Super Charge Your Job Search Network on LinkedIn – Tap the Open Networkers (LIONS)
If you’ve spent much time on LinkedIn, you may have stumbled on the term “Open Networker” and perhaps seen the term “LION”. A LION is a LinkedIn Open Networker. There are thousands and perhaps millions of LIONS on LinkedIN and you may not know any of them personally. However, if you are serious about your job search, you need to devote a portion of your allowed invitations to these networking beasts. Some of the LIONs have tens of thousands of first-level connections. Connecting to a just a few of these allows you to reach far across and deep into the LinkedIn network to reach your networking and job search goals.
What exactly am I proposing and how do you go about this?
- Google Search “LinkedIn LIONs”. You’ll find some well-put-together websites where simply joining will allow you download these folks’ information for LinkedIn networks. Return to LinkedIn and upload the list and reach out to these new network contacts. They will universally add you to their networks. As soon as they do, you will see your first level grow by 100, 200, 300, or even more from the LION list, but the real effect will be on your 2nd and 3rd level network. You may jump from tens of thousands of connections to millions in a few days’ time. Your ability to reach folks in your industry, in your skill set, from your alma mater, or from any other criteria you can imagine willl blossom.
- As you move around LinkedIn, you will notice certain individuals who include their email address in their profile or even in their own name. These people are likely LIONs as well. Consider adding them to your network and magnifying all the benefits and network power described in item 1 on a smaller more incremental basis.
Once this is completed, I suggest taking a look at the LIONs you’ve connected with. Search on industry or profession. A few may turn out to be from the medical or health care sales industry. These folks are a wealth of resources within that industry and deserve special attention. For example, my brother is in the rental property business and has a network that includes hundreds of real estate professionals. Also, you will notice a lot of these same folks are executive recruiters (not surprising, really). Find out their specialty and what they have available. You may have already stumbled on to the job lead or source that will be your next career step.
Want more advanced LinkedIn job search tips? Check out LinkedIn Ninja Tricks for bypassing HR and getting the job.
Do I have to be on Twitter?
If you want to build your personal brand, establish an online presence, and be in the right place at the right time for your job search, then you have to utilize social media. The big 3 social media sites are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. While LinkedIn is focused more fully on business, and Facebook leans toward the social, Twitter lands somewhere in the middle. Nearly 75 million people visited Twitter in January 2010.
Twitter relies on “tweets,” which are posts of 140 characters or less. They’re short, but frequent. Life moves fast on Twitter. But then, the world moves fast and this is a way to keep up. And yes, while some tweets are huge time-wasters (some of us don’t want to know what someone else had for breakfast), there’s quite a bit of useful information you can gain from following the right people. It’s both a way to research and a way to network. You can follow companies, customers, suppliers, vendors, industry experts, and recruiters who post jobs (there’s even a Top 25 Recruiters on Twitter list–anyone who’s going to be useful for you. You’ll be able to keep up-to-the minute current. And then you can be useful yourself–pass along job leads, industry info, or the great book you just read. Any help or advice you can provide your contacts is a nice way to contribute.
You can ask questions, find people, and make contacts. Look for people to follow on www.twellow.com. You can search medical device, laboratory, surgical, diagnostics, clinical, molecular…you get the drift. You can search for any keywords that matter to you at search.twitter.com.
There are all kinds of ways to use Twitter for your job search. More and more companies are getting involved, and 75 million people means you ought to be able to find a job lead or two. You can put your elevator pitch in your bio, and provide links to your resume, LinkedIn page, or anything else that’s cool about you. Check out my Top 10 Twitter Tips for Medical and Laboratory Sales Reps for more tips on how to use Twitter for your job search.
The point is: Twitter is a fantastic networking tool. And networking is critical to the success of your job search and your long-term career.
Set up your bio on Twitter today. Need more help? Check out Mashable.com’s Twitter Guide Book.
Are You Job Hunting? What Will Employers Find When They Google You?
Online social media is a fantastic tool for job hunting. The Big 3 (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) each have their own unique style that you can
what will employers find when they search your name online?
utilize in different ways for your job search. But while you’re working these sites to land the perfect medical sales job, employers and recruiters are looking for you, too. And if you get their attention in the early stages of the job interview process, they’re going to be actively searching for more details about you. According to one survey, 70% of hiring managers and recruiters have rejected an applicant based on what they found online. Have you Googled your name lately to see what they’ll find out about you?
You can manage your online identity to control your reputation and your image in the job market in these 5 ways:
- LinkedIn: Take the time to set up a professional LinkedIn profile, join some groups, and get active. LinkedIn is the primary business networking site for professionals. It’s a tremendously powerful resource for you to research companies, keep tabs on the hidden job market, and contact hiring managers about jobs. A well-crafted LinkedIn profile will showcase your job history, your skills, and your recommendations.
- Facebook: Although this can be a great, casual place to network socially, it’s important that you don’t get too comfortable. No trashy pictures, bad language, or any controversial religious/political comments. It’s still a public forum, and you really don’t know who might end up seeing something you’ve said, even if you’re trying to be careful of your privacy.
- Twitter: Twitter is a terrific place to be in the conversation on just about anything. Again, watch what you say. Keep it professional. Ask questions, and try to help others. An employer will be impressed with someone who’s engaged and relevant.
- Show up in unexpected places: In addition to interacting on the social sites, think about writing a guest post for a relevant blog, or start your own. Comment on other writers’ articles with something of value. Think about contributing to medical/healthcare/laboratory presentations at conferences. Newsletters or other publications aimed at laboratory work, medical device, or other health care industry areas would be great.
- Be consistent: Get a professional photo (it doesn’t have to be professionally done; it should just be a formal, businesslike pose) and use that photo every time a photo is called for. Make sure your name is consistently written so that it shows up in a search.
Ultimately, you decide how people will see you. Since you know they’ll be looking, be proactive. Make sure they see the confident, competent professional they want to hire.
Why Should I Join LinkedIn?
If you haven’t joined LinkedIn by now, you should. There are over 65 million professionals involved in LinkedIn, making it the most significant online business network around. Don’t make the mistake of thinking of it in the same terms as Facebook or Twitter (although they have their place). And don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s only for job searchers (but it’s fantastic for that). LinkedIn is a rock-solid, uniquely valuable, free tool for your medical sales, laboratory sales, pharmaceutical sales, or medical device sales career.
How can LinkedIn benefit you?
- Networking - You know how important a good network is. A well-maintained business and social network will serve you well throughout your life, and I would never discount the power of old-school person-to-person connections. But LinkedIn is “a rolodex on steriods.” It exponentially increases your networking opportunities by providing an avenue for making connections in a much bigger arena than you’d ever be able to create on your own. Because those connections are built on introductions and recommendations, they are regarded as legitimate, credible business contacts. And, because people tend to keep their information up-to-date, you don’t lose track of them.
Another way to use LinkedIn effectively to make connections is by joining groups. Start with Sales Cafe for medical sales reps! Find groups that are relevant to your career, and join the discussions. If you’re making quality contributions to group discussions, it will make others more interested in knowing you and creating a connection.
- Career Development - Even if you’re not job hunting now, LinkedIn is a convenient, efficient way to keep up with what’s going on in your industry. LinkedIn has a feature for following companies, who keep corporate profiles. You can also research executives within those companies and keep up with who’s moving up, who’s moving on, what the trends are, and what the competition is doing. The groups you’re involved in will have discussions on topics that are relevant and necessary for your success.
- Job Search – I can’t say enough about how LinkedIn can jump-start your job search. If you’ve taken the time to build a network while you’re still employed, you’re already ahead of the game. Over 80% of employers and recruiters search for candidates on LinkedIn. The more connections you have, the much more likely it will be that you’re contacted by one of them. (How nice would that be, to be contacted by someone interested in offering you a job?) By keeping an up-to-date profile, you’re putting your best foot forward, and setting yourself up for success.
For an active job search, you can use LinkedIn to contact hiring managers directly, bypassing HR departments and online applications. It’s a very effective method for setting yourself apart from other candidates, and creates a much better chance at landing the interview.
- Interview Preparation - If you’ve landed the interview, LinkedIn is an absolute gold mine of information to help you nail it. Your ability to research the company will be a valuable resource for creating your 30/60/90-day plan (a written outline for what steps you’ll take to get up to speed and become a contributing member of the team–VERY impressive). Checking out the LinkedIn profiles of people you’ll be interviewing with will give you a better idea of who they are and what their focus will likely be, and will maybe even show you something you have in common that will assist you in creating rapport.
You need a great profile on LinkedIn to make the most of what it can offer you. Check out this LinkedIn profile Tutorial to get started.
Best of luck to you.
Advantages of LinkedIn for Jobseekers
Every jobseeker in medical sales, health care sales, medical device sales, laboratory sales, or pharmaceutical sales should be on LinkedIn. It’s an essential element of your networking and job searching strategy.
Why?
LinkedIn provides several advantages for you:
- LinkedIn is a way to get your name out there. (Personal branding, anyone?) Your LinkedIn profile is an online resume for you, and it’s a way for you to get your resume in front of people without actually sending it. That means, then, that the quality of your LinkedIn profile is critical. Make sure it’s professional and easy to skim to get what’s important about you–a bullet-point presentation is great.
- LinkedIn is a way to reconnect with people you’ve lost track of, and also to meet new people. Making connections is what LinkedIn is all about. Joining groups is a great way to do that. (Check out Sales Cafe, a group for sales reps–we’ve had some great discussions and advice for jobseekers lately.) Find groups that are focused on your particular area, and you’ll not only make connections, you’ll be up on what’s going on in your industry–trends and people. No professional networking effort is complete without it.
- LinkedIn is a fantastic source for learning about companies you’re interested in. Companies often maintain LinkedIn pages that are more informative than their official corporate pages for someone who wants to know about working there. Executives at these companies have pages, too.
- LinkedIn is one avenue you can take to contact hiring managers directly about jobs you’re interested in. Career Confidential’s LinkedIn Ninja Tricks to bypass HR and get the job has specific strategies you can use to do just that.
- Recruiters search LinkedIn all the time for candidates when they have a job to fill. Make sure they can find you.
Networking Event Tips for Medical Sales
Mark Hunter is a sales expert. He has some networking tips for you to use if and when you go to a networking event. These are great:
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Networking:
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Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter”, www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2008
Informational Interviews for Medical Sales
Informational interviews can be a tremendous tool to both build your network and advance your job search. They can help you establish connections and build relationships, and they are a source of the kind of inside information on the company that you can use in your job hunt. If you happen to be job searching for an extended length of time, they are one more way for you to work your network and help keep you sharp. However, they have to be handled with a little finesse. The line can seem a little blurry between an informational interview and a job interview, but it is definitely there, and it’s very important that you respect it.
I found a really informative post on How to Shine In an Informational Interview that I think you should see, but there are a few key points from it that I want to highlight:
Finding Contacts
Ask friends, relatives, coworkers, and everyone in your professional network for an appropriate contact. LinkedIn is another great place to make connections and find a contact willing to meet with you. Offer to treat them to a cup of coffee or lunch. No meeting should last longer than 15-30 minutes. Caution: if you ask for the meeting and you get a “Sorry, I can’t meet with you, but you can email me your questions,” then email a few questions. You can leave a very bad impression if you just drop the communication because they can’t meet with you in person.
Preparation is Key
Even though the informational interview is informal, you still have to prepare as though you were going to a job interview. Research the individual as well as the organization. Being well prepared shows respect for the time of the person you’re interviewing. The more you know ahead of time, the more likely you are to get to information that can really help you. Don’t ask about what you can Google. Ask about what issues the company faces and where the company is going. Ask about what skills, competencies, traits and characteristics are valued in the company. Research other good questions to ask in an informational interview.
Follow Up
You absolutely must follow up your informational interview with a thank you note. But then, you can go one step farther: use the information you’ve gathered to make an impression. Showcase your talents by sending the person you interviewed relevant articles, research, or solutions you’ve come up with to address a company problem. You’re not asking for anything, but you’re presenting yourself as a problem-solver (and someone they might like to have on their team). Keep the contact current by emailing every few months (see my post on easy networking tips). If there’s ever a position they need to fill, you’ve just increased your odds of getting it.
LinkedIn Tips for Your Medical Sales Job Search
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals in the business world. It allows people to interact with other professionals in their industry and maintain a profile that contains career-oriented information. Other job databases and networking sites can be expensive or hard to navigate. LinkedIn is free for most and very specific to the business world. This is the place to toot your own horn about your skills, abilities, and career goals.
Why it is so valuable?
As of October 15, 2009, LinkedIn hit a new milestone with over 50 million professionals now a part of this ever-growing database (as reported by the CEO of the company). This large number should get your attention. 80% of employers and recruiters use this database to prospect for new candidates because it is perhaps the easiest and most cost-effective tool employers and recruiters have ever had available to them. There is a strong chance that your next employer, recruiter, client, or business partner is already on LinkedIn. So all you have to do is leverage LinkedIn to begin that relationship.
How does it work?
LinkedIn provides a profile format that the job seeker completes. The profile details past employment, interests, specialty skills and experiences and allows you to include a profile photo. [Tip: Be sure to use a professional (business-appropriate) headshot photo for this, although it doesn’t have to taken by a professional photographer.] Your profile can provide an employer or recruiter with a wealth of information before they ever speak to you. You can even reach out to those you have worked with in the past to get a recommendation about the quality of your work that will be displayed on your profile. These testimonials reinforce the details that are listed as well as help build trust about your work ethic—making them one of the most powerful aspects of your LinkedIn profile. One of the most valuable features of LinkedIn is its ability to show these recommendations, which allows hiring managers and human resources as well as recruiters to see if a potential employee is worth hiring. [Tip: You get to choose what recommendations you show on your profile. If the ones you have aren’t strong enough or persuasive enough about you as a great employee, don’t use them.]
What can it do for me?
LinkedIn is not just a networking site—it’s a resource center. Once you have your profile set up you can start checking out the different areas of LinkedIn and learn how you might use them in your job search.
- You can use the “Companies” section (top of the page) to find companies in your particular industry, along with an enormous amount of information about them—such as current employees, former employees, market size, location, website address, media age, jobs they have posted on LinkedIn, and stock information. Remember—candidates who get the job offer usually have done more research into the company and the job than other candidates. [Tip: Some candidates contact former employees of a company they are interviewing with to get an “insider” perspective as to what it was like to work there—that’s pretty strong research, right?]
- You can use the “Jobs” section (top of the page) to view jobs that have been posted directly on LinkedIn. If you use the “Advanced job search” you can see LinkedIn job postings and web job postings. The web job posting is an aggregation of all jobs on “the web”. [Tip: Remember to check out the job posting areas of the Groups that you join. These postings don’t cost the members (like the ones that are in the “Jobs” section) and they can represent great jobs that have just come open or available.]
- You can use the “Answers” section (top of the page) to view questions that have been posted over the last few years and the answers that were given to see what advice everyone has for the topic that you are interested in at this time.
- You can join the Groups that are relevant to you and your interests. These Groups can be industry specific, product specific, function specific, college alumni specific, or company alumni gathering spots. For example: if you search in the search Groups area for “sales rep,” you will see that the Groups you find are specifically for sales folks and will probably have a lot of great discussions, news bits, and job postings.
- You can use the “People” section (top of the page) to search for people that you want to “connect” with on LinkedIn. You should think about co-workers, clients, service providers, mentors, and other relevant contacts (both at present and in the past). Send them an invitation to connect. If they accept your invitation you will be able to see their profile as well as what people they are connected to in the network. [Tip: If someone invites you to connect that you don’t know or don’t want to connect to, just hit the “Archive” button.]
So, what should you do now?
Develop a selling profile for you! Think of it like an online resume (only not). With the way the economy is right now, the need to sell yourself well is even more important—you are competing with more people. You need to be both confident and competent to achieve maximum success. [Tip: Someone viewing your profile should be able to look at your resume and what type of positions you would be interested in pursuing.]
It’s extremely important that you have a LinkedIn profile, and that you put as much thought and effort into it as you did when you created your resume. Your profile will be the first impression of you for hundreds of people. Make sure that your objective or interest is clear, that the profile is neat, checked for spelling and grammar and as complete as possible. The more time and effort you put into LinkedIn, the greater the payoff will be for you! I promise. Check out this LinkedIn Profile Tutorial for jobseekers.
[One last tip: Just like every other online network, what you say and do on LinkedIn will be available for others to see for a long time (this means comments on discussions or news articles, questions and answers, job posting comments and other areas). Make sure that you are thoughtful about your remarks and apply the golden rule when judging others.]
Advice for the Overwhelmed Social Networker
Dear Peggy,
I can’t keep up with all the requests on LinkedIn, Plaxo, and now Naymz. Which one is the most important? Can I let the others slide?
I get this question all the time. Jobseekers in healthcare sales sometimes think, “if one online profile is good, five of them must be great”. Not true–it’s more important to have one really great, active profile than several mediocre ones you can’t keep up with. I really think that LinkedIn is the best social network for jobseekers. Then Facebook. But as a medical sales recruiter, I consider LinkedIn one of my best resources.
Here’s my LinkedIn page: Www.linkedin.com/in/peggymckee
And my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/peggy.mckee
Yes, I do have a Twitter handle @salesrecruiter and a MySpace page, but I just don’t think the value is there for the jobseeker.
College Seniors Need a LinkedIn Profile Now
If you’re a college senior, you’ll be a jobseeker soon.
Get a recruiter's attention with a professional LinkedIn profile to land your first post-college job
Students traditionally use on-campus job interviews as a way to get their first post-college job, but according to one article, less than 1/3 of college students find jobs from companies that hire through career services.
So what’s a bright, enthusiastic, newly educated wannabe wage-earner to do?
Use social media. Recruiters are using connections through Twitter and Facebook to find candidates. More specifically, get a LinkedIn profile. By creating a good profile and joining the right groups and discussions, you set yourself up to be found by recruiters in your desired industry (this bit of advice is from an article about how to get internships, but I totally agree with it). Read up on how to set up a great LinkedIn profile (or get professional help). Using the right keywords for your industry, along with a professional profile and photo, will get you noticed. And do it now, so you can be networking and getting your name out there early–before the last day of school.
For instance, if you’re interested in getting into medical sales, laboratory sales, medical device sales, biotechnology sales, pharmaceutical sales, or other healthcare sales, I want to know about your life science degree (in biology, chemistry, zoology, etc.), your business classes, your internships, your part-time sales jobs, and more. I’m looking for great candidates all the time. For me, LinkedIn is one more place to mine for candidates. You’d be crazy not to be where I can find you.
Need help getting started? Check out this LinkedIn Profile Tutorial.
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