We’re all aware of the perhaps apocryphal story of the guy who responds to an appealing job advertisement only to discover that it was his present employer who ran the ad. Embarrassing at best. Job threatening at worst. And almost no one whose looking for work while employed hasn’t given at least a moments thought to it happening to them whenever they consider sending a résumé to a blind job listing.

In that light, consider the wisdom of an employed person putting his/her professional profile on LinkedIn or other social media sites. That can very easily turn into the electronic equivalent of the ill-advised résumé submission.

Are you ready for the question?

Whenever a client requests a LinkedIn Profile as an adjunct to their résumé, I advise that they must then be ready to answer a superior’s very direct question:

“So then tell me, are you looking for another job?”

Some have already considered the possibility of facing such a challenge, but even then usually didn’t have a good response…and I’m not sure there is one. Most others have not even considered the possibility. They’re just excited about the idea of having hundreds of eager employers searching them out. I was initially surprised by how many employed clients had never considered the downside of exposing their interest in working somewhere else to their current employer. They were actively ignoring the reality that their employer was just as likely to run an overlapping key word search looking for a junior addition to their own department as was another company looking for manager or director level candidates.

They were even less accepting that such a search would lead their employer to their page, even though the goal of including key words was to bring interested parties to that page. However, even when the risk was identified and accepted, most felt uncomfortable leaving social media out of their search weaponry. I needed to offer a solid alternative to social media, and if convincing them of that approach failed, provide a way to use social media in a less damaging way.

Stay Away

Contact through social media for those “between successes” is justifiable, if not terribly effective. It can be rationalised that the larger the client’s network the better the chances of their finding the next organisation that can benefit from their services. But if the client is employed, and only interested in moving up, not moving out, social media needs to be handled in a different way, if not avoided completely

That’s why my first advice to any employed client is to stay off of social media. Facebook et al are, in my mind, far too “social” for commercial use. Do I want to hire an Accounting Manager or Director of Operations who is active on Facebook, even though it’s very common and popular? How does that environment emphasise or positively reflect on the person’s professionalism?

Then there is also avoiding the temptation to include information or pictures that, while they may seem harmless or even supportive at the time, when viewed in a different context can be highly detrimental to career advancement. I’m reminded of the sales manager who thought it a good idea to put up a picture of himself on the Hawaiian vacation his exceptional sales had won who didn’t rethink using a picture of himself, clearly over-served, raising a toast to the cameraman from the pool bar. Would you want to pursue even a good sales person who might lack some self-control?

After all, he is going to be representing your company in pseudo-social business situations. The fundamental fallacy in the use of all social media to find a new job is the same one encountered by sales people whose primary prospecting tool is waiting for the phone to ring: “If they want what I’m selling, they’ll call, and then I’ll kill them with my presentation”. The least effective sales people are those who wait for prospects to contact them…mainly because they talk to so few prospects who actually need what they’re selling. The most effective sales people are those who go looking for prospects. Their first inquiry is always: “Do you have the kind of problem my product/service can solve?”

The Same As Selling Anything Else

Landing a new job is ultimately making a sale…the client, with what he/she can do, is the product; the employer is the buyer. The same realities and procedural guidelines used by the best professional sales people apply. The client first has to find a prospect who has a problem his/her product/service can solve. If what they have to offer isn’t needed, they won’t get the business…might not even get a chance to make a presentation, i.e. have an interview. Active prospecting is essential to effective selling. Active, focused, managed networking is the secret to an effective job search.

Job searchers, both employed and un-, most often reflect this “waiting for the phone to ring” philosophy in their cover letters, which inevitably end in a polite “hoping to hear from you soon” closing. I insist they close with “I’ll call you shortly”, and then that they actually do make the call. The client’s excuse for not wanting to call is to avoid annoying the prospect. The real reason is almost always a touch to a bad dose of phone phobia.

By using social media, those hoping for a better job feel they can avoid even having to identify potential employers, or writing a good letter. Just float your name to the world in general and interested “buyers” will find you is the prevalent attitude.

Clients actively interested in upgrading their employment need to strategise and implement a controlled and targeted sales campaign, not simply toss their information to the winds. The downside risk of making discreet, direct contact with potential new employers if far less than that created by a client having their name and background information in general distribution.

“But I Want to Use LinkedIn”

However, the pressure to “use the modern tools” is often too great for clients to bypass…after all LinkedIn has done some solid promotion…and I’m required to provide a way to use a resource I can’t recommend.

For LinkedIn, minimising the risk is a question of positioning; i.e., how to tell unknown prospective employers about all your talents and skills without making it read as if that’s what you’re doing. I strive to write that kind of profile as if I’m describing what the client’s company/organization does well, what’s special or unique about their services, what they did to increase their delivered value, etc. Contained within those descriptions are the key words that will bring anyone searching for specific skills and talents to the client’s page.

An example of how that can be done (not a real client situation):

Personal Achievement Profile Statement: Upgraded my company’s undistinguished market analysis service, giving it significant points of difference and placing it in a prominent position in our list of product offerings. My effective messaging and impactful sales materials guided our sales team to a solid increase in market share and a significant increase in YOY revenue growth.

Revised as Company Achievement Profile Statement:  XYZ company expanded its market analysis activities to better differentiate itself from others offering financial planning services. In so doing, we’ve increased our market share and realized significant YOY revenue growth.

A searcher coming to the LinkedIn page of a client with a job title such as Director of Marketing, Sales Manager, etc. will have a natural inclination to assume the client was the instigator of the described improvement…the same result as would be gained by using the more personal achievement profile, but with much less risk to the client’s employment status.