Emily Worden • Next Act Career

Happy fall! 

This is my absolute favorite time of year. Fall in New England is truly magical. I am here for the apple cider, apple picking, and bursts of fall foliage everywhere I look. Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons, so I’ve got a pep in my step today. 

DOORS ARE OPEN ON THE LINKEDIN FOR JOB SEEKERS COURSE!

LinkedIn is essential to today’s job search. You need an optimized profile, packed with keywords, and an engaged network. Plus, it’s a GREAT way for recruiters to find you. 

If you …

• Need to do more with LinkedIn but don’t know what
• Are new/returning to LinkedIn and overwhelmed by the changes
• Hate LinkedIn and don’t want to use it (but know you need to)
• Are not getting attention from recruiters 
• Need to update your profile but don’t know how
• Know you need to be active on LinkedIn but you’re not sure what to do or say
• Have a LinkedIn profile, but no one is checking it out or engaging with your posts 

This course is for you! 

Each week you will watch ~45 min videos, do your homework, and meet me for a live Q&A on Tuesdays at 12:00 pm EST (sessions will be recorded). Here’s the schedule: 

✔️ WEEK 1 (October 1): Find your keywords + personal brand statements

✔️ WEEK 2 (October 8): Write effective bullet points for your LinkedIn and resume

✔️ WEEK 3 (October 15): How to write your LinkedIn profile

✔️ WEEK 4 (October 22): What to do and say on LinkedIn

You can find more information here and check out this video about the course. 

Click here to learn more about LinkedIn for Jobseekers

IT'S HERE! Q&A RECORDING

Today I’m sharing the Q&A from last week. We were supposed to go for 30 minutes, but we met for over an hour! You all had such good questions and insight, it was hard to stop! I hope to do another one again in October, stay tuned. 

I wanted to edit this video into short clips to share, but all my editing work last night didn’t save. (I’m totally ok with it. Who needed those two hours of sleep anyway?  😭)

While I figure out what the heck is going on with my edits, you watch the video in full or fast forward to your favorite question using the key below: 

1:00: “How should I be responding to the questions of gender, race, veteran, and disability. Is it better to respond accordingly or with “I prefer not to answer”? Do you feel it increases/decreases chances of moving forward?” 

3:15: “I was advised not to share my expected salary until getting to the final round of interviews. However, in the initial application template, the expected salary question is usually mandatory. What should I do?”

7:05: “Job titles on CVs! How creative / flexible can we be? I've had Technical director roles, but the role has actually been technical delivery. But when applying for delivery / PM roles, recruiters think I'm more technically biased (whereas am I'm definitely not!)”

8:45: Two questions about LinkedIn: 

“I would like to hear more about the link between frequent postings and increased access to recruiters and/or job opportunities on Linked In. I have no idea if it is true or not.  If you know anything about it…” 

“I have a general question about how to get noticed on LinkedIn, how to make recruiters want to contact me. I am a fabulous PM and want to bring my skills to my next opportunity.” 

13:25: Follow-up question on LinkedIn posts: “I know hashtags do not pre populate any more, you talked about posting (around key words). Are hashtags a thing of the past?”

20:58: “What’s the rule about showing years for Job experience/ How far should you go or remove from either LinkedIn or CV?”

22:26: My “RIB” rule for resumes: Relevant, Impact, Boring

24:40: “Can you also address how to switch industries?  I.e. taking the same skills, same job title, different sector.”

27:20: “If two candidates with equal skills and experience apply for the same open role, but one of the candidates was laid off and has been unemployed for six or more months, will priority be given to the candidate who is currently employed elsewhere?”

28:27: “What do you think about accepting a contract position as a temporary income/experience while continuing to look for FTE roles? Would I tell new companies I am interviewing for FTE roles that I am working a contract role or not? Not sure how that would look.”

29:36: “There are so many ATS tools, Huntr, Apply4me, Jobscan, etc. any pointers / tips about using these tools?”

32:36: “I recently got an interview after months of search all the rounds went well and got positive feedback, but later in weeks they got back saying "I am not experienced in so and on". This was really frustrating and sad because it happened after good rounds of interview. Can you give me any suggestions?”

36:35: “Can you suggest cover letters, are they still required?  Also ChatGPT suggest yea or no?”

40:20: “Would a thank you letter give an edge over another candidate?”

41:01: My advice about networking - it’s all about the KPI - Kids, Pets, Interests

42:20: “Do recruiters and/or companies see it negatively when you've been with the same company for many years (20+) but you've had different positions?”

44:00: “What is a good networking strategy I can implement in my job search?” (I had A LOT to say on this topic.)

50:05: “At what point do you send a connection request?” 

51:18: Hack around the “Follow” button on LinkedIn if you want to connect with someone. 

53:00: How to build connections on LinkedIn.

55:50: I do not recommend posting your resume on LinkedIn.

57:40: “When you do eventually have that networking chat, any good topics other than ‘Do you have any opportunities or roles?’ ”

WHEW! We covered SO MUCH. Reviewing the chat, I see some questions that I missed so I’ll try to address those in separate videos. 

To your success,

- Emily

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