Creating Profiles, Bios and Stories Free Webinar

Creating Profiles, Bios and Stories â€" Free Webinar Next week Im hosting a free webinar with Bernadette Martin, author of upcoming book I Need to Brand My Story Online and Offline Now What??? Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette helps individuals tell their story in their BIO/LinkedIn Summary and in their Elevator Pitch. You know what will make this fun? Bernadette is going to critique a few LinkedIn Profiles (focusing on the LinkedIn Summary) and a few elevator pitches.   Please leave a comment with your LinkedIn Profile and/or elevator pitch for Bernadette to check out â€" you can also submit it through the Contact Us form. As a fellow personal branding strategist I know Bernadette through the personal branding organization Reach. On Wednesday, October 7th at 10:30am MT (9:30am PT, 11:30 CT, 12:30 ET) we will spend an hour with Bernadette going over the story, bio and profile stuff. Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette Martin helps individuals, entrepreneurs, professionals and corporations tell a compelling story online and offline you can learn more about her here. Creating Profiles, Bios and Stories â€" Free Webinar Next week Im hosting a free webinar with Bernadette Martin, author of upcoming book I Need to Brand My Story Online and Offline Now What??? Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette helps individuals tell their story in their BIO/LinkedIn Summary and in their Elevator Pitch. You know what will make this fun? Bernadette is going to critique a few LinkedIn Profiles (focusing on the LinkedIn Summary) and a few elevator pitches.   Please leave a comment with your LinkedIn Profile and/or elevator pitch for Bernadette to check out â€" you can also submit it through the Contact Us form. As a fellow personal branding strategist I know Bernadette through the personal branding organization Reach. On Wednesday, October 7th at 10:30am MT (9:30am PT, 11:30 CT, 12:30 ET) we will spend an hour with Bernadette going over the story, bio and profile stuff. Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette Martin helps individuals, entrepreneurs, professionals and corporations tell a compelling story online and offline you can learn more about her here. Creating Profiles, Bios and Stories â€" Free Webinar Next week Im hosting a free webinar with Bernadette Martin, author of upcoming book I Need to Brand My Story Online and Offline Now What??? Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette helps individuals tell their story in their BIO/LinkedIn Summary and in their Elevator Pitch. You know what will make this fun? Bernadette is going to critique a few LinkedIn Profiles (focusing on the LinkedIn Summary) and a few elevator pitches.   Please leave a comment with your LinkedIn Profile and/or elevator pitch for Bernadette to check out â€" you can also submit it through the Contact Us form. As a fellow personal branding strategist I know Bernadette through the personal branding organization Reach. On Wednesday, October 7th at 10:30am MT (9:30am PT, 11:30 CT, 12:30 ET) we will spend an hour with Bernadette going over the story, bio and profile stuff. Sign up to join us on the webinar here. Bernadette Martin helps individuals, entrepreneurs, professionals and corporations tell a compelling story online and offline you can learn more about her here.

How to Recruit on LinkedIn - 15 Practical Tips

How to Recruit on LinkedIn - 15 Practical Tips LinkedIn has the potential to be a great recruitment tool for sourcing and marketing your brand, but its important that you make the most of the platform to optimum results. Here are  15 useful tips for recruiters already using LinkedIn. 1. Make sure your LinkedIn profile has these 4 essentials: A  picture      should look professional and reflect your brand, people like dealing with faces as opposed to just text â€" studies show you get 30% more clicks in search results when you have a picture. And you are 7 times more likely to come up in search if you have a photo. As a recruitment professional you want to be approachable and a profile picture is an absolute must. A headline   (along with your name and picture) is what comes up in search results and based on this the user will decide whether to click on you or the competitor. Make sure the headline talks about what you do and not who you are, i.e. “Recruiting Java Developers to Top Tier Consultancies in Manchester” instead of Consultant or Recruiter at Agency X â€" which means very little. You have 120 characters at your disposal, make sure you make the most of these. Your summary   (the bio section) is where people go to see what you are all about and what your track record in the industry is. If you get someone to take their time to check this out you will want them to read 2-3 paragraphs about what you have done, what you can do for them and something memorable. Remember to add your contact details at the end of this section if you want new people to get in touch. Keywords Finally, you have to get the right keywords on your profile or you will not come up in any searches. Yes you might come up in searches for your name but let’s face it if someone already knows your name you already have a foot in the door. It’s better to come up in the search for “Java recruiter Manchester”. Just remember that there is a fine balance between spraying keywords across your profile and staying professional. 2. Customize your public profile URL: You can make your personal profile look more professional by customizing  your LinkedIn public profile URL. When you sign up LinkedIn will automatically assign you a URL with a long number to identify your profile, but this can be changed to your name, company etc. in order to look tidier and make you profile easier to find. 3. Create a showcase page for your company: Whether your company is large or small, creating a Showcase Page is fairly simple and makes it much easier for people to keep up with company news and also to expand your reach to new people who were previously unaware of the business. Make sure you add a summary about who you are and what the company does on your page and you can also use your showcase page to to share updates and interact with potential clients/candidates. 4. Boost your LinkedIn SEO: LinkedIn users run thousands of searches every day, typically to find someone that can help them in their niche or location. The good news is that you can influence your own search rankings fairly easily.  To get better ranking make sure to insert relevant keywords in your headline, in your job title and in your summary. Use keywords such as industry, location, company names (if that’s allowed), and even names of people. 5. Alter your privacy settings: Most users on LinkedIn have realised that every update they do on LinkedIn will be visible to their network. As a result some people prefer not to connect, join groups, update their profile as they want to stay under the radar for whatever reason. There are however ways of hiding your activity and other bits on LinkedIn, all on the settings page: Activity broadcast â€" If you want to make lots of changes to your profile but not notify your network, turn the broadcasts off and you can operate under the radar. This is of course very useful for candidates you headhunt, as the candidate may not want the world to know they are connecting to a recruiter and improving their profile, getting recommendations etc. Who’s visited your profile â€" Unlike Facebook or Twitter, on LinkedIn you can actually see that other users have looked at your profile. How much you can see depends on your own settings, if you allow others to see your name, you’ll be able to see theirs. Hide connections on your profile â€" Some candidates complain that ‘recruiters only connect with me so they can have a look at my network’. Well, these people don’t realise that you can hide your connections from being browsed on your profile. 6. How to connect with new people: There are of course lots of ways of connecting with people you’d like to get in touch with. If you have their email you can tick the friend option. Or if you are stuck you can ask a common connection to introduce you, the trouble with that is that it takes time â€" the other person has to go in and manually forward your message. A good way to do it is through the group short cut. Have a look at that person’s profile, scroll down and sew what groups they are a member of. If you happen to be in the same group, great. If you’re not, you can always join a group they are in as you are allowed to connect direct with people in the same group. You are also able to send messages to users who you are not connected to but you’re in the same group. 5. LinkedIn is all about connections, the more you have the better visibility your profile will have and more people you will be able to search for. But it’s also about quality connections, it’s worth identifying the so called ‘super connectors’ in your field and start connecting with them â€" if they have 1,000 relevant connections that will save you a lot of leg work. 7. Who to connect with: LinkedIn is all about connections, the more you have the better visibility your profile will have and more people you will be able to search for. But it’s also about quality connections, it’s worth identifying the so called ‘super connectors’ in your field and start connecting with them â€" if they have 1,000 relevant connections that will save you a lot of leg work. 8. Connecting etiquette: The best way to connect with new people is not revolutionary; it’s just actually taking an interest in the other person. Personalise your invite where possible, have a look at the profile and try to find some common denominators. Are you a member of the same group (a very useful way), did you notice they are connected with someone you know, did you go to the same school or do you share a passion for trainspotting? Whatever it is, put it into your invite message and I can guarantee the person won’t mark you as a spammer. The worst thing that can happen is that they ignore you or politely reply that they only connect with people they have met. 9.  Engage with  your connections: Once you have built a network of connections it is important that you engage with them. You can do this by starting conversations, liking their updates, sharing your own updates that are likely to provoke discussion, but be sure to stay industry relevant. 10. Join groups or start your own: By joining groups for your industry and interests you can get involved with discussion with other like minded users and expand your network. You can use these to share content that has taken your interest or blog posts that you have written yourself. If you cant find the group youre looking for,  why not start your own based around specific interests? It’s a great way of getting people talking, at the same time as promoting your business or brand. 11. Post status updates: Posting status updates is a great way to build engagement with your connections and get your brand seen, as anyone who likes or comment will then automatically share it to their newsfeed. Heres what you could share:   Sharing valuable information that educates, inspires or entertains your audience, such as relevant industry articles, general business hacks and occasionally something light like ‘How Darth Vader was the best project manager ever’. Share a vacancy every now and then but do it in the right way. Instead of just pushing out a link to a job specification on your site, describe the opportunity and what makes it unique if you can. ‘ Share events you are going to is always useful, if someone in your network is thinking of going they will get in touch. And it shows that you’re out and about amongst your clients and candidates. If your company hosts events, these should definitely be shared as well in status updates (and listed in the events section). 12. Publish on LinkedIn: LinkedIn has recently introduced their own publishing platform,  so users can now publish long-form posts about professional topics. If you’re an expert in your and fancy yourself a bit of a writer, then make the most of this feature to share your knowledge and get yourself seen. Consider it an opportunity to position yourself as a ‘thought leader’, showing your clients that you’re at the forefront of your industry. These posts become part of your professional story when people visit your profile. 13. Advertise jobs: Anyone can advertise a job on I but it comes at a price. When you set up a pay-per-click campaign you can target segments on I such as CFOs and FDs based in Manchester in the Pharmaceutical industry. This will narrow down your audience to a few hundred people and only they will see your ad. The smaller the target group, the less clicks, but when you do get clicks you know they are right. So it’s better to get one relevant click per week than ten tyre kickers. One way of doing ads for free is of course your status update; another way is to post it into groups (job discussions). These are in theory good ways but the trouble is that most people see those updates as adverts and tend to ignore them. 14. LinkedIn activities to get involved in: Check your homefeed, this may sound very basic but very few recruiters actually keep an eye on the homepage of LinkedIn. This is where you see what’s happening in real time and it’s your chance to tell members of your network that you are there and that you care. Do at least one status update per day and make it count. It’s better to go for one quality update that gets attention from your network (and beyond) than a number of updates that nobody outside your team will care about. Be active in one or two groups, not more. It’s very hard to keep track of ten discussions happening in as many groups so again, go for a quality discussion in a useful group. 15. Check your analytics LinkedIn offer analytics that give you an insight into who are reading your posts and your companys performance on LinkedIn You can  view the data by using LinkedIn’s analytics page, where it tells you who is  engaging your individual posts are and  understand more about your follower demographics. This information will help you to target the right audience with your content.

Unique Tips For Beautifying Your Home With Rugs

Unique Tips For Beautifying Your Home With Rugs Are you interesting in changing the appearance of your home dramatically, but in a very simple manner? There are many alterations that can be made to your home, but some of them will be enormously difficult and time consuming. Rugs offer a simple solution and they’re capable of enhancing your home’s appearance immensely. With the right rug, you will be able to beautifully decorate your home, while also adding warmth and comfort to any room in your house. Below, you will find unique tips for beautifying your home with a rug or two. Remove From The Floor Most homeowners will utilize rugs on their floors. This is their primary purpose and how they’re used most often. However, you should remember that it is your home and you can use your rug any way you see it. If you want to enhance your home in a unique way, you should consider adding a rug to your wall. Adding a rug to your wall is a good way to show off your creativity, while adding a tinge of classicism to your home. The rug will make a good piece of wall art. Just remember to be very careful about using glue to attach the rug to the wall. Glue can be harmful to your rug, as well as the wall. Instead, you should opt for a less permanent solution. Lift Your Table Even home should have a kitchen and that kitchen should be equipped with a table. In most cases, the table will be there for practical purposes and it will not provide any aesthetical benefits. You can change this quickly by adding a rug to the equation. Make sure you take careful measurements and choose a rug that will fit underneath the table precisely. If you visit www.myrugstore.co.uk, you will be able to find rugs of various sizes. This will help ensure you’re able to find a rug that fits your table perfectly, regardless of its shape. The rug will lift the table to new heights. It can also help to make it a focal point within your kitchen. Attract Eyeballs Many homeowners will wish to show off a specific item within their room. For instance, they may prefer to force their guests to take notice of a painting hang on the wall or a picture on the table. In order to fulfill this goal, it will be essential to lead the viewer’s eye to the focal point. Rugs can help here. Of course, you will need to make sure you utilize the appropriate colors. Complementary colors, such as blue and orange, will prove to be very helpful. Yellow and purple will also work excellently together. Complementary colors make one another seem brighter and more vivid. Using two complementary colors in conjunction with one another is an excellent way to attract attention to one area of the room or another. Make A Connection It is absolutely essential to remember that your home’s interior design scheme needs to work together. Your colors should flow together and create a harmonious scene. Using a rug is a wonderful way to make sure your interior design correlates with one another excellently. By using a rug with multiple colors, you will be able to set your palette of colors. Once the rug is in place, you’ll want to make sure the rest of the colors in the room match the rug’s colors in one way or another. This will greatly enhance the room’s appearance, while making it feel comfortable and relaxing. Opt For A Family Friendly Rug It is also vital to make sure you opt for a family friendly rug. Some rugs can be enormously difficult to clean. If you have young children, you can guarantee they’ll turn the rug into a filthy mess eventually. With this in mind, you should choose a rug that will be easy to clean. If the rug is not family friendly and cannot be cleaned easily, you can guarantee you’ll be forced to replace it sometime in the near future. If you have pets, you’ll need to make sure your rug can accommodate them as well. Don’t Skimp On Size One of the major mistakes that consumers make, when purchasing a new area rug is choosing one that is too small. Believe it or not, a small rug in a compact area can actually make the area look even smaller. This is something many people do not even consider, so think about the size, before making your final purchase. Setting Boundaries For Your Furniture Your new area rug should set boundaries for your furniture, especially in the dining room. This basically means that the rug should be large enough to hold the legs of the furniture. This also includes the chair legs, even when they are pulled out from the table. If you are using the rug underneath a sofa table, be sure that it is large enough to support all four legs, with a little overhanging on each side. In some cases, you will be better off to not use an area rug than to use one. Image credit Main