Ever lost the opportunity to get a job because of your online presence?

The events of the past week has highlighted the importance of presenting yourself effectively online - with the integrity of a head on an independent enquiry called into question over her LinkedIn endorsements.Even Winston Peter’s is talking about it!.

The appointment of Dr. Pauline Kingi to head the independent inquiry into Wally Haumaha as deputy police commissioner, after Dr. Kingi is believed to have endorsed him on  LinkedIn has raised highlighted once again about being smart about how you promote and present online.

So here are three top  fails I see often on LinkedIn around endorsements and how to overcome them

Fail #1: Endorsing people you don’t know and endorsing them for everything

Top Tip: Who you endorse does matter and can be seen as a recommendation. It is probably obvious but ONLY endorse those you know. It is public….. so think before you push the button.

Question: I am curious though - how much do you pay attention to endorsements? Other than of course the opposition or people keen to check the credibility of a persons

Fail #2: Setting up lots of endorsements (e.g. 23) and not selecting the ones that are most relevant to you

Most people don’t know how to use LinkedIn and often get annoyed with all the invites from random people. Used effectively it can be an amazing way to connect with people, become a thought leader and positively position oneself in the marketplace.

Top Tip:  choose on LinkedIn what you want to be endorsed in. Pick the ones that are most relevant to you and your profession. Even think about keywords. Google loves keywords so why not use them in all areas of LinkedIn.

    Question: How many people know how to use endorsements on LinkedIn? Or get annoyed at all the prompting?

Fail #3: only relying on endorsements and having a half completed profile.

Top Tip: Get recommendations on LinkedIn. It is quite straightforward and you can ask people who you have worked with in the past to write one. Also, make sure your profile is complete -  packaging you up with how you want to be seen in the marketplace.

Most employers (and Kiwis) want to speak to a real person to get a reference which why including written referee statements in a CV doesn’t work. On LinkedIn however, you can have recommendations (for roles) and also endorsements. For some reason endorsements are just above recommendations (didn’t used to be this way) but in my opinion – recommendations are more important than endorsements. I would rather someone took the time to write a great recommendation are rather than see 90 people endorsed me for coaching. Maybe it's just me.

Dear Winston – could you please ensure all Kiwis get LinkedIn training for a professional coach so they don’t end up with egg on their face like you are having to talk about.

If you are keen to learn how to overcome some of the LinkedIn fails, get confident in using it and effectively market yourself to the internet world – email me grant@sparked.co.nz and let's get you the opportunities you deserve online.

Let's face it - setting career goals can be tough. We get told all the time we need to set goals but how do we do it and where do we start?

As a professional career coach, the first thing I address is people's experience (both good and bad) in setting goals. By overcoming any negative experiences and focusing on what has worked in the past, the odds of setting goals that inspire increases exponentially. 

Below are some of the four main reasons I have seen why people don't set goals. By tackling them head on, can clear the decks and move forward in setting goals that get done.

---

1/ Not knowing where to start – feeling overwhelmed.

Often we can feel overwhelmed with where to start as there are so many options. A great way to address this is to have a structure and steps to go through (see below). It is also important we know who were are, how we best operate and what has worked well in the past. This helps us be authentic in what we set rather than just putting works down on paper.

---

2/ Don’t have time.

I love the saying “if we were going to cut down a tree, spend the first 5 minutes sharpening the saw".

Spending a short time every checking in on our goals will make sure we keep on track. If we don't we can burn time working on activities that don't take us forward to what we really want in life. 

---

3/ Fear of failure.

So many of us have set goals before and not achieved them - how many of us have made a goal around losing weight? Vague or unrealistic goals sap our energy, as they never were able to be achieved in the first place or were not defined enough to be able to be broken down into actionable steps. Fear of not achieving the goals is a common reason people don’t even start. So let’s reframe our thinking. Goals are to serve us rather than make us slaves to them.

---

4/ Fear of success

This is a funny one. I remember one of my first ever coaching clients who ironically was a coach not wanting to start on goals, because she was afraid if she did she might be overcome with the success of it. We often can be more afraid of success and the pressure that it will cause, rather than failure. We therefore don’t start. Overcome this by planning and having a plan B if things do “take off”. You will be able to cope.

These are some of the main reasons I have seen why people don’t set goals. I have also experienced them myself. Setting goals can be a refreshing, fun, energising process that inspires us and gives us a greater sense of clarity. It does require some work – so grab yourself a coffee, pen and paper and start.

---

Keen to get in touch? Contact me and let's chat about how coaching could change your life. Email me grant@sparked.co.nz if you want to find out more.

As I mentioned on LinkedIn over the week - I believe it s a real shame that 645 school students per term will no longer have the chance to do work experience with The Warehouse's recently announced structural changes (article https://lnkd.in/gyiXMiw from today's Dom Post).

There are clearly two sides:

Union perspective "it does displace people - its free labour" - aka BAD

Employer perspective "it gives students increased knowledge, self belief and self-esteem, teaching them essential skills" - aka GOOD

Unemployment and challenges to get work is often highest among the younger generation (under 25s) and I believe legitimate, well structured, short term opportunity to gain real life experiences should be encouraged.

Yes there are companies wanting free labour. Having worked for 5 years with hundreds of students doing internships I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly!!! But I have seen golden examples of where it really launches a young persons career!

Ultimately giving people a crack at something, especially the younger generation in a supported environment build enterprise and initiative. Isn't that what we want?

Love to hear from The Warehouse Group The Warehouse if they can keep it going! #retail