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You probably know that LinkedIn is a major force in the hiring process and in getting business even if you’re not looking for work. Yet, we still see far too many people who give very little thought to their LinkedIn profiles. Do this at your peril. Here are just a few mistakes people make.

1) A Tiny Network
When someone finds your profile on LinkedIn, they can see how many people are directly connected to you. When someone sees that you have only, let’s say 12 connections, you communicate that you are not a serious LinkedIn user.
Further, when someone searches on LinkedIn, they find those most closely connected to them first [e.g. first degree connections first, then second degree, and so on]. A large network helps you to place higher on more LinkedIn searches, and makes it more likely that you will be found by employers, recruiters, and others with whom you may want to connect.
I recommend that you build your network to at least 500. Now, I do recognize and respect the viewpoint of those who only want friends, colleagues, and people they trust in their network. Many people will NOT include strangers or people they barely know. This is certainly a legitimate perspective. However, if you are in a job search—or are receptive to new opportunities and serious about being hired, I recommend that you have a large network. Further, some features like LinkedIn Signal become more powerful as your network grows.

2) Not Listing Every Position
Current practice on resumes is to focus on the last ten to fifteen years (Note: this isn’t always the best approach, but that’s a topic for another day). When it comes to their LinkedIn profiles, many people take the same approach. Rethink this. You see, recruiters, employers, former colleagues, and others may search for people by company. So, if you worked for Kraft Foods 20 years ago, someone searching for past Kraft employees won’t find you—unless you list that experience. So, it can be a good idea to include all your employers.

On the other hand, there may be good reasons not to list all your positions. Perhaps you’ve changed careers and would just as soon not draw attention to a certain chapter of your life. Maybe you’re worried about age discrimination. Point is, be strategic about it. Think through how far back you want to go.

3. Neglecting the Section called ‘Specialties’
I notice many profiles with nothing in the section called specialties. This section should be chock full of keywords. Recruiters often plug in several keywords to find a narrow group who they believe can do the job. The more relevant keywords you have, the easier it will be for people to find you. This section is just one place to have keywords.

4. Bland Headlines
Your headline is the text that appears right below your name. This is a missed opportunity to say who you are. Instead of just having your name and title, “James Davidson, President of Davidson Enterprises,” say something interesting about what you do. You can put in a ten-second commercial about yourself. For example, John Maxwell is a sales trainer with a company called Blue Engine. But rather than just putting in that title and the company, his headline states who he is and what he wants to sell. Maxwell’s headline says: “Sales Doctor – Diagnosis, Team Treatment, Sales Prospecting Management.”
DO NOT NOT NOT represent yourself this way: “John Doe, Unemployed. “

5) The skeleton profile
I still see a lot of profiles that commit all these mistakes and more. Someone puts in their name, job titles and companies, then maybe a sentence about each job—and they’re done. This is much more common with people who’ve been in the same job for a while.
You might think, “So what? I’m happy with my job.”
Consider that:
1) Few people’s jobs are really secure these days.
2) People may be looking to do business with someone like you, but won’t find you.
3) Your LinkedIn profile should enhance your professional reputation—even if you aren’t going anywhere else anytime soon.
4) You’re missing out on important networking opportunities.

Having a presence on LinkedIn is not an option any more. Plus, there are many tools on LinkedIn to help you find opportunities. Be sure to learn about how to use LinkedIn in the LinkedIn Master class offered by Lucrative Careers.

A while ago, one of our clients just disappeared. We called and left messages. We emailed. No response. We weren’t sure if he was alive or dead. Finally, he called and sheepishly told us that for a long time, he was too depressed to get out of bed. Please don’t let this happen to you. Depression is a major hazard to you and those you love when you’re out of work.

We all feel down from time to time, but depression can immobilize you, and interfere with your ability to work, read, eat, sleep, and have fun. Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness are intense and unrelenting. It can feel like there’s no way out.

It’s not surprising that people get depressed. There is a lot of negativity in a job search. Until you get that offer, there is one rejection after another. Many people get little or no positive feedback to keep them going. Money issues can weigh us down heavily and cause tension with spouses and kids. Often, people feel uneasy, uncertain that they are doing the right things to get hired. Many haven’t done a job search in a long time, and the rules of the game have changed. Plus, it’s embarrassing when people ask, “What do you do?” When working, we’re proud to talk about it, but now, we find ourselves mumbling, “Uh….I’m unemployed.”

There are steps you can take to prevent depression and to climb out of it, if you succumb. When you’re unemployed, do all you can to ward it off.

Be effective
First, let’s address the root of the depression—your unemployment. Make sure that you are doing the right things to get hired. Many people spend most of their time on the least effective activities, like job boards. Make sure you have a great personal presentation: resume, clothes, LinkedIn and other marketing materials and that you can speak about yourself powerfully. Job hunting is like boxing: neither is any fun if you’re not good at them. You just get beaten up. If you are not being effective, waste no time. Call a professional coach today. If you can’t afford that, a number of places provide help for free or for a nominal charge. You can’t afford to be ineffective.

Watch what you put in your body
Eat nutritious foods; get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid substances that cause depression: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and aspartame (aka NutraSweet). According to Dr. Janet Star Hull, there are at least 92 serious side effects caused by consumption of aspartame. See: www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html).

Watch what you put in your mind
Resist the temptation to vegetate in front of the TV. Keep up to date on the news, but stay away from the standard fare of most of the TV news. You really don’t need to know about every fire, rape, and murder that occurred in your city. Read magazines and newspapers; avoid hate radio jocks. Read or listen to inspirational books and recordings.

Volunteer
Find a place to contribute. Keep your skills sharp, be around other people, and get that satisfaction of a job well done that you don’t experience when you’re out of work.

Surround yourself with positive people
Spend time with friends, join a support group, and network with others. Be sure that you don’t get dragged down by negative people. There’s no shortage of people who will continually complain about everything from the job market to the weather; you can’t afford to be around them.

Get out of the house
Every day, get out of the house. Enjoy nature and spend time with other human beings. You can’t stay sane sitting around all by yourself.

Exercise
Sitting around being sedentary isn’t good for your body or your mind. At least once a day, get out to the health club, ride your bike, take a walk, go swimming…whatever you enjoy. Exercise not only makes you look and feel better, but it stimulate the production of endorphins, powerful chemicals in your body that resemble opiates in their abilities to produce a feeling of well-being. The talk of the “runners’ high” is real!

Consult a doctor and/or counselor
Talking with a counselor can do wonders to lift your spirits. Further, some people greatly benefit from anti-depressants. They’re not for everyone, but they have helped a lot of people to kick a debilitating depression.

Keep your spirits up and keep in action.

The LinkedIn summary is a truly different way of talking about and marketing yourself. Unfortunately, many people miss this opportunity. I see a lot of profiles which have no Summary at all. Others are very short and contain nothing interesting, while still others just make bland assertions and make no impact.

Remember, many people will be looking at your profile to check you out. This can include potential employers and recruiters who get your resume or have heard about you in other ways. It critical that you say something that will impress them.

Just so we’re clear, the LinkedIn summary is a section of the profile that allows you space for a narrative about yourself. Here’s a few tips to make it effective:

Tell Your Story Your Way
I really like the LinkedIn summary because it frees you from the shackles of the resume, which demands that you talk about your most recent job, the job before that, the job before that, and so on. Instead, you can talk about what’s most important to you–and omit what’s not important. You can also avoid things that are painful. If your last job was a clunker, you don’t have to mention it. If you have spent most of your career in one area and now you’re in a different one, you can focus on your current activities.

Make your summary conversational
The LinkedIn summary also frees you from the formality of the resume. A conversational tone is most effective.

Use All the Space
This section allows you 2,000 characters–not 2,000 words—but characters. Best practice is to use all of them. While 2000 characters might sound like a lot of space, carefully craft your message so that you can talk about yourself powerfully without wasting words.

Convey Your Value
All your marketing materials should convey your value statement. Make sure that people understand what it is that you do and why they might want you, rather than someone else with similar credentials. A good example of this is the summary of a Sales Trainer named John Maxwell:

John helps owners and sales leaders who are frustrated with sales performance, concerned their people are not effective at opening up new opportunities, worried that they might be losing market share, and fed up with excuses about why sales are not growing.

Use Stories
Be sure to use stories to demonstrate how you’ve been effective. This is where the careful crafting of your text is most critical. Use PARs (problem-action-results stories) to demonstrate your effectiveness.

More on LinkedIn in future blog posts.

Many candidates never bother to send thank you notes to the job interviewer. Big mistake! It’s a powerful job search tool. So powerful that many hiring decision makers say the thank you note—or lack of a note—is a key factor in making a close decision between candidates with similar credentials. Yet, most people (I’ve heard estimates as high as 95%) don’t bother to send one.

When surveyed, employers and recruiters consistently say three things win the job interview: clear communications, enthusiasm, and good human relations. Sending a good thank you note demonstrates all three. This is why it is so critical.

Send it promptly.
Of course, you want to send the note out right away.

Send to everyone.
If you interviewed with multiple people, get their business cards so you can thank them.

Email vs. Hard Copy
Certainly, you CAN send an email thank you, and it has the advantage of speed. But sending hard copy, especially a greeting card is often better. First, most of us are deluged with email. The overwhelmed interviewer may never get to it. Second, many people delete emails from unfamiliar addresses. Third, your email may wind up in a spam filter.

Hard copy, sent through the US mail, on the other hand, is almost a novelty. When was the last time you received an envelop with your name handwritten on it with a real live stamp? If you get something like that, aren’t you very curious? Who sent this? What is it? Not only is hard copy much more likely to reach the interviewer, but he/she is much more likely to read it. Of course, sending a handwritten note is only a good idea if you have good penmanship.

What to say?
Make it personal. Let the interviewers know that you appreciate their time. Refer to things you talked about in the interview. Reiterate your interest in the job and restate your case for being the ideal candidate. This is also an opportunity to say something about what you may have forgotten to say.

Bonus
You might also include an article on a topic discussed during the interview. If you noticed that the boss likes a certain cartoonist, you might include a particularly funny one.

Be creative (but always appropriate) to set yourself apart from the competition.