Stand out on LinkedIn - a few things you might consider implementing.

I'm no LinkedIn guru but I've been using this platform since 2009 and I've been learning new stuff every day. 2020 was a productive year for me on LinkedIn - a record-breaking year for content creation, candidate searches and engagement (one of the few good things that came with having to adapt to the global challenges we all faced due to COVID-19).

I decided to go through my LinkedIn activity over the last year and share with you all a summary of a few of my favourite LinkedIn hacks, tips and inspirations. Hope you'll find something you might consider implementing.

Beat the Spam "Personalised Connection Requests" with a Simple Hack

In September 2020, I came across a post by someone who shared Kelly Vaughn's tweet where she recommended adding an emoji at the beginning of your name to see who was using some sort of automation tool to send out connection requests. I had to test it straight away and within a few days I shared a post confirming it works. I was pleased to find several of my connections tried it out too. A simple but brilliant little hack.

Record and Display Your Name Pronunciation on Your Profile

I first came across this in July 2020, at the time it wasn't available to everyone but now anyone can add a recording of your name on your LinkedIn profile. I think it's a pretty cool feature, especially for those who are connecting with people from all over the world. If you want to add this to your profile, follow the instructions here.

Use LinkedIn Documents to Increase Your Visibility

LinkedIn now awards posts that make people DWELL on their content. Such as multi-page PDFs or other rich media. LinkedIn Documents posts stand out from the crowd in the newsfeed. As a result, more people stop and look at your posts. This is because your document presents as a slide show, so it’s easy for the reader to start consuming it within the newsfeed and keep clicking through the slides/pages of the document. I tested this out in July with a job posting and comparing it to other 'standard' posts, I noticed it reached a wider and more specific audience. This is definitely something I'll be doing more of this year. You can read a lot more about this here.

LinkedIn Polls as a Great Way to Gather Useful Feedback

I was so pleased to find out LinkedIn gave us all the possibility to create and publish polls. I created a poll back in August 2020 to help me focus on key skills for successful tech leads. I was positively surprised by the results and it gave me food for thought when launching a new recruitment campaign. I really like the fact that you can see who participated in your poll and what answer they provided. One thing I'm still missing is the option to add images to the poll. Nevertheless, I'm definitely going to be using more of these but I'll be very careful not to create too many as my network may soon get tired of them.

Be Yourself, Be Human, It's OK.

I never thought I would post personal pictures of my family on LinkedIn. That changed in late March 2020. A lot of us, pretty much overnight, were forced to work from home. With all schools being closed and being a proud father of two it wasn't long before I shared a glimpse of what it sometimes looks like for a parent working from home. I love this photo and I'm going treasure it forever.

Do you remember the #pushupchallenge? I was nominated by Marek Drob to do a '25-press-ups-for-25-days' challenge to help raise awareness for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), anxiety and depression, that drives people to commit suicide. I'm very grateful that Marek nominated me to do this. On my last day, apart from doing my final 25 pushups, I also recorded this silly video which turned out to be my most popular post on LinkedIn. Not only was it a fun challenge it also made me feel good.

Feeling and doing good brings me to my final recommendation...

...Be Good. Help Others.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant effect on unemployment everywhere. Back in March 2020, I came up with an idea to use my LinkedIn network to try and help anyone who was struggling to find work. I posted an invitation to all jobseekers in Lublin to reach out to me and take part in my experimental idea to help them raise their profile online and secure employment. Within hours I had my first three and brave volunteers. My initiative #PogadajzPhillem (#TalktoPhill) was launched. The idea was very simple: I would record and publish on LinkedIn short video interviews with candidates asking them simple questions about their experience, strengths and aspirations. This was a beautiful experience for me and I felt so proud for all my participants. I published 15 interviews and indirectly helped most of my heroes secure full time employment during these challenging times. The City of Lublin published a short article about this too.

“When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they’ll remember and be kind to someone else. And it’ll become like a wildfire.”

Whoopi Goldberg

On that note, I would like to wish you a Prosperous and Happy New Year. May 2021 bring you health, happiness, love, inspiration and lot's of laughter and goodness.