Welcome Professionals…
…lately I have been talking with a friend about the use of networking platforms like LinkedIn. “Does it make sense to present myself on LinkedIn, even if I am not looking for a job?”, she was asking. “Are you kidding me?” was my reply.
Well, since you as readers of this blog are mostly members of our LinkedIn group “Trusted Advisor – Success for Consultants”, it might be obvious to you, why you would need some online presence. LinkedIn and some other networking tools are quite useful, not just for job seekers. But I am not advertising social media here.
My point is: If you are in a client serving business, you need an online presence. People that are about to meet you or that are even about to do business with you will look you up in the internet. They will enter your name to Google or LinkedIn or other search engines. And you want to be in control of what they see. You want to be the master of your online presence. You always want to have a professional appearance, also on the web.
Everything you put out there in the internet has to comply with professional standards. Not everything has to be about business, but your private stuff has to be posted sober-minded. Then, you want to make sure that your own crafted web image ranks high enough when someone looks you up. Since LinkedIn is the largest business network, it makes sense to use it since Google will display all LinkedIn hits for your name on the first search page. Maybe it is also useful to craft your own personal website.
Whatever you do, you want to do it the professional way. There are many tips & tricks out there on how to pimp your social media profile. Typing “optimize LinkedIn profile” into Google or YouTube will yield some quite helpful links. However, I see so many people getting the basics wrong. It all starts with correct spelling of the current position. Why do so many people misspell the word “management”? Typos in their own job title are the kind of sloppiness that is driving me crazy.
Stay professional,
Malte
Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!