Techniques (You’re Probably Not Using) That Will Boost Your Job Search and Career

Ilia Francis, LinkedIn Whisperer and Founder, Hustle in Heels, and Annette Richmond Certified Master Resume Writer and principal career intelligence Resume Writing, share LinkedIn strategies that will help you move your job search and career forward. 

They discussed creating a compelling profile and using some of LinkedIn’s more recently added video and audio features 

Topics included:

✅ How to write an About section that tells your career story

✅ Making your 30-sec Cover story serve as your virtual elevator pitch

✅ Getting creative with LinkedIn’s Pronunciation feature 

✅ Using LinkedIn’s audio and video messages to show your personality

✅ How to use the Featured section to provide additional insights. 

 
Smarter Career Moves LinkedIn Live Show (Previously Recorded) 

Follow career intelligence Resume Writing on media and social media: 

👋 Smarter Career Moves Club on Clubhouse 

📌 NEW Podcast: Content Marketing School.

Thank you for listening, I hope you found this episode insightful and relevant. If you're a coach, consultant, or entrepreneur, or just want to dive more deeply into content marketing. I hope you'll join me on my new podcast, Content Marketing School.

Available on your favorite podcast platform.

(Previously recorded, Live Show)

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00:05):

Opening

Annette (00:00:07):

So hello out there. It's Friday afternoon. We are so excited. All right. I'm so excited to be here today with Ilia she is the LinkedIn whisper. I have learned so much from her. , just from what I've heard her talking about on Clubhouse, and I'm so excited to have you here with me. So why don't you tell us a little bit about you and, and what you do.

Ilia  (00:00:37):

Thank you and ed, first of all, for inviting me and I'm very excited. I've, , I am an engineer. I mean, we grant to Canada around 11 years ago with near degree experience in oil and gas and landed in Toronto where the oil and gas industry really is not relevant, but mostly financial manufacturing, et cetera. And, and I found obviously the love of my life here, and that's why I moved. So, I had a huge transition because first of all, the language, then, then I, , I brought all the baggage from the oil and gas industry and said like, well, I have, , some, some transferable skills, but as I said, I had to build myself from the ground up. So I started, , working between, , cashflow jobs. You can go to motive industry and then the manufacturing.

Ilia  (00:01:33):

And then for the manufacturing, I jumped into the tech world of software as a service and which I had zero experience in, except for the field industry as a health and safety advisor that I am I still am. And, , it was, it was so weird because I knew that I have some, some of my knowledge, the soft skills, but I really didn't know how this transition would affect me, especially as a professional. So anyway, I got I've, raised a family and then it's when it hit me. I know that I have so much more to give, but especially when, when I started with my, with my journey on LinkedIn, back in 2009 once I was here, I said, okay, if this is going to be the country, my home, I need to start building on my network. I have zero people except for my husband's network connections. I don't know anybody here. So little by little, I started building all from the ground up mine and, and I started using LinkedIn until I was here. I got my second child. And just before I said that, there's something that I can do. Hello, John. I can see John

Annette (00:03:00):

Is here. We're so happy to see you.

Ilia  (00:03:02):

Yes. So it was so, so strange, , that transition, but the success that I had based on what I had one and my resume, and second, not only my restaurant, but also on my LinkedIn profile, I was receiving, I, what, and it was, I considered myself, , not the typical immigrant story, because one, I had, , a strong resume and second, obviously, first of all, from, , my husband's help. And then second, I got the opportunity to be head hunted rather than finding jobs. Like the first ones. I had some, some, some sort of experience based on what he had taught me, my husband, cause he is a sales director and he has lived his whole life here. So based on what I've learned and how I started addressing myself in the workplace, I started getting, , new job opportunities and the next job opportunity.

Ilia  (00:04:07):

So in reality, I consider myself extremely lucky because I haven't had the opportunity to say, okay, I am out of the job. I need to find something else to do. I want, once, , my, my family, my first song was born. I said, well, there's something more that I can do. So had my immigrant friends asking me for advice and for how to, , build up the resume in a way that truly attracted the, , the people there was good. There was strong that told the story about themselves as a professional and then on LinkedIn. So I started informally given, well, you need to do this, , update your resume, your LinkedIn profile, stay there, share information relevant to your industry, but it was all casual until I said, okay, I am going to do this experiment. I'm going to test it. And, but I can assess in an 18, I took the leap and created a course on that private private coaching organization. And I had seven, seven students and I had three modules three weeks. And there you go. I had my first seven students who successfully, , ended up being very active.

Annette (00:05:32):

Wow, wow. And then where you are, and, , I learned so much from you and I, I just want to say hello to Violet who lives near by me in Stamford and my friend, Sara, who is also here joining us today. So we're so happy to, , have an audience live audience with us. And if you have any questions please do put them in the chat because we can see that here on our platform. So, , I I met you in Clubhouse a couple of months ago and I just, so in awe of the things that, , , I feel like I know a fair amount, but then I listened to you and I'm like, okay, I don't know, half as much as I think I do. So one of the things that, that I see and I think is and maybe the people that you work with, they think LinkedIn is kind of like, okay, I put up my profile, maybe I even hire somebody, , like you were like me to create the profile and then that's it. I'm all good. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore. But that's not, as, , when I know that's not, it, you really need to be active. And , if somebody is, , watching today or they're watching this on the replay, , we get a lot of people watch on the replay and they want to get started. What are a couple of things that they can do?

Ilia  (00:07:02):

Well, the first thing is to understand that LinkedIn is a live site. It's not a static as the resume. That is so key. And once I understood this, I realized that the more press I was intentionally on the platform, the better. So what, the first thing that you can do if you're at this point of your professional life and you really haven't had any, any relevancy or sharing any of your thoughts on LinkedIn, the first thing is check the foundation. First of all, check whether your, your LinkedIn profile actually reflects who you are as a professional, right? Because we think like, okay, I'm just gonna add my picture. I'm gonna, , the job title that I currently have and, and, in the About I have no idea what they about is just gonna copy and paste from, I am a professional with 10 years of experienced patterning. No, no. So boring,

Annette (00:08:13):

, and then the third person, Annette Richmond is a blah, blah, blah, with the wheatever. She does this and that. And it's so boring. Right. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to read that.

Ilia  (00:08:25):

Exactly. So the idea is, and I understood just right from the, the name of the section, what is it, , tell me about you. It says like, , use the, about use the visuals. Like you're talking to a person like humanizes. So you said like, , you, you start saying, Hey, look, I've, , I graduated, I came from Venezuela and I love the oil and gas industry, but I realized that there's so much more potential now that I'm in a different country. And, , I grew up as an industrial engineer, but I realized that my potential can be addressed in so many areas and industries. And as a engineer at count and executive sales director, health and safety advisor, LinkedIn consultant show why you have to offer. And of course the about is, okay, this is what I've achieved in the past. These are my results. And I am, I strongly believe that, , these sets, this assets that I bring with me great for that specific industry specific position, , the objective, it's always like thinking about, , who you want, like how you want to contribute in the future. So that's, that's for me, , key.

Annette (00:10:00):

Yeah. And it's also people like to hear the story, , that, which is what you're talking about, the story, but, with the clients that I work with too , I, I often ask them when I'm working on their profiles, , what made you go into this business? What made you choose this as your career? What do you love about it? Things like that, because it not only gives people insight because obviously if anyone gets a resume and they're interested, they're going to go to LinkedIn or they might meet one LinkedIn first and not only is it, is it, , interesting. It's also memorable. Exactly, exactly.

Ilia  (00:10:38):

It's it's like me. No, there are no other person, there are multiple immigrants to different countries. I am, , I come from, I am the byproduct of our Columbia mom who never finished high school. I am the first one who finished university degree. And that in, she brought with me and I, , I am the reflection of her, of her dedication for going up to the next level. So once I was here in Canada, I realized that as a person, I have an active role in helping other people do the same. So by doing so by doing the same, I said like, what, one of the first one of the, the, , the population who is affected the most and they're the best prepare our women, but especially immigrant women. So I came here, I realized, , that I am, that I could do the same for others.

Ilia  (00:11:39):

So we know with this, I started working, creating workshops for immigrant women, and that caught the attention of the CBC news. And we were, , I was teacher with my they're, my business partner, Adriana Romero. I know they're Venezuelan and an immigrant who is an excellent professional as well in the sales enablement world. We were interviewed because there was by then, like , crisis and immigration and highly skilled women had to stay back one because of, , their mental blocks, because they might think that they, they are not smart enough because they might not have enough in the law or, , power and control of their language skills. Right. So that's, that is what, what may be a different story in outcome.

Annette (00:12:32):

Right. And, the, the thing is too, it is, it is so important, , the story and, and showing it, showing it to others, but, , and that's what you were talking about too. The fact that you were on there, you came to the attention of other people and how you, , and that happens with people who are looking for jobs as well. I have a friend of mine who recently was actually contacted by three different companies who were interested in hiring him, just because of the things they saw on LinkedIn made them, , contact him rather than him having to chase after them. And it sounds like that's how, how your business was started really, , got going as well. So let's, let's talk a little bit about the LinkedIn, the features, some of the things that I think people are not using right now.

Annette (00:13:26):

And I know that, a lot about this area Cover Story, is now open to everyone. So if we could talk a little bit about the media, there's the Cover Story where you get to, be who you are, you have a great Cover Story, and then there's also Punctuation, which some people are using creatively. I use mine too, even though my name is easy to pronounce. So what, what would you say? And just so people know, if you are interested in using any of this media, you just have to, you can do it on the on the app, on your phone. So,not something you can do on the desktop. So why don't you talk a little bit about what makes a great Cover Story and, , some ideas of how people can create that?

Ilia  (00:14:10):

Well, I see the video Cover Story as a window to talk, to introduce yourself to someone. So one, one practice, first of all, and the best way to practice is if you have an Instagram account, and if you have even, , you're good with video, just start practicing with your your camera or your mobile app. The ability to say who you are, what you do, who you help and , our call to action. Like I read, like if you were in real time with one person, but especially for those professionals who are looking for a job opportunity or an organization, and,seeing themselves, , like the best fit is one don't, first of all, don't tell your name. He don't because everybody, if right, he's someone who's visiting your profile, they know your name. They have already read it.

Ilia  (00:15:14):

So you said, you can, you can start by thanking the person for coming to your profile and then give in those 30 seconds are gold, and you can say a lot. So write it down, what you want to say, what are your best achievements or one highlight that they, that you might want to let them know firsthand as a professional? It's like, if you are being interviewed, if you are having that first phone interview with the recruiter and say like, okay, I'm to, I'm going to answer this, , I'm going to interview you over the phone, just as a part of this screening process. You shouldn't have to nail those first 30 seconds because those, yeah. Or if you're

Annette (00:16:02):

On an elevator with someone, what do you say, with 30 seconds, and, and I do you, do you use any specific app or anything that you've used to , I've used Apple Clips, but do you have something that you recommend?

Ilia  (00:16:23):

I do use InShot to edit my videos, but in reality, a good iPhone, a good, a smartphone has a camera perfect enough for you to see yourself, aesthetically pleasing, lessened, because , yourself, , yourself, you might not feel like, okay, this is not how I look. I want to, , the percent of all, just grab a tripod or sitting on your desk and talk about it. And especially when, , when there's too much noise in the background, like games and noise, I mean, the obstacles, trying to find a neutral wall, and then talk about, , who you are, what you help, what I help organizations and help human resources teams. I help the operations team of oil and gas industry achieve zero accidents with this skillset that I had. And I'm being like, you can go ahead and be as creative as possible. So go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, InShot insured is one of the apps that I use to edit all my videos, especially for, for LinkedIn, because I use linked Instagram stories. However, once you download it, the story from Instagram and upload it, LinkedIn, the quality the resolution gets degraded. I try to use native video.

Annette (00:17:57):

Well, I use I use Clips. I learned about that actually, when I, I did a little training with Nick Rayburn who, is amazing. And he taught me about using Clips. And, if you download the Clips app on your iPhone, you can record in Clips. So you can record like two seconds and then you can and then also edit and it adds captions as well. So we have we have a question from our audience from Sara wants to know, if, do you suggest using an elevator pitch as your Cover Story?

Ilia  (00:18:32):

Absolutely. I, that that's a great formula to one go to the point be natural, but in the end, be as precise and concise and using, , that that is pan of time, nice the most. So I help what you do, or you can state the problem. I've helped the struggling companies with profit after what, right? Even that milestone $1 million quota and a six month span with the strategies that I've implemented successfully in three past companies, then you are going away less than five seconds. That one you have, that you are a goal achiever that you have provide the results. And then you have the receipts for that. And we're looking right now, like right away from the start, that person who is watching you. So they will love to more curious, right? What we want is extend. They get the curiosity for people to contact them.

Annette (00:19:46):

Exactly. That's what it all is. It's all about., the resume is like that. The LinkedIn profile is like that. Everything is making it for people to want to contact you, , to want to know more about you. And, , I mean, if you just say, , , sales down, I can help you with that because I've done that for this company and that company and that company and blah, blah, blah. And it, and one thing too, that, that I think is important to remember is,what, if you don't like it just do another one because it's not forever. And it's not like you're going out to hire a professional photographer to take your headshot. , you just, you do it and it, try it. I mean, I've done my twice and I really need to do it again,

Ilia  (00:20:30):

But look, let me, let me show you how, , what I've done with mine, because I can't, first of all, I have two languages in my head, so I need to one a write down the information that I'm going to say. So I know that I remove any fillers also from my head. Then I record my videos on Instagram. So Instagram gives you Instagram stories, give you up to one minute of the stories, broken down in four, because there are 15, 15, 15. So within 50 seconds, I make sure that I, that I, , that I say what I want to say, and if I don't that's okay, because I can delete one, but the best for me is, , to create that sentence, the problem, the solution, and the achievements that I've had, but especially tell the person, for example, in mind, I said like, you, nobody will know who you are and the potential that you have on this, you show up on LinkedIn. that's the key.

Ilia  (00:21:40):

And what is the best way to show up? Well, we have, you have a national of techniques that we can talk about for hours here. Yes, yes. Then I say, , like you got to show up, connect with me. Like, it's a pleasure, , being, , check my, the information that it's featured on my profile connect with me, and let's get a conversation started that is enticing someone to move a step forward and saying that I am approachable. You can talk to me. And so, , you have any questions, like let's have a conversation.

Annette (00:22:20):

Yeah. I, , I, I think it's a great, a great option. And I will mention anyone who is listening and does not know when you go to your to the app and you look at your profile, you'll see an orange circle around your headshot. And that is the indicator that , that you do have the Cover Story. I think everybody has it right now. My husband has it and he never uses LinkedIn. So I think everybody pretty much has it. And another thing I just want to mention, cause I, I think it just, it's like looking for these other opportunities, the Pronunciation now, , my name is easy to pronounce your last name. , your name is pretty easy to pronounce, but , I, I have a quick message on the Pronunciation. I forget what it is, but I've heard people use, , music like a little music and then say something. So what do you think about that? Do you use that? Do you advise people to use it?

Ilia  (00:23:17):

what, and, and that is, that is a super funny stir because I, I realized about the feature probably a month or two after it was released. And, but it was because of the continuous conversation and commenting on Andy Foote's that he, he shared about that about the feature and how, , he expressed the curiosity, one of his posts and say like, well, take a look at, , what I say in mind? And so I went to his profile and tagged his he's he's named for an association and it was a fun captivating jingle. It was, it was, it was one of his favorite songs and it made me laugh. And I like, oh my goodness, this is so creative. This is how you inject with your audience. Exactly humor. So I laughed out loud. I said like, congratulations, I love it. So, yeah, I, and

Annette (00:24:24):

That's what, , people think. And I want to talk about a couple other things that people may not be aware of, but , people think of old, LinkedIn is a, LinkedIn is a business platform and I must be businesslike. And it's just so not true. I mean, I mean, of course you have to realize it's not Facebook. , when I was a recruiter, I was sourcing for a job. And one of the candidates that came up in my feed in my search was a woman in a bridal gown, like with a head dress and everything. And I was like, oh, okay. So yeah, right now I'm thinking, well, if this is what she thinks goes on, LinkedIn, my clients probably stopped with, I couldn't work for my client. So, , you do have, I mean, realize it's not Facebook, but, , showing the personality is so, so important.

Annette (00:25:12):

And, , there's a couple other things that, that I'd like to mention because I'm just learning about them is the fact that you can do audio messaging and , and this is, again, you have to do it on, on your app on the, the LinkedIn on your phone phone app, but, , sending a voice message. And I just learned about this recently in the last couple of months that you could do this. And , when you are, particularly, if you're thanking someone to hear somebody say, oh, thank you so much is so much more powerful than, , typing out. Thank you so much. And having them read it

Ilia  (00:25:53):

Exactly you don't, you don't get to listen the emotion, the energy and the inflections of your Pronunciation, except when it's the audio. And that's why I believe Clubhouse has had such an impact on LinkedIn users. Of course, there's a huge community worldwide, but especially for those who are here on LinkedIn, because, , they, you have, , the, that, those audio, the voice notes and which like some times, I don't have time to type instead of like, hi, thank you for connecting with me. This is what I do, but it's better for me to Joe's okay, I'm doing something else and I'm recording. So, and it brings the natural side truly getting to meet someone. And I know that for some it's even, it's even more, more surprising when you take the time to record a video, introducing yourself and say like, Hey, I am here and this is my face. I am, I am getting to know you. I know the, for some, for some, some people don't like it. If I find it that kind of invasive and forced to do the same for me, that I'm only

Annette (00:27:13):

Ever received two video messages so far. And I remember them. And, but, , do you use a lot of video? I mean, I, I know a lot of people are hesitant to use video. , I just started recently doing a lot of video. I hate my voice. I hate my face even more to see it. I mean, a lot of people do that. They look and they say, oh, what? I look kind of old, or I look kind of fat or I look kind of whatever. And, , once you get used to it, it really just doesn't bother you anymore. But do you, do you use a lot of video or a video messaging?

Ilia  (00:27:48):

It all depends on, on, , the type of person I'm approaching because like it, unless we've had a previous interaction, I don't, I don't use the video. I did use like, I've used video with people who I've met on Clubhouse, for example, that I've had, , that exchange of ideas and conversation. And then I show myself on video and say like, thank you so much for , that was fun. That conversation was insightful. And if I went to, I then know next remark, then I, then I mentioned it. But if I don't have time or I don't feel camera ready because I'm not all the time camera ready record a voice note. So, yeah.

Annette (00:28:37):

Well, that's, that's the one thing about Clubhouse you don't have to worry about then being camera being camera ready. If you're, , if you're in Clubhouse and I think, unless you're on there, I don't think you can fully grasp , the, how, what it's like to just be on there and you get to know people so quickly. So, so John just says he wishes, there was a way of knowing who would be receptive to an audio or video message, I guess what would be nice. So set just people that you already know, you, you audio and video, or do you wait for them to go at first or

Ilia  (00:29:19):

Yeah. And you, what the people who, one of the, the, the women who I, , talk to almost every day and especially we share a Clubhouse room, just, I feel comfortable. She, she said it, she doesn't feel comfortable receiving video messages because for her is awkward is, and he probably is invasive. , we don't know, we don't, we didn't get to, we don't get to know, , when, when people's boundaries or, or feel, , that enter that sacred space. And that's okay. And that's okay. , I share my, my video, shortly I've sort of, , shortly after she said that she would feel comfortable receiving video messages. Now my apologies, but, but that's okay. That's fine.

Annette (00:30:08):

So here's John, as, as relentlessly helpful, I think as ever saying that if someone has a podcast, he knows that he'll be safe to send them a voice note. So, , that makes sense. I mean, I love getting them, I love to get the voice. But I just find it a little bit strange that people feel it's invasive because it's not like, , if I get a video message, it's not like they can see me, I can just see them. So anyway so one of the things I heard you mentioned the other day in Clubhouse is the idea of having these video meetings on LinkedIn. Now I don't have that yet. So, so what's that like? And what should people look, look for in, , when am I getting at it?

Ilia  (00:30:58):

Sure. So, so when you go to the,the messaging, the messages you will see on, on your, and one of the, the menu at the bottom of your messages at tiny camera icon was the plus sign right in the middle. So that is where you can set instant. You can start an instant video meeting, but then you, you have to decide which one, which carrier is the, it's your preferred choice, because you have zoom, you have Microsoft teams, and now you have LinkedIn video. So you can either start right there with you find it. Okay.

Annette (00:31:45):

Yeah. Well, I have mine,I can do video and I can send voice, but, or send, , a photo or attach things. But I, if I click on video, it's having me record a video. It doesn't have a meeting. It's just me sending a video to someone. So I,

Ilia  (00:32:07):

Yes. Well, I'm going to do it like right here with your conversation. Check my tech texts right now. The, my name, we have a conversation thread. Just right at my name. There's a little camera. That's a little camera with a plus sign.

Annette (00:32:29):

Yeah. See, I can take a picture and I can do a video, but I don't have a meeting. I

Ilia  (00:32:35):

Don't have, do you see it just right here? Look, this I can't, this is your game. This is your name just right here. That's the camera icon then you should be looking for. So this is guy since John says they got, yeah. I understand. And not blaming women for being hesitant or sending all your video to men. Absolutely. I absolutely

Annette (00:32:58):

Agree. I, well, I have to tell you, , every woman I know has had the creepy experience of having some man on LinkedIn, , message them. Oh, , you have such a nice smile. I'd like to get to know you better. , I got my first message like that on Clubhouse the other day, where somebody back channeled me and said oh I'd loved hearing what you had to say. Oh, very nice. Thank you very much. And it's like, oh, I'm a blah, blah, blah. And I do this, what do you do? And I'm like, okay, little bit weird there. So I hope, I hope people are going to start thinking of Clubhouse as a dating site, like LinkedIn. But, but anyway I will have to look for the video message because I don't have it right now. I have, I have looked at it. And I agree with you, John, , that you, you don't blame women for being hesitant to send an audio or video to men.

Ilia  (00:34:01):

It's it, I don't know whether there's any woman who hasn't been harassed or, or, or, , being creeped out with sometimes I receive connection requests that are, that they look, that sounded very professional, very serious. And then all of a sudden I get a flower. I know, I know. I know. I know.

Annette (00:34:25):

And I, I think, , you actually look just the same as you look on your photo, but so many people, I know they have their, , their, their headshot photoshopped. So doesn't even look like them. So, , as, as I mentioned that right now, let's talk just a little bit about the headshot. Because none of my photos that I use were taken by a professional. I mean, my husband snapped the photos in our TV room. And I went on Canva and remove the background and I like to change them up. So that's what I use. But what, what should people do? ? I, I read something on LinkedIn ed Han posted, I think it was just today or yesterday that if you have a headshot, , a smile as welcomed, , not that stare and you, you look at some profile photos and wonder what are people thinking, you

Ilia  (00:35:22):

Know, with this. Yes. Yeah. You're, you're no part of that next file or anything like that. It's you, it's you like how, how approachable sometimes, , well, you have any food and if it hasn't, , a serious expression for, it's such a great picture, I love it. I find that it's a classy and timeless picture. Look, look at John. John is fantastically looking at smiley and that invites me both to contact you. And, , body language is a science. It's almost a science people and professionals take the time to study, , our body movements, the emotions, and especially your facial this special, , that your facial expression to see whether you are the right feet for someone, whether you are an approachable person, whether you are a person who can relate and, and, , familiarize with a team. That's what I see. I went up. And when I, when I changed my headshot I understand that this is what I want to project. Wasn't a station for my clients. And I want my clients to feel comfortable, for example, when they talk to me. So what is the, what, there's nothing better than show up on a smiling face that, that means that you're friendly, that you, that you feel comfortable socializing with others. Can you imagine if we are all just with, , poker faces like it's, there might be a style for some

Annette (00:37:05):

Yeah. , and it's so funny too. I, I, the, the common thing that I hear and I, I, I think we agree with John who says that, , Cover Story is great for making that first impression, , so much more powerful than the than a photo. And, , I, when I was a recruiter and this is, , seven years ago, I worked with a woman and I was in the digital marketing space, which is kind of young. And she was actually in her sixties. Now I didn't ask her, but, , we chatted on the phones. We'd not much video then. And she happened to mention it to me, but, , people are afraid. They're like, oh, I don't put my photo cause people aren't going to think I'm too old or I'm too young or I'm too, whatever.

Ilia  (00:37:50):

But

Annette (00:37:50):

Her photo was so vibrant, , it was just like, she sounded. And although I was not able to, I, , I didn't place her. She was a top candidate, , I, I presented her and she was one of their top candidates and she found a job quickly afterwards. So, , it's, it's a lot of it is the attitude and people worry so much about, , how do I look? Or, , what are people gonna think? And they use a photo that's 10 years old, and then you meet them at a conference and you don't know them. Right. have you have that happen where you, you meet somebody and you don't recognize them.

Ilia  (00:38:29):

Absolutely. And it happens to me all the time, especially now, and the Instagram. And now, , there's the real video, LinkedIn live video where I see like, well, you don't look exactly like your headshot and those are impressions. Those are first impressions that people get in,, what, seven seconds, a fraction of a second, they start forming an impression. And what do you say with your face, with the, the, the position in where you are on the, on, , on your photo? So are you a CEO? I see sometimes women when they have like leader positions, they are founders. They they have higher positions. Tending tend to have, , this close loo, look with arms tied up around their tests as as a form of, , showing that the authority. Yeah. The power. Yeah. This is a leader should be open and approachable, but I understand that that's a power move. That's a power position. It's okay. It all depends on how you want to be seen, or you want to be seen with a leader that nobody can approach because it's closed or is a person who is natural and open. I would, would go like I have a preference and there's no right or wrong, but I have a preference for those who show that they, that they can come and start talking. And I know that. Hello, Michelle?

Annette (00:40:12):

Hi, Michelle. We're so happy to see you. So thank you so much for popping by. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Ilia  (00:40:18):

Yeah. So ideally, whatever it makes you feel comfortable. And for example, there's nothing for me that makes me more self-conscious than being live on LinkedIn on string yard. Because I see my face on the other side, when I always see the other side and, and I avoid looking at the counter cause otherwise I'm going to start creating, , weird facial expressions. But what I understand is, , the, my message is what gets, what gets across what I'm, , I'm getting myself out of, , my, my, my face. I look at you, although I'm not looking at the camera. If I look at the camera, it looks like I'm looking at yourself.

Annette (00:41:09):

No, I, I agree with you. And I'm actually, I'm watching it here where we are in the studio and I'm watching it on LinkedIn on the side, and it has kind of a lag just to make sure that everything is running correctly. But I learned from, from a presentation coach she says, , sort of speech and presentation coach quite a few years ago. And I'm just now comfortable with just doesn't bother me. I've been doing the LinkedIn lives, Ross I'm getting used to it. But people don't care what you look like. They don't care what you, , sound like really. I mean, as far as your voice, what they care about is what you're bringing to them, right? What you have to help them if they're going to a presentation or they're listening to a webinar, or hopefully, , people listening to us, it's nice to have our friends here, but , people that are listening, , they want to learn something, , they're not here to like, look at us, they're here to, to, , hopefully learn something that they don't know already.

Annette (00:42:09):

So I agree with you, it's, it is weird though. It is where

Ilia  (00:42:15):

they're not meditating, , they're dedicating time to watch you to watch me, why should I get hooked up on how I look, how I sound rather than, , sharing a proper or a specific message. I want the person who watches me to take action on right

Annette (00:42:36):

Now. Yeah. So Michelle agrees with us. She says, absolutely. Thank you, Michelle.

Ilia  (00:42:42):

We appreciate it. Well, Michelle, Michelle is . I admire the eloquency how natural the conversation or accompany pages flow for her. And, and it's, it makes all so much sense in terms of, , why don't you get out of it, how you can get past the hurdle of not having enough engagement on a company page to, , she is one of my, virtual mentor, virtual women who I look up to to understand, and, and just to fall in love with, , how nice the conversation in natural goes on a LinkedIn, like just like human, right?

Annette (00:43:26):

No, I,agree with, I agree with you, so don't tell anybody, but I have several of her articles bookmarked under training on my browser. So I value her, her knowledge as well. I learn from her every week, I, I'm in a room with her every week, too on Tuesdays. And I learn from her every single time. So , we, we talked a lot about all the different, , the audio and the media sort of, of LinkedIn. And one thing that I think is the most underused section is the the features, the featured section that people just don't use. And, I've been in rooms and Clubhouse where recruiters have talked about how they would love to see, , a video of a candidate, not a video resume because, , you can't really, that's not a substitute, but, or, people want to people that are creative, like in graphic design, you'd be showcasing their stuff and featured the featured section on LinkedIn is such a great place for people to do that.

Annette (00:44:40):

So what, what do you, what would be your suggestions for, I mean, I have some ideas the way I use the feature. How do you, how do you use it? What do you suggest?

Ilia  (00:44:50):

Well, it's one of my favorite places as strategically as a business owner, as a professional perspective, minimize change, ideally whatever helps that visitor, that can be your ideal person, whether it is a recruiter, it is hiring manager, or is an organization looking for a professional. Like you absolutely the, your introduction. Now you ha now we have the video Cover Story in which you can introduce yourself for 30 seconds. What about if you add an extra, an extra 30 seconds or minute or so showing what is your personal, personal story as a professional, bringing that About that common good About in conversation into your own words, your own actions, and especially to paint in the host, the content that you put on it. I know that not everybody. One is a content creator. I see the people who have great feature section articles and links are those who are business owners, whose clients are on LinkedIn are active on LinkedIn. My clients like the professional clients, looking for job opportunities, don't have anything there don't have any featured. Exactly.

Annette (00:46:25):

So we just got some advice for John, from John. If you have the patience to do it, but your latest post as the first featured item, and then refresh it next time you post to give you marginal visibility gains. Well, thank you. , I just, I was looking at the feature ,today. just to see, cause I know it changes from time to time, what they accept and now if you click on the feature and you can excuse me, you can share one of your recent status updates, or you can share an article that you've shared on LinkedIn. But , you can share, share photos. So if you have a certificate or you've won an award, you can, if you don't have the JPEG, you can take a photo of that. You can post that on your, on your featured section.

Annette (00:47:14):

I know people that have created little, PowerPoints of like a case study and posted that on, in the featured section there's or even, , like I have a little video introduction, , if you want to virtual consultation with me. So even if you're, if you're not like us, , where we are business owners using it, but if you're looking for a job, , you could, you can use something like that too. And I wasn't aware until I looked at it today and I'm glad that John mentioned it here, the fact that you , can use the status updates and, and you can post them to your, to your LinkedIn featured section, , and I, I try to change mine, change mine up. I have some things that kind of stay there, but I moved them around, , but I dunno, I,

Ilia  (00:48:06):

What is the rule for, for the feature section, but I take is I want to be relevant for whoever visits my profile. First of all, yes. If I was only professional, always trying to be up-to-date relevant, I would post, I would start creating obviously content. And it's related to my industry that actually gives light to a team in which I would ideally want to be a part of. I accompany that I will actually will be a part of that is extending out. I don't hide this by adding a certificate of achievement, which is fantastic. But you have also the links to accreditation at the bottom of, , in, in lower sections of your profile, I would entice, I would create either, like you said, a case study, a mini video of myself showing how with my skills, I help achieve a specific outcome, reduce time with project management, with a tip that nobody except for those who work in that specific industry might know, or might not with the use of a software or maybe a productivity hack, for example, something so that, , that I had one visually appealing to your, to your LinkedIn profile.

Ilia  (00:49:47):

And then that says, how good your skill sets are, , in any case for that specific industry force.

Annette (00:49:56):

Oh, I agree with you completely. I'm just thinking of people that have nothing that they could at least put something rather than to not use it at all, but of course, , anything that's, , that specific like that I think is,

Ilia  (00:50:11):

Is better. what I do on it? Yeah. I know that there are people who use different, , social platforms to show different sides of themselves for a business owner, having your social links or your Linktree. There's an app that is called Linktree, for example. And that gives you a series of within a master Linktree you can add multiple. I have from my website, I created my own lead sheet embedded in my own website. So I added that Linktree as a part of the feature section. So people want to get to know, and they came see that I am not a scammer, that there is much more to know about me and my business as well. Look. Exactly. Yeah.

Annette (00:51:05):

, I use something similar. I use a I use something called Sleekbio. It's the same thing, there's different companies, different companies that, that do it. And , I, I do that as well. And I, I recently actually, created another website for like my podcast and LinkedIn live and put all those things together on an additional place. But that's another story. So as we're, as we're getting close to the end and , if you, if you're okay, we can linger a little bit more. I'd love to talk about engagement , starting , engaging, , the commenting. And because I actually got a message earlier this morning and I was talking to the same person recently who said, oh, I see you on social media. You're all over the place. You're there everywhere. And I'm like, well, I'm not really, I only post on LinkedIn, maybe three, four times a week, but do you see me all over the place? Cause I'm commenting on other people's posts. And so why don't you talk a little bit about how to, , get started in there and to do that? How do you, what do you do if you don't know? I

Ilia  (00:52:18):

Guess, first of all, , once one, once I understood, , the, the, the dynamic and energy of, , going back and forth with people on LinkedIn, I realized that by sharing, , out of the blue tomorrow, after not being active for a year or two, and then I share a really random article is gonna make people like, who is this person? I don't want to show that I, , there's, it's the same introduce yourself. I would introduce myself either with a video or with a tex post. It doesn't matter. It doesn't have to have rich media. As long as you have the ability to start connecting a conversation, let's connect, connect is powerful, but people consider connect just to click a button and it's not. So then I start finding out a list of key connections, your contact influencers, whatever you want to call it and find a topic of your interest.

Ilia  (00:53:24):

If it doesn't you, why are you going to engage with a thank you for sharing? Because it's, it's the most useless is the most useless that you can, , waste your time in. It's better. You have an idea, you read a post and you think about it, you consume the information and you create your own opinion about the topic. Regardless, whether you agree with the topic you resonate, you have picked on yourself within the topic, because it's something that has happened to you in the past, then comment, comment, and comment. And sometimes when I really don't have the time, because I am tied up either putting things in kids in the car, I might be, I might see something, I get the notification, I see the post. And I either, if I can, if I want to really comment fully, I save it.

Ilia  (00:54:21):

I save the post. Once I am, , I'm relaxed. I understand. I want to contribute with that conversation. And then I will take the time I would write it. One of my last post sorry, one of my latest comment was to meet him when we tap, Momita I believe. Yes, yes, of course. Yes. So is she, is, she is, she is such a bright light and she shared a beautiful post in the past weeks. And I resonated with that and I wrote so much, , that I have in my mind that I, that I, , I reached the limit, which is characters in the common, I feel so, so good about it because it was not forced. It was something that wasn't my mind that I needed to share with her. So I reached the whole limit of a common 1200 characters. Wow. That's a good, that's a good engagement.

Annette (00:55:30):

Yeah. I feel like that too. \I like to be able to add, I mean, there are some people that I, I do know, kind of pretty well. And so I will say, , thanks for sharing. I really appreciate, , learning something new today. Because I, I do want to compliment them. And and then, , obviously if you comment on someone's post it's, I mean, I like to say thank you. If it's something that, that has helped me help me along. What I don't like. Oh, okay. John is mentioning us talking about Mo at 55 minutes. We'll have to, I'll have to mention that to her. Then we talked about her. So one thing that I do see occasionally, which really bothers is I mean, I haven't had somebody to do this to me, but I've seen it done to others where, , maybe you might've posted an article, you'll post a text post about this or that, , you're explaining how to do something. And somebody in the comments will say, oh, yes, I agree. And here's a link to the article that I wrote about it.

Ilia  (00:56:46):

I'm okay. I'm okay with that. Like people who are very partial and I am okay with, I know that that is looking for obviously the attention for people to get out of my posts or your posts towards the link, unless you are a troll. Well, no, that's

Annette (00:57:07):

Something that I would say, oh, it didn't enrage me. I just, I just think it's just not very polite to go onto somebody else's post. And it's like, sometimes you see people that will, they put in a they write a text post and they tag like, , 20 people. Absolutely. Okay. why and it's just, it's kind of disconcerting to me and, I mean, I don't get a lot of that cause I'm not a big fish, , I'm a small fish on

Ilia  (00:57:44):

No, I considered it. See how you consider yourself in with the industry of LinkedIn consultants. It's so different than my that I might, I see that you're one of the big belief in consultants like John Espirian Brenda Miller. And if I see you up there,

Annette (00:58:10):

I thank you. But I mean, what I mean is that I don't have a ton of followers. I have like 5,400 followers. So they're not a lot of times it happens to people who have, like, I have friends that have, , 200,000 followers or 50,000 followers, and they get tagged a lot because if they come in comment, it brings attention to the post. And I agree with you. Michelle, Michelle said, she's okay if the link adds value, but not grandstanding? And, and I see that too. It's just, sometimes I see certain people that do it regularly and I just kind of, I don't know.

Ilia  (00:58:46):

Well, one thing that I do truly agree, I see there are people, one person a connection who really doesn't, , have a conversation with me besides comment. And it was probably a couple of times that have only shared I've linked to the post as a comment like here, like here, I wrote this post, you can connect with me here. And that I say, well, it's very tasteless, but it also shows about the type of person you want to fish engagement from in another person's post. Ignore it. Yeah. Brenda Miller, Brenda. And I actually, John had a great strategy and it is when things like that happen just to provide maybe the name, the company name, asset link on their posts, or thank you for, , for, for extending that reach, especially on trolls withdrawal, we're showing the caliber of person that you are, but Brenda has

Annette (00:59:58):

A whole Brenda has a whole thing that she shared and she'll say something to them, like,thank you so much for sharing and, for for showing my content to your audience or something like that. So she's a, , she does it in a just beautiful, beautiful way. So so we're, we're kind of, , a little bit over the hour and,I want to be mindful of your time. So is there, is there anything, or a few things that you would like to add that, , I didn't bring up and you think is important to share please, please do that.

Ilia  (01:00:39):

Absolutely. Well. Whether, whether people like it or they're not intentional LinkedIn, or whether they are or not, LinkedIn is a marketing tool as your marketing tool period, it's, it's alive. It's a life place for you. And, and to so high ranked by, for example, by Google is why are you going to abandon it? I understand that some people just are not look no active on social media. They don't use social media because they have a great brand offline in their organizations and they preferred off, this spotlight, for example, my, my husband is on LinkedIn and he uses LinkedIn for prospecting. He is a sales director. So he uses, he checks the people, they contact the information, the news, but then he takes offline all the conversations he takes. So they,, he calls people, he gets to the human side, they offline the buildup of a true relationship and take in those hurdles of social selling, for example, which has, , the principles we use on LinkedIn to, to connect instead.

Ilia  (01:01:59):

No, he doesn't use that. And I understand it, but it's a marketing tool. So can you complete it, add something that helps the reader know that you've been active on LinkedIn, whereas it's a post that you have engaged with your in the past and fully that you're adding to the collective conversation that in, if you are a business owner, show the receipts show we their recommendations. And if you don't have them, that's okay. You can start building up. There are multiple ways to do it. So it's, , living, living LinkedIn behind, unfortunately for some, they turn to a cumbersome task when they decide, oh my goodness, I need to be on LinkedIn because my ideal clients or those recruiters who are looking for me are there and they, they get overwhelmed. So I said, take your time, take one section at a time, one section a day takes that overwhelming task of, , updating a full LinkedIn profile out of your, your, , out of your way. That's fine. Yeah.

Annette (01:03:18):

Yeah, no, I, I agree with you. So Michelle, just, add it in there. That polls bring the trolls, right. I think, I think they do, especially some of the polls that are, really like, I don't know, I am, I am so happy to have you here. Also if you'd like to share, people will be watching this on replay and all around my YouTube channel or listening to it on my podcast. So I, if there's anything you'd like to share about your business, things that, , you, that you do give people a little bit more information before

Ilia  (01:03:55):

We absolutely, absolutely. I help. I help professionals and the small businesses, especially to grow on LinkedIn and to find, , to take that boring. Hello LinkedIn, my half or many LinkedIn is such a channel like great platform to create a thoughtful conversation. And I was talking last night was a friend and a client who I've have collaborated with while I've been on Instagram live. And she's a doctor, she's a PhD in psychology, such an academic person and thinker who can't, who couldn't nail sharing posts that weren't as complex. Her conversation for on LinkedIn are so complex that she doesn't know how to translate into simple words. And I said, just start a conversation. Like if you were with a normal person, that it doesn't have a university degree, how can that person understand you? And similar work, , emotional intelligence, for example, my, my links, my website, Ilia Francis dot com com is, is where you can find me LinkedIn. Of course, I am always a message away. And I'm also on Instagram. And I talked, , I conduct workshops one-on-one sessions and also collaborate with people like you Annette. And for that, I'm truly grateful.

Annette (01:05:39):

Well, it, it has been such a pleasure. I'm so glad , that I met you and, , people don't understand why I love Clubhouse, but this is why I love Clubhouse. Cause I met, I get to meet such really cool, interesting people that I would not have met any other way. And , it's all about taking those relationships, the, the budding relationships on the LinkedIn, where you get to know people a little bit better and anyone who gets bored, , being on LinkedIn and going around and commenting, , what, if people on there you're actually interested to see you're interesting for you. It's not a boring task. It's something that you enjoy. So thank you so much. And thank you to everyone who has been with us. Many from the beginning. We really appreciate you being here. It, it makes it more fun for us. So thank you again and have a great weekend. Thank you.

Ilia  (01:06:38):

So hugs for you and I look forward to, to continue having you on our room. So Clubhouse too. Oh,

Annette (01:06:47):

That's great. Okay. Goodbye. All bye.