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May 27
Love3

How to turn off LinkedIn notifications

By Extra, Tips, Video

If you are getting tired of having LinkedIn notifications, emails, group digests, and other reminders hitting your inbox, you will appreciate the video below, which shows you how to turn off LinkedIn notifications.

This is particularly useful for people who have just signed up for LinkedIn and are still figuring out how to use LinkedIn’s many features, as well as for people who have lots of connections or belong to lots of groups. LinkedIn can trigger notifications for all kinds of events, including:

  • Someone requests to make a connection with you
  • Someone accepts your invitation to connect
  • A connection sends you a message
  • You receive an invitation to join a group
  • Someone in a group posts a message, or responds to one of your posts
  • People in your network update their job details
  • You receive endorsements or recommendations
  • LinkedIn sends you announcements

These messages and alerts soon become tiring — while LinkedIn is a wonderful networking tool, most of the notifications do not require immediate action.

It is impossible to turn off the notifications by simply returning the email with “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject field. Instead, LinkedIn wants you to adjust each type of messaging manually. To do this, you have to go to the LinkedIn settings and click on Communications (shown in the screenshot below) and then follow the instructions shown in the video to alter the frequency of notifications (for instance, to set up some of the notifications so they come in a single weekly digest) or turn off notifications altogether.

Turn Off LinkedIn Notifications

The information in the video complements LinkedIn In 30 Minutes: How to create a rock-solid LinkedIn profile and build connections that matter, by author Melanie Pinola. The guide contains many other useful tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of LinkedIn, ranging from basic profile setup to accessing the hidden job market on LinkedIn. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy in paperback form or for tablets such as the Kindle, iPad, and Android devices, visit this page.

May 17
Love1

LinkedIn Headlines: Tips To Make Your Profile Stand Out

By Extra, Tips, Video

LinkedIn headlines are an overlooked profile element for many people, who opt to the default Company/Job Title. It’s not only boring, the default LinkedIn headlines can also harm your career prospects. As author Melanie Pinola noted in LinkedIn In 30 Minutes: How to create a rock-solid LinkedIn profile and build connections that matter, headlines are crucial for career positioning:

“When your profile comes up in search, only your name, headline, location, and industry are shown. Your headline is what will convince the searcher to look at your profile. It’s a 120- character hook that should tell people what you do — and why they should care.”

In this four-minute video, learn how to to make your LinkedIn profile headline more attractive to other people (important for networking) as well as potential employers, who use keyword searches to find suitable job candidates. There are four examples of great headlines, too. Press the “play” button to start the video:

If you’re interested in learning other tactics for improving your LinkedIn profile, be sure to read LinkedIn In 30 Minutes. Purchasing options for the Kindle, iPad, Nook, and paperback editions are listed here.

May 09
Love0

How to use LinkedIn to research companies

By Extra, Tips

One of the best things you can do as a job hunter — on LinkedIn or elsewhere — is learn as much as possible about your potential next employer. You can use LinkedIn to research individual companies and the people who work there, just like they use LinkedIn to research candidates like yourself.

Not all companies have a LinkedIn profile, but for those that do, visit their LinkedIn pages to discover:

  • How you’re connected to the company: potential contacts who might be a “foot in the door” there.
  • Who the company’s competitors are, under the “People also viewed” and “Where Employees Came From” sections. This suggests other places to also consider applying at (or at least ones that would be good to understand before you interview at this company).
  • Company positioning and latest developments, posted on the company summary page and in status updates. This tells you the image the company is trying to project (where their strengths are, how they’re different from competitors, what they do best). It’s good to know all of this so you can answer dreaded questions like, “Why do you think you’d be a good fit for this company?”
  • Newly hired or promoted employees, under the “Insights” tab of the company page. This shows you the kinds of people the company is hiring right now. Read the profiles of these employees; if they have many common keywords or skills, be sure to add them to your profile. (Yes, I said “keywords” again!)
  • Available job openings, under the Careers tab, if available.

You can also click the “Follow” button on a company page to stay abreast of their job openings and new product or service developments via email alerts and updates on your LinkedIn homepage.

Insider tip: If you have the names of people interviewing you, read their LinkedIn profiles to get a better understanding of what their interview style might be like (for example, if they’re more conversational or by-the-book), common connections you might have, common interests or recent trends they might be interested in, and so on. Okay, so this might feel like cyber-stalking, but it’s not that bad–as long as you don’t seem like you’re trying too hard in your interview. Just use your research as preparation for the interview.

For more of Melanie’s advice and insights, download “LinkedIn In 30 Minutes”, available for the Kindle, iPad, and Nook, and also as a PDF and paperback.