title, especially where your job title might be a bit more specific to your employer's need?
Speaker 2:Types of roles. Do you mean like?
Speaker 1:if you're say I don't know, I'll just use it an example if your company uses like a marketing lead and you're really wanting a marketing manager role, I'm guessing potentially that's what you mean is how to phrase. I do think it's obviously helpful from your perspective to and to try and use the words of the job titles you are targeting. Cause that's what recruiters will be searching on. Yeah, I agree with you, and not use some funny internal job title. It doesn't mean anything to anyone outside of your business. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I would echo those sentiments, liz, absolutely like. Think before you you do it. Think about what? What's you? What do you want to happen? If it's that you want to attract hiring managers, put yourself in their shoes. What are they going to be looking for, what are they going to be searching for, and how can you make sure that you find them? So I would agree with you, um, on that one liz um terryya says opportunities are endless.
Speaker 1:That's their new thought mantra. Yes, get on a post-it note, shove it up on your desk. I'm liking the one how you think you feel, you feel is that right, I'm gonna write that one down.
Speaker 2:Next time Liz does um, next time Liz does a LinkedIn live, it'll be a neon sign like behind her I'll have to give you credit.
Speaker 1:I've not made that up. That was Leanne's. I don't think I've made it up.
Speaker 2:I don't know where I've got it from. I think it'd be a life. I said I've made it up. But yeah, um, yeah it's a, it's a big one. And, like whatever problems I have or situations, I always think to myself, like what better thoughts could I have that had helped me here? Um, because as soon as I start doing that, I start I start moving in the right direction. If I stay with the unhelpful thoughts I say, I stay stuck.
Speaker 1:Oh uh, tario has said are we able to get the first two weeks recording feels like missed out on a lot. Today was great. Thank you, yes, you are. If you email me I will send you through the others, because we've had two um, we've had one. It's's been like a series. So the first one was Gaining Clarity with Kim Holland, who is a career transition coach. That was to discover how your career direction, how to move forward with purpose. And then last week we had Building Confidence with Nicola Semple, who's a career confidence coach. Obviously, today we've had brilliant Leanne. Next week it's me, so don't miss next week when I'm going to be doing cvs and interview prep. And then week five, which is tuesday, the first of july. We've got gifty enright about overcoming imposter syndrome. And then week six, which I know is your friend, beth hocking um, who is going to be talking about promotion and pay negotiation on wednesday, the 9th of july, so everyone can go into the summer with full momentum you know what this is?
Speaker 2:an amazing series that you've put together, liz. Like you've got some brilliant, brilliant people and you've gone to, so much effort like to create these brilliant sessions. So, yeah, really great that you've done this.
Speaker 1:I've found them very inspiring. You know I've got your mantra. Now we've helped you, liz, if nobody else, oh well, thank you so much to everybody that has watched today. Everyone said that it's really useful, um, and they have a really good now to do list, so I'm going to read you out that about section um. So there's been so much food for thought. So thank you so much, leanne, for joining us today. Um, we will send a replay out to everybody that has registered, so don't worry, if you've missed parts of this session. You will get the full replay, including all of leanne's contact details, um, so you can get in touch with her if you want to explore further oh, brilliant.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, everybody that's come today and