Tomorrow (Wednesday) I’m doing a special webinar for Experts Connection (Netshare) called LinkedIn for Executives.  This is a 90 minute webinar and will be for those who are in transition as well as for executives who want to get more out of LinkedIn.  In other words, it’s not just on how to use LinkedIn in a job search.

We’ll focus on strategy and concepts as well as tactics to get results…. here’s a link to more details.

Preorder the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD here.

The second edition of the LinkedIn DVD is in editing right now. I hope to take it to a conference in three weeks (crossing fingers!), as well as ship out all of the DVDs that have been preordered.  I regularly am asked “what’s the difference between the first edition and the second edition?”  Here are my thoughts on that:

LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the first edition:

This was my first DVD.  Awesome DVD with about 2 hours of webinar-like instruction on getting value out of LinkedIn.  There are 17 chapters/sections, my favorites are the 2 where I critique 5 professionals’ LinkedIn Profiles.  I also talk about tactics and strategies with LinkedIn Answers, communicating with others, finding key contacts, etc.

Definitely valuable instruction and training.

LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the second edition:

After speaking more than 100 times about LinkedIn, to marketing departments, CEOs and job seekers, and learning from other LinkedIn fanatics, I have learned more stuff.  In this second edition I go into more breadth and more depth on a number of different areas of LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Applications is different than it was a year ago, and I go into more detail there. I show you, step-by-step, how to put a real video on your LinkedIn Profile.

There is significantly more content on LinkedIn, strategies and tactics, than on the first edition.

I have two new sections, one is a review of 10 actionable things to DO RIGHT NOW (or, do regularly) now that you have watched the DVD.

Another section is 20 questions, where I go through 20 questions I hear regularly (not necessarily “frequently asked questions”) and answer them.

Both of these questions where fun to do

If you thought the first edition was good, you’ll think the second edition is awesome.

Oh yeah, I had to do this second edition because LinkedIn changed the interface enough that I had to redo it… so aside from the content, the layout of LinkedIn was a factor.

I’m not sure how long this edition is but I think it’s long enough that it won’t fit on one normal DVD.

You can preorder the LinkedIn DVD, and bundle it with other stuff, for just a few more weeks… then we’ll go up to the normal price.  Order now for a significant savings.

Preorder the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD here.

Favorite Friday is a series where I share some of my favorite posts from yesterday or yesteryear.  I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years and have actually written some pretty good posts (me thinks!).

I really like doing LinkedIn Profile critiques.   I don’t have a lot of time to critique, and most people would simply benefit from getting my DVD and watching the critiques of 5 professionals to get an idea of what I am going to say, but every once in a while I take a break to really critique profiles.  Here are some:

I’m on LinkedIn — Now What blog: LinkedIn Profile Critique: Thom Allen (Feb 24, 2010)

JibberJobber blog: LinkedIn Profile & a LinkedIn Profile Makeover (Clint Goudie-Nice) (July 15, 2009)

Also, along those lines, I came across the LinkedIn Profile for Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines.  His summary… um, how do I say…. sucks.  Here are two posts for more info:

I’m on LinkedIn — Now What blog: Nuts About Southwest, But Not Gary Kelly’s Profile (Oct 9, 2008) (hey, I thought that title was AWESOME )

That post was supposedly going to end up on his desk, after someone at SW saw it on Twitter, but alas…

I’m on LinkedIn — Now What blog: Gary Kelly and Southwest Make Zero Changes (May 22, 2009) – so much for me being influential :p

How’s your LinkedIn Profile?

What better way to end the week than to give someone an unsolicited LinkedIn Recommendation.

On my LinkedIn Blog I just posted a critique o.f a LinkedIn Recommendation I got – you can read it at Excellent LinkedIn Recommendations – an example.

I didn’t ask for that Recommendation, and I wasn’t expecting it.  It has made my day….

Imagine if you make someone else’s day – well, you can.  Just go find a first degree connection in LinkedIn and write them a real, glowing, value-add LinkedIn Recommendation.

You can get some tips from my blog post How To Write An Excellent LinkedIn Recommendation.

Want more LinkedIn training?  My video, LinkedIn for Job Seekers (not just for job  seekers) provides over 2 hours of training on LinkedIn.  Or, my best selling LinkedIn book is pretty awesome (so I hear ).

Nick Corcodilos is the man behind the famous Ask The Headhunter.  Nick’s advice, opinion and wisdom has been read by hundreds of thousands – he has been syndicated for a long time.  Anytime I’ve read Nick’s stuff I found myself agreeing – even if I didn’t want to, his logic and perspective was strong.

Nick recently came out with a new book called How To Work With Headhunters.  I’ll write more about that later.

I sent Nick a LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD and hoped he would weigh in on it.  I was more than pleasantly surprised by the in-depth and two-thumbs-up report he gave on his blog.  You can read the entire post at LinkedIn for Job Seekers: A personal tutor.  Here are some things from his post that I really liked:

“I don’t write about many products or services because it’s rare that I find one worth writing about. Let’s face it, the Net is rife with hyped-up garbag-io.”

Totally – we’ve been beyond information overload for a long time.

“I expected a slick video of Jason in a suit lecturing me. (I dunno about you, but I can’t stand scripted videos and droning talking heads.) What makes this video so effective is that it focuses entirely on the LinkedIn screen while Jason stands over your shoulder and walks you through every important page, screen, feature and tool LinkedIn has to offer. There’s no droning…”

I hear this a lot – people expect me to be on a stage telling you what to do… in fact, you can see a short preview here, or a long preview here – you don’t see me speaking at all – it’s all my screen as I walk you through Linkedin, with my commentary and advice.

“My plan to skip around and get a feel for the DVD was dashed. I wound up taking my time and taking notes!”

There is a ton of meat in the DVD…

“I’m not job hunting, but I learned much of what I need to know to use LinkedIn for my business.”

Great point – I say it’s “not just for job seekers.”

“I think this product works so well because Jason Alba is immersed in JibberJobber and he spends all day long thinking about what helps job hunters.”

Another great point.  I actually think about social tools from two perspectives: (1) from the professional in career management, whether they are in a job search or not, and (2) from an entrepreneur/marketing perspective, so I can figure out how to grow my own business.

“LinkedIn for Job Seekers costs $49 (if you catch the current promo price). An hour with a tutor will cost you more than that.”

I charge $250/hour for consulting.  My DVD is over 2 hours long. The math is simple on this one

Nick, thanks a ton for this review, it really made my week when I saw it in my Google Alerts

This Wednesday I’m doing a webinar called LinkedIn for Executives.  I spent considerable time developing this webinar and am really jazzed about it, as it has evolved from the two other webinars I’ve done for executives for Expert Connections.

This 90 minute LinkedIn for Executives webinar will go over various scenerios on how EXECUTIVES can get more value out of LinkedIn:

• how an executive finds and communicates with a key contact
• how and what they do with Target Companies
• how they network into a company
• what they could do with the network contacts they grow
• how they can grow their network with relevant CxO and board members,
• etc….

The cost is $50 if you are a Netshare member, $60 if you aren’t.  Register at Experts Connection.

Just who am I to give this webinar?  Jason Alba:

• served as VP, CIO and General Manager at his last employer during the course of three years,
• got laid off and found himself in a job search where flipping burgers wasn’t an option (based on personal expenses),
• wrote the best-selling book I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? (see Amazon reviews here)
• Created the DVD LinkedIn for Job Seekers (see Amazon reviews here),
• Speaks across the United States on career management, LinkedIn, Social Marketing, etc.

I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? was the second LinkedIn book in print, and the first to be in a Second Edition.

You can learn more about my LinkedIn thoughts on my LinkedIn blog, but don’t miss the webinar on Wednesday!

I am asked to review LinkedIn Profiles on a regular basis – I really don’t have the time to do many, but every once in a while I like to do a healthy assessment of a LinkedIn Profile.  Normally I’d do this on my LinkedIn blog but today I’ll share it with you.

If you have any LinkedIn questions, consider getting my LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD.  This is not just for job seekers… it’s a great tutorial to get up to speed on getting value out of LinkedIn (I spend the first 3 sections on Profiles).

Clint Goudie-Nice is the lucky one today… let’s start:

• THANK YOU for not putting anything in the name field except your name.  Drives me nuts to see email addresses, LION, etc. (which are all against the terms of service).
• Great picture – I love it.  One thing I like about this picture is how close your head is… I’ve seen a few recently where the person is like 10 or 20 feet away from the camera and I can’t make out enough details.
• The LinkedIn professional headline is … okay. You are missing an opportunity, however, to put a marketing pitch there (think 30 second commercial condensed down to a 5 second commercial).  The professional headline is a great place to communicate your value-add, and will be seen in various places in the LinkedIn experience.

• You need more LinkedIn Recommendations. I know Clint personally (he bought me a burrito yesterday!), and know that Clint is an awesome systems architect… why doesn’t he have more LinkedIn Recommendations?  I’d expect him to have at least 10 really awesome Recommendations.  Get to work on that!
• You should have more connections.  I know Clint networks a lot, and is a nice, likable (sp?) person.  I talk about how to grow a relevant network in my LinkedIn DVD.

• Do you sell candles… is that your “Company?”  Or is this a link to your current employer?  Is your “Website” your family blog?  Don’t make me guess – instead of choosing the default labels for this, choose “Other” and then type something descriptive in.

• I highlighted the things that stuck out to me as errors in grammar or spelling or formatting… I could be wrong on some, but they just looked wrong.  Clint should have cleaned this up by now (I haven’t looked), but you don’t want your Summary to detract from your message and capabilities.  Some people won’t care and won’t catch them … others will let errors like this become an issue.  Proof your Summary, and then have about 10 others proof it and provide feedback.
• I like how Clint has a lot more than two paragraphs here… I think he’s still shy of the limit (2,000 characters), which I’d recommend he works towards.
• I like the voice, and the message, in general.  Would like to see some “for example” stories.
• I think the ending could be stronger… it’s okay as-is, but I wonder how it could make more of an impression.

• I’ve never seen this before but I really like it – it solves the issue of “how do I talk about different jobs I had at the same company?” … he has done this a number of times in his profile.

• My question to Clint was, which of these add value to your branding and overall message, and which of these do not?  Those that do not are distractions, or noise, and you should not show them on your Profile.

This is kind of a quick-and-dirty LinkedIn Profile review… check out the LinkedIn DVD, were I go over five other professionals’ Profiles… and much more!

How is YOUR Profile?

Seems like nowadays everyone says they are a LinkedIn expert… there are a bunch of people talking about LinkedIn… how to use LinkedIn in a job search, how to use LinkedIn to make a sale, how to use LinkedIn for  _________.

I realize I’m totally biased about my LinkedIn DVD (I’m quite proud of it :p), perhaps it’s not fair to tell you what I think of it.  Let me share what others are saying about it on Amazon.com:

VerySuperCool Sue writes from Austin:

I was surprised at the amount of information that was on the dvd. I thought I had finished, when I realized I was only beginning! I think everyone who has a Linkedin account could really benefit from watching this.

Paul Jones from Salt Lake writes:

I loaded Alba’s LinkedIn DVD and immediately started using the spacebar. You know, the spacebar pauses the video. And I needed to pause the video because so much of his advice was immediately actionable.

Kelly Kennedy says:

What I especially liked is that the DVD is a webinar format of Jason using LinkedIn, not just him standing there talking about it. As you view the DVD you see what he is clicking on, what Jason thinks about various features, and what you should do with LinkedIn for job search and career management. It is especially helpful how Jason highlights sections of the program and then discusses each section individually for clarity. Our undergraduate and MBA students have taken full advantage of the program and I admit that it was clearly worth the small investment we made.

Jeffrey Ogden in Bethpage, NY writes:

Jason has created a very useful and informative DVD for anyone who wishes to optimize his or her Linkedin profile. Why is it important? I just met with a Chairman and CEO of a good sized business. He said “I loved your resume.” I responded “What resume? I never gave you one.” He said “Oh, I mean your Linkedin profile.” [I LOVE THIS STORY!!]

Sophie Lagace from Eureka (!) writes:

I have used several other LinkedIn resources, including Jason Alba’s own book and blog, and I’m employed, not looking. Yet I still found value in the tutorials, and I took several new actions to connect with people and improve my profile.

Cultural Tofu writes:

Although it’s geared towards job seekers, I found the information to be relevant for non-job seekers just trying to build their professional brand and grow their professional network. … I highly recommend this DVD to anyone interested in updating their professional brand using LinkedIn.

Thom Allen in West Jordan, UT writes:

Most of the information in the DVD isn’t a secret, but Jason brings new ideas on how to use the features that already exist for LinkedIn users. You will find more opportunities to improve your LinkedIn connection base than ever. You need this DVD.

Julie Walraven in Wausau, WI writes:

… even though I have read his book before and worked with LinkedIn for a couple of years, I found a few more tips and changed my profile once again. … Screen by screen with Jason giving clear advice, jobseekers will learn what to do and what not to do with LinkedIn and why. As a professional resume writer, I am excited to use this new tool with my clients and am recommending it on my website.

Marc W from West Jordan writes:

Jason Alba shows us in his new DVD what works and why and how to implement it. He presents his material in a very easy to follow format with excellent examples.

Thomas Clifford writes:

What I like best is I can review any of the segments quickly and easily and then jump onto LinkedIn and execute the concept. … Books on LinkedIn are fine; this is like having a private one-on-one tutorial in your home. Pretty cool!

Awesome folks, thank you for those testimonials!

If you haven’t gotten a copy of LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the DVD, yet, click here to order.

Today is the last day of the LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD sale price – I just asked my main web guy to change the price to $59.95 plus shipping and handling tomorrow.  Tomorrow I expect the box of DVDs to arrive at my office, and I’ll ship a bunch in the afternoon.

If you want to save $10 and have me eat the shipping and handling, you need to order today .  Additionally, I’ll throw in some kind of THANK YOU for ordering early thing – not sure if it will be free premium of JibberJobber, or one of my other webinars (Blog Marketing 201 – 501 or Write Your Book), but it will be something cool (any ideas?).

LinkedIn for Job Seekers has the following chapters/session:

1. Profile Review Part I – Above the Fold – I critique the top part of five LinkedIn Profiles, and make suggestions on how they can make them stronger, and increase the chances of being found in search results.
2. Profile Review Part II – Below the Fold – I critique the rest of the five LinkedIn Profiles, specifically the stuff that you see when you scroll down (education, work history, etc.)
3. Applications – To wrap up the “LinkedIn Profile” stuff, I had to talk about the new “LinkedIn Applications,” and what I suggest you do as a professional.
4. Account and Settings – It’s a big menu page, but what do you need to worry about? We’ll go over some of the things I recommend you pay attention to.
5. Getting and Giving Recommendations – How to get and give LinkedIn Recommendations.
6. Answers – Asking Questions – Ask questions in LinkedIn as a part of your networking and personal branding strategy.  Here’s how.
7. Answers – Answering Questions – Not ready to commit to asking questions regularly?  Answering questions is also very powerful, and doesn’t come with any regular commitment.
8. Searching – If you aren’t using advanced search, you are missing a big part of LinkedIn.  There are a few simple tricks that can take you a long ways in LinkedIn.
9. Browsing Connections – Your first degree connections might have some golden contacts for you – here’s one way of finding people you need to network your way into.
10. Exporting Connections – Exporting your contacts is one of the four things I talk about in my seminar.  Here’s why and how.
11. Growing Your Network – I had 5 first degree contacts when I first got started, and that was a huge mistake.  Instead of saying “get thousands,” we say “get the right connections, and here’s what that means!”
12. Groups – Groups for the job search?  Absolutely, and strategically!  We talk about how to find Groups and what to do once you are a member.
13. Staying Current – I’m on LinkedIn — Now What Blog – Some info on how to keep up with current LinkedIn information, as well as communicate with others regarding issues we blog about.
14. Company Pages – The Company feature in LinkedIn is amazing… AMAZING.  I think it’s the second best thing they’ve done, next to Answers, for a user like me.  Eventually it could eclipse the value of Answers… !
15. Jobs – Looking for a job in LinkedIn’s job search area?  Here are some things to know.
16. Introductions and Communication – how to, when to, why to communicate with people in LinkedIn’s communication tools.
17. Conclusion – Some final thoughts on LinkedIn, LinkedIn in your job search, etc.

Instead of a “here is every link in LinkedIn, and if you click on it here’s what happens” training, this focuses on what I think you should focus on with LinkedIn.  So there you go – if you want it you can get it whenever, but if you want to save some money and get some other goodies then order it TODAY.

I’ll decide on what bonuses to give with these preorders before I ship – you can leave suggestions in the comments (or by email).

Netshare has invited me back to do a follow-up webinar on using LinkedIn (and now Facebook) for executives and professionals in a job search (or, in career management).  This event is also sponsored by Career Resumes, a JibberJobber Partner.

Wednesday afternoon at 4pm EST I will start a 90 minute webinar for Experts Connection (cost is $50).  I’m really excited about this webinar because I’m taking stuff I’ve learned from about 60 presentations this year and creating a powerful presentation for this audience.

Here is more information:

LinkedIn & Facebook Essentials for Executives: Using Both Platforms as Professional Networking Tools
Guest Speaker: Jason Alba, Founder and CEO of JibberJobber.com & author of I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??? andI’m on Facebook – Now What???

Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Time: 4:00-5:30 PM Eastern, 1:00-2:30 PM Pacific

Class Description: LinkedIn is the professional network recruiters and hiring managers use to find talent. As important, it is the social network other professionals and executives use to find partners, customers and business relationships. It is not a hotbed of job seekers…rather…decision makers. If you are not using LinkedIn, you are missing out on a viable way to optimize opportunities that are available. This presentation is designed for executives…to help you understand ways to optimize LinkedIn. We’ll cover a number of tactics you can implement immediately to grow your network, nurture individual relationships, while putting your professional brand in front of your immediate and extended network.

Facebook is regarded as a popular hangout for a younger crowd…but that crowd has grown up and started in hiring manager and influencer roles. We’ll explore techniques you can implement on Facebook to network, share your brand and communicate with other professionals.

In this 90 minute session you will learn:

• How to create your LinkedIn profile to increase odds of being found.
• How to best communicate with your LinkedIn network.
• How to use the LinkedIn search features for an executive job search.
• How to use LinkedIn “Answers” as a strategy to enhance your personal brand.
• How to use new LinkedIn features to communicate with network contacts and professionals who should know you.
• The best way to get the “right” recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
• How to create a compelling Facebook profile.
• Two techniques to find professionals in your field on Facebook.
• Elements of a connection strategy for both platforms.

Hope you can make it!