Ian Christie’s Bold Career Blog

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We thought we would make the effort and wake up (pacific time) for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing. So far, we are impressed, and the kids are going to remember this. Here’s to all those amazing athletes, no matter which nation!

We are using LinkedIn more and more. For executives, managers, and senior professionals it is a personal marketing tool that should not be missed. However, a few recent clients have expressed trepidation about having their profile on LinkedIn when they are currently employed.

Imaginary or Real Risk?
I am absolutely certain that in this big world of ours, there remain many bosses who have not kept pace with the evolution of how people are able to connect online and how some online social networks can facilitate offline interaction. Or more to the point, have not bought into the new realities. That is too bad. But not surprising.

That balance between keeping your head down and not risking the ire of your manager vs. what I call the career management imperative has always been an issue. Most people have erred, in my humble opinion, on the side of caution and not networking too much, if at all.

LinkedIn.com is a business tool, and an excellent representative of online social networking. It facilitates professional networking in addition to recruiting, sales, business development, public relations, market research and competitive intelligence. And of course, there is a strong element of personal marketing and expanding one’s options.

The real question isn’t whether an employer or manager would be justified in reacting negatively to an employee having a LinkedIn profile. I don’t think they are justified, but my opinion doesn’t matter in this case. Or whether there is some risk to using LinkedIn. I am sure there is.

And I suggest that the real question isn’t whether you should or shouldn’t use LinkedIn in the face of this risk. If you have an interest and a desire to manage and build your network, I think you should.

Tips for Managing LinkedIn Risk
So, the real issue comes down to how you should go about doing it. And with that in mind, here are some tips for using LinkedIn when you perceive that your current boss or employer may react negatively:

1. Be prepared to defend yourself and the tool. Let’s assume the worst. That your boss notices that you are on LinkedIn and hits you with a negative comment or censure. Have your argument prepared in advance. Think about how this can benefit your company and current role. Talk about how ubiquitous a tool it is in the business community. Describe the recruiting benefits and other benefits. Invite your boss to connect with you.
2. Adopt your current employer’s point of view when selecting and editing the content under your current job / employer. Stay focused on the most positive, professional description of what you do. Avoid talking about what you have fixed, changed or turned around in your current role. In fact, you are representing your employer with your LinkedIn profile, so do it well.
3. Provide enough information to make your profile effective. Dig deep on the summary section to paint a picture of your offering to the marketplace (without wording it as if you are looking for work). Don’t skimp on your skills and expertise. In fact, if your boss ends up reading your profile, you may enhance their perspective of you.
4. Don’t select “Career Opportunities” under Opportunity Preferences if you are really concerned.
5. Build a strong network. Yes, a strong and large network may make an employer nervous. But on the other side of the coin…You can show how it can come in handy for competitive intelligence, business development and the attraction of high quality talent to the organization. In fact, use the network in your job in a meaningful way and you should dispel any concerns. The quality of your network increases your value in the marketplace, and for the smart employer, that will make them value you more.

Here’s the reality: You don’t need to advertise that you are open to new opportunities. A strong profile and a strong network have a way of helping you attract and develop leads and opportunities. That is based on what you have done. The organizations for which you have worked. And the quality and size of your network.

So, we will continue to recommend LinkedIn and assist our clients with the development of their profiles.

Why would a company go the expense and time commitment of sponsoring a visa for someone, and in particular, someone who hasn’t landed in their target country yet and is trying to do a job search from overseas?

What are the possible reasons or motivations?

1. The hiring company has multi-country operations (and in particular your home country + target country), and they have had success transplanting professionals from one to the other.
2. You have domain experience that a company wants. Badly enough that they are willing to sponsor you. This is usually a combination of Industry + Professional pedigree (Marketing, Business Development, Operations, etc.) + (perhaps) specific market segment expertise.
3. Personal relationship. You establish a relationship with someone who is in a position to hire and make this kind of decision and that person believes in you or wants you enough, that they are willing to do this.
4. If there is a labor shortage and your skills and experience are rare enough to warrant being imported.
5. Lastly, and the least strong, you brand yourself as someone with a first class track record of performance and you sell it.

(Again, this is under the assumption that you are trying to land a job from outside your target country as opposed to landing first, and then looking.)

Whether you are in-bound to the US / Canada or outbound to Europe, Asia or elsewhere, this applies.

If you are interested in an international move, the follow-up question is then, who are the players in your target market. The general approach, applying to lots of posted jobs without a target focus, just isn’t going to cut it. You have to target organizations and develop a strong “why you” case with a view to convincing them to even look at you.

There are always exceptions, but in my experience, this is the hard reality.

As of today, we have a whole new design for our blog. We are still in the process of working out the kinks. I hope you like it.

And you might also notice a switch in the URL of the blog, now at http://boldcareerblog.com. We are in the final stages of putting up a whole new BoldCareer site and for various reasons, decided to separate the blog from the rest of the site.

Both of these changes are precursors for some upcoming developments. Stay tuned!

The question keeps coming up. “What should I write in my resume’s objective statement?”

We get this question from people at all levels. The fact that perfectly smart people don’t know what to do about this traditional section of the resume tells me that as an element of your marketing document (aka resume), it doesn’t work and is a waste of space.

If you have read this blog, I have ranted on more than one occasion about your resume’s purpose. It is, hands down, a marketing document, and should be designed to get you the meeting, whether that be a formal interview or a key conversation.

The space on your resume, whether it be 1, 2 or 3 pages, is valuable real estate. The objective statement in most cases is akin to building a cinder block wall on the shore of a waterfront property. Not only a waste of space, but something that blocks the best view.

You need to make a strong impression from the get go, and with the objective statement, it is hard to do that.

So, delete that objective statement. Dump it. You can address your objective, if it is relevant and interesting, in a well-written cover letter, or the email accompanying your resume, or perhaps in some form of summary section at the top of the resume.

I will address ways to powerfully introduce your resume in another post. For now, hit that delete key.

Hmm. It has been too long. And you might be thinking that we have disappeared here at BoldCareer. That would be understandable. But not true. The fact is, things are busy. Very busy. But mostly around serving clients and delivering on commitments. I haven’t been great at prioritizing time here on the blog or for the newsletter. Let’s see if we can do something about that.

Just back from a trip to Singapore and Danang, Vietnam to deliver a few days of career development workshops. Loved it. Great trip.

The overall impression I formed was that the region was on the move, and North America better watch out.

Even in Vietnam, the service was excellent. Universities can’t keep up with demand. And the economy is doing well.

Singapore, and stops in Seoul and Narita rounded out my impression of friendly, efficient, and effective customer service. It was a pleasure to experience.

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When you are in the right business / job, one of the benefits of taking a real break, as I did during the Christmas to New Years stretch is that your brain starts to work in new and fresh ways. Your creativity is sparked. You see new solutions to old problems and opportunities where they didn’t seem to exist back in November.

This has certainly been the case with me over the years, and this holiday was no exception.

Keyword = Buzzing.

Lots of great ideas, and new points of view. So, here’s to a prosperous, healthy, and peaceful New Year, and from my perspective, one where you find ways to do the kind of work you want to do and were meant to do.

Cheers.

I am having one of those weeks. A pile of small challenges amidst the regular load and pace of professional and family life. Nothing major. A dropped and destroyed cell phone. Bad traffic. An overload of kid’s homework projects. Small things really.

So, on this day before American Thanksgiving Day, I woke up being mindful of everything I have to be grateful for. I am grateful to have your attention. I am grateful for the privilege of advising you and thousands of others by doing things I love to do - coaching, consulting, writing and speaking. And I am grateful for the role my clients let me play in making significant changes in their careers.

• What are you grateful for in your professional life?
• What is going well?
• Do you get paid to use your natural talents and abilities?
• Do you get to work with great people?
• What kind of impact are you making?
• Do you get paid to work in a field that you find deeply interesting and engaging?
• Are you learning and developing?
• If your job isn’t going as well as you’d like, can you reframe it as an opportunity to learn something about yourself - where you fit best, for example - and be grateful for that opportunity?
• If you are in the midst of job search and feeling down about your progress, can you be grateful for the opportunity to develop your work search skills, or to meet new people, or to have the opportunity to search for and find a job that really fits?
• Recognize your ability to rise to and take on the challenges in at work.

It is important to give thanks, but there is more to it. The *skill of gratitude* is a key element in your happiness. And what I have seen countless times over the years, is that career success often comes from an ability to appreciate the good and the bad, to learn from it, and then to lever those experiences to make changes and play a bigger game. When you can derive meaning from your experiences, then you can do something about them. This is a much more empowering position to adopt than the opposite.

I invite you to use the comments feature here to share your own stories. What are you grateful for? And if you are faced with a challenging situation in your professional life and are having trouble being grateful, tell us that. I and other readers would love to hear from you.

And as a way of showing my gratitude, I am offer all mailing list subscribers 10% of any service purchases between today and midnight, Tuesday, November 27th. If are not subscribed as of right now and want to take advantage of this offer, please use the sign-up box at the top of this page, and we will send you the discount code.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating this weekend. Safe travels.

If you visited in the first half of yesterday, you may have been greeted by an error page. Our apologies for that. There are a few intermitent bugs that we are trying to nail down in our process to make this blog and site a better user experience.

On the site renovation front:

• We have a new header. That little fish represents the bold career hero – swimming in his own direction. Hope you like it.
• And, finally, we have migrated this blog into the navigation of BoldCareer, so there is one seamless navigation throughout the site.

Thanks.