Stand Out With Your Linkedin Profile Summary

The face I make when I look at a bad profile summary

So you want to knock people's socks off with your Linkedin profile summary? Lets talk about that...

You have no idea about the power of an effective profile summary. A whole new world is at your finger tips if you can explain your purpose in a few short sentences.

Things to consider why to spend time on your bio

Often times your summary is the first or second impression- DO NOT BLOW IT

Your profile is a reflection of you and your company- Again DO NOT BLOW IT

We all have seen those profiles that have little to no content on them and have no idea what that person is about. The better you clarify who you are and what you do gives you a better shot in connecting with prospects.

Prospects want to talk to experienced, "cool", well read, professionals-not snot nosed, part-time interns who are trying to exploit chumps. 

 Have a sense of pride in how your personal brand is represented. After all, you are the one who put it up there in the first place. Don't make a fool of yourself.

Five parts to having an engaging profile summary

1. Think of this as a networking pitch. So many times a weak summary will turn clients away from further conversations. Just like in writing your first and last sentences should be the most engaging. Try to remember your high school writing days about topic and concluding sentences. 
2. Have the end in mind. Who is your target audience? What action do you want those who read your profile to do? What are your objectives? Make sure they know your objectives or rather make them intrigued to learn more about what you can do for them. 
3. What is your street-cred? Don't sound too arrogant but make sure you let the world know how awesome you are. Avoid cliche and overused terms. What separates your from the pack?
4. Give them a reason to connect with you and a call to action.  
5. Attaching additional content- This is where you can attach some cool content like an impressive company video, your URL to your blog or links to other of your social media content (more touch points).

Comment below what you think and feel free to check out my summary and offer critique. Never be afraid to ask people to look over your summary. Linkedin.com/in/brycejnobles

Overwhelmed? Let your calendar tell you what to worry about.

Let your calendar determine what to think about

Feeling overwhelmed? Me too. Lets talk about that.....

The Problem:

There is a simple truth in life that we all must deal with; there is more to do than time allowed. We all want to do it all, and more. I know for myself I am in the middle of taking 18 credits at school, working part time, planning on writing a book, trying to keep in shape, on a intramural basketball team and trying to find time to do the dishes so my just-as-busy-wife can take a breather. Over the past few months I have been trying to consolidate all my "daily tasks" down so that they overlap, basic multitasking. What I have come to know is that MULTITASKING DOES NOT WORK.

Here is why

1. You can never be great at one thing if you are trying to be good at everything
2. You will get behind and give up, just think of your new years resolutions that you set
3. You will miss the small things
4. You will get stressed out and always feel behind

The Solution:

Instead of trying to take over the world while learning how to cook the world's best pretzels and mastering Spanish on the side, take time to plan it out so that you do one thing at a time. Even if that one thing is for five minutes. PREPARATION IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS.

1. Let your calendar tell you what to worry about, be in that moment and no where else
2. Once the allotted time has past move on
3. Adjust how much time you need for tasks as the days go on and you get a better feel
4. Start a journal,  the more you write down the less you will have to remember, the more you can reflect, grow, review and learn

One caution- do not waste your valuable time over-planning. There is a point where you just got to go out there and live life. 

Do's and Don't of your first day

I am sure everyone has a good first day of work story that haunts you in your sleep or on the flip side a story that gets your smiling ear to ear every time it crosses your mind. I recently started a new job for a rather large, big boy company. The objective of this post is to shed some light from my first day.


Do's:

• Be early. com'on it is your first day. #given 
• Be yourself. When you meet with your new co-workers for the first time just simply be who you are. If you are not, two months down the road they will make fun of you for acting like a noob when you first started working. 
• Record your thoughts. Journal, blog, or text message just write down all of your thoughts from your first day. You will be overwhelmed and it will give you confidence looking back to see how you have improved over time. 
• Find your pace not your sprint.  You want to work hard but do not set too high or low of an expectation about yourself.

Don'ts:

• Lie about your story. The more you lie the more you have to remember
• Be that first day brown-noser. Your days of sucking up in college are past. It is all about results. #getbuckets
• Be afraid. Have a little more confidence in yourself than fear. It is okay to have a little amount of fear in you, it will keep you humble and honest. Never waste your time with fear though. 
• Try to figure out everything on your own. It is your first day, you will have no idea of what you are doing. haha It is better to ask for help than to ask to fix something you messed up. Key point here, once someone invests time in you to teach you something, you best not have to have them reteach it to you. 

Be a leader in your own life not a victim of your own goals

There are certain times in life where we need to put down the book, stop writing and JUST LIVE LIFE.
It is good to keep fresh so that you do not get burned out. I did not say go on a vacation, if you are like me you can't afford (both money and time) to have one but you can look around your life and take in new outlook. 

A wise man once told me some advise before I was married, "Never chase after girls, worry about your life and get your ducks in a row so that they will chase after you. Be a leader not a follower." 

I love this advise because how many times are we chasing after things; a job, a spouse, a goal, a house, a grade and so on? We need to stop chasing after our dreams and start leading them. How do you lead your dreams? If you want to lead them you are going to need to have the mindset that you are leading your dreams into war. The best way to do this is to have your dreams work together or said another way, consolidate your tasks. Multitasking is trying to do two things at the same time and is way too much work. Instead try consolidating, it is combining your dreams and goals so that they build off of each other.   

The take home message:
Act of Faith, don't react on fear. Have just a little more faith than fear. Recognize trials as the blessings that they are.

Nailing an interview

Welcome to nailing a job interview. The purpose of these posts are not to go through all the generic do's and don'ts about everything you have to do but rather some exclusive information that will help you stand out just a little more than the rest.

Quick tips a about the interview process...(beyond the basics)

Phone interviews

1. Make sure you find out if you are going to call them or if they are going to call you.
2. Have notes written down- they don't know that you have them.
3. Know your resume and have it right in front of you
4. Practice with a someone on the phone before the real deal
5. Make sure you are in a quite location, strong cell phone reception and check your phone's battery

In person interviews 

1. Remember names of everyone you talk to
2. Use mirroring techniques, as in use the same body language as they do
3.  Relax and be yourself, don't market yourself as someone that you are not

Prepare in how you respond to any interview question by mastering the  S.T.A.R. 

Specific Situation

• In order to avoid generic, broad examples, start your response with an example. Set the background by saying something like, "Two summers ago I was doing door to door sales for X company"

Task

• What responsibilities or events that you had to act upon. "We had to do training every day at 9am"

Application/ Innovation/ Development

• What did you do that separated yourself from the crowd? "I went in at 8 am every day by myself to get additional training" 

Resolution/Results 

• Give an example to show how you increased numbers or became better.  "Because my sales increased, more and more employees started to catch on to my positive energy and  join me at 8 am."

Practice doing the S.T.A.R. approach. 
Comment below what you would put to the question below and tomorrow's post will feature the best one. 

Example: What is your greatest weakness?

Situation:
Task:
Application:
Resolution:

Getting a minor vs. work experience; Do I pick one or the other or both?

Chances are you have the same question as i do; are minors worth the effort? What value will they bring to me and which one should I pick? My main argument in this post is that it all depends. Lets break it down. 

Why you should get a Minor 

Besides making you sound cooler, what value does a minor add to the individual that work experience cannot offer?  Well first a minor adds diversity and an intellectual expansion, or said simpler  it helps you stand out because not every gets one and you become more ed-amin-cated. You want your minor to give you a skill set that helps you toward your graduation goals. If you want to go into being a dentist, chances are that you are going to run your own dental office and a minor is business would come in handy. Grant it that a freshman has more opportunity to get one than a second semester senior, weigh your options. Minors extend your major and give you that niche. 

Why you should get work experience? 

Going to school is important, don't get me wrong but the extra three words on the resume is hard to compare to "battlefield experience". Experience can come through various ways such as clubs, interviews, internships, shadowing, part-time gigs, and even summer adventures that send you to the craziest places. You wont have to waste time on pointless assignments that you do in class but chances are that you will be stuck doing pointless work tasks, like filling up the water cooler or fixing the printer. The best experience that I have gotten has been from joining up with clubs, as tacky as that sounds. I wanted to learn more about business but did not have the time in my schedule to take on 6 more credit hour a semester so I joined three business clubs. Each club does real life case studies that can go right on the only resume, I have gotten job interviews because of the connections that clubs give to you. Although you do not get any credit for taking them, you do get a lot of free pizza and valuable application of your studies. 

The choice is yours

Personally I have done with the experience route and find more value in the field than in the class-room but every situation is different. What do you think? Comment below.  

3 critical factors in a winning mindset

Turned on +Spotify  and this song came on...... Let's start off with a chill beat <----Love this song.

Okay... back to business. We need to have a winning mindset. If you don't you will be spending more time redefining your goals than reaching them. Pick a destination of where you want to be and do not let anyone stop you. 
Defining yourself is limiting yourself 
How do you define yourself? Do you say that you are a good writer, good at math, science, and oh let me guess a hard worker right? Words are very dangerous, I am doing an internship at the justice courts and what I have learned is that WORDS CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU.  So many times defendants talk their way into jail and harsher punishments. That being said, when you are asked to describe yourself; 1) hopefully you have thought about it before 2) you don't limit yourself to what you have studied in school 3) you best define yourself as adaptable, versatile and always learning. If you can't say that about yourself, start now!  
Doubt the haters before you doubt yourself 
This whole idea comes from Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the +The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. if your want to see it -->(Cool message). So this happens to me all the time when I go to a marketing strategy events, students trying to network like dogs always come up to me and ask me what my major is. I say with a smile, "American Studies". Every time, not even lying, they get this puzzled look on their face. At that time they have two thoughts racing through their head, "Is he serious? He has no chance! haha " and then soon it sets in, "crud I have no idea what that is, he is so much diverse than me and the other 100 marketing majors". Darn toot'n bro. Don't let people faze you, honestly you will notice this more and more as you begin to meet more people, most of the time they are very insecure about where they are at and they try to validate themselves through putting you down. This being said, don't put them down but do not let them walk on you. Be more prepared than the haters and make them wish to have been a part of your humanities major by the end of it.   
Having a "set apart" attitude
Going off of the last topic, you have to have confidence in yourself. If you are not 100% sold about yourself you have NO CHANCE of having anyone else buy into your brand. You have to be almost crazy about your goals and ambitions, no matter how extreme they are. Take time to prepare in how you want others to see your personal brand. It is really important you understand who you are and where you are going so that when you are in the situations you can be more natural at it. In every conversation you have about your career goals, do all you can to get people to jump onto your bandwagon, instead of jumping off because of you. If you have enough passion and drive you can do anything and it is SO MUCH EASIER once you have people backing you. 


What are your winning mindset attributes?