LinkedIn's New Whac-A-Mole Feature

Ever play Whac-a-mole at an arcade or fair? What a fun time, as the little mole pops its head up from any of six or seven different holes on the game, you attempt to smack or whack it down back into it’s hole. In the 90’s it was not uncommon for software companies to have one game available for employees amusement and/or release frustration.

LinkedIn introduced a feature in the last week or so and you may have been seeing it’s effects in your email. LinkedIn Endorsements were announced in late September this year with the tagline, “Give Kudos with Just One Click.” (See LinkedIn Blog)

Scott Kleinberg, of Tribune Newspapers say about LinkedIn Endorsements, “Click. Click. Boom. Show someone you respect them professionally. Endorse them on LinkedIn.” Yet, there has been two side effects I’ve noticed. One, what do you do when you get a notification email? Two, when you endorse someone, a window pops up with other connections’ skill, asking if you would endorse them.

The first is easy, thank the person either on LinkedIn in a message or send them a thank you email. This is a great opportunity to further network with them and see what’s going on in their lives. But the second side effect, well that is something else...

This is the Whac-A-Mole game. As soon as you acknowledge  someone’s endorsement,  a window pops up with four people you are connected to and asks “Now it’s your turn. Endorse your connections:” and you can endorse a skill of theirs from their profile. (I have one client that never added Skills & Expertise to their profile and LinkedIn identifed potential skills within their summary and sent me an inquiry to endorse them - very smart technology.) Here is how it is a Whac-A-Mole game.

When you endorse one person’s skill, another person and skill pops up. If you endorse all four, then four new endorsements pop up. If you are an addictive person you cannot stop, and you click, click & boom, your connections will soon know how much you appreciate their skills and expertise.

LinkedIn has provided a wonderful tool for people to connect and build relationships as well as providing an outlet for random acts of kindness. However, don’t use the endorsements willy-nilly or it will cheapen the endorsements as a whole. We need the to make sure that people, job holders, recruiters and hiring managers understand that when a prospective candidate has a number of endorsements attached to a specific skill, they can expect the candidate to demonstrate expertise in that skill in the interview.

So be considerate when you endorse someone’s skill. It’s quick and it’s easy, but it’s not trivial. It doesn’t take as long to produce as a recommendation, but it can be just as important to that person’s career future.

Mother's and Everyone Time To Toot Your Horns

Tooting your own horn does not come easily to people. I am pretty sure that it is even harder for most women than it is for men. I have no data to back this up with but I think most people would agree with me and someone looking for a research idea for a Master’s thesis is welcome to the idea.

This week started with Mother’s Day. There was a story in the news that stated an annual dollar value for the work mothers do. So, if a mom was paid for the work she does, at the comparable rates paid to professionals who do the same work, the American Mom is worth over $61,000.00. Yes over sixty-one thousand dollars of work produced by the average mother that goes unpaid every year.

Think of all the things people do everyday that goes unrecognized. Regardless if you are paid or not for the work you do, it shouldn’t go unnoticed. If your work isn’t getting noticed you need to do something about that. You cannot expect people to walk around and see your work and offer applause. Too bad that isn’t the case; companies hiring people just to go around and recognize and appreciate the good work that is being done. So until companies start hiring additional staff to find and recognize previously unnoticed work, you’ll need to toot your own horn. There is nothing wrong with it. Toot away!

I am pretty lucky in the work I do because people I work with land a job or get a promotion and tell me how much they appreciate what I do. Even before their success they tell me how much our work together helps them. I also do workshops, presentations and keynote speeches. At the end of my talk I normally receive applause and often get to see feedback reviews of people’s reaction to the subject matter and my presentation skills. Getting that kind of feedback is really great, most of the time. When I give a talk and it’s a home run, that’s the greatest feeling in the world. But I also make note of what worked well and what needed improvement after each presentation. Then when the people that pay me ask me how effective I’ve been, I have my numbers ready to share... I toot my horn!

If I can, you can. Take the time at the end of the day to jot down what you did throughout the day. If someone tells you thanks for your help make a note. Look for and recognize the value you bring to those around you and the whole world.

Networking Interviews

Everyone looking for work these days keep hearing about the “Informational Interview.” Job seekers are told that they are supposed to ask for informational interviews. They are told, call up a person working at one of your target companies and ask for an informational interview. Meanwhile, the person being called is confused when the job seeker asks for an informational interview. In people’s minds, interview equals job opening and if they don’t have any openings they cannot imagine what the interview is for.

Additionally, many job seekers are confused by the term and goal of an informational interview: “The purpose of an informational interview is to get information about a field of work from someone who has some firsthand knowledge.”  This is all well and good if you are just starting out looking for your first job or if you are changing careers. But, what if you already know a great deal about your field and you’re not looking to change careers. What other information are you looking for? That’s easy: job leads or names of contacts who may have job leads.

This is why I like the term networking interviews or networking meetings. There are some other things you want to do in these meetings.

1. Communicate your skills and abilities, i.e., what you have to offer the marketplace.
2. Share your ideal position in terms of the roles and responsibilities you excel at.
3. Ask if they know anyone or anything that could utilize  your skills and abilities.
4. Show them your “Target Company" list and ask if they have any contacts that they could refer you to.
5. While showing them your “Target Company" list ask them if there are any companies that are missing from your list. Then ask if they have any contacts at that company.
6. Thanks them for the time to took with you and tell them how much you appreciate their support and referrals.
7. Then follow up the next day with a phone call thanking them again, and share any updates regarding their referral.
8. Later send an email or call the person letting them know how their connections aided your job search.

These meeting should take no more than 15 to 20 minutes so you can rest assured that you’re not being a huge disruption to the person’s day. Additionally, many of my clients have reported that these meetings turn into interviews for a hidden or posted job. So whether you call it an informational interview, a networking interview, or a courtesy interview, it’s all about presenting yourself with the goal of getting a new contacts... leading to a job offer.