WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO BECOME AN OFFICIAL LINKEDIN CHANGEMAKER!

I have felt it for a long time….and now I know it to be true: when you align your values with what you do for work, the impact is huge.

For a start, you begin to feel less stressed and burnt out (even when working long hours) as finding genuine meaning in your work is great for your mental health. In addition, when you start basing your career around your values, so many opportunities, collaborations, and partnership opportunities start to arise. You quite literally attract them in.

Of course, you have to pick your partnerships wisely though, as we are all time poor, and it is vital to ensure that collaborations are of mutual benefit and support your overall mission.?So, when the kind folks at LinkedIn asked me to become one of eight?“LinkedIn Changemakers ” this year, the decision for me was a very easy one.

LinkedIn is one of the internets global success stories but it still has so much untapped potential.

I have long been a huge advocate of the platform – it is different to other social media channels and an ecosystem that has provided me with the opportunity to build businesses, serve a community and help 100’s of our career coaching clients launch new ideas or get hired. The potent mix of organic reach, authenticity, and professionalism means LinkedIn is uniquely poised to become a platform that drives important change in the world of work and I am more than happy to play my part as a LinkedIn Changemaker for Careers and Unemployment.

The pain of job searching is rarely talked about openly outside of LinkedIn and it is time we worked together to change that. In a recent research study commissioned by Opinium, 49% of employees said the pandemic has made them aware of factors affecting employment that they didn't know existed before. Let's build on this heightened awareness.

Redundancy and Career Setbacks do not just affect one person, they affect entire households and communities – many people describe it as like a grieving process.?And the cruel irony is, that the longer you are on the job market the less likely you are to actually get hired. It is very common to suffer a confidence crisis, a feeling of isolation, or even a loss of identity.

So, with the backing and support, we have been given with the LinkedIn Changemaker initiative we are going to try and get more help out to more people and also educate them on what to expect when in a career transition and how to improve their job search performance.

I also see it as a chance to prevent people from ever hitting the market in the first place by educating on the benefits of not accepting job misery in exchange for job security.?I want to enable people to give themselves permission to go after what they want, feel more in control of their careers, and leverage LinkedIn to make the fresh connections and networks that can help them thrive.

Here is a little more information on the LinkedIn Changemaker campaign and what my fellow Changemakers and I are going to be doing:

So What Is The LinkedIn Changemaker Campaign?

LinkedIn Changemakers is a campaign?spotlighting individuals advocating for change across topics that matter most to LinkedIn members, including mental health, the future of work, gender equality, racial equality, LGBTQ+ equality, equality for professionals with disabilities, sustainability, and overcoming unemployment and career setbacks.

LinkedIn Changemakers forms part of LinkedIn’s work to create #ConversationsForChange, to speak about critical topics that affect the world of work

How Will We Bring the Campaign To Life?

By creating content, empowering communities, and enabling conversations on LinkedIn, we can make the change we want to see.?So expect to see more Live broadcasts, articles aimed at championing the causes we represent and follow #ConversationsForChange to keep on top of the articles and news associated with the campaign.?You might even see some TV campaigns and social videos in due course!

Thanks to my followers for all the support to date and for giving me the exposure to attract these types of partnership opportunities.

And a big thanks to the team at LinkedIn.

?At the time of writing this I am enjoying time out in the Scottish Highlands and reflecting on how I can collaborate further with LinkedIn, my fellow changemakers and the broader community to really maximise the positive difference we can all make together.

Catch up soon and in the meantime……Lets Get To Work!

This article was written as part of the LinkedIn #Changemakers campaign – a campaign shining a spotlight on individuals using LinkedIn to drive genuine change in the world of work. To find out more about the partnership, read more here . And if you want to join the conversation, share the one thing you’d like to change about the world of work in a post on LinkedIn with the hashtag #ConversationsForChange .