My friend and client, Curtez Riggs, (yes, I optimized his LinkedIn profile) reached out to me a few weeks ago. He asked if I would write a guest column for his new Website, Life After the Army. Life After the Army’s goal is to introduce and develop the concepts of personal branding, Internet entrepreneurship, and …
by Val 
Over the last few weeks, I presented at a number of events talking about the power of LinkedIn. Regardless of the event, one question kept popping up over and over again. People wanted to know how they could change the order of their experiences, recommendations, and profile sections within LinkedIn. Yes, it’s entirely doable to …
by Val 
Wouldn’t it be great to know how a job candidate will perform on the job? A recent Mashable article reports on a study that states future job performance can be predicted from a person’s Facebook profile. Researchers graded Facebook profiles based upon openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. “Six months later, the researchers compared the …
by Val 
It’s the start of the new year and I am getting myself geared up for a new year of possibility! I love planning resolutions and creating goals for the upcoming year. One of my resolutions is to update my financial portfolio. Looking at the stocks I own, I was surprised to see that I didn’t …
by Val 
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120 million members. Your LinkedIn profile offers a unique opportunity to brand yourself as a polished professional and yet so very few professionals leverage this amazing tool. Think of it this way, if your resume is your career history, your LinkedIn profile is your career future! This is where you want to DELIVER VALUE and SELL YOURSELF! You wouldn?t go to a job interview or a prospective client meeting half-dressed? so why is your LinkedIn profile not complete?
by Val 
While I was doing my morning one on one LinkedIn Makeover session with a client, I noticed there was a change in the way LinkedIn presented the Skills section. LinkedIn used to provide the opportunity to list your proficiency level and years of experience along with the skill. This has changed and now you are limited to just the skill. It makes sense. Those fields added very little value to the profile because everyone listed themselves as “Experts” regardless of their years of experience or true proficiency level.
Here’s what the new Skills section looks like now:
by Val 
I recently received a question about the proper length of a LinkedIn profile. I figured it would be best to publish the question and answer it for everyone to read.
Hi Donna,
I?m really curious about why some experts (including you) are saying ?use up as much space as possible?. This seems to fly in the face of the usual emphasis on brevity in writing for the web, or in writing a resume. Why do you think length is good for LinkedIn?
-Thea K.
by Val 
This afternoon while I was optimizing the LinkedIn Profile of a Philadelphia-based Project Manager, I noticed a NEW FIELD in the Experience section of LinkedIn! LinkedIn NOW gives you the ability to add a location to your experience. When you start typing within this new Location field, LinkedIn provides you with cities and areas in …
by Val 
Your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t be stagnant. As you go about your business career, things happen: promotions, successes, new opportunities, business deals, etc… As your career unfolds, your LinkedIn profile should reflect these changes. Case in point: I recently wrote a book and it was published. My profile referenced that I was writing a book but now it was time to announce that the book is published and available. I opened up my profile and began editing when suddenly I was faced with that dreaded error message:
by Val 
How do I go about enhancing my LinkedIn profile? The easiest way is to order a LinkedIn Makeover from a LinkedIn Profile Writer. And talk about coincidence… I am a LinkedIn profile writer and I work hard to enhance your LinkedIn profile!
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