Breaking News – If you’ve ever wanted to support a cause through your LinkedIn profile, you can do it now!
But wait! There’s more!
You can even list your volunteer experience!
And none of this was possible before today… except all of it was…
What you could do
Way back in the beginning – before I had even written The LinkedIn Personal Trainer, I was telling people to get creative with their profiles.
You know – suggesting significant volunteer activity be listed as a job, urging people to describe themselves and their passions within the interests and groups sections. Trying to get you to make sure readers understood you were a real person with real interests…
What you can do now
And now there’s a section for all that information.
You can list “volunteer positions”, identify “causes”, and support “organizations”. It looks something like this:
(The lopping off of the lower part of the g, and left side of the left bullet are errors from LinkedIn, not me – apparently they’re still working the bugs out.)
Coloring within the lines
If you were waiting for the profile to allow you to identify your volunteer activity, list causes that you care about, or mention organizations that you support, you’re all set.
Of course I expect that people that did all of those things in the past already found ways of expressing that content within their profiles…
Wearing the pin
Perhaps some readers will think I’m being callous to important causes and organizations – that is absolutely not my intent.
I’m meaning to indicate that if everyone is expected to check off 2-4 causes that they care about that caring about causes losses its value.
One can care about something without displaying a slogan on one’s T-shirt, signing up for the e-zine, or wearing the lapel pin.
Go ahead!
Please – don’t let me stop you from using this added profile section. I’ll leave mine in there for a while – maybe it’ll get people to find my article on “Thought Watchers” – it is definitely worth your time to check out. (especially if you’ve had too many weighty thoughts on your mind lately)
There’s nothing wrong with it – it just seems needless to me. (And maybe you’ll consider it more and find some new ways to support your cause or organization)
Do you have a Personal Brand?
That’s the more important question- have you defined your brand, and does your LinkedIn profile support it?
If not, that’s the thing you have to work on first.
To your continued success,
steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock