What do you do on LinkedIn when you are pursuing or wanting to pursue a new career path? How do you portray yourself in your future forward position? This is a question I am asked a lot.

Your past experience is your past experience and you can’t change history. However, you CAN change how you market yourself in your future forward position (aka “what you want to be when you grow up!”).

Many people know they want to follow a new career path, but they may not know exactly what they want to do.

In this case, a career assessment might “be the first step to understanding yourself, which is the first step to pursuing your own happiness and satisfaction”, according to Marc Miller of Career Pivot.

In interviewing Sarah E. Brown Ph.D., she noted that “Good career assessments highlight some combination of interests, strengths, and needs. Different assessments place emphasis on different components. What gets us hired are the interests and strengths. What often gets us fired are the needs not getting met. So, included in the profile should be a really good combination of what we love doing, our interests, and what we are really good at doing …  our strengths. We do not need to include our motivational needs in the profile, but we should keep that in mind as we are screening a prospective job opportunity” or the next career move.

In reading a review copy of his new book, Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd Half of Life, being released on Sept 16th, Marc stated that “the most valuable [assessment] for gaining insight into … [his] own needs was the Birkman … [as it is] like a psychic tell[ing] you things that maybe you didn’t want to know but … already sort of knew them, deep down.” To learn more about the value of the Birkman, there is a great article in Fortune magazine called “Are You  a Good Fit for Your Job?”

Once you have clarity with your future forward, think of LinkedIn like a newspaper. What sells top of the fold? The headline!

Think of LinkedIn like a website. What sells? The attraction of the page before you start scrolling. Again … the top of the fold.

So, above the fold holds true for LinkedIn also … your headline, About section, banner, and all your new keywords need to target your new career path. They need to describe your future forward position.

> If you want to learn HOW to do this on LinkedIn, RSVP for the 9/7/19 and/or 9/12/19 LinkedIn workshops noted below.

> If you want to participate in a Birkman assessment, follow up calls, and a personalized Book of You, RSVP for the limited seating 9/25/19 women’s workshop noted below by 9/23/19.

> If you want to know about other career assessments and providers, please email me!

> If you want Marc Miller to sign your book when he comes in from Mexico to speak to our group, join our meetup and save the dates of 10/7/19 and 10/8/19.

Don’t miss our upcoming featured events. If you are a working adult, come learn and network with us. You must be a member of the meetup before you can RSVP to any of these events on meetup and see location details.

• 9/7/19 LinkedIn Part 1 of 3
• 9/9/19 Meaning, Impact, & Legacy in Mid-Career
• 9/10/19 How to Build Your Personal Brand Equity
• 9/10/19 Video Interviews
• 9/10/19 Website Setup in 10 Steps
• 9/11/19 What’s Your Schtick? Personal Branding Online & Off
• 9/12/19 Strategic Research-based Approaches to LinkedIn
• 9/25/19 Women’s Workshop, Follow Up Calls, a personalized The Book of You^®, & The Birkman Method^® personality assessment > What Do You Want From Your Career and How Do You Get It?
• 10/3, 10, 17, 24, 31/19 An Alternative Path to Job Search Success (a 5 session series especially helpful for the long-term unemployed)
• 10/26/19 All Day Hands-on Job Search Accelerator

Need to accelerate your job search or manage your career? Explore our kickstarter offerings.

Missed the previous LinkedIn article? Click here!

Lynne Williams is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group, a 501(c)3 nonprofit of almost 4300 members providing career education and networking. Contact Lynne by phone at 484-393-2951, email at director@greatcareersphl.org, on social media @GreatCareersPHL and #GreatCareersPHL and connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/lynnewilliams Check out the new website!