Professional CV Writing Blog about Job Seeking Interview Skills Career Planning

LinkedIn has introduced ranking - how you rank for profile views

23/5/2014

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LinkedIn now ranks members for profile views

You may have already noticed that LinkedIn has rolled out a new tool, "How You Rank for Profile Views". This is visible on the right hand side of your LinkedIn home page, directly under "Who's Viewed Your Profile".

If you click on the link, you'll be able to see how you rank against all of your connections. The ranking is based on the number of times your profile has been viewed so it will continually change. The more active you are, the more your profile will be viewed and the higher you will rank.

I'm not sure how useful this tool will be as it strikes me as being more of a vanity tool. But, if nothing else, it will encourage you to be more active on LinkedIn. If you want more views and visibility, share interesting content, engage with posts, make more connections and generally join in.

Author: Barbara Patrick of Compelling CVs

Compelling CVs
Professional CV Writing, LinkedIn Profiles, LinkedIn Training, Interview Skills Training and Careers Coaching
Reading, Berkshire

LinkedIn Company Pages: Showcase Pages Replace Products and Services Tab

14/4/2014

LinkedIn Company Pages - Showcase Pages will Replace the Products and Services Tab on 14 April 2014

On 14th April 2014 LinkedIn discontinued the Products and Services tab on Company pages.
Instead, you now need to create LinkedIn Showcase Pages to highlight your products and services.

Initially you're allowed up to 10 Showcase pages although you can request additional pages.

This will no doubt be a bit of a pain for businesses that have spent time building a following and garnering recommendations on their products and services page. The data will simply disappear - it won't be archived for administrators to access at a later stage, it will be gone forever.

On a brighter note, the new Showcase Pages can be branded for each of your individual products or services with full size, customisable banners. Once we all recover from the temporary disruption, I'm sure we'll all come to love the new layout.

If you didn't back up all the information from your LinkedIn Company Page "Products and Services" tab, chances are it will have disappeared forever.

Want help creating your pages? Get in touch.

Barbara Patrick
Compelling CVs
Professional CV Writing, Careers Advice, Interview Skills Training, LinkedIn Training and Support for Individuals and Businesses
Reading, Berkshire

Get in touch if you'd like help with this or any other aspect of LinkedIn...

Career Transition: How to Transition from HR to Marketing in 21 Steps

26/2/2014

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How can you transition from one career path to another?

My advice was sought last week on how to transition from a human resources role into marketing.

Transition is fairly common these days. Many people have 2, 3 or more careers throughout their working lives.

Here's what I advised specifically in relation to a transition from HR to marketing. But the principles could be applied to any transition just by switching the skills:

Learn to use social media for business - Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, etc and volunteer to do this for companies in your spare time until you become proficient at engaging with their client bases.
Start writing a professional blog. It can be about any subject but it's best to choose something about which you're knowledgeable and have a genuine interest. It's important to blog regularly, keep it fresh and relevant, and make sure it's good quality - spell-checked, formatted, etc.
Start your own Twitter account, post regular, quality information and attract a quality following. Remember this is about social interaction - two-way. Develop lists and follow specific hashtags.
Set up Google alerts for topics that interest you. Initially, you'll receive all sorts of alerts but you can adjust your settings until you end up with useful alerts.
Follow leading brands and see what they do on their website and on TV, cinema and magazine promotions. Their Twitter page will usually have all the latest news.
Learn new "marketing" related skills - there's plenty of free tuition on all sorts of topics - Google Adwords, Analytics, SEO, HTML, CSS, Adobe, Twitter, Inbound Marketing, Event Planning, Email Marketing, Online Surveys. All the platforms have free tutorials so try to learn the basics, then add these skills to your CV and LinkedIn profile. Look for free tutorials on www.udemy.com, www.lynda.com, www.alison.com
Sign up to some good quality marketing newsletters - Hubspot provides excellent free downloads.
Follow marketing leaders on LinkedIn and read their posts.
Join relevant groups on LinkedIn and read members' posts.
Learn about conversions - ie converting leads into customers.
In your HR role, think of each employee as a "customer". How do you get them to engage? How can you add value to the service you provide? How do you interact with and support other departments? Treat it as a marketing exercise and build your customer relationship skills.
Try to get involved in your company's online pages. LinkedIn or Facebook pages would be a good place to start. Post careers and company news and promote the company's culture.
If your company engages with universities, try to get actively involved in the promotional and event side of this.
Attend networking events and build up your networking skills.
Build up your copywriting skills and test them out on job ads, recruitment brochures (as far as this is possible).
Learn to manage CRM systems, websites, forums, etc.
Enrol on a recognised marketing course. In the UK, most marketing roles (especially senior) require a CIM qualification - Professional Certificate or Diploma - but there are lots of other short marketing courses available - many online and many free.
When you've built up your skills, see if your employer is willing to let you transfer to marketing on a temporary basis.
Or perhaps you could switch job to a marketing role within a large recruitment or HR-related organisation such as the CIPD where your HR experience would provide relevant insight.
Be prepared to take a pay cut and start at the bottom but, if you've already learned about marketing techniques, you'll have a head start.
Find a good mentor!

Barbara Patrick, Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs, Berkshire, UK

Outplacement Support | Easing the Pain of Job Losses | Staff Redundancies

12/11/2013

Whatever you read in the newspapers, the recession is far from over...

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Outplacement Support: Supporting Staff through the Redundancy Process

Whether you're a business owner or a manager, it's never easy to have to let your staff go. It's even more difficult if they've been loyal and hardworking members of your team and you've grown to like and respect them. They may even have become family friends.

But there is something you CAN do to ease the situation and to help them prepare for their job search in what is currently an extremely difficult job market...

You can provide them with Outplacement Support.

What is Outplacement Support?

Outplacement Support isn't a new concept; it's been around for a long time. City outplacement firms can charge around £4,000 per employee and, until fairly recently, this service was reserved for the elite... the senior executives who, ironically, probably need support the least.

More recently, Outplacement Support is being offered to mid-level staff by many of the bigger corporates (who have bigger budgets) to reduce the impact of redundancy and to help outplaced staff prepare for the transition into the job market.

Outplacement Support can be provided in many forms including:

The Problems Facing Outplaced / Redundant Staff

Staff will undoubtedly be anxious about losing their jobs. They may be angry or shocked at the prospect of being out of work, they may think it's a personal (as opposed to a business) decision and their self-esteem may hit an all-time low.

They may feel aggrieved because they perceive the "survivors" as being less experienced or less competent and therefore feel that they have been unfairly singled out for redundancy.

They'll very likely be extremely worried about how they can meet their financial commitments and support their families.

If they've been in work or in the same job for some time, they may be completely out of touch with today's job market and not know how to go about updating their CVs, write cover letters or cope with the online recruitment revolution.

Whilst employees may be highly adept within their existing role, they may have developed skills gaps which will further hinder their progress in the job market.

The last thing you want is for your former employees to feel overwhelmed and worthless which could result in depression and poor health.

How much does Outplacement Support cost? Is it expensive?

It can be expensive with city firms charging north of £4000. However, it can be provided on a much smaller scale in 1-1 sessions or small workshops, or you can provide standalone CV writing services or interview skills.

Compelling CVs offers a "pick and mix" service so you can provide the level of Outplacement Support that your outgoing staff need and, importantly, you can keep control of the cost.

If you're thinking of making staff redundancies, I urge you to consider providing Outplacement Support. Being made redundant is tough... but employers can ease the pain a little.

In our opinion, Outplacement Support not a luxury - it's a necessity.

Request a Copy of our Outplacement Brochure or email us to arrange a confidential chat.

Request Outplacement Brochure

by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer and Career Consultant
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Email: mail @ CompellingCVs.co.uk

How to Personalise your LinkedIn Connection Requests

16/10/2013

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Use the pen icon to create a personal message

LinkedIn is all about professional networking. Each time you log on to LinkedIn or when you make a connection, it will come up with a list of people you may know and want to connect with.

DON'T just click the "Connect" button. This is a wasted opportunity.

Instead, take a little time to personalise your message. Click on the little pen icon next to the +Connect button and create a short but compelling message about why you want to connect.

Write a heading, eg "We met last night at XXX meeting" then compose a short message about what you have in common and why you'd like to connect.

If you can't connect because you don't know their email or you haven't done business with them before, check out the groups that you have in common and use one of those as a basis for connection.

If you want to get more mileage out of LinkedIn and you genuinely want to connect, then take a little time to make your message request personal and to make yourself more memorable.

Happy networking!

Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer, Career Coach and LinkedIn Profile Creator
Reading
Berkshire

LinkedIn Profile Writing Service

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LinkedIn Profile Headshot Photos Improve Engagement... Smile!

16/8/2013

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Shy and Anonymous on LinkedIn?

If your LinkedIn headshot looks like this, you're missing a trick...

Many of us don't like photos of ourselves and we definitely feel averse to sharing our image with over 300m LinkedIn users. But stop and think for a moment...

Would YOU want to connect with a stranger who doesn't want you to see their face?
Would you trust this person?
Would you want to meet up with them?
Do business with them?
Employ them?
Or do you think they're hiding something in their desire to stay anonymous?

Conversely, could the person who looks presentable, smiling and approachable be the right fit for your company? Is it worth connecting and having the conversation at least?

People like to do business with people - REAL people. And there's more chance that they'll want to engage with you if you have a headshot photo.

So, if you don't already have a headshot uploaded on your LinkedIn profile, take a few minutes to do it today. It doesn't have to be professional quality - it just needs to be "professional" - ie not a holiday snap or a picture of your dog.

You can take a photo with a regular camera or smart phone. Just make sure it's a headshot only - ideally against a plain wall. Take lots of photos and then choose the best. Make sure that you look clean and tidy - aka employable - and that you are smiling. This is not a passport photo... It's a photo that will encourage people to engage with you, to have you on their team or to do business with with you. So, yes, smile. Look approachable, friendly and positive.

A huge amount of recruitment is done via LinkedIn so be visible... upload your headshot photo today.

by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer, Career Coach and LinkedIn Profile Creator
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Email me if you need help with your LinkedIn Profile or any other element of your job search...

Read more of our blogs here

Could you condense your CV into a 140 character #twesume?

10/5/2013

Results for search of #twesume on Twitter

If you thought it was difficult condensing your CV into 2 pages, how about condensing it into 140 characters? Impossible, you might think, but the recent phenomenon of #twesume might just be the answer you're seeking.

By posting your skills and availability on Twitter and including the hashtag #twesume, you may just attract employers and recruiters. Basically, you post a short tweet about your availability and your skills, include a link to your LinkedIn profile or your online CV. You can even link it to a short video on YouTube or a short clip on Vine. The options are endless.

You'll need to include the hashtag #twesume and, of course, you'll still need a strong CV and LinkedIn profile, but tweeting your resume certainly can't do any harm.

So log into Twitter today and check out #twesume.

And don't forget to let us know if you'd like some help compiling your CV or LinkedIn profile.

Good luck in your job search!

by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Career Planning: Why you shouldn't be too hasty to quit your job...

18/4/2013

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Career Planning, CV Writing, Berkshire

I had a long conversation recently with a chap who isn't happy in his current role and intends to quit his job - even though he doesn't have a new job to go to. I urged him not to.

And earlier this year I had a CV client who is a shining star but wasn't enjoying their job and quit, without having anything else lined up. They're currently unemployed.

As anyone will tell you, jobs are no longer two-a-penny. So, unless you're extremely lucky and you're in the right place at the right time, it could take you some time to find something else. We all have financial obligations to meet and it would be reckless to make yourself unemployed before you have something better to go to.

Furthermore, being unemployed can often put you in a weaker position when negotiating your salary package for your new role, with employers offering you a lower package than you could normally command.

If you're not happy in your current role, you'll need a career plan.

Assess your current situation. What is it that's irritating you? Could anything be done to rectify it? If it's a grievance with a colleague or boss, could it be addressed via your employer's grievance procedure? (All UK employers should have one)
If it can't be sorted, try not to be emotional or to make knee-jerk decisions. Your head must rule your heart. Grit your teeth and continue to do what you're paid to do to the best of your ability. At some stage you'll probably need a reference from your current employer, so bear that in mind.
Try to stay cheerful. Don't let your mood or negativity come to the fore as it will affect your colleagues, create bad feelings around you and make the workplace unpleasant for everyone.
Try to engage in pleasurable activities outside of work and perhaps during your lunch breaks. Reflecting on these during working hours will help keep you sane.
Get your ducks in a row. Decide on the type of role you want to apply for and start searching the market.
Update your CV and LinkedIn Profile so you're ready to roll when you see the job of your dreams. We'd be happy to help you with this.
Don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire! In your frustration, you may want to accept any old job just to get out of your current situation. If you do this, you'll be back to square one in the very near future, so take your time and try to hold out for the right role.
Don't confide your feelings to anyone at work and that includes clients and advisors.
When it's time to move on, give full notice and stay committed to the job during your notice period.
Always leave on good terms effecting a full handover to your successor and training them if necessary.

Give us a call if you want to have an informal chat about your future career.

Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Updating your LinkedIn profile? How NOT to irritate your connections

16/1/2013

By Barbara Patrick at Compelling CVs

We recommend that you update your LinkedIn profile regularly and optimise key words, job titles, etc, so that you can be easily found on LinkedIn searches. After all, it's a massive database and you don't want to get lost in there.

However, before you start tweaking your profile, you need to be aware that EVERY TIME you save a new job title, a new skill, etc, your connections will receive a notification that you have changed your profile.

Make 10 "saves", and your contacts will see 10 notifications. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realise that this could really begin to irritate them; they may even decide to break their connection with you.

So here's how to avoid irritating your LinkedIn connections...

Log into your LinkedIn profile
Click the drop down list at the top right hand corner next to your name
Select "Settings"
You'll then see an area like the screenshot below.

Select the first item - "Turn on/off your activity broadcasts"
De-select the tick box (it should be empty)
Click "Save"

This might also be a good time to think about who you want to see your activity feeds - contacts? everyone? And you can review all your other privacy settings too.

When you've finished editing, remember to reinstate your activity broadcasts so that your connections can see your general updates and comments - which you should be making at least several times a week.

Perhaps now would be a good time to let everyone know that you've updated your profile and invite them to check it out.

Happy networking!

Eye tracking survey by The Ladders identifies "hot spots" on your CV

4/1/2013

If you've read through our site you'll already know the importance of making an instant impression with your CV. Recruiters spend very little time reading your CV (if they read it at all). They need to pick up key points - fast - and that means scanning for keywords.

The Ladders recently undertook an eye tracking survey to see just how much time recruiters spent looking at your CV, and also detecting "hot" areas on the CVs.

Here's a link to the survey. The Ladders Eyetracking Study

It makes interesting reading. It also touches on how recruiters scan LinkedIn profiles.

After you've read it, you might want to get in touch with us for help with your CV and/or LinkedIn profile. Our CV writing service includes the incorporation of key words to match the job description and person specification, together with clear formatting to make your CV attractive and easy to read.

Positively Unemployed? Then you need an Employment Plan

16/5/2012

There is a relatively new phenomenon in the UK... Not only are the unskilled and uneducated struggling to find work, but there is a massive pool of skilled, educated and experienced people out of work - many of them for the first time in their lives. Competition for jobs is fierce and even perfectly-matched candidates are either failing to secure interviews at all, or attending 1st, 2nd, even 3rd interviews and assessments, only to fall at the last hurdle.

Where there used to be one or two front runners in any recruitment campaign, employers are now faced with so many quality applicants that they can afford to be highly selective.

So, if you find yourself unemployed, how do you cope with this and how on earth can you remain positive?

Searching for a job is a full-time job in itself. Here's how to go about it:

LinkedIn has introduced ranking - how you rank for profile views

LinkedIn Company Pages: Showcase Pages Replace Products and Services Tab

Barbara Patrick
Compelling CVs
Professional CV Writing, Careers Advice, Interview Skills Training, LinkedIn Training and Support for Individuals and Businesses
Reading, Berkshire

Get in touch if you'd like help with this or any other aspect of LinkedIn...

Career Transition: How to Transition from HR to Marketing in 21 Steps

How can you transition from one career path to another?

Barbara Patrick, Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs, Berkshire, UK

Outplacement Support | Easing the Pain of Job Losses | Staff Redundancies

Whatever you read in the newspapers, the recession is far from over...

What is Outplacement Support?

The Problems Facing Outplaced / Redundant Staff

How much does Outplacement Support cost? Is it expensive?

How to Personalise your LinkedIn Connection Requests

LinkedIn Profile Headshot Photos Improve Engagement... Smile!

by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer, Career Coach and LinkedIn Profile Creator
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Email me if you need help with your LinkedIn Profile or any other element of your job search...

Could you condense your CV into a 140 character #twesume?

Career Planning: Why you shouldn't be too hasty to quit your job...

Updating your LinkedIn profile? How NOT to irritate your connections

Eye tracking survey by The Ladders identifies "hot spots" on your CV

Positively Unemployed? Then you need an Employment Plan

Barbara Patrick, Career, Job Search and Employability Coach, and Professional CV writer at Compelling CVs in Berkshire, UK

Contact me:

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Barbara PatrickCompelling CVsProfessional CV Writing, Careers Advice, Interview Skills Training, LinkedIn Training and Support for Individuals and BusinessesReading, Berkshire

Get in touch if you'd like help with this or any other aspect of LinkedIn...

How can you transition from one career path to another?

Barbara Patrick, Professional CV Writer and Career CoachCompelling CVs, Berkshire, UK

Whatever you read in the newspapers, the recession is far from over...

What is Outplacement Support?

The Problems Facing Outplaced / Redundant Staff

How much does Outplacement Support cost? Is it expensive?

by Barbara PatrickProfessional CV Writer, Career Coach and LinkedIn Profile CreatorCompelling CVsReading, BerkshireEmail me if you need help with your LinkedIn Profile or any other element of your job search...

Barbara Patrick, Career, Job Search and Employability Coach, and Professional CV writer at Compelling CVs in Berkshire, UK

Contact me:

Archives

Categories

Opening Hours

Barbara Patrick
Compelling CVs
Professional CV Writing, Careers Advice, Interview Skills Training, LinkedIn Training and Support for Individuals and Businesses
Reading, Berkshire

Barbara Patrick, Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs, Berkshire, UK

by Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer, Career Coach and LinkedIn Profile Creator
Compelling CVs
Reading, Berkshire

Email me if you need help with your LinkedIn Profile or any other element of your job search...