Networking on LinkedIn can be confusing for young professionals, but it is SO important to learn how to use it effectively if you want to grow your career. In episode 20 of Work Mom Says: Don’t Be an Idiot, we explore ways to use LinkedIn that actually help you build relationships and better your career.
We invited Angela Buccellato of the Resume Rescue to join young professional Molly Wagner in a discussion of the power of LinkedIn when you’re just starting your career.
Themes discussed in this episode
- The six degrees of separation
- Authenticity on LinkedIn
- Connect with everyone you meet
- Stop being your own worst enemy
Featured Guests
Expert Guest: Angela Buccellato
Title: Owner of the Resume Rescue
What She Does: She helps clients at every stage of their career streamline the job search process. From resume writing and interview prep to LinkedIn profiles and career coaching, she takes the headache out of finding a job.
Connect: You can find her on LinkedIn and her website
Young Professional: Molly Wagner
Title: Digital Marketing Specialist at PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC
What She Does: Molly creates content and manages social media channels for clients in a variety of industries, including real estate, healthcare, and education.
Connect: You can find her on LinkedIn.
Episode Highlights
Timestamped inflection points from the show
8:40 – Shoot your shot: It never hurts to message or connect with people that interest you. The worst they can do is not respond.
10:10 – Be your authentic self: Post about who you are outside of work on LinkedIn.
16:10 – Engage with others: Commenting on others’ posts helps them get to know you.
17:15 – Connect with everyone: Even if you aren’t in the same industry, connect with everyone you meet. You never know if they can give you an opportunity.
20:00 – Six degrees of separation: Any two people in the world are separated by only five connections.
24:41 – Don’t talk negatively about your job on social media: Never complain about your job on LinkedIn because it negatively impacts how people see you and could cost you future opportunities.
Quotes
2:40 – Angela: “I think we worked with about 850 clients last year, a good 650 of those came from LinkedIn. So that’s amazing. It’s one of our best referral sources, and it’s just opened up opportunities that I would not have had outside of it.”
16:20 – Lori: “LinkedIn loves comments more than they do likes. So commenting on someone’s someone’s LinkedIn post is a form of love. And then the other thing is it helps them get to know who you are.”
19:05 – Angela: “You never know if you’re next to a CEO. You never know if you’re next to someone that can ultimately change your life, launch your business, or get you a job. I always say to be nice to people, have open conversations, and just connect with them. It’s as simple as that.”
21:50 – Angela: “That one interaction of just something as stupid as white claw playing bags (or cornhole or whatever anyone wants to call it) set the trajectory of me, not only like joining networking groups and expanding my reach of opportunity, but also connecting with people on LinkedIn and meeting you.”
23:05 – Lori: “The more people you know and have connected positive relationships with in business, the more successful you will be.”
Who is our ideal listener?
We do this podcast for young professionals, so they can learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience. We also do it to help them experience less drama and more success.
The ideal listener to me is anyone who is struggling at work with emotion management and anyone who’s struggling on an emotional level in the workplace. Honestly, that happens to all of us at some point. We get all knotted up about something. Someone was nasty to you in the parking lot before you went into work, so you’re a little anxious to start. The person that you sit next to gives you a dirty look or slams their office drawer. There’s just all these things that happen in your life day to day, and they create an emotional response.
At work, we’re expected to be logical. How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic. What we talk about on Work Mom Says has a lot to do with being strategic at work, being able to look at the big picture, not getting lost in the weeds. I tell people to back up, you put down the magnifying glass, look at the big picture when you’re responding to something. In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.
Being crabby, saying something negative to somebody at the office, or putting a snarky comment in an email isn’t really productive because from a strategic point of view, it’s all irrelevant. You should be looking at it from a logical perspective. Some of that involves framing, reframing, and being attentive to what you want your end goal for the situation.
What value can people get from listening to this podcast?
Listening to Work Mom Says is a really good way to grow your personal mood management skills, to grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view so that it’s easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.
When emotions go up, logic goes down. So, when you can keep your emotions steady and stable, and not grab a hold of that feeling of angst and make it worse, you’re going to be more logical in what you do. You’re going to make fewer mistakes. You’re going to be more productive overall. You’re going to have stronger relationships.
Another value I think people get out of this is learning to create connected positive relationships that last over time. That’s not always easy. A lot of what we talk about on Work Mom Says involves being able to create connected positive relationships and work environments, so that people want you on the team. You become an asset, and when you’re an asset, you’re going to be more successful.
I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind.
Why do I do this?
I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business, and I had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there is to make. I don’t hold myself out there as any kind of stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised and battered and beaten up and learned some really important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot that I was, and I was an idiot. However, I learned so much, and it’s really rewarding to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.
I also want to help them realize that a lot of things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office, so you can succeed.
Episode 20 – “Just Do the Damn Thing (on LinkedIn)” appeared first on Work Mom Says.