Let’s face a painful truth: Most of us are totally ineffective when lining up our personal cheering sections during a job search. This can include anything from failing to inform or keep references up-to-date on your current status to asking for letters of recommendation in a panic due to a prospective employer’s request during an interview.
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Everyone has insecurities. Even those who appear “perfect” to the rest of us have something about themselves that they don’t like. According to an article entitled, “10 Celebrities with Weird Insecurities,” Megan Fox is self-conscious about her “stubby thumbs,” Angelina Jolie thinks she looks like a “funny muppet,” adding that she believes she is “odd-looking,” Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting of The Big Bang Theory hates the sound of her own voice. Even Kate Moss, the internationally acclaimed supermodel is self-conscious about her “bow legs.” Everyone has something about which they feel insecure. It is a part of the human condition.
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“I just got done with the resume, now I have to write a cover letter too? Ugh…”
Who hasn’t thought this at some point?
A cover letter seems like a formality, a quick handshake before handing over the resume.
But what if it could be more than that? What if it could be a conversation-starter instead?
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The summary of your LinkedIn profile is 2,000 characters of prime real estate to genuinely differentiate yourself among the 3,000,000-member online community. Too often, this is the area people squander, by either not completing the summary at all, or by lifting something directly off the resume – the tone of a resume does not read correctly in the living, breathing, conversational LinkedIn community.
You definitely have it within you to transform the summary into an illustration of your authenticity, practically in Technicolor. I’ll show you three things your LinkedIn summary must say, by using the example of a finance executive whose LinkedIn profile directly led to her landing the senior role she holds today:
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FACT: The best answer lies within each of us. We simply need help sometimes drawing it out.
When we remember this fact and act upon it as a leader, we shift the paradigm for how we help others solve problems.
We also help them grow and build their self-confidence. It’s the purest form of helping to develop others.
So, here’s the shift: Our job as a leader is to help THEM find the answer by asking great questions; Questions that help them think out loud and “figure it out” themselves.
Great questions ARE the answer to helping others figure things out for themselves, but great questions only work when we sit and listen fully to our teammate’s response.
Let them talk. Let them hear themselves think, allow them to fully answer the question – give them plenty of space to answer the question and refrain from offering our “two cents.”
Practice this process and watch their solution magically appear.
Try it the very next time a team mate approaches you with a problem: Ask, listen fully, confirm what you’re hearing (if necessary), and repeat. Know that you know how to be a great leader at work, it’s up to you to get your team going!
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