LinkingIn For Success
Dear Nurses,
Resume or your LinkedIn profile? It's a little like what came first - the chicken or the egg? You need both when seeking an international nursing job.Whether you are searching for a nursing job or looking to build your professional healthcare contacts for any reason, LinkedIn is a great networking tool - LinkedIn just recently just crossed the 200 million member milestone. And while many nurses have joined LinkedIn, few make full use of this amazingly dynamic application to find new employment, develop new business leads, locate mentors, etc. Below I tell you tips and tricks to ensure your LinkedIn profile is stands out in the crowd. My tips for resumes were included in an earlier blog post here.
What to do:
These days it's not enough to just have a LinkedIn profile. And if you don't have one and want to advance your nursing career, you need to make it a priority to create one as soon as possible. Many recruiters view LinkedIn as the new resume.
Some LinkedIn for Nurses best practices for those in nursing who are looking for new opportunities to consider:
1) Claim your vanity URL. Make your URL more professional and easier to share by claiming your LinkedIn vanity URL. Instead of a URL with a hundred confusing numbers at the end, it is very easy to set up a clean URL likehttp://www.linkedin.com/in/anngriffin-aaronlahti. Click here and look to the right side and click on customize your public profile URL.
2) Be findable. By far, the most important thing you can do is search engine optimize your profile. You don't have to be a web expert to do this. Search engines index the most popular social networking sites including LinkedIn. Your description should always include key terms with which you want to be associated. Most recruiters search on a handful of key terms when looking for candidates for specific positions. So be sure to add keywords specific to your experience to various sections of your profile such as the headline or your experience summary. For example, my LinkedIn profile reads Ann Griffin-Aaronlahti is a senior recruiter at Professional Connections, often referred to as Profco, a leading international healthcare recruitment agency based in Finland, Ireland and Thailand - and the italicized words are keywords. If you need help looking up keywords, Google Ad words is a quick and free resource. Some people post search terms separated by commas at the end of their Experience profile.
3) Add Applications. LinkedIn provides a number of applications that can be used to improve your LinkedIn profile. Browse the application directory. The events application is a great way to see what events your connections are attending and find places to do some in-person, face-to-face networking. We are recruiting for positions around the world and we use the events application to list upcoming interview dates and cities.
4) Endorse and get endorsed. Last year LinkedIn launched a new feature called Endorsements, which enables LinkedIn members to endorse their connections for skills they have listed in the Skill & Expertise section of their profile. Endorsers can also recommend that their connections list additional skills. The endorsements show up on your profile within the Skills & Expertise section. Endorsing someone is easy - all you have to do is click on the + sign next to a particular skill on a connected LinkedIn members profile. Because it is so easy, you'll likely find many of your connections will respond in kind once you've endorsed them. This is another reason why it is critical to complete your profile and list the skills you want people to endorse because endorsements certainly add credibility to your profile.
5) Get recommended. Recommendations are often one of the first areas that a recruiter will look at. While they require a little more time than endorsements, since you need to write something about someone else. It is perfectly acceptable to ask a current colleague to write a reference. If you take the time to write a reference acknowledging someone's hard work, the chances are they will return the favor. We're often asked how far a candidate should go with seeking recommendations - this really is a personal choice that has to be carefully considered against your goals. If you've done something extraordinary for a manager or perhaps even a patient, it doesn't hurt to let them know you have a LinkedIn profile and would appreciate a reference. Keeping references mostly at the professional level is a good idea.
6) Get active in the right nursing LinkedIn groups. It's never a bad idea to keep your finger on the pulse of the nursing industry in general or your specialty. The American Nurses Association and the Emergency Nurses Association are all very active discussion groups on LinkedIn. Participating in relevant LinkedIn Groups helps expand your professional network and helps to establish yourself as a thought leader in the nursing industry. Most nursing specialties are represented in LinkedIn groups - it's easy to search the groups and select the ones that make the most sense for you. Check your LinkedIn settings to choose the frequency of emails you receive when there is activity in your group. Some groups are more active than others.
7) Use LinkedIn Today. This handy feature makes it easy to stay on top of relevant nursing news. You can have summaries of LinkedIn Today news sent to your email in box.
8) Personal websites are becoming more popular, especially with the advent of easy-to-use and inexpensive templates. If you have a personal website or a blog, you can promote your personal LinkedIn presence by adding a "Profile Badge" that links to your public LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has a couple of badge designs to select from, and you can configure your own by clicking here.
9) Depending on how you use your other social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter you can also list these accounts in your description. Just be sure if you do that you won't embarrass yourself with inappropriate postings.
I hope you find these tips useful.