In addition to being a place to share information you want people to know about you, social media is still a great place to learn about opportunities for new jobs. Jobvite’s 2019 Job Seeker Nation Survey indicates that 35 percent of respondents found job postings on social media, 50 percent heard about jobs from friends and 37 percent learned about opportunities from professional networks. The numbers show how important social networking tools are to your job search.

Assess: Review your social media goals

No matter how much (or little) time you spend using social media tools to enhance your online reputation, assess what you want people to know about you? What is the most important thing for them to learn? What feeling do you want them to have? Is there something you do NOT want them to know? What do you want them to DO when they land on your profile? Take the time to audit your profiles to ensure you’re putting out the right messages.

Ask a friend or a coach what they think when they visit your social media profiles and when they look at your streams of information. Make sure you aren’t missing the mark when it comes to shaping a reputation you want to own.

Google Yourself

At least a few times a year, you should Google your own name. You want to know what comes up when people search for you online. What pictures show up? Are they of you? Is there someone who has your name and comes up before you online, even in LinkedIn? Make a note of things that show up high in search, and make a point to spend extra time making those things the best they can be. For example, LinkedIn likely comes up high in search. Manage your profile there first, before you spend time anywhere else online.)

Update Your LinkedIn Headline

When is the last time you reviewed your LinkedIn profile?  Make sure to include new accomplishments and look over your materials with fresh eyes. LinkedIn made changes that could impact your headline length — it can now be as long as 220 characters. Use the extra space to target your audience and incorporate keywords to attract people to your profile.

Be sure you keep everything consistently updated. If you update LinkedIn, be sure to also update your resume.

Audit Your LinkedIn Profile

Have you updated the image behind your LinkedIn photo? This banner makes an impression when someone lands on your profile. Make sure you customize this with something that makes sense for your expertise. You can create a visual easily by using Canva.com, a free design tool.

If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile in a while, you may not have set up the “Open to Work” section that asks about your business information. This is the “bat signal” to recruiters to let them know you are open to being contacted.

Edit this business information by selecting the prepopulated category that matches your expertise. Fill in business focus areas, and then select if you want that information to be public or not. If your profile is public, LinkedIn points out that anyone can see what you selected, which is the whole point of this exercise, after all!

If you choose to allow all LinkedIn members to see your choices, LinkedIn will add the open to work image to your profile picture.

LinkedIn’s “Brag Book”

LinkedIn gives you a brag book area! This “Featured” section is a place to include your best work samples, such as:

• LinkedIn posts that you’ve created or re-shared.
• Articles that you’ve authored and published on LinkedIn.
• Links to external websites, for example, your personal blog or portfolio.
• Media that you can upload, for example, your images, documents, presentations and videos.

Review Your Experience and Skills Sections

The Experience section is also critically important. This is where you list your various job titles and indicate what you have accomplished in each of your positions.

Make the most of the title sections. You have 100 characters to leverage in each job title spot!

Don’t forget to populate your skills section with 50 specially selected skills! You can also take skills tests and add them to your profile.

Audit Your Settings

No matter how much great work you do on your LinkedIn profile, if your backend settings aren’t properly set up, people will not be able to access what you have to offer and to learn about you! To review and update your backend updates, click on the dropdown right below your little photo of you on the right side of the screen on your desk or laptop.

Select Settings and privacy, and review every question! In most cases, the choice that is more “public” and less “hidden” is what you will want to select.

On the other hand, to discourage people from using your LinkedIn profile as a launching point to see other profiles, you may choose to select “NO” for “Viewers of this profile also viewed” – this is one way to help prevent people from getting distracted and jumping to other, likely similar, LinkedIn profiles once they find your profile.

One other thing to watch for under the Microsoft Word setting: you probably do NOT want to allow your job descriptions to auto-populate templates on Microsoft word resumes.

Don’t miss the “Mentions or tags by others” setting. Unless you are famous and might be inundated by tags, it is nice to allow people to mention you in a way that you are notified in their LinkedIn updates and comments.

Finally, as you scroll to the bottom of this section, you’ll see that you can block and hide. In particular, I suggest you allow EVERYONE to follow you on LinkedIn to help make your profile more visible.

When you allow people to follow you, it will make any effort you put forth to improve your profile more worthwhile, as it opens the opportunity for more people to access your content on LinkedIn and to see your updates.

Un-follow

Is your LinkedIn feed getting too spammy?  Weed out people you don’t want to hear from. In LinkedIn, you can block people (which means you won’t see their updates, and they won’t see your content, either). LinkedIn won’t notify the blocked people! (Just click on the arrow next to the endorse button on their profile.)

Change Your Password

If you have trouble keeping track of passwords, you can use a password management program such as LastPass. Also, be sure you are using your personal email for LinkedIn; it’s not a good idea to use a work email or an email you never check!

Engage

How are you engaging on LinkedIn?

Post content! LinkedIn rewards people for creating content on the network. You will be more likely to be found in a search via LinkedIn if you are active on the platform. Don’t waste this opportunity to interact with your network. Share useful posts and comment on news and informational articles. Post blogs on LinkedIn if you have news to share or wish to comment on what is going on in your industry. Don’t forget to ‘Like’ and “Share’ updates that members of your network post. This helps get you on their radar screen and can also help introduce you to people who follow them and the comments on their posts.

LinkedIn still has groups, even if they are harder to find than they were in the past. Find groups by typing keywords into LinkedIn’s search bar and selecting “groups” as the search category.

If you could use some help updating your LinkedIn profile to ensure you are well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities and that you aren’t missing out on the chance for employers to find -and hire you – check out my special offer.

The post How to Position Yourself on LinkedIn During a Pandemic appeared first on Keppie Careers.

What can you do to keep up with the information you want to see — even if it is from companies. 

Maybe you enjoy viewing updates from organizations and companies, or from certain career experts, right? How can you ensure you see what YOU want to see? Click on the arrow in the top, right side of your Facebook profile and select Settings & Privacy (see the column image here).

Then, choose “News Feed Preferences.” Select the “See First” option. You will see a list populated by pages you follow first, but you will then see the faces of your friends.

Choose the pages you want to see. I hope you’ll choose to see Keppie Consulting “first” on Facebook.

The interesting thing many people do not know about this setting is it allows them to choose to prioritize businesses and people whose streams they want to see first. So, if you’ve been missing images from a dear friend who does not often post, or they are waiting for news from a particular contact via Facebook, you can let Facebook know what they want to see first.

If you have a business, consider leveraging the clever way I have seen to help inspire people to follow through with making this change to their settings is for businesses. Ask people, “Who is in your ‘See First’ settings?” Let people who follow you know that they can control their newsfeed and request they include your business, company or organization in their priority list. You may be doing them a favor, and you could experience an improved reach as a result.

The post How to ensure you see what you want to see on Facebook appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Review your social media goals

What are your plans for social media? What do you want people to learn when they visit your profiles? What feeling do you want them to have? What do you want them to know about you — or NOT know about you? What do you want them to DO when they land on your website? Take the time to audit your profiles to ensure youâ€re putting out the right messages.

Ask a friend or a coach what they think when they visit your social media profiles and when they look at your streams of information. Make sure you aren’t missing the mark when it comes to shaping a reputation you want to own.

Google Yourself

At least a few times a year, you should Google your own name. You want to know what comes up when people search for you online. What pictures show up? Are they of you? Is there someone who has your name and comes up before you online, even in LinkedIn? Make a note of things that show up high in search, and make a point to spend extra time making those things the best they can be. (For example, LinkedIn likely comes up high in search. Manage your profile there first, before you spend time anywhere else online.)

Update Your Bios

When is the last time you reviewed your bios? Whether they are short (like Twitterâ€s) or longer (such as your LinkedIn Summary), now is the time to give them a once over. Make sure to include new accomplishments and look over your materials with fresh eyes to update them.

Be sure you keep everything consistently updated. If you update LinkedIn, be sure to also update your resume.

Once youâ€ve addressed the big picture: scrub your profiles!

Review your “tags”

Itâ€s a great idea to look into what photos youâ€ve taken over the past year and de-clutter. Be sure photos where other people tagged you are appropriate and speak to your brand. If not, find the “Untag” button. In Facebook, get started by “viewing your activity log.”

Un-follow

Is your LinkedIn feed getting too spammy? Are you tired of seeing the overly politically charged updates in Facebook? Weed out people you donâ€t want to hear from. In LinkedIn, you can block people (which means you wonâ€t see their updates, and they wonâ€t see your content, either). LinkedIn wonâ€t notify the blocked people! (Just click on the arrow next to the endorse button on their profile.)

In Facebook, if you donâ€t want to “unfriend,” people, you can unfollow and they wonâ€t be any wiser! Choose the  “following” button on the personâ€s Facebook page and select. “unfollow”

Disconnect from apps you arenâ€t using.

Have you given “permissions” to apps you donâ€t use anymore? Disconnect them!

In Twitter: go to settings and apps – disengage from anything youâ€re not using now.

In Facebook, find apps behind the Activity log button.

Change Your Passwords

Update and change your passwords.

If you have trouble keeping track of passwords, you can use a password management program such as LastPass. Also, be sure you are using your personal email for LinkedIn; itâ€s not a good idea to use a work email or an email you never check!

Manage your brand

How are you engaging?

Check how youâ€re engaging in your networks. For example: look along the left side of your Facebook profile – are there groups you arenâ€t using? Feel free to remove yourself.

How about LinkedIn groups? Did you join a bunch and never engage? Consider focusing on a few groups for the next few months.

If you use Twitter, click on settings, and check apps. You may want to revoke permissions for some if you are not using them.

Your visuals:

On one hand, a consistent photo makes it easy for people to follow you, but this is a good time to consider a change. IF you have a business, make sure you check your logos and other visuals to make sure they still fit and are on brand.

Your email addresses and notifications

Are you checking your LinkedIn email regularly? Sometimes, people forget what emails theyâ€ve listed for different networks, use a new email address and miss out on opportunities.

What now?

Now that everything is clean and tidy, commit to creating a stream of content that will demonstrate your expertise and grow your influence and presence in your field of choice!

The post How to clean up your social media accounts appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Thatâ€s all it takes, and off I go, explaining how social media isnâ€t rocket science, but itâ€s not intuitive, either. I start ticking off all kinds of tips and tricks to help make it easier to make social media marketing work for his or her business.

For months, Iâ€ve been asking myself, “How can I tap into my passion about social media to help more people?” And, “How can I offer overwhelming value, but keep it affordable, so even new entrepreneurs can get onboard and itâ€s valuable for people who have a good start, but could benefit from some easy tweaks?” I want to provide something thatâ€s so amazing, itâ€s a no-brainer for every business owner. I think Iâ€ve finally figured it out!

Most business owners need a helping hand. Think about it:

Wouldnâ€t it be incredible to have someone to ask the you canâ€t quite figure out how to upload that photo to Twitter? Or, to be able to ask an expert if your tweet looks good, or if youâ€re going to embarrass yourself by publishing it?

YES! I WANT TO LEARN MORE

What about when you want to decide the best hashtag to use for something you post? Who can help? How about if the person there to hold your hand (virtually) just happens to be someone CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business and Forbes ask when they have questions about social media?

Learn everything from big-picture strategy to technical know how:

• Choose the best social networks to connect with your customers and clients.
• Save time while you stay top-of-mind for people who need to know about you.
• Leverage social media marketing to build relationships and increase awareness of your brand.
• Inspire trust, influence buying decisions and make more money.
• Look smarter than your competition.
• Get it all done faster so you donâ€t waste time!

Sound good?

Social media constantly morphs and changes. (Have you noticed how often LinkedIn changes its interface? If youâ€re confused, itâ€s not you, itâ€s them!) A kickstart is great, but youâ€re too busy doing your work to keep up with the latest and greatest on social media. You could spend weeks or months trying to unravel social mediaâ€s complexities, only to find out your favorite network just got an overhaul and itâ€s back to square one for you.

So, this program isn’t based on feeding you a bunch of hour-long webinars. Who really watches all those webinars, anyway? Isnâ€t it better to have your questions addressed directly? You need help putting your social media strategy to work every day.

Join me in a brand new group: The Smart Business Ownerâ€s Social Media Help Desk.

Youâ€ll have 24-hour access to ask your questions, and Iâ€ll be there daily to help you overcome every social media issue, from the big issues (what to say in your profile) to the most mundane. (Is there really a “best time” to post?)

A bonus for members? As the group grows, in addition to my expertise and targeted advice, youâ€ll also have access to opinions and ideas from your fellow business owners. Members will be invited to share opinions, ideas and best practices. Thereâ€s strength in numbers, and an empowered, well-informed group of business owners is a great asset.

What do you actually get?

Whether youâ€re just getting started, or youâ€re ready to ramp it up, there will be useful information for you.

Access to a group where you can ask and get answers to all of your social media marketing questions. Weâ€ll house everything in a private Facebook group (since thatâ€s where you likely spend a lot of time).

• For a limited time, a free, 30-minute, one-on-one preliminary social media coaching session over the phone. (Sign up before I decide I don’t have time for these free sessions!) My initial social media consultations normally start at $300. For anyone who joins The Smart Business Ownerâ€s Social Media Help Desk now, Iâ€ll include it for free.
• Daily Help Desk Hints – 6 weeks of  social media pointers that you can easily implement in 15 minutes or less. Learn how to strategically and efficiently target your audience, create appealing visuals and plan your social media calendar in advance.
• Iâ€ll regularly share actionable tips in the group you can implement to generate better results from your social media marketing.
• Youâ€ll always be up-to-date. Youâ€ll have the latest information when a network adds new features or makes changes that could affect your business.
• SHORT (5-8 minute) webinars with tips, tricks and trends you can apply toward your own social media marketing. Topics include “How to write great professional bios,” “How to find your customers or clients online” and “The best tools to use for social media success.”
• Checklists to help you solidify your social media business strategy – and ongoing, up-to-date information to keep you successful moving forward.

Interested? Learn more about how to make the most of your social media marketing by joining TODAY!

The post Social Media Tips for Business Owners appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Identify the best networks for your industry. Where are you most likely to “meet” people in your field? Search the networks you enjoy and see if your colleagues and contacts are using those networks. LinkedIn is a natural fit for professional use, but you could be surprised to find an active Twitter chat or Google+ hangout.

Create amazing profiles. You wouldn’t go to a networking event without getting dressed, would you? Likewise, don’t start stepping out on social media until you’ve put together profiles and bios that articulate your value proposition. People should easily understand what you offer when they click through to learn more about you.

Post useful content. Be a resource to your community. While you want to feature your story and your skills, be sure you’re providing value to the people who follow you. Don’t share too much self-referential information, and make a point to pay attention to what interests your community the most. What “goes viral” (is most popular) in groups where you are a member? What attracts the most comments and shares? Put your “researcher” hat on and take action accordingly.

Consider what hiring managers want to see. Jobviteâ€s survey said employers are looking for the following information when they check you out online:

• professional experience
• length of professional tenure
• industry-related posts
• mutual connections
• specific hard skills
• cultural fit
• examples of work

Illustrate your passion for the work. Illustrate your commitment by keeping up with the news affecting your business. This is easy to do via social media tools.

Be active. Don’t dabble — fully commit! If you see a community you think is worth your time, jump in with both feet and get engaged. Follow thought leaders and demonstrate how you belong among their ranks. Show that you’re interested in company profiles of organizations where you might want to work, too.

Demonstrate good judgement. Show you know better than to spout off on social about something that bothers you. Illustrate what you know about your field, don’t use your social media feeds as a complaint outlet. Jobviteâ€s Social Recruiting Survey featured a number of items particularly irksome to employers. Numbers represent the percentage of employers bothered by the item:

• illegal drug mentions: 83 percent
• sexual posts: 70 percent
• poor spelling and grammar: 66 percent
• profanity: 60 percent
• guns: over 50 percent
• mentions relating to alcohol: 44 percent
• political updates 17 percent

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Read the whole post on Vault.com.

Get my book: Vault Guide to Networking

The post Make social networking work for your job search appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Is your number one question about social media, “Where can I find great social media content to share?”  If youâ€re excited about filling your social media streams with useful news and information, but youâ€re not sure how to go about finding the information your audience would want to know, leverage these tools and youâ€ll be off to a great start.

LinkedInâ€s Pulse. Find it under the “Interests” tab on your LinkedIn toolbar. It’s a consistent stream of content from famous influencers as well as contributors just like you about all types of topics, and you’re sure to find something here to interest your audience.

Alltop.com. This is an online, virtual “magazine rack” of blogs. There’s an eclectic array of topics and content. Search your favorite key words, and you will identify several new sources of information.

SmartBrief.com. This is of my favorite resources. SmartBrief editors read and parse through important information published about many topics. Then, they send out summaries with links directly to your email! There’s no easier way to find great resources for your audience. Plus, it’s free!

These resources are great tools to start your list of content sources. You’ll also want to tap into all of the traditional media outlets you follow and be sure to watch your social media streams, too. People you follow probably share useful information.

Make the most of social networking tools and youâ€ll access exponential numbers of new contacts who can make a big difference in your careerâ€s trajectory.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Read the entire post on Vault.com.

The post How to find social media content to share appeared first on Keppie Careers.

That can be good or bad news, depending on what that person finds! The good news is you can influence what people find when they search for you online. One way is to create a stream of professional content via social media tools, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. Using these tools is free, does not require a lot of technical skill and, once you understand social media basics, makes it easy to showcase your information.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

One additional strategy many job seekers overlook is building and maintaining a personal website, also known as a “social résumé.” Domain.ME – provider of the “.me” domain extension –  conducted a survey of 600 professionals who own their own websites. Eighty-four percent of respondents reported receiving tangible career benefits from their personal website.

A  Forbes article, when referencing Workfolio, noted that “56 percent of all hiring managers are more impressed by a candidateâ€s personal website than any other personal branding tool – however, only 7 percent of job seekers actually have a personal website.”

How can having your own website help your career? Predrag Lesic, CEO of Domain.ME, offers these insights:

1. It helps you clarify your brand. Can you think of a brand you respect that does not have a website? Would you hire a service provider who didnâ€t have a strong online presence?

“Today, a web presence is a measure of credibility and a powerful tool for communicating what you are all about to your target audiences,” Lesic says. “While it may seem unusual to consider yourself a commodity, as a job seeker, you are marketing yourself to meet a need. Like every good brand, your personal brand should live online.”

2. It gets you noticed. In the Domain.Me survey, 70 percent reported believing that employers review their online presence prior to an interview. In fact, a 2014 Jobvite survey of human resources professionals reveals that 93 percent of recruiters will review a candidateâ€s social media profile before making a decision, and that candidate information found on the Web influences their hiring decisions.

“As employers increasingly turn to the Internet to identify and research potential candidates, you want to be searchable. Your Facebook page may entertain family members and friends, but it isnâ€t designed to highlight your strengths as a job candidate. Conversely, your LinkedIn profile, while providing professional credentials, can be dry and impersonal,” Lesic says. “Not only is your website a fully customizable platform to showcase your personal brand, the savvy you demonstrate in owning your Web real estate and building a site can impress potential employers.”

Creating this online real estate is not difficult, and there are various ways to accomplish it. One way is via “hosted” sites, such as About.me or Flavors.me, which allow you to design your own landing page on their directories. These options result in an online presence, but the URL will not be in your name only.

If you want to own a memorable, personalized domain, you can purchase an address using any of the major domain registrars. Lesic explains: “With .com availability dwindling, a popular choice for personal websites is the .ME extension.”

Once you own a domain of your choice – ideally, “YourName.com” or YourName.me – you can turn to various tools to populate and publish the site, such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or Jigsy.

3. Itâ€s more than a résumé. In Domain.MEâ€s survey, respondents were asked which is more important for long-term career success: a personal website or a résumé. The majority (63 percent) favored websites. “A website is interactive, evolving and dynamic,” Lesic says. “Your portfolio, writing samples, testimonials, images and more add color to your professional history. And your siteâ€s design aesthetic and tone of voice help to convey your personal brand.”

4. It networks for you. While in-person networking isnâ€t going out of style, digital networking can help make the job a lot easier. More than half of survey respondents believe their personal sites help them achieve professional recognition, connect them with a network of like-minded professionals and attract new customers.

“Your website never sleeps or takes a day off,” Lesic says. “It makes you accessible to an enormous audience and invites people to engage with your content and to contact you.”

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report.

The post Why you should have a personal website appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Jackie Hydock is Director, Global Recruiting at App Annie. The organization taps social media tools to recruit, and she made the following suggestions regarding how job seekers can use social media effectively:

Survey data say recruiters appreciate when candidates post content on their own social media sites, but what about what they should post on employer sites? Do candidates ever post on App Annie’s social media pages? If so, what are some things you appreciate seeing or take as a positive sign?

Jackie: Yes. We have created our own recruitment social media pages outside of our corporate social media sites. The corporate sites serve to share our mobile insights reports, corporate news and showcase how we are revolutionizing the mobile analytics space. Our recruitment social media sites focus on the App Annie culture to give followers an inside view of what it’s like to be a part of the team and offer tips on how to become an “App Annier.” We also use our recruitment social sites to highlight open job positions.

We love gaining new candidate followers and appreciate it when followers like, comment, retweet or favorite our #lifeatappannie and App Annie Instagram posts. A couple of candidates have tweeted that they sent in their application to App Annie and couldn’t wait to hear from us! It’s also exciting when followers retweet or favorite specific job openings. Engaging with us through our social media channels is a great way to stand out among the applicant pool. It shows us that candidates have taken the time to learn more about our company’s cultures, values and beliefs, which is an integral part of our recruiting process. If a candidate is already a user of our App Annie products and broadcasts that on social media — that’s another major plus in our eyes.

What kinds of social media engagement do you appreciate seeing? For example, do you appreciate if a candidate follows you, likes a post, makes a comment, etc.

Jackie: Any attention a candidate gives to our corporate or recruiting social sites makes us feel like they are eager to stay connected and that they want to engage with us. We appreciate the candidates who take time to follow us, whether they are interested in working with us today or just hoping to keep us in mind for the future. If a candidate goes the extra mile to share a job opening with their network, it is a great sign that they would be a positive addition to our growing team. It is our commitment to our followers to keep our feeds interesting and filled with fun and unique App Annie content.

What do you like to see on candidates’ social media profiles? When you look on a candidate’s LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook page, what are some things that impress you or make you think favorably of a candidate?

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Jackie: We like to see responsible photos and content from people who take their personal brand image and work seriously. Our recruiting team uses LinkedIn heavily and we believe that it is the best place to judge candidates on who they are and what they’ve done in a public forum. We understand that Facebook and Instagram profiles are typically more personal profiles and we are less likely to take those posts and pictures under consideration.

What we are looking for is good judgment. As we recruit, we keep in mind that every App Annie employee is also an App Annie brand ambassador, and we want to make sure our team is made up of those who will reflect our company in the most positive light everywhere – whether they’re on the conference show floor or in the gym. We don’t invest a lot of time in doing heavy social checks on the more personal social media channels, but rely on more formal background checks to assess a candidate’s ultimate eligibility.

Appeared on AOLJobs.com.

The post How social media can help you get a job appeared first on Keppie Careers.

On the other hand, if you HAVE created a keyword focused, optimized LinkedIn profile designed to attract the type of people you hope will hire you, it IS possible a job opportunity may come knocking on the door. Seems like a no brainer, doesn’t it?

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Recently, I suggested a few tips to a friend who was between jobs. A few days later, he sent me an astonished message letting me know his profile had moved from page eight to page one for the keyword he was targeting, AND that he had already heard from several local recruiters! That is a win, and it can happen for you, too. Unlike Google search results, which may take a long time, a financial investment and a lot of effort to influence, you can relatively easily improve your LinkedIn search results if they aren’t already optimized.

I thought it would be helpful to create a series of posts with suggestions to improve your LinkedIn profile. If you want to magnetically attract opportunities, you need to build the magnet first!

Tip #1: Optimize Your Headline

The information that appears directly below your name is termed the “headline” for a reason. It’s one of the most important elements of your profile, because it’s what most people will see when your profile comes up in search. Are you listing your current title? That could be helpful if you are looking for a job doing exactly the same thing, but even then, a job title is not a strong headline.

Instead, include keywords — the words people will use to find someone like you — in your headline. And, offer a pitch. In other words, what is your value proposition? What do you offer an organization? What problem do you solve for them?

For example, instead of: “Business Analyst,” you may want to list: “Business Analyst: Develop and implement systems to bridge gaps between HR and IT organizations.” This updated headline includes keywords AND a pitch, which is exactly what can help inspire people to want to learn more about you if they see your profile in a search.

You have 120 characters to use for your headline; make the most of them.

Keep in mind: I am available to transform your LinkedIn profile. Contact me to learn how I can help you position yourself to land the opportunity of your dreams for 2015!

The post How to Create an Optimized LinkedIn Profile, part I appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know posting unprofessional information on Facebook can prevent you from landing a job. Employers don’t like profanity, comments about illegal drugs, posts of a sexual nature or excessive misspellings and bad grammar. What they do like, according to Jobvite’s research, is to be able to find you online and to learn about you. If you put time, effort and energy into creating some public information in Facebook, you could find yourself with a new job sooner than you thought.

Recruiters are looking for you.
Recruiters will source new hires where ever they can find them. With the exponential number of people using Facebook and the amount of time they spend there, it isn’t surprising to learn from Undercover Recruiter that 70 percent of recruiters say they connect better with potential jobseekers due to widespread use of Facebook and 85 percent of recruiters using Facebook recommend it as a tool to other recruiters. (Tweet this stat.)

Companies are spending a lot of time, effort and money to connect with you on Facebook. They want you to “like” their career pages, and they hope you’ll post smart messages there. Don’t disappoint them.

Make your information available.
You don’t have to post your vacation photos for everyone to see, but if you want to be found, it’s a good idea to allow certain sections of your Facebook profile to be public, including: Work and Education, Professional Skills and Contact information. Not only will this make it possible for people looking for someone with your skills to find you, it also provides professional information that will help people in your network connect with you when they are in job search mode.

Another benefit of making this data public, it allows you to engage with Glassdoor.com’s“Inside Connections” tool, which provides job seekers access to their Facebook networks to identify people who work at companies with interesting jobs. When people in your network provide public professional data on Facebook, you’ll also be able to access information from friends of friends for networking purposes via this tool. Clearly, making these items public on Facebook helps you be found as well as enhances networking opportunities. Since four in ten job seekers found their favorite or best job through personal connections, don’t ignore this opportunity to tap your online network.

Give them a little something.
Since many recruiters want to know a little something about you beyond what’s on your resume, why not give them a little professional information? Create public updates in your private Facebook page and you have the opportunity to post and share certain items that will be easy for people you do not know to find. This is easy to do.

Follow the link on the top of your Facebook page to check your privacy settings.

Once there, click on the icon that says “Followers” on the left side of the screen. Then, under Who Can Follow Me, select the drop down that says “Everybody.”

This will give you an option to create public updates and for people to “follow” your public updates. Public updates can include links to news about your industry. If you’re in customer service, you can occasionally post a public update about the latest customer service trends. If you are a bank teller, you can post links about your company’s financials.

Answer the key question.
There’s no more important question to answer for job seekers than, “How can I help employers find me?” Facebook could be one way to answer it.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

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