Hi Sue,

Good workshop this weekend.

You didn't talk about paid subscriptions to LinkedIn versus the free offering - any thoughts on this?

I personally, don’t think there’s enough value to job seekers to pay for LinkedIn Premium unless you are conducting a search across a large geographic area. In our I Got the Job! success system, we don’t network for jobs. We network to meet like-minded people with similar interests who will refer us because they know, like and trust us enough. You can get everything you need for this in the free version.

The paid version has a stronger search engine, but you are not looking for candidates to hire. Or doing a national search.  You want to find people to network with and stay up to date on what is happening with them.  And then you will find this is a great place to announce you Got the Job!

When you’re deciding where to spend your dollars during transition, the ROI comes from fostering relationship building, engaging with friends and family who can help you, and meeting new people who can help expand your network even further.

It’s tempting to think that if we’re researching we’re working on our search. But really what we are doing, at best, is preparing to search - or even delaying searching. Or, we’re getting so overwhelmed that we cannot even think about going places. Without going out to meet people, there is no search. That’s why it’s called a search: you have to go out and look to meet the needs. (I don’t mean to sound sarcastic here, but understanding. It’s hard for me, sometimes, too.)

Having said that, there is an option for a free month of Premium. This might be worth your while when you are in full-blown search mode: your profile is up to date, complete and excellent; you know your purpose and can articulate clearly what you really want to contribute, and what type of organization or customers (clients, patients) you want to deliver it to. You need to have a good idea of how you’re using LI and what else you’d like to get from it.

Once you know what you want, the Premium option can help you identify companies (You can already do a lot of this.), be identified by more recruiters, and more. You are already find-able by recruiters on LI, but you may like to see what is on offer from the Premium version. You might find profiles that help you see what is really needed for a job you’re interested in. If you are like one of my clients, this can get so exciting that she kept on going, researching everybody, until LinkedIn limited her access briefly, thinking that she is a commercial user. That’s a lot of research!

The main success factor in your career transition is meeting people with whom you resonate and build KLT Factor (Know, Like and Trust) with them. You can’t do that online. Instead, approach people you already know, tell them what you are looking for and what your obstacles are, listen to their answers, and trust that they will lead you to the next people who will lead you to the next people after that.. This is how mid-life people are found by employers who need to hire someone just like who they are. Be the needle in the haystack the employer is looking for, in other words.

So in case you skipped to the end for the conclusion: Don’t get bogged down in researching. Research has never brought anyone a job. Keep your head! Yes, it’s interesting, but you need sleep… and action, like meeting 3-D people. 😉

Does this help?

See you next week,

S