Features! Features! Features!... (LinkedIn Endorsements)

LinkedIn Endorsements was just rolled out by LinkedIn.  I was immediately suspicious of the whole thing as another way to suck up some of my time endorsing people (I have already written over 70 recommendations  but I gave in and started playing around with the new features, and plugged in some keywords for myself.  Within about the couple of weeks, I have about 25 endorsements in my lead category.

Features:

• Easy way to give a "thumbs up" to someone who did a good job for you. -Digital Trends.com
• Share parts of your experience you are hoping to get more recognition in.
• One click as opposed to a recommendation like this: 

Socialmediaexaminer.com writes:

"This new feature is a very easy way to endorse the skills of others and vice versa. When coupled with LinkedIn’s already robust Recommendations feature, it’s a very positive way to promote not only your personal brand, but also the brands of your connections."

My Conclusions:

• This is a good supplement to the already robust recommendation feature of LinkedIn
• It is extremely surface level.  Its equivalent to a "like" on facebook as opposed to a comment
• It adds up over time.  "Expertise" can be in part shown by a significant quantity of +1's 
• I would ALWAYS rather get a recommendation from someone than a simple +1, but I will never turn down more exposure on LinkedIn

Resources:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/linkedin-rolls-out-skill-endorsements-and-its-as-easy-as-one-click/

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-endorsements/

A To-Do List For Interviewing Candidates

DO check the company website- I almost have to laugh when people don’t do their research.  You are a professional person interviewing for a professional job of one sort or another.  Know your stuff!

Make sure you dress the part- You should not show up to an interview in jeans and a t-shirt.  Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.  People evaluate you based on a first impression.  If you don’t bring your “A” look to the interview you are fighting against that first impression for your whole entire interview.

Entry level college graduates- I am not sending you into this job hoping that you will be able to convince them to like you based on your personality alone.  You have some good experience.  You should be able to entice a potential interviewer based on projects that you worked on, class work that you did, a thesis. You still have things to talk about.

Be early to the interview- Some of my friends (you know who you are) are walking GPS transmitters.  You should still plan to be there at least 20 minutes+ ahead of any interview.  You are going to pay the price for not assuming that there will be extra traffic. 

Story telling = success- You can call it the “star” method.  You can call it in Lou Adler’s words the “SAFW” format.  Either way you need to be able to describe and succinctly give a tale about specific things you did at past jobs.  Gone are the days when people would give you a shot.  The same goes for internal interviews to get promoted at a job.  If you master the ability to communicate regarding successes that you have had at an interview, you will be 2 steps ahead of a majority of candidates.

Have a “big idea” that you hope to impart to an interviewer.  This could be similar to your objective statement, and how you foot the bill.  “I save companies time and money”.  “I find and solve problems”.  “I have excellent experience fixing cars”.  Once you find your big idea, you just need to share that creatively in an interview.  What do I get as an interviewer from your experience that would help me to hire you?

Last but not least, leave your cell phone in the car.  It is distracting, it could go off.  When I meet candidates, and the phone goes off in their pockets, its extremely distracting even on vibrate, and it counts against your overall impression with an employer.

EARN the job you want by imparting your “Big idea” and working with your partners to position yourself for success.  This could be the person who found you for the job, this could be the asking good questions to the interviewer, this could be a networking call you make to help you find where you want to be.

Resources-

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121020150801-15454-use-solution-selling-to-ace-the-interview

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation,_Task,_Action,_Result

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/interview-preparation/sell-yourself-job-interview-hot-jobs/article.aspx