Episode Overview

Megan O’Meara is a Recruiter at LinkedIn and was previously a Recruiter and Hiring Manager at Apple. She is also a Rock Your LinkedIn Profile Ambassador which is a certification for LinkedIn Recruiters that involves extensive training. In this action-packed live event, we added time for audience members to get their LinkedIn profiles reviewed by Megan in real-time. Be sure to follow me our host on LinkedIn @AJ Eckstein to tune into the next live podcast event.

Here are some questions we will be answering:

-Experience working at LinkedIn and Apple?

-Role difference between working as a Recruiter and a Hiring Manager?

-What do recruiters really look for when reviewing a candidate’s LinkedIn profile?

-What are the biggest mistakes candidates make on their LinkedIn profiles?

-Does posting content on LinkedIn help with recruitment?

Links:

Connect with Megan: www.linkedin.com/in/meganomeara1/

Follow our Host on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-aj-eckstein/

Get 1-on-1 Career Coaching: www.careercoachingcompany.com/

*Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are of the host and guest and not of their employers.

Episode Transcript

“There could be multiple dream jobs out there that you have no idea about if you don’t have your LinkedIn profile filled out.” – Megan O’Meara

Welcome to the Final Round podcast, where our mission is to help you knock out the competition and land your dream job. My name is A.J. Eckstein, and I’m a recent college graduate, a strategy consultant, a five-time intern and the founder of the Career Coaching Company. 

Have you ever wondered why only a few people get past the final round interview and land the job offer? Join me in the ring as I speak with recruiters at top companies to learn the secrets why certain applicants get “knocked-out” and others are still standing after the final round. 

The Final Round podcast is brought to you by Career Coaching Company. They offer one-on-one live tailored coaching from recent grads who work at leading companies across multiple industries like consulting, investment banking and much more. Now, let’s jump into the ring and get you past the final round. 

Intros

In case you missed it, we recently hosted a LinkedIn live event with a recruiting ninja. Megan O’Meara is currently a recruiter at LinkedIn and was previously a recruiter and hiring manager at Apple. She is also a Rock Your LinkedIn profile ambassador, which is a certification for LinkedIn recruiters that involves extensive training. In this action-packed live event, we added time for audience members to get their LinkedIn profile reviewed by Megan in real time. Be sure to follow me on LinkedIn at AJ Eckstein to tune into the next live event. Megan is waiting for us in the virtual green room. So, let’s welcome her to the show.

Megan: Thanks, AJ! How’s it going everyone? I’m so excited to be here this evening.

Well, we’re so excited to have you and we will bring so much energy to our entire audience today. This is actually our first time that we had a live audience for the Final Round. So, we thought what better person than Mo or Megan O’Meara to bring onto the podcast. And I just want to dive right in because there’s so much to get through and I really would love to review Linked in profiles with you today and have a couple questions about how to really help candidates get past that final round. So, without further ado, my first question for you is really how did you get the nickname recruiting ninja? Because I know that something that you have on your LinkedIn profile.

Megan: Yeah, that’s a great question and I actually would love to revert back to my other nickname at Apple, which was actually “Turbo.” It referred to an engine and I think both of them have very common themes in the sense that I am always one step ahead, I’m a super proactive and energetic person. And when you think about a ninja, right? They’re fast, they move smoothly and they’re quick to respond and I think that’s something that I’ve really valued and started to get the nickname through one of my recruiting partners here at LinkedIn and it just stuck. So, that is kind of why I’ve been termed the Ninja here at LinkedIn.

I love that. And with this name Recruiting Ninja, do you look for other maybe aspiring ninjas when you’re looking at candidates applying to companies like Apple or LinkedIn?

Megan: Yeah, absolutely! I want someone that’s excited and energetic about the opportunity and that’s definitely going to come across on a phone call or a Zoom call or even face-to-face.

And that’s amazing. And I think everyone aspires to be someone who is turbocharged or someone who’s like a ninja and we’ll definitely talk more about those key attributes to getting into LinkedIn. But what is your experience like being at LinkedIn? I mean, obviously, we’re streaming this right now through LinkedIn live. I think everyone, the first thing you think of when they say, “I need to network or I need to get a job,” it’s synonymous with LinkedIn. So, I think all of us use the platform, but obviously don’t really have experience on the backend. So, what has LinkedIn been like for you?

Megan: Yeah, that’s something that I actually reflected on last week. LinkedIn celebrated its 18th birthday and I think being here for three and a half years at LinkedIn, I’m still drinking the Blue Kool Aid, as I would say. The people that I’ve met along the way, the opportunity that I’ve been able to have through transformational stories and promotions here at LinkedIn just as a true testament of the company culture and our values. And then now more than ever as we go through a challenging time, specifically during the pandemic, when all of us were faced with the challenge, whether it was losing a loved one, not being able to see someone or chat with someone in person, and I think LinkedIn provided this community. And it was not only a personal community, it was a professional community. It allowed us to really come together and work well with others. And I think that’s a true testament of facing challenging times and how you’re able to overcome them. And I think LinkedIn did an awesome job, and just continues to keep me energized and once you get to experience the company culture virtually and in the office, it’s truly a special place to work.

And I think LinkedIn is really setting the standard now for the right work life balance. I think I emailed you a few weeks ago and I got an automatic response back saying that you got a week off because I think it was a wellness week, right? So, they’re doing so many things to really push the overall well-being of their employees. I know one of the most famous things is called InDay or Investment Day and when I was researching, I saw that the investment days, one of the most sought-after things for employees at LinkedIn, I’m curious to know, what have you participated in while working at LinkedIn through your specific InDay.

Megan: That’s a great question. And just a little bit of a background for the audience, InDay is a very unique day to us here at LinkedIn. It’s a day to invest in ourselves, the community and roll out large. We celebrate it every single month. It is on the second or third Friday of the month. We are actually encouraged to cancel all of our calls and meetings and focus on this day. It’s one of my favorite days, which unfortunately we will not be in the office to experience, but still we have a lot of fun events that are planned. 

This upcoming InDay is actually family and it was a day where we could bring our parents into work and I think that is so valuable. As this generation is surrounded by technology, I have tons of family members who are trying to get more well versed being on LinkedIn and it gives them the opportunity to rock their profile and learn more about our day-to-day job. So, that’s what I absolutely love about LinkedIn is bringing people from all different backgrounds together, including our family. Typically, on InDay, it’s a day though for me to get back to the community. 

So, I participated in profile reviews, career advice, coaching advice, specific nonprofit organizations where I’ll meet one on one with a student for 45 minutes and then in the office during InDay, what I always like to do is go to lunch with my team. I think we’re all moving in such a fast-paced environment and having that one hour or two hours just to go to a workshop and then go to lunch with your team with something really special. And I know I’m looking forward to getting back to that.

Hiring Manager vs. Recruiter

Well, I love all those different parts of it. Like you said, coaching people, helping people with profiles, giving career advice. I mean, I think we might as well consider this specific interview in InDay because you’re doing that exact thing, especially when we move on to reviewing people’s profiles in a second. But I think overall, the culture sounds amazing and it sounds like you really are happy there. And shifting gears for a second and talking about your previous experience at Apple, I saw that you weren’t just a recruiter, but you were also a hiring manager. I think you were the first recruiter I’ve had on the show who has been both. I think a lot of candidates, including myself, always get mixed up on what’s the difference in terms of the role and also what they’re looking for. So, what was the difference in your specific role of being a higher manager and recruit at Apple?

Megan: That’s a great question. I’m lucky and fortunate to have gone through the Apple Store leadership program at Apple and gone through different opportunities to find my love for talent and recruiting. Being a hiring manager, I was really owning the end-to-end process and helping find and make a decision on the right candidate. I was working specifically with the San Francisco store team and working to go from about 110 employees to 300 employees at the time. And again, it was a fast-paced environment but being able to bring on folks to Apple was a very, very special moment. I think with the hiring manager, you have more on your plate in terms of making a decision, right? 

As a recruiter, you can identify top talent, but it can get really tough as a hiring manager to make the final call on a candidate because if you have two candidates at the end of the day that are both awesome, how do you really make a decision to bring on that right candidate for the role. In terms of recruiting, there’s so many different processes that you’re managing. Right now, at LinkedIn, I’m managing up to 25 roles, which is a lot. So, it’s really important to maintain that relationship. But there is a big difference with the recruiter versus the hiring manager. At the end of the day, you always want to make sure that they have a good partnership because our end goal is bringing on talent to the organization.

Being a Good Fit for the Role

So, you said that you’re currently recruiting for over 25 roles. So, how does that candidate become a ninja or go into turbo mode and get your attention to hopefully hop on the phone with you or video and blow you away with their experience or just them being a good fit for the role?

Megan: Yeah, it’s definitely hard because as a recruiter at LinkedIn, I received tons of messages and if I can give advice to a student, it is okay to not get responded to by a recruiter. It’s okay to get rejected. And I think that’s something that we all need to understand. Sometimes it takes five outreaches for me to actually reach back out. I think having that general understanding of sometimes all it takes is being patient with that person. I think really the more time you spend trying to look at someone’s profile and really network with them personally, I’m more likely to respond to your message than someone who just sends me a cold connection. 

So, I think again, really trying to spend the time understanding where that other person is coming from, but also know that follow up is really important. Even when I reach out to my candidates on LinkedIn, I really want to understand their motivators, but sometimes it takes me sending them three messages before they end up responding back to me.

So, if I follow you on LinkedIn and I see that you post pretty frequently and I continue to engage with you and you’re responding to my comment, I’m responding to your comment. I’m not just saying great posts, but actually adding some insightful comments in the comment section. Do you really see that? And is that a good way to build that warm connection before I reach out and ask for a few minutes of your time for a coffee chat?

Megan: Absolutely! I have a weird photogenic memory. I would say people that are commenting on my post–I mean, AJ, I know it took a while for us to get connected and it was through a mutual connection how we’re having this conversation. But I remember saying, “Wait a second, how do I know his name? Where have I seen it?” And I noticed that we were connected. And so, through that, we were able to get connected and that’s a perfect example right there. So, trying to build your brand on LinkedIn, trying to comment on valuable comments to your point that are really going to stand out from the crowd is really important. So, to answer your question, yes, commenting, engaging on different profiles is definitely good.

What do recruiters look for in LinkedIn Profiles?

And I guess once we get your attention through a comment, let’s say or continuing to engage with your posts and you actually go to our profile, then I guess the million-dollar question is what are recruiters looking for on linked in profile?

Megan: That’s a great question. And it’s a loaded question because when I’m a recruiter at LinkedIn, it does not mean I am recruiting for every single role at LinkedIn. It does not mean I have access to every single role at LinkedIn and I think that’s really important. My specialty right now is recruiting for our Insights and sales-ready, prior to that I was recruiting for our biz ops. So, the first top of mind thing is ‘Okay. Is this person fit for one of my roles that I’m currently working on?’ 

It depends on the outreach and why they’re commenting. Right? If they’re reaching out to me specifically for a role, I’m probably going to take a quick peek at their profile. The headline and About Me section is really important. That’s kind of my initial interest in, ‘Is this person going to be a good match for one of my roles?’ In addition to that, having so many different roles at LinkedIn and being able to recruit for different teams, I have access to other TA partners that I work with and that candidate might not be a good match for one of my roles, but I can still kick them to one of my recruiting partners. Just because someone is a recruiter at a certain organization does not mean that they’re recruiting for every single role. So, really take the time to understand what that recruiter’s focus is.

And I guess what would be the best way to find that focus? Is it through reading your profile or going through the job description, reading that in detail?

Megan: So, majority of the time a recruiter, if they have a fully formed profile, they should have their specific areas that they’re covering. So, you can actually see on my profile, I have insights and sales readiness. Other recruiters might have marketing or biz ops. So, spend the time looking to see what that recruiter’s function is. It’s going to actually save you a lot of time as well because if you’re active in a search and you really do believe you’re a good match for one of the roles, but you’re better off trying to find that direct recruiter looking at their profile rather than just going to a generic one and saying like, “Oh, they can get me through the door.”

Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes from Candidates 

And I think these are some great best practices, what would be some of the biggest mistakes that candidates make on LinkedIn or maybe with their LinkedIn profiles?

Megan: Not having it completely filled out. I think that’s one of the biggest things is that a lot of people think that by putting their name and putting their title per company, that means that they have it all filled out. But I always like to tell people to think of your LinkedIn profile less as a resume and more as a digital portfolio. It is really a place for you to tell your personal and professional story and also hone in on your goals. It doesn’t have to be specific right now to the work that you’re doing. 

Obviously, that’s a plus, but you can really expand more on your overall professional journey. So, I would say getting more detailed. Instead of using bullets, it’s actually promoted that we use summaries and on how to summarize our experience. So, I would say those are kind of the biggest indicators there. And then one final call I always like to share, LinkedIn recently came out with a filter where you can actually include your headshot of looking for a role or open to new opportunities. Instead of wasting space on your headline and putting ‘Seeking a new role,’ you’re better off just filtering open to work and then actually using your headline for something more captivating to the audience.

Best Piece of Advice

Awesome! I think those are such great points and I definitely have seen that filter and I’m sure everyone listening had seen that. I think it’s the green–I know there’s one that says open to network and one that says open to new opportunities. So, those are definitely great points to put those filters on your head shot if you’re looking for those things. And I want to be mindful of time and I want to make sure that we can get to actually reviewing people’s profiles. So, my last question here and all of our audience members know where I’m going with this. What is the best piece of advice you can give to our audience to help them get past the fun around the interview and land their dream job?

Megan: That is a great question and there’s kind of two things I would have to say. One, be authentic. At the end of the day, you are finding the right role for you and two, you’re interviewing us. I think that’s really important is people get so nervous having conversations and going through interview rounds and it’s really important to understand that you’re actually interviewing the recruiter. You want to learn more about the team and the role to see if it’s a good match. 

And yes, the company could be your dream company, but at the end of the day my role as a recruiter is finding the candidate, their dream job and vice versa. So definitely go into those final round conversations and throughout the interview process with thoughtful questions in terms of the role, the responsibilities, and also growing your career long-term, where is this going to take you next? And I think that’s really important.

I want to take a quick pause and tell you about Career Coaching Company. Are you still searching for your dream internship or job but are having trouble landing an offer? Career Coaching Company offers one-on-one, live, tailored coaching from recent grads who now work at top companies like the ones you’re applying to. Be sure to check out their website at careercoachingcompany.com to see how their team of coaches can help you land your dream job. Now, let’s jump back into the ring.

LinkedIn Profile Review

And now, I actually want to shift gears, that’s the end of round one and we’ll dive into round two. I think this is again what people have been really looking forward to is reviewing attendees’ LinkedIn profiles. I’m going to go ahead and share my screen. We’re actually going to go through each profile and what the recruiter at LinkedIn actually looks for in candidate’s profiles. I’m going to go ahead and share my screen and I see there was one person that we will start with.

Megan: This is where my thought process goes. So, hopefully it’s okay I can start talking through things right now. Automatically, I am drawn towards the connections. So, I think, again, being a recruiter at LinkedIn, I always want to see my mutual connections. I also want to see some highlights as well. So, I notice we are part of a mutual group, Wonsulting. Immediately, what I love about Reisha’s [?] profile, she has a clear clean shot of her photo and she has a background photo as well which is really, really important. Make sure you have an updated photo that’s clear, that we can see you. You want to make it really inviting. 

You’re more likely to get your profile reviewed if you do have these photos included. And again, with Reisha’s, she does a really nice job outlining that business analyst, MBA and finance, analyzing data and insights for advertising, content writer, right? So, there’s a lot of great information there. This headline again is a summary of your role, what you’re looking for. You’ll start to see on LinkedIn profiles, people will use a dash now to really indicate and separate what their experiences and some of their goals. So, overall, right now it’s looking really, really good.

And I have a quick question, Megan. I see that her background is a city and I know that even if people have a headshot and it looks great, a lot of people don’t put a background and it’s just that gray normal placeholder. In your opinion, are you more inclined to go through someone’s profile if it’s a nice background or adds to their overall brand or what they’re trying to do?

Megan: Great question! It is visually appealing. And I think a lot of people have used their background photo to create a story. As a recruiter, I am more curious about your background photo, whether it’s a picture of the Final Round, AJ or again the city or if you’re into design, I can really open my conversations with the candidate asking them more about their background photo, which again, is a great way to really introduce the conversation. Have people be more relaxed when I’m talking to them on a call and just get to know them on a personal level.

Awesome! So, as we scroll down here, we’ll spend a few more moments on Reisha’s and we’ll dive into someone else’s profile. But what else is something that sticks out?

Megan: So, again, this is kind of a world class profile in terms of what we look for. I love to see the About Me section really summarized, talking more about her experience, what she believes in, what she’s currently doing. Outside of my professional life, yes. This is something so important that I think recruiters really love, right? Yes, we’re professionals, but we all have things that we like to do outside of work. So, by putting that on her profile, it’s creating an authentic picture for me to really understand more about her professional journey and her personal experience as well.

And how about a featured section? I’ve always brought up that if you can add a featured section, it’s great. But a lot of people, especially maybe some of our younger listeners, let’s say freshman or sophomore in college, they’re trying to figure out what to do. What should they feature on their profile?

Megan: That is a great question. And I think as you’re growing your career and whether you’re a student, fresh out of college or you’re in your career for 20 plus years now, using the featured section again, gives you an opportunity to tell your story more and to really build your brand. As a student though, it’s a great opportunity for you. Let’s say you did a really cool project in one of your business classes or your economic class and you want to feature that on LinkedIn, you can definitely go ahead and use that area to feature it, whether it’s including a pdf or talking about your experience, writing an article and posting about it. 

These are great areas where you can pin it and again, top of mind it allows me to get that bigger image of you as a working professional or a student fresh out of college. So, overall, again, this is a really well thought out profile. It definitely shows that she’s used all of the different features that LinkedIn has to offer. She’s filled out her interest, her skills. She’s gotten recommendations that we can spend more time in later rounds, which is really great. And then she summarized her experience. I think that is a common area that people have questions on. Should my profile be in bullet form or summary form? She does a really nice job summarizing her overall experience, which again, is going to be different from your resume.

Amazing! I think that’s everything for Reisha’s profile. And now, I’m going to bring someone else’s profile that they commented on.

Megan: Elsa. So, right away, I’m thinking to myself, where is that photo? It is beautiful. She has a clear photo and headshot. She has an awesome background photo which again is engaging. Once again, as you can see with Elsa’s profile, very similar to Reisha. She identifies program management product or ops, chief of staff, former Netflix. Right there, that’s a summary in terms of I’m curious to learn more. I want to know what those mean. 

So, if you want to go to her About Me section. Elsa does it a little bit differently and there is no right or wrong way in terms of her About Me section. You’ll notice she is seeking opportunities which leverage my strengths. It really hones in and allows me as a recruiter to focus in on those key bullet points in the About Me section. It also looks like she’s included some highlights there. Now, Elsa, one thing you can keep in mind for this. It looks like you talked more about key experiences here. You can actually include that in your Experience section, highlighting some of those key main points. So, my recommendation here would actually be to include some of those bullet points below in your experience. Again, in your About Me section, you really want to include things such as your goals, what you’re looking for, what you’re excited about. I’ve seen a lot of people get creative in terms of their own mission, their own vision, kind of what they’re looking for next. Remember your about me section tells more of a story about you. You can include your experience and key projects or highlights in your experience section.

Awesome! As we again, kind of quickly go through the experience and you could see here, I think one big point is that she has very detailed experiences here. Is there too much, too little, or is there a happy medium? What do you think about the level of detail here for describing her role as the Director at Netflix?

Megan: Great question. And I think again, really use your experience section more as an area to highlight and summarize people. I’ve seen it before, where you can actually include your resume and drop that into your LinkedIn profile. So, if you want to use your resume, I would actually include that on your profile and more so summarize your experience.

Amazing! I’m going to jump into our next profile and we have Madison.

Megan: Okay. So, Madison, there is a lot going on, right? Lots of questions. It’s making me curious, definitely looks like a senior event marketing and sales manager. I would say, Madison in your headline, maybe try and make it slightly more concise and include maybe two lines. It starts to get a little bit wordy up the top. So, try to really be succinct in terms of what you want your headline to say about you. And so, people management, for example, is that something that you can maybe include in your About Me section? So, I would try and again, hone in slightly more on your headline. Maybe include a few different titles that you’re looking to target and then elaborate more in your profile in your Experience or About Me section.

And I have a quick question, Megan. So, obviously, Madison has emojis here and I know that there are kind of two trains of thoughts. In your opinion, would you say that you should have emojis or maybe it’s not a best practice?

Megan: You know, that’s funny. And that’s a question that I’ve never got before. We don’t actually have a stat or any type of percentage in terms of if you have emojis on your profile or not. I know that a lot of people are starting to use them more. I don’t think it’s a pro or a con. It’s more about highlighting your experience and telling your story. Who knows? Three years down the line, maybe more of us will be using emojis to separate kinds of those functions. The only thing I would say is, let’s say you’re easily applying to a role on LinkedIn and if you upload your profile as your resume, if that’s going to indicate or add in any text. I don’t know if you’ve seen that before with emojis and then they expand to a larger text, that would be my only area of concern. But again, there’s no right or wrong answer for that.

And I think one more thing that’s so interesting is that we’ve been talking about Madison’s profile for a few minutes and we didn’t even get below her name block? I mean, there’s so much more of the profile that we haven’t gotten to and that shows that the first part is the most important and it needs to grab your attention. That banner picture, the headshot, the name of all of the different parts of the headline, making sure you have a connection so I think those are such important parts to really focus on before you actually go through and go through it. 

And we see that she has an About section. She has a featured section like the other parts of the other profiles, the experience section, but I do see here that one thing that she has that some of the other profiles didn’t are added media. So, on top of adding a description of your work experience, do you think it’s a good practice to add media being a picture or video or a link to that specific experience?

Megan: Absolutely, yes! And again, I think adding media is something that is underutilized on the platform that more people can really start to use. And I try my best to give this example so people can understand how strong it can be. Let’s say you are working at a startup and I really don’t know what that startup is and I want a clearer picture into that company or that company culture or what they are, what they do. And I think by adding that direct link can definitely be helpful. Adding in other media as well, whether it’s again, a project that you worked on, whether it’s a featured video that really highlights what you’re passionate about at work is really important. If you can leverage and utilize media, I would definitely try and add that. If you need more examples, my profile includes some added media as well. So, feel free to take a look right now and browse to see what type of media I’m currently using.

Amazing! And now, we’re going to go to Mr. Devin here. And I think Devin’s background is super interesting. This is probably the first banner image that is more of a personal brand and that’s, I’m assuming a personal website. So, what do you think about having that personal branded background or banner photo?

Megan: Absolutely love it! And again, my eyes automatically go to, ‘Okay. I kind of want to visit Devon’s website. I want to see what he’s all about.’ So, again, if it’s creating your brand, I would definitely have that as my background photo, I think that’s so cool. And immediately, right, you’re going to that website. So, Devin, that’s really awesome. Again, curious to see what you’re all about in terms of your website and what you’re doing. Great headshot. Again, easy to see who you are. Also, call out from Madison versus Devin, in Madison’s profile, there was a lot going on in the headline. 

In Devin’s, it’s more succinct. So, I would say really try and make your headline quick, catchy where it makes me want to look at your profile more. Devin is very clear and concise and I’m curious to learn more about him from below. Also, Devin included volunteer experience and, in most companies, giving back to the community, I mean at LinkedIn we have InDay, which is a day to give back and it is so important. I think we all have so many different nonprofit organizations or communities that we like to give back to. And I’m always curious to hear more about that story. So, having your volunteer experience listed is something that is really powerful. And hiring managers actually love seeing volunteer experience listed on their profile. That is a proven stat that was discovered on LinkedIn profiles.

And with volunteer experience, and I guess talking for everyone who is a student right now, if you’re part of a student organization, would that go under volunteer experience, work experience, especially if you are a president or VP, and you don’t have a lot of internship experience?

Megan: There’s not a right or wrong answer here. Again, it’s really just dependent on the role that you served. If you, let’s say, held a role at a nonprofit organization, I would probably include that in your experience section. If you volunteer, let’s say for the San Francisco Food Bank or if you volunteered for a different type of walk or you raised money, I would definitely include that in your volunteer experience. So, it’s really just dependent on the role that you held and the work that you were doing.

Amazing. All right. We’re going to shift to the next profile here and we will talk about Aisha’s profile. I think one thing that I noticed instantly is there’s no banner. And something that I saw is that she does social media and marketing at USC Annenberg. And I think a great extra point would be to show that marketing experience with that background.

Megan: Yeah, I would definitely love to see a background photo there again. And I mean, think of it on any other social media platforms that you’re on. Your eyes automatically go to something that is visually appealing. And I think on LinkedIn, having that background photo is extra leverage to really hone in on your story, hone in on your experience and what you’re trying to showcase to that recruiter. So, again, I would love to see something there. I think that would be really inviting on your profile. So, definitely try and add something there later on this evening.

And I know we talked about sections. I can see here, it’s pretty detailed. That’s great. She has very detailed experience. She is writing articles for the Daily Trojan, maybe actually adding media and snippets of those specific articles could be a great addition to see writing skills. And then if we dive down here and talk about skills and endorsements, which is a section we have not talked about yet. The numbers here and for everyone who maybe doesn’t know it’s pertaining to how many people have endorsed you for that specific skill. So, Mo, do skills and endorsements matter if a candidate has more endorsed skills than others. I mean, is that a huge bonus? What are your thoughts?

Megan: Yeah, a lot of the time right on the skills section, you’ll actually see people use their about me section to list their skills. So, a lot of times as any recruiter is running a Boolean search on our LinkedIn recruiter tool, skills is actually a field that will filter candidates by. I think a lot of people don’t use skills because they don’t really know what that section is, and they’d rather use the skills up above in their about me section. 

But again, your about me section is telling more about your personal and professional story. Your skills are a great way to add all the skills that you’re good at. Now again, be mindful of the amount of skills that you add on. You don’t want to list all of these skills and maybe you’ve only touched them once. Endorsements are great as well. I mean, as a recruiter, find more value in recommendations on someone’s profile, but still, if you can get endorsed for a specific skill, I think it’s definitely valuable to have on your profile.

And you mentioned Boolean search, can you share with the audience what does a boolean search mean pertaining to a recruiter’s role?

Megan: Yeah, so as a recruiter, I use LinkedIn Recruiter to source passive talent. So, I’ll go into our LinkedIn Recruiter tool, which is different from your regular LinkedIn. If you tap on Work up at the right-hand corner, that’s where I have access as a recruiter too, I have the ability to filter and search specific keywords on a LinkedIn profile. So that’s why again, it’s really important to include as much detail about your professional journey as you can on your LinkedIn profile because you’re more likely to get found by a recruiter on LinkedIn. So, for example, let’s say you do not have graphic design listed on your profile, but you are in fact a graphic designer, as a recruiter when I go to filter skills as a graphic design and I’ll also do a Boolean search to look at keywords, if you have that listed on your profile, you will be found. If you do not have that listed on your profile, you won’t be found. So, there could be multiple dream jobs out there that you have no idea about if you don’t have your LinkedIn profile filled out.

But I don’t think anyone talks about tailoring your LinkedIn keywords to the job description because there are sorcerers who find talent and maybe you’re not hitting those specific keyword searches without optimizing your profile. So, such great points and thank you for talking about Boolean searches. Now, we will bring in the next profile as that’s loading, we have Adriana.

Megan: Awesome! As you can see, Adriana has a very simplified headline Admin Assistant/Executive Account/Financial Advisor. What I like to share with our headlines too is try and make it catchy, right? And I think by putting recruiting ninja on my headline not common compared to a recruiter. And so, the more creative you can get on your headline, the more likely I am to tap into your profile and review more about your experience. So, keep that in mind too. Again, try and make your headline catchy not just necessarily list out every role that you’ve held or list out everything that you’re interested in. If you can try and be creative with your headline, it’s going to allow recruiters again to attract you more to your profile.

And this about the section, do you think this is a good amount?

Megan: What I like about this section is that she summarizes it. But Adriana, I can see at the bottom, you put when I’m not consulting with clients, I’m enjoying biking. I think a great area in your about me section is actually to include your passion, your personal, your hobbies, your goals and break it down in quick little summarized recaps and actually title it that way. Again, there are lots of examples out on LinkedIn, but I think having kind of an indicator and divider of what you’re going to be talking about in each section is important. What I do think is really important for bullets in your experience is calling out an achievement. So, if you’re in sales and hit your above quota or if I filled X amount of roles per quarter, that’s better to use a bullet point. You can still summarize your top section, but any key highlights you can actually bullet in your experience.

And then it says here that she studies business administration at IBC. Are you curious as a recruiter to see what year she is in school? Is it a good practice to put sophomore or senior at IBC or a certain school?

Megan: Great question! So, you actually don’t even need to put this in your headline if you do not want to. You can actually include this in your education section, which again, your about me section and your headline is really a chance for you to be different and attract recruiters to your profile. You still want to again be engaging and include your experience or parts of your experience there. But if you want to save room in your headline, you could always include that on the bottom. Obviously, as a recruiter again we’re going to your profile. We will see where you’re at currently and what you’re studying.

Amazing. And we’ll just quickly glance through here. So, again, there’s another welcome to my profile. Is that inviting to you or is that may be a waste of space and they can use that for something else?

Megan: Yeah. So, in this scenario, right? It’s inviting and I think you don’t necessarily need to say welcome to my profile. Hi, my name is, but I do think there is some element of welcomeness and authenticity there. So, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. However, if you tend to over communicate your about me section, I need a safe space then I would say maybe remove it. But where she has a welcome to my profile and it seems pretty summarized and concise, then I would say that is okay and it’s inviting to use.

And how about this right here? So, it says feel free to reach out to me. There’s her email but I can just press contact info here to get her email. Is that something where you’re more inclined to reach out to her if it says, ‘feel free to reach out to me,’ or again it’s something that you can use for something else?

Megan: So, typically for privacy reasons, I always want to make sure that I actually reach out to the candidate on InMail and make sure that we get an agreement for me to actually send her an email. What you’ll find on your LinkedIn profile is that there’s so many areas where you can include different information. I would say just feel free to use your contact information as where you put your email. Again, recruiters will have access to that. If you feel more comfortable including it in your about me section, you can definitely do that. But the LinkedIn profile was designed to actually have certain sections to show certain information. So, in this example you can include your email in the contact information, recruiters will see that.

Amazing! And I think that’s the last profile that we’ll be able to review. But for all the attendees, we have a few minutes, drop your questions in the comment box and I will throw some comments on the screen and we’ll rapid fire ask. We’ll have a few last questions before we let her go. Okay. So, there’s a question and you said that recruiters look at activity. How about the number of connections? If someone has 300 connections versus 3000 connections, is that a big difference that they’re more active on the platform?

Megan: Great question! And this was actually I think a myth back in the day where people did not reach out to other people on LinkedIn if they only had X amount of connections. I don’t think there is a protocol to it. However, I will say being at LinkedIn if you have over 500 plus, it really shows that you’re active on the platform. You’re networking with others. From a candidate’s point of view, I would actually say if you only have 100 plus connections now is the time to start to network and build your brand on LinkedIn. So, you want to connect with people that are going to add value, that you know that you can maybe reach out to and talk to about career information, but I wouldn’t take it as I’m not going to reach out to this person if they only have X amount of connections and want to learn more about their experience, how they use LinkedIn and then go from there.

Amazing. And that about wraps up the episode 13 live showing with Mo or Megan O’Meara. Make sure to follow Megan and take her advice to build that warm connection, reach out to her, thank her for her time today, and may be engaged with her posts and her content. Thanks again, Mo and thanks to everyone tuning in. Have a great rest of your night and we’ll see you next week for episode 14.

Megan: Thanks, AJ. Bye everyone.

Outro

Now, I know why people call Megan a recruiting ninja. It was fascinating to see how Megan goes about reviewing candidate profiles and what key items she’s really looking for. I really enjoyed the real time LinkedIn reviews, especially how important Megan said it was to have a clear and concise headline. Be sure to show us some love by subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review. Until the next episode of the final round podcast, keep fighting and I will see you in the ring.