Reinke Faces Life

FROM A MESSAGE I PLACED ON LINKEDIN INNOVATORS

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I was playing with Jobster and really really didn’t want to spend a lot of time rebuilding my resume in my profile. I did it in LinkedIn, and it literally to a huge amount of time effort and attention. So what we really need is what I call a “sausage to pig” creator. Put in a resume on one side and the “sausage to pig” would create your profile on LinkedIn, Jobsters, and all the other “resume building” sites. It could be nothing more than making a resume an XML file.

The insight came in realizing that I, as many others I’m sure, have multiple resumes. I have several base resumes that I have customized in the past for SPECIFIC opportunities. If the purpose of a resume is to induce a conversation about a specific job to begin, then you want to highlight accomplishments relevant to that job. So for example, when I’m helping a newly minted turkey (i.e., the person just axed from “their job”), when we get up to creating their “marketing collateral” (usually a resume and cover letter), I counsel the “less is more” philosophy.

I like the idea of a sparse resume with three things on it — the (reader’s) objective, last three positions which each have three significant accomplishments designed to induce conversation, and education.

My modest insight is that if you use LinkedIn, or any other site as your resume, then you can do that customization for specific opportunities.

Argh!

One size really doesn’t fit all needs.

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FROM A QUESTION TO ME

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From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
IT Professional
Greater New York City Area

Current:
* Sr. Business Analyst, Infrastructure at Wyndham Worldwide
* President/CEO at JLS Technology USA

Past:
* Project Manager, Infrastructure at IncentOne
* Regional IT Project Manager at Iron Mountain Inc.
* Sales Counselor at Circuit City

Date: June 30, 2007
To: John Reinke

Can I put the upstart consulting firm I own on my resume? If so how do I list it in conjunction with my current FT job?

I would like to update my resume and was wondering if I can put my small consulting firm on my resume? I have done some contract work through my consulting firm but am apprehensive because i don’t know if its taboo to do, or if it has enough “OOMPH” to list on my resume.
I’m the President of the company but would this be frowned upon by recruiters, looking at it as padding my resume?

Thanks for all your help and advice in advance!

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Dear X,

Well I don’t see why not? I did. Even it before it was more frequent.

I was reluctant to be “president”; I like “owner / consultant”.

I think it is important to differentiate your “daytime” and “night time” duties. You don’t want it to look like you are “short changing” your daytime employer. You also want to avoid the the appearances that you are “competing” with your employer.

I know a tech exec who moonlights as a CICS coder. I knew a security exec who did fancy banisters for staircases. I knew a CEO of a major ad agency who moonlighted as freelance writer to unwind at night.

So, LinkedIn presents some interesting challenges. You can’t customize it like a resume for a specific opportunity. So it’s one size fits all.

Argh! Tough call. My advice is to put anything that is a significant adder that doesn’t detract from your value.

I’d include President of the Little League, Library, or ASPCA for a decade. But, I’d omit the President of your AA, KKK, or Democrat/Republican chapter for the same decade.

l8r,
fjohn

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/384/192

http://www.linkedin.com/in/reinkefj

Suggest using the linkedin edit function to create a non-gibberish url. may mean nothing. but takes a minute and indicates an attention to detail and easy to do business with orientation imho.

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FLASH: Hoovers, yet another business info collector that lives off sec filings, seems to be making a move into LinkedIn’s space. I say “seems” because while it claims to be in ‘beta”, it doesn’t allow any sign ups. It also claims to be free, but I don’t believe it. They have a bottom line to feed.

Here’s a jpeg snapped at their site.

FWIW!

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http://linkedin.pbwiki.com/LinkedInProfileComments

Create Public and Private Comments for LinkedIn Members

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LinkedIn provides no way to record public and private info about your fellow members. Who did you use to send your last Introduction through? Is that member active? Is that person a good or bad networker. Where have all the sock orphans gone? Nobody knows. Because on LinkedIn nobody can hear you scream. So I created a solution using Diigo at http://diigo.com. It’s an imperfect solution but gets the job done. I’ll use this page to record my latest instructions, tips, and findings.

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I’m trying it. Will report.

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XXXXXX : I accepted, but I’d suggest that you never just use the stock invite. The problem is that, if your contact has brain freeze and says “don’t know”, then you could accumulate the “five strikes and you’re dead” LinkedIn suspension. You may, or may not, get it lifted. But it will certainly be a giant hassle, So I suggest ALWAYS put in a non-standard invite. Hope this helps, fjohn68

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——————————————————————
From: XXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 4:49 PM
To: John Reinke
Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

XXXXXX requested to add you as a connection on LinkedIn:

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John,

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

-XXXXXX

View invitation from XXXXXX

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Fact: More people have joined LinkedIn than live in Sweden

© 2007, LinkedIn Corporation

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FROM AND EMAIL EXCHANGE ON MLPF

On the net, no one knows your a dog!

On LinkedIn, you can’t be sure you’re not linking with a “dog”!

I tend to talk in shorthand and seem to always assume too much.

In my taxonomy of entities you find on LinkedIn, I have some “findings”.

* Real people, like me! Seekers, loafers, helpers, tryers, stumbling blocks, mean well, dumb as rocks. Real people in strange places like New Jersey with all sorts of connections, motivations, and understandings.

* Recruiters — both (head)hunters and (executive)searchers — retained and contingency — with varying degrees of altruism, cooperativeness, and helpfulness.

Now, the newbies and naive think that this is all there is. Unfortunately, that is not all there is out there. I’ve begun to classify all the strange “identities” that I’ve found.

Usually found “close by” a recruiter:

* “hostages” — I think a recruiter creates a profile for some one that they are representing and not permitting any contact except for a fee.

* “strawman” — I think a recruiter creates a mythical person as “bait” with the characteristics they see in “their” candidate. They do this to encourage connections from inside or outside recruiters where they can then “switch” in their candidate.

* “beauty” or “zombie” — I think a recruiter creates an identity, with all the characteristic of someone they wished they represented. When connected, they then try to form up a solid opportunity with they can present to the real person.

* “clones” — I think a recruiter takes a profile that he likes and “replicates” it into his geographic hunting zone for the purpose of finding “buyers” and like minded “sellers”.

I think they do this to advertise candidates they represent, troll for unadvertised opportunities to sell services, find hiring managers? I don’t know. All I know is I think I’ve see it.

Usually found around individuals:

* “ghosts” — An individual creates a profile of a past boss or coworker to get endorsements.

* “pranks” — People set up profiles of people for hahas responding or not as the spirit moves them.

* “psuedos” — I’ve seen no degreed candidates create a “clone” of themselves and add a degree. Then, control access to the “psuedo” and, when approached, they will try to sell into the opportunity.

I’m just an injineer; not a hunter, nor a seeker, and I haven’t stayed in a Holiday Inn Express lately.

I only tumbled to this “barbara streisand” when I tried to reach an old College friend and hit a toll boother. Another time I found my “credentials” on LinkedIn copied to someone in Kansas City. Exactly; my babblings are pretty distinctive, so they do show on searches. So my curiosity was piqued, I pinged, and never heard anything again. I deemed that was a “clone”, designed to flush out a buyer in that area?

This is posted not to give you ideas, but to give you an insight as to what you might find.

Remember, on the net, no one knows your a dog!

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In looking at the results of who’s been looking at my profile, I’m insulted that my profile is being looked at by anonymous “peeping toms”. I should have a setting that says, “I’ll show you mine (profile) if you show me yours (name)”. Maybe I’m getting sensitive in my old age, but I don’t think I like this feature. NOR, do I think I like the old way of just anyone can see it. Maybe I’m growing up. And I really have nothing to hide, or sell, it just seems … … rude. If I look at someone’s profile, I see nothing wrong with disclosing my name. Let’s have some granularity. This is probably one of Cameron’s Laws of Identity and I’m just not keying into it. Have I lost my mind and slipped over the edge into Advance (Turkey) Paranoia?

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http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/
blog/_archives/2007/5/18/2957254.html

http://tinyurl.com/39axpd

How Efficient is Your LinkedIn Network?
by Des Walsh on Fri 18 May 2007 09:08 AM EST

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While the delivery of the box of donuts with resume attached is the focus of the post, I noticed also that one of the steps Greg has taken to get noticed for the job is to send a message to the owner via LinkedIn.

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I’d suggest that LinkedIn be used for developing “inside” knowledge. That’s probably worth more than getting to a decision maker. Finding out what makes them tick, what they want, and texture around the opportunity may allow you to tailor the sales pitch.

If I was measure “efficient”, then I’d want to know how “responsive” it was. Effectiveness might be how much “value” it delivers. Responsiveness and value are tough to define and even tougher to measure.

http://www.linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin-prize-winners/

May 13th, 2007
Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn – Prize Winners

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I’d like to thank everyone who participated in the Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn Group Blogging Project, and especially the people who stepped up and donated over $4,000 in prizes. I was overwhelmed by your generosity. It enabled the start of what I hope will become a valuable resource for all LinkedIn users

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And I commented
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reinkefj
May 13, 2007 at 5:27 am

Thanks. It’s always nice to “win”, BUT I think the real winners are:

(1) all the people got new ideas;

(2) all the people who showed themselves to be the generous experts they are; AND

(3) YOU for creating a new paradigm. (I call it “rally a group hug” with prizes.)

Even a grizzled big fat old turkey, like me, learned some “new tricks”, as well as some interesting new ideas.

Only time will tell if those ideas “were actioned”, but they are out there forever for the taking.

And, in some sense, there are future readers who have “won” by having a “blazed path” to follow in exploiting LinkedIn.

Thanks for pulling this together. Do it again next month? :-)
fjohn

p.s., Is there a “wining” logo? (Yeah, I know. What an ego!)

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But I was really hoping my “dog” would be awarded “best in show”! I thought it was one of my best posts. And I was hoping for a kool logo. But, I’m a “winner”. ;-) And I can make my own medal.