Dear Reader:

I’m excited to share my latest white paper, Maximizing Your Visibility and Impact on LinkedIn: Key Insights and Strategies from Comprehensive User Surveys, with my newsletter subscribers first. After months of detailed research and analysis, this is a culmination of engaging surveys with LinkedIn users. It contains strategies I believe are transformative for anyone looking to leverage LinkedIn to its fullest potential.

One of the more intriguing findings of the paper is that 80% of users prefer LinkedIn profiles written in the first person - a statistic that might spark a shift in how we craft these digital narratives. Also, the impact of the 'About' section appears to be quite significant, with most users indicating it as a key element in gauging one’s professional persona.

To learn more about best practices for creating impact with your LinkedIn profile and crafting your narrative in a compelling way, click to access the white paper.

Rooting for you,

💼 Exclusive Reader Access to Briefcase Coach’s new white paper: Maximizing Your LinkedIn Impact.

Updating Your Resume to Include Interests: Yay or Nay?

There is a growing trend of including personal interests on a resume. I was honored to share my thoughts with Sam Lauron for her HubSpot post on this topic. I stress daily as an executive resume writer that every resume is DIFFERENT. Many factors play into a resume's style and design. Most importantly, your resume should represent YOU and be attractive to your target audience. If there is an interest, hobby, or personal fun fact about yourself that is relevant to the target audience, find a suitable place on your resume, connect over it in an interview or networking call, or include it in a compelling story in the About section of your LinkedIn profile.

Increase Your Chances of Getting an InMail Response

When sending messages on LinkedIn to recruiters and hiring managers, it may seem like they are being sent to a black hole. According to Forbes, recruiters are more receptive to LinkedIn InMails than cold calls or emails—three and six times more likely to respond. However, they receive many messages and don’t respond to everyone. To increase your chances of engaging recruiters on LinkedIn, Forbes recommends ten things to do when sending a message. They include personalizing your approach, articulating your value concisely, facilitating the review and follow-up process, and tailoring your message. These steps make it easy for recruiters to understand your background and see your potential.

Inspiring the Next Wave of Effective Leaders

There is a pressing need across industries for organizations to fill middle management positions. This article from Entrepreneur suggests that the allure of management has diminished due to a decline in trust in leadership and the rising prestige of individual contributors, particularly in the tech field, where skilled professionals can achieve success without assuming managerial responsibilities. Additionally, the increased stress and demands of management roles have dissuaded employees, as 40% of surveyed individuals cite concerns about work-life imbalance.

Key Takeaway: Companies need to reimagine the management role in order to inspire a new generation of effective leaders and address the current management gap. If organizations want to remain resilient and maintain productivity, they must invest in creating a desirable and sustainable management path that aligns with contemporary values and expectations.

Hiring Predictions for the Tech Industry

VentureFizz, an industry leader for jobs & careers in tech, released their 2024 Tech Industry Hiring Predictions & Poll Results. This article provides insights into the employment trends within the tech industry. Following a challenging period marked by significant layoffs starting in 2022 and continuing through 2023, the contributors are cautiously optimistic for 2024. With 240,000 tech jobs lost in 2023, the start of 2024 saw continued layoffs from companies like Amazon and Google. Despite this rocky start, the article references the 2018-2019 financial crisis, predicting that layoffs will subside post Q1 and a period of gradual hiring will ensue. Although the tech industry has faced significant setbacks, there's a shared expectation of stabilization and moderate hiring growth in 2024.

Google Search Console Reporting Changes

Google Console recently issued a statement that it will change how it counts clicks and impressions for job listings. Users may notice what appears to be an increase in activity on the job listing. However, Google says it is a more accurate display of clicks and impressions. Read more from Google about the change here.

Book Club Pick + Giveaway!

I often hear of the stress and anxiety felt by those in a job search. Job searching is unbelievably hard. It is one of the top 5 biggest life stressors behind death, moving, and divorce & above incarceration. How to Calm Your Mind by Chris Bailey is one of the best professional development books I’ve read recently. Bailey uses science-backed strategies to help guide readers to a calm mind, allowing them to turn stressful times into productive seasons.

I would love to gift this book to one of you. To enter the drawing, send me an email. I will draw a winner on Friday, February 2.