Should I Post Editorial Content In My LinkedIn Feed?

iStock | OhmZ

LinkedIn is one of the first "social networks", but with a singular focus on professional networking, professional branding, career development, and as a premier marketplace for job seekers and recruiters. LinkedIn boasts the following facts and statistics (2022):

• 810 million members.

• 57 million registered companies.

• Operates in over 200 countries and regions.

• 91% of LinkedIn users have college or advanced degrees.

• 44% of LinkedIn users earn $75,000 a year or more.

• 60% of LinkedIn's user base is millennials.

• 75% of LinkedIn users live outside the United States.

• 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn.

• 14 million open job postings (this number fluctuates).

• In 2016, Microsoft bought LinkedIn.

By social media network standards, LinkedIn is comparatively small, but its impact on the labor market is substantial. Like any other social media network, users can post original content on LinkedIn. However, not many individual users post on a regular basis or consume posts on a regular basis. The original content on LinkedIn, the currency of LinkedIn, is you - your professional history and story – not videos of cats playing the piano. *Full disclosure: Insider Career Strategies supports the cat piano playing community and says, "Rock on!".

LinkedIn users, new and old, can post whatever they want if they want. However, LinkedIn's culture does not revolve around the site's feed, likes/dislikes, or sharing. Users use the site to research companies and search for job openings. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find job candidates. Advertisers use the site to generate leads. That is not to say the feed algorithms aren't important. If you want to use LinkedIn for professional promotion, company promotion, or advertising, what you post, like, and share matters. So – do you need to post articles, videos, or other content (besides your profile) on LinkedIn?

1.     Are you a job seeker? If you are a job seeker who wants to improve your career, employers who pay to see "into the system" will find you. A LinkedIn presence that attracts attention and advances your career goals is born through your profile and professional story, not the content in the feed. A great LinkedIn profile is as far as you need to go. 

2.     Are you trying to get views? Posting on LinkedIn is a double-edged sword. First, you assume content drives people to your profile. Second, you assume the people who visit your profile are somehow positioned to help your career and will (best case scenario) reach out to you. Intelligent, creative, and well-conceived content related to your profession and skills may draw attention and increase visibility with people out of your network, but sloppy, offensive, or unprofessional content can do a great deal of damage to your professional brand. Only post if you have a definitive professional purpose, and do so with caution and care.

3.     What are your posts about? LinkedIn is not great for personal posts. Photos of your recent vacation are inappropriate and unwanted. LinkedIn's feed algorithm flags personal content as "low quality" even if shared by a kazillion people. If you take a content marketing approach and want to position yourself as an expert in your field, go all-in on your professional posts  (but for the majority of LinkedIn users posting is not necessary). To reiterate – no videos of cats playing pianos! That is not going to help your professional brand. *Full disclosure: Insider Career Strategies supports the cat piano playing community and says, "Rock on #2!".

4.     Do not post political content. Political content can be divisive. If you post content, it should relate to your profession and professional goals. Unless politics IS your job, it’s best to avoid the topic there – by posting your political views, you’ll only succeed in irritating half the audience. It’s best to keep content professional in nature.

5.     Are you using LinkedIn for business purposes? To revisit a statistic, LinkedIn has 57 million companies on its site, which means 57 million companies promoting brand awareness, generating leads, and company vying for job seekers' attention. If you are a business on LinkedIn, people will find you without posts. That is because they are actively searching for companies. A company profile is more likely to get a hit after a dedicated search than a post in the feed.

6.     Are there advantages to going all-in? Only 40% of LinkedIn's base are "active users." The majority of users are on the platform for only a short amount of time. If you are a regular content creator who generates "high quality" posts, it is easy to stand out and positively impact the LinkedIn community with a dynamite ROI. There are many advantages to expanding your professional network and opportunities. Just keep in mind the professional pitfalls. Keep to an "all business" script, and you could join the ranks of LinkedIn influencers!

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Would Miss Manners Approve? Meals (And Behaviors) To Avoid During The Lunch Interview

iStock | Studio Peck LLC

Someone finally invited you to lunch! Unfortunately, it's a hiring manager, and it’s a lunch interview – a series of well-designed tests to see if you are the right job candidate. A regular interview vs. a lunch interview is like the 100-meter dash vs. the 100-meter hurdles if the hurdles are food, forks, and heavy sauces. For maximum pressure, lunch interviews are typically at the end of the interview process, so you know it's now or never. Don't blow (or spill) it!

Employers don't spring for lunch because they like you. They raid the petty cash to make sure you're not a barbarian. If you can't conduct yourself like a professional in public, hold a one-on-one conversation for an hour, or treat the people you encounter with kindness and respect, your stellar qualifications sink a notch. Everything is a hurdle. Everything is a test. Order with care. Do not make food your downfall. Here’s a list of foods to avoid during the interview.

Tip #1: Avoid Sauces

• Spaghetti and meatballs. The sadist took you to an Italian restaurant. It's going to be the tall hurdles. Do not fall for this cruel ploy. Pasta sauces gun for your white shirt and silk tie. You don't want to look like a Jackson Pollack painting. You will disorient the hiring manager.

• Dipping sauces. Thai peanut. Soy ginger. Pineapple lime. Buffalo Blue Cheese. Cabernet Peppercorn. It's all fun and games until dipping sauce forms a Rorschach test on your interview clothes. Remember when the fly sat on Mike Pence's head during the Vice Presidential Debate? It was all anyone could notice. The hiring manager will stare at your dipping sauce stains like the world stared at the Vice-Presidential fly.

Tip #2: Avoid Smells

• Herring and onion. There are over two hundred species of herring, and they all smell like shame and regret, which are the two emotions you will experience after the hiring manager returns from lunch and announces you are the finalist most likely to microwave fish in the office break room, effectively ending your candidacy.

• Brussels sprouts and cabbage soup. So healthy! Will most likely add several years to your life span. But smells like an armpit, in mid-August, with 95% humidity. Think about the aromas you want wafting up from your plate between you and a job offer. The Limburger cheese sandwich may be a culinary delight but will not do you any favors at a lunch interview. If you subject the hiring manager to unpleasant food odors, it is human nature to associate you with them. "You stink!" is not the lasting impression you want to impart.

Tip #3: Foods You Can’t (or Wouldn’t) Cut with a Fork & Knife

• Hamburger with grilled onions. Talk about finger food. If you are at a lunch interview, one ingredient can lead to your sudden irrevocable downfall (no pressure). Grilled onions are the yummy avalanche of foods. Whether they are on a classic burger or Philly Cheese Steak, grilled onions will slide off the bread and bury you. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. If you apply Murphy's Law, the grilled onions will slide onto your lap right after you say, "I am the best." And it's not just grilled onions. Many extras, sides, and condiments are hurdles waiting to take you down.

• Stacked Food Like a Carnegie Deli Sandwich. If you've ever been to a serious deli, you may know that many sandwiches are so big that they do not fit in the human mouth. If you need to dislocate your jaw to devour your prey it's probably too big for a lunch interview. A separate but related issue is that most stacked food falls apart - on you. Forks and knives have been around since ancient Egypt and are used to cut food into easy-to-manage-and-digest pieces while reducing the amount of food you wear.

Tip #4: Do Not Order Alcohol

• Loose Lips, Sinks Ships. While there are exceptions to every tip, this one is pretty solid. Even if your lunch interview is with a panel of well-known drinkers who order their bottle of wine, stick with non-alcoholic beverages. If you want to exercise foresight and caution, make it a clear non-alcoholic drink in case of unexpected spills. Water dries and disappears. Coffee does not. (Note: If you’re interviewing with a beer, wine, or spirits company, follow the interviewer’s lead – sampling the products might be a decent choice.

• Elaborate Cocktails. Any beverage with a paper interview could be construed a poor choice.

Tip #5: Do Not Order a Dish That Creates Extra Work for the Accounting Department

•  Lobster Thermidor. It's a lunch interview, not a first date with the King of Money. If you believe a global Fortune 500 company that spends a million dollars a year on paper clips doesn't care about the recruiting budget, then go right ahead and order the 10oz Japanese A5 Wagyu Beef Ribeye Steak, Almas caviar, a side of Bonnotte potatoes, and a brick of Alba white truffles. If you want the job, order a dish that is the same price or less than your lunch companion's order. If the interviewer insists you order first, choose something that is mid-priced. Exercise sound judgment, or it may seem like you're taking advantage of the company's generosity.

• Tuna eyeballs. Chances are your lunch interview will not take place at the Tuna Eyeballs Café, but sometimes adventurous diners can't resist the one esoteric item on a menu, especially when the King of Money is paying the bill. Keep it simple. Don't let the conversation be about black pudding and hákarl instead of what makes you a super genius who will increase your new company's profit margin by 50% on day one.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Work From home. Back To The office. Work From Home. Back To The Office. When Will It End?

iStock | venakr

Six months ago, the world's economic and labor markets were in a state of ambiguity. The back to the office movement's momentum increased after Covid's Delta wave receded. Major companies announced plans to "return to the office," and the Covid precautions planned to make it happen, such as vaccination requirements or weekly testing. Green Light. 

Wait! Not so fast! Just as back-to-the-office seemed to be inevitable for the majority of American workers, Omicron swept across the globe with alarming speed and consequences. Businesses postponed their return dates to "explore their options." Discussions about hybrid work models as permanent solutions took center stage. Whatever the circumstances, nobody was returning to the office. Red Light.

Fast forward to March 2022. There is once again cautious optimism that Covid's impact on "Work" with a capital "W" peaked with Omicron. Like Delta, Omicron receded, and related illness and hospitalizations recently plummeted. Unlike Delta, we now have vaccines and therapeutics that (fingers crossed) should force Covid into an endemic phase and limit its role in shaping our economic future. The pendulum swings, and what was once ambiguous seems clear. It's time to return to all-hands-on-deck. Green Light.

Here is the dilemma. Many professionals directed to return to the office want to work from home or, in a minority of cases, do not want to comply with new work requirements (read: get vaccinated). If you are one of the professionals, what do you do? Do you return to the office or forge a new path? Red Light.

Step 1: Assess your current job. Nobody needs to be told to leave a job they do not like or is a dead end. If you're discontent at your job, the work from home vs. going back to the office debate is an opportunity to jump to a position more suited to your desires. However, you may be comfortable at your current job – just more comfortable doing it from home. The decision to bounce isn't as easy. Make an honest assessment of your current job. Do you really like it? Do you have a future there? Is this the job from which you're going to build a long-term career? Consider the advantages and perks you have (and may have to sacrifice) and weigh them against the benefits of working remotely. If you decide you're committed to WFH, get the hell out of Dodge.

Step 2: Is the writing on the office wall? If you are confronted by an employer ultimatum to "return to the office under our conditions or hit the road, Jack," you may have to accept the writing on the wall. Sometimes your days are numbered, your position is weighed and found wanting, and your future divided. Dust off the resume and start writing your next chapter. However, do not make assumptions. Talk to your supervisor and/or human resources and find out if returning to the office is an intractable policy or if there is room to negotiate more favorable terms.

Step 3: Does working from home advance or inhibit your long-term career plan? Think beyond the here and now. The pandemic proved you work remotely at the same level as in the office, and that a different kind of work-life balance is possible. However, the jury is still out on the long-term effects of the office diaspora. You may have a Lone Ranger role tailored to work from home in which you thrive, but many jobs are collaborative, and working from home has a greater impact. Consider the visibility you have in the office. A major issue for remote workers is "out of sight, out of mind." Your absence may act as a professional riptide, slowly and silently pulling you further and further away from the inner workings of your company until you can't be seen at all. The results of collaborative work may be more effective and rewarding when all the participants are in the room. Since everyone's circumstances are different, only you can determine whether you should stay or go.

Step 4: Determine what you want and what you'll take. If you've reached Step 4, chances are you want to stay at your current job, work from home, and have credible information that your company's return to the office policy is negotiable. Now, what are you willing to accept? Negotiations are typically give-and-take. If you're not getting your ideal terms (e.g., full virtual remote), you should consider what you are willing to take (e.g., hybrid). What are your parameters? Figure out your deal breakers and where you're willing to compromise.

Step 5: What is your bargaining position? Do you have any bargaining power? Let's face it. If you're in the C-Suite, you have more bargaining power than the last person hired to answer the phone (even though you can answer the phone from anywhere). Do you have the metrics to prove you've been a top performer while working from home? What are your competitors' office policies? The greater your options, the greater your bargaining position. Do you have the money to walk away without serious financial consequences? Your bargaining position just increased. Many other factors may tip the balance one way or another. Determine your bargaining position and go in with confidence. Good luck!

Finally, remember that Covid is a continuously evolving situation. Six months from now, we may be playing the same game.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.