Free LinkedIn Training Videos from LinkedIn Expert Jeff Zelaya

Free Linkedin Training Videos by Jeff Zelaya

These free LinkedIn training videos are a comprehensive overview of LinkedIn and designed for beginners. By watching these videos you will learn the basics of how to use the world’s largest professional network of professionals to find a job, build your business, close more deals and a lot more.

This LinkedIn training is completely free and available here or just click play on the video below. LinkedIn Training includes:

  5 Easy Steps to a LinkedIn All-Star Profile
  Social Selling 101
  LinkedIn for Beginners
  How to Fully Complete your LinkedIn Profile
  How to Export your LinkedIn Connections
  LinkedIn Chat with Evan Weber
  LinkedIn Chat with Yuhannes Watts

Jeff Zelaya is LinkedIn's Mot Recommended Under 30

Free LinkedIn Training Videos from LinkedIn Expert Jeff Zelaya

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How To Market Yourself to Employers in a Recession

The title of this article wasn’t chosen by accident.
What most job-seekers (during recessions and economic booms alike) don’t realize is that applying for jobs is a marketing problem. The best jobs aren’t won by filling your resume with cliches and business buzzwords, using a pretty Microsoft Word template, and jumping through the same tired human resources hoops as every other job seeker. Perry Marshall touches on some of the problems with this approach in his excellent report on using direct marketing techniques to land a new job. They include:

• The best jobs aren’t publicly advertised. Rather, the jobs you see posted in newspapers and on Monster.com are the jobs insiders don’t want.
• Applying for such jobs puts you at the back of a long line of job-seeking clones who look mostly or completely the same on paper. Furthermore, the line is set up in such a way that it’s very difficult to reach a real person at the company.
• Any real person you do eventually reach is likely to be a human resources bureaucrat rather than someone with serious authority to hire you.

This process can be effective in a prosperous economy, when jobs are plentiful and the competition for them isn’t very intense. But it does not work during recessions. By definition, jobs are extremely scarce during recessions, meaning the competition for what few jobs exist is fierce. And if you try to get those jobs the same way you would during times of prosperity, you’re basically walking into a war zone unarmed.

It doesn’t have to be this way.
But if you want to get different results – that is, a well-paying job in a time of economic despair – you have to do something different. Rather than merely applying for jobs in the same cookie-cutter fashion as the rest of the herd, you need to market yourself (there’s the key word again) as a difference-maker. You need to create the impression that despite the current economic crisis, you need to be hired – like, yesterday. To do this effectively, however, you need to understand something about how corporate decision-makers think during recessions. Don’t skip past this part, because it’s critical to the tips that follow. A true grasp of this will separate you from the rest of the job-seeking herd almost instantly.

Employers still want and need to hire difference-makers.
Believe it or not, companies don’t all freeze up and stand still during recessions. While they are more reluctant and selective about whom and how many people they hire (because cash is low) companies still need top-notch employees to help them remain profitable and stay afloat. This is as true during recessions as it is during good times. In fact, it’s more important. Economic crises reveal a company’s employees for who they truly are. Those who produce demonstrable, bottom-line results for the company are distinguished from those who merely act the part and collect their weekly pay. And make no mistake – if you really, truly are a results-oriented difference maker, then companies want to hire you. They need you now more than ever. The challenge then becomes how to show them that you are such a person.

How to reach decision-makers
First and foremost, this is a matter of reaching out to the right people. The aforementioned human resources bureaucrats are not going to be of much help, especially during a recession when they are even more risk-averse than bureaucrats usually are. No, instead, you need to reach the senior-level decision makers. The people within a company who A) realize the need for results-oriented difference makers and B) have the power to hire them immediately. But how do you reach them? Surely you can’t just waltz into a company and ask to be taken to a vice-president’s office. Probably not. But what you can do is get their mailing addresses.
Just visit ZapData.com, the list service of business credit behemoth Dunn & Bradstreet. Once there, you can set up a free account and search within certain industries and locations – say, software development in Seattle. Then you just pay the fee and download a mailing list with the addresses of presidents, owners, or senior-level managers within that industry. Again, these are the people you want to reach, not HR guys. But once you have the names, what do you actually say to them?

Making your pitch
This is critical. Having the names of decision makers wont do you much good if all you do is send them the same watered-down, dime-a-dozen, MS Word-generated resumes as the classified ad crowd. Remember – these companies are experiencing the pains of a recession. They are cutting costs to the bone. The only way to get hired in such a climate is to market yourself as a results-oriented producer. This is in stark contrast to the types of people who do not get hired in recessions, whom Harvard MBA John T. Reed calls “external validation addicts.” According to Reed, “You can spot external validation addicts by the way they describe themselves in their resume or bio. If it is a list of appointments they have received from various committees, like military rank or plum positions like battalion commander in an airborne division, they are external validation addicts.”

This is absolutely relevant to our purposes here. If your resume reads like this, you’re in trouble. You might have served on every committee your former employer ever created, but guess what? The company you’re applying to now is losing money hand over fist, and committees are just another drain on the budget. They want people who can cut costs, increase sales, or both. In short, they want people who are results-oriented. Reed goes on to describe what the resumes of those people look like:

Those of us who think you can shove your external validation have different self-descriptions.
Ours involve straight-commission jobs and marks like top producer; successful entrepreneurial activities; successful coaching in sports; books and articles written (“Getting published” is external validation. I published almost all my books and articles myself.); marks set in athletic competition; net worth; income; discoveries made; inventions patented; and so forth.”

The more of these things your resume contains, the better your chances of being hired in a recession.
Another key to accentuating your results-oriented workplace credentials is to use specificity. Too many job applicants rely on laudatory adjectives and buzzwords to communicate their strengths. Don’t do that. Whenever possible, quantify what you have done or could do if hired. For example:
Don’t say “achieved phenomenal growth in the produce department.” Instead, say, “Grew sales in the produce department 15% during the slowest quarter of the year, during a hiring freeze, with no additional support or resources from management.” Even if some of your achievements appear to be committee/popularity oriented, don’t name them as such. Instead, try to unearth the objective reasons why you achieved those things. For example, don’t say “won Manager of the Year award in 2007.” Instead, say “cut operaing costs by 20% while at the same time increasing after-tax profits more than any other store in the tri-state area.”

It’s all about results
These statements identify you as a difference maker, someone who could step in, take the reigns of a department, and deliver immediate, bottom-line results if hired. And do you know what the best part of this approach is? You don’t need to have a mile-long list of college degrees, awards, or sparkling credentials. The dirty little secret about hiring (and ultimately, life) is that credentials are not the most important thing in the world. As Paul Graham points out, “What [credentials] are, functionally, is a way of predicting performance. If you could measure actual performance, you wouldn’t need them.”

“Actual performance” are the key words.
Think of what we’ve been saying throughout this article: results-oriented. Difference-maker. Bottom line. Actual performance. In a recession economy, these things are all employers care about. Everything else is secondary – in fact, lower than that. They really don’t matter at all. If you can market yourself to corporate decision makers as someone who can bring these critical ingredients to the table, you will always be employed – during good times and bad.

Source: http://blog.resumebear.com/featured-articles/market-yourself-to-employers-in-a-recession/

How To Market Yourself to Employers in a Recession

Enterprise - Fall 2010 Management Trainee Intern Downtown Miami

Fall 2010 Management Trainee Intern Downtown Miami

   

Overview:

Our Internships play an integral role in the success of Enterprise and are a comprehensive introduction to our Management Training Program. For a college student, real-world professional business experience can put you above the rest when you enter the job market.

It´s Business 101 on 10 cups of coffee

Our interns go at a highly energized pace. From day one as a paid intern with Enterprise, you´ll learn what it takes to run a successful business and acquire highly marketable skills and experience pertaining to every aspect of operating a business. And it´s learning by doing, not by getting coffee or filing all day. Our college interns take on the same challenges as our first and second year full-time professionals. It´s a team-based environment where the Enterprise employees are supportive and fun to work with.

Responsibilities:

When you join our Management Internship Program, you´ll acquire highly marketable skills and experience pertaining to every aspect of running a successful business. You´ll soon discover that every day is different because it is filled with so many new, exciting, rewarding and often unexpected challenges. There is one consistent aspect, however - everyday, you´ll learn more about sales/marketing, customer service, business management, and administrative skills than you ever thought possible.

At Enterprise, you won´t be a glorified gopher getting coffee or filing all day. Our interns go at the same energized pace and take on the same challenges and responsibilities as our Management Trainees.

Not only is it a paid internship program, but interns may also be eligible for performance incentives and employee referral rewards. The business training you´ll receive will be an amazing jumpstart to your career.

Qualifications:

• Must be a rising Junior or Senior enrolled full time for the up coming semester in a college or university.
• Must have 6 months of sales (business to business, commission based or quota based) or customer service or marketing or management experience.
• Must have a valid driver´s license with no more than 3 moving violations and/or at fault accidents in the past 3 years.
• No drug or alcohol related conviction on your record in the past 5 years (i.e., DUI, DWI)
• Must be authorized to work in the United States and not require work authorization sponsorship by our company for this position now or in the future.
• 10-12 week commitment with the availability to start from the 3rd week of  October 2010
• Fall Internship Runs October 2010-January 2011

APPLY HERE: https://us-erac.icims.com/jobs/26999/login

Enterprise - Fall 2010 Management Trainee Intern Downtown Miami

7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn

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LinkedIn, which recently reached the 50 million user milestone, has long been considered the social networking site for professionals. If you’re in business, it is basically expected that you have a profile there.

But with the more mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook being used for business purposes, some professionals are neglecting their LinkedIn profiles. While LinkedIn is certainly not as dynamic as other social media sites, it still provides a lot of value — if you use it correctly. So whether you’re new to LinkedIn or a veteran, here are some of the things you should consider incorporating into your LinkedIn strategy.

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1. Include a Photo Avatar

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Some media reports claim that because organizations can use any criteria they want to make hiring decisions, photo avatars provide companies with information they may not have otherwise known about you based on a resume alone and could actually hurt you more than help. But, not including a photo with a social networking profile flies in the face of conventional wisdom when your goal is to build relationships and community.
Eric B. Meyer, an associate in the labor and employment group of Dilworth Paxson LLP, reminds us that when using a professional networking site such as LinkedIn, “don’t give a potential employer an easy excuse to remove you from consideration. Use a professional headshot and scrap the picture of you doing a keg-stand.”

He adds that “an employer may not discriminate when selecting one job applicant over another. For example, an employer may not base a hiring decision on such things as race, religion, gender, and national origin. Although actually proving an employer made a discriminatory hiring decision may be difficult.” Businesses who engage in hiring discrimination are the exception, not the rule. Just remember, by using an avatar, you will be providing information about yourself a prospective employer may not have otherwise obtained on its own.

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2. Build Your Network of Connections

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While we might be inclined to say quality is better than quantity, it could be possible that the number of connections you have says something about you. Greg Koutsis, corporate and international channel recruiter for Aplicor LLC, says, “if someone has 20-50+ connections then I know they probably check LinkedIn at least once a week. If someone has 1-19 then I realize they probably either haven’t begun to pop the hood and look inside or gotten past the initial threshold of their friends, family and past colleagues. They might be a great prospect for me to reach out to but this might not be the best use of my time. This combined with the profile they have listed lets me realize quickly if I am wasting my time with someone who has no interest or trust in LinkedIn.”

So you might say to yourself, if small numbers in the connection department signal you’re a novice, do large numbers mean you’ll connect with just about anyone? Koutsis says not necessarily. “I do not believe there’s a maximum number of connections that makes someone look like they will just connect with anyone. LinkedIn only shows 500 then adds the + sign after the 500 so you never really do know how many more than 500 connections someone has until you connect with them.”

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3. Use Status Updates to Your Advantage

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Once you complete your profile, there aren’t a lot of places to make regular updates in LinkedIn. The one space where you can keep your connections informed is the status updates section.

Lori Burke, director of human resources at Neighborhood America, explains that updates are not only an interesting read, but very valuable. “I’ve found new networking groups I may not have thought about [via status updates]. Additionally, it allows me to learn what others are involved with or in, who they may be connected to, etc. In total, it widens the scope of knowledge for me.”

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4. Seek Meaningful Recommendations

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A terrific feature of LinkedIn is the ability to provide recommendations. This is a place for your connections to comment about your work. Recommendations can be thought of as beefed up thank you cards. Instead of telling one person how you feel, you’re telling the world that person does good work.
It’s important to get good solid recommendations and Meyer offers some thoughts on how to do that. First, “think about who knows you best. It could be a co-worker or manager. It could also be a client or customer for whom you just did an incredible job on a huge project. If you seek a recommendation from a client or customer, be polite and remember to thank the person who gives you the recommendation.”

Then, “If you are going to seek a recommendation from a co-worker or manager, keep a few things in mind. Many employers have written policies against giving out anything other than neutral job references to current and former employees. These policies generally focus on giving recommendations, as opposed to seeking them. Still, as a courtesy to the person in your company from whom you seek a recommendation, just be sensitive to your company’s neutral reference policy.”

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5. Optimize Your Profile

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Your LinkedIn profile should not just be an online version of your resume, optimizing for search engines is key. The format of your LinkedIn profile might depend on whether you are currently employed and whether or not you are seeking new opportunities, says Koutsis. “If you are looking for a new position then you might want your profile to look more like a resume, but maybe not so much if I am currently employed.”
Burke doesn’t mind if the full content of the resume is on the profile as it can be helpful when searching for candidates. However, it is a bonus “when I find networkers who have added more content than you might find in a resume, such as a link to their portfolio.”
When filling out your profile, you should think about your goals for the type of networking you hope to get done. Also, since LinkedIn has the ability to search any word in the content, both Burke and Koutsis suggest listing all relevant keywords at the bottom of your profile if you want to be found easier.

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6. Use Groups to Expand Your Reach

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Groups are a beneficial networking tool and a great way to expand your network. Koutsis says that he doesn’t look at what groups a person belongs to when he’s searching for candidates but he does find potential resources using the groups function.
However, Meyer reminds us it’s possible to be viewed in a negative light based upon group membership. “For some time now, many employers are going beyond simply running a criminal background check in order to vet job applicants. Employers may be Googling candidates, checking out their public postings on Facebook, reviewing tweets on Twitter, and scrutinizing LinkedIn profiles. In a down economy — as in any economy, really — employers want to fill job openings with the best possible candidates.”

Today’s rule of thumb should be that anything you post in an online profile may as well be listed on your resume or bio. If you belong to a LinkedIn group that is inconsistent with the business image you wish to portray, then that could be a challenge for you. Meyer shared with me the example of belonging to a group called “The Deer Hunters” while applying for a position with an animal rights group (let’s just say, good luck with that).

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7. Consider Whether to Link Your Profiles

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Burke believes that accounts should be kept separate. “I believe that this strategy allows me to keep my professional personae separate from my personal. Case in point was the one time I posted a social media article to both applications. My Facebook family and friends found the information of little value to them and I believe the same may be true in reverse. However, I will post general information about me (i.e., speaking engagements) with both networks. In essence, it depends on the content,” she says.
On the other hand, Lance Haun, vice president of outreach at MeritBuilder, explains that LinkedIn is “a snapshot of your life at the time you updated your profile so including Twitter, Facebook, or a blog helps to add living context to your profile.” With the lines between work and life being blurred, posting something business related at 1:00 PM and a picture of a cat at 1:00 AM helps “bring the picture of a person together completely.”

In the end, Koutsis asks, “if people see no reason after viewing your profile to connect with you, then why did you reach out to them in the first place?” The most important thing we can do is create a complete and compelling profile. Because the bottom line is the value proposition you propose when you try to connect with someone on LinkedIn.

Author: Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.
 Source: http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/linkedin-tips/

7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn