You've Lost Your Job, How Do I Know?

You’re lost your job, how do I know?
Simple.
You contacted me and said you needed help with your LinkedIn profile again!
This happened to me recently.
A friend, whom I’d helped with her original profile and believes that it helped her get her last position, contacted me and said she’d been made redundant after yet another corporate merger and needed some assistance.
She hadn’t been staying on top of her LinkedIn profile.
This isn’t a great strategy for networking on LinkedIn.
Let’s talk about this!
It happens to all of us.
We’ve been through a gut wrenching job search and we finally land our dream job.
Now, all we want to do is just focus on this new position and spend more time with our loved ones whom we’d neglected while looking for that new job.
There’s nothing wrong with any of these except for one point.
Predictable employment is not forever anymore especially in the Corporate world.
Through no fault of one’s own, such as my friend, you can be another person walking out of a building with all your memories packed away in a cardboard box never to return.
Why this happens is beyond the scope of this article. (I do recommend you research this topic on the Internet. The problem is only getting worse particularly for older workers.)
What is within the scope of this article is how to be prepared for when this happens to you.
And, trust me, this will happen to you eventually.
There are no safe ports in this storm any longer.
The people who are most at risk from not being prepared for sudden unemployment are those who had a good LinkedIn profile in the past and used it to their advantage in finding that recent job.
They’re like the proverbial generals who are prepared to fight the last war and end up losing the next one.
They make three classic mistakes.
First, they fail to keep their LinkedIn profile current. (Some even neglected adding that recent new job.)
Their new projects and skills are unknown to anyone but themselves and a few close colleagues. (Who have probably been let go themselves.)
Next, they fail to keep engaging on LinkedIn and expanding their connections.
Another classic giveaway that someone is either about to lose their job or has already is when I start to receive connection requests from people whom I haven’t heard from or seen in ages.
They also should have been liking and commenting on the content of their connections.
Finally, they haven’t been creating or sharing content.
In today’s technology driven world, things change and they change fast.
Content should reflect that the poster is current on the trends and issues of their particular field of expertise.
The content should add value and not be fluff either. (More on this in another article.)
Posting new content regularly shows that you’re still in the game.
Sharing the content of others cements your relationship with your community.
The goal here is to always let your connections know that you’re alive and what you’re doing.
As I blogged in one of my earlier articles, don’t let your LinkedIn profile be your obituary!
In today’s world, you need to be on LinkedIn if you’re part of the workforce.
And, if you’re there you need to demonstrate that you should be there and others should take notice of you.
Think about it!
That’s it for now!
Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.
Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!
In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!
I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.
And, remember!
I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me. Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.
I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.
My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!