USING LINKEDININ A CAPSTONE MARKETING COURSE

FOR PERSONAL BRANDINGAND JOB SEARCH

Denny McCorkle, D.B.A. Professor of Marketing

University of Northern Colorado

Joe Alexander, D.B.A.Associate Dean and

Senior Professor of Performance ExcellenceBelmont University

Memo Diriker, D.B.ADirector of BEACONSalisbury University

Marketing Edge Summit,

New Orleans, LA,

October 7, 2017.

Introduction – LinkedIn Network

■ LinkedIn is the largest professional social network with

more than 500 million users (128 million in U.S.).

■ Students & recent grads are the fastest growing

demographic on LinkedIn (40 million).

■ Yet, only 13% of millennials (15-34 years old) use

LinkedIn.

Compilation of Stats from:

220 Amazing LinkedIn Statistics and Facts (September 2017), DMR Stats

Introduction – LinkedIn Professionals

■ 80 percent of LinkedIn professionals consider that

professional networking is important for their career

progression.

■ Yet, 38 percent find it hard to stay in touch with their

network.

■ With 49 percent saying it is because of time.

■ And, 61 percent agree that regular online interaction

with their network will open job opportunities.

Global Survey by LinkedIn: Eighty-percent of professionals consider networking

important to career success (June 22, 2017), LinkedIn Newsroom

Introduction –LinkedIn Jobs

Looking For A Job? Here Are the Top 15 Roles

Recruiters On LinkedIn Are Looking For (April 10,

2017), LinkedIn: Jobs

Selected Academic Publications■ Mostly about pedagogy or best practices.

■ In the Marketing classroom:

– McCorkle & McCorkle (2012) – assignment to develop networking skills

– Peterson & Dover (2014) – exercise for connections, internships and jobs

– McCabe (2017) – presents a social media job search model using LinkedIng

■ In the Communications classroom:

– Slone & Gaffney (2016) – assignment to develop online presence

– Hutchins (2016) – suggested assignments using LI to teach about content marketing, SEO and online

reputation management

■ In Career Services:

– Schneiderman & Kimberly (2016) – advice for profiles and connections

■ In Recruitment:

– Zide, Elman & Shanhani-Denning (2016) – examined profile differences across 3 industries

■ Other:

– Florenthal (2015) – explored motivations and inhibitors for student use of LinkedIn

Why is LinkedIn important?Of the 70% that use social media to screen candidates:

■ 61% looking for supporting information.

■ 50% looking for a professional online persona.

■ 37% looking to see what others are posting about you.

■ 24% looking for reasons not to hire you.

******

■ 54% found reasons not to hire.

■ 44% have found content that resulted in a hire.

■ 57% are less likely to interview those with no online

presence.

Survey of 2300+ hiring manager and HR resource professionals by

Career Builder Feb/March 2017

Benefits of LinkedIn to Students.

■ Personal branding profile – resume plus expanded education,

experiences, courses, projects, certifications, etc.

■ Social connections – with like-minded professionals, career

stakeholders & potential employers

■ Opportunity to learn – from influencers in their career-focus &

connections

■ Job search listings (active) and social recruiting (passive)

■ Social share and engage with career relevant content – to

showcase personal name, personal brand & what they are

learning to keep their profile top-of-mind

The Marketing Strategies Capstone Course

■ Final course required of our students with a

Marketing Emphasis (major).

■ Typically final semester before graduation and in the

beginning to middle stages of their job search.

■ The assignments:

– Personal SWOT

– LinkedIn Project

Personal SWOT (25 points, week 5)■ Strengths - What are your current personal strengths? Explain why and/or provide evidence.

■ Weaknesses - What are your current personal weaknesses? Explain why and/or provide evidence.

■ Market Opportunities - Using the Occupational Outlook Handbook, identify two to three areas of career-focus/interest. (a) What are the market demand/trends for each of these areas of career interest? (b) What are the primary qualifications (education, skills, etc.) for each of these areas of career interest?

■ Threats - What are the major external threats (including competitors) to your specific job search? Explain.

■ S-O Connection - Based on your strengths (S) and your research about career opportunities (O), which of your potential career-focuses are you best qualified? Explain.

■ W-T Connection - What can you specifically do to improve on your weaknesses (W) to lessen the external threats (T) for your career-focus? Be specific. Explain.

■ Point of Difference (POD) – Based on the results of this SWOT, what makes you different from all the others competing for your chosen job/career? If none, then what can you specifically do to develop yourself a marketable point of difference? Then, how can you showcase your point of difference in your resume, during job interviews, and on your LinkedIn profile?

■ Profile Improvement - How can you use the results of this SWOT to better show and sell yourself on LinkedIn? Explain and be specific as to the sections of LinkedIn that can be improved and how you specifically can improve them.

■ Using a SWOT Analysis in Your Career Planning

LinkedIn Project (50 points, weeks 7 and 8)■ Personal Name SEO – optimize resume name for Google search and personal name trigger points

(resume, email signature, business card); adjust [Direct Channel Strategy, ORM]

■ Keyword Career Topics SEO – to define and optimize career-focus, career-related subtopics, skills and hashtags for profile, social sharing and PLN development [Social Recruiting Strategy]

■ Target Markets – add connections, such as influencers to learn from, career stakeholders/references, alumni, potential employers, physical networking contacts, etc.

■ PLN Set-Up – develop personal learning network using Feedly and AllTop, RSS subscribe and organize in folders by career-related subtopics [Content Marketing Strategy]

■ LinkedIn Profile [Personal Branding Strategy, SMO]

– Headline – student status and career-focus

– Summary – tell personal brand story and end with CTA

– Rest of profile – education, experience, courses, certifications, projects/e-portfolio, skills, references

■ 2 Weeks of Measured Social Activity [Social Selling Strategy], with expectations for:

– Engagement with connections – Likes, Comments, Shares

– Social sharing – others’ content from Feedly, with added comment

– Group engagement – Likes, Social Shares, Comments

■ Measurable Results – new connections, profile views, social share engagement

Student Feedback (n=20)

Benefits: the LinkedIn Project has helped me (1=SD to 7=SA): Average

Define my personal brand. 6.15

Identify and define my career focus. 6.10

Understand my most marketable strengths/qualifications. 6.10

Develop my social networking skills. 6.00

Find content to learn for my future career. 6.00

Understand how to use any social network for personal branding and job search. 5.90

Market my personal brand. 5.85

Become a more competitive job applicant. 5.85

Make relevant professional connections. 5.85

Increase the number of career relevant skills endorsements. 5.80

Student Feedback

Benefits: the LinkedIn Project has helped me (1=SD to 7=SA): Average

Increase my self-confidence in my personal branding. 5.80

Show more than just tell (projects portfolio, etc.). 5.75

Develop networking skills for the future. 5.75

Find content to social share for my future career. 5.75

Increase my self-confidence in my job search. 5.70

Increase my self-confidence in using social media for personal branding and job

search.

5.60

Understand what is needed for the job search. 5.60

Increase the number of career relevant recommendations. 5.55

Progress in my job search. 5.35

Improve my grade in the course. 5.20

Student FeedbackResults: I have already had noticeable results with my use of LinkedIn for personal branding

and/or job search (check all that apply):

Yes

Positive comments or feedback about my LI profile/activity from friends, family, or friends of family. 90%

Increased number of career relevant skills and endorsements. 85%

Positive comments or feedback about my LI profile/activity from those I don't really know (such as new

connections or professionals).

80%

Improved results in a Google search of my resume name. 80%

Increased number of career relevant recommendations. 70%

Positive comments or feedback about my LI profile/activity from current/past professors or current/past

employers.

65%

Inquiries about possible full-time work opportunities from employers. 60%

Inquiries about possible full-time work opportunities from recruiters. 55%

Inquiries about possible part-time work opportunities (not internships). 45%

I have had (or will have) a job interview that was greatly impacted by my LinkedIn profile and/or activity. 40%

I have had a job offer that was greatly impacted by my LinkedIn profile and/or activity. 40%

Inquiries about possible internship opportunities. 35%

Inquiries about possible volunteer opportunities. 25%

Lessons Learned from the LinkedIn Project

■ Students are quick to upload the contents of their resume, but slower to add

other content such as extra details in the Experience section (STAR), Projects

section (an e-portfolio), etc.

■ Students are shy about connecting and engaging with professionals in their

career-focus, especially those that they do not know personally. They are

more likely to engage with each other or with their professor.

■ They are more likely to press the Like button or share a link without added

comment than to press the Share button and add comment to encourage

engagement.

■ After the semester, their social sharing and efforts for social media

networking quickly fades (until I notice that they are back in the job market).

They don’t always see personal branding as a continuous process (or part of

the permanent job search).

Conclusions■ The use of LinkedIn in a capstone marketing course provides numerous benefits.

■ The greatest benefits included: a better understanding of personal branding, a

career-focus, and marketable strengths and qualifications.

■ Additionally, they developed their social networking, personal learning network, and

how to market their personal brand to be more competitive as a job applicant.

■ During the course of the semester, their use of LinkedIn also had numerous

actionable results.

■ These included: positive feedback about their profiles (from family, friends, and

connections), improved personal brand SEO, and increased number of skills

endorsements and recommendations.

■ In conclusion, the LinkedIn project is one of the most popular and real-world results

projects I have ever required in a marketing course.

■ Larger samples and continued research is needed.

Connect with Denny at:

■ Blog: DigitalSelfMarketingAdvantage.com

– Syndicated/Featured at: Social Media Today,

Business2Community

■ LinkedIn: Denny McCorkle

■ Twitter: @DennyMcCorkle

■ Email: Denny.McCorkle@unco.edu

Denny McCorkle ★ Digital Marketing Professor at UNCO

★ Social Media Marketing for Personal Branding & Job

Search (PB&J) ★ Blogger ★ Speaker ★ #DigitalSMA ★

#ALLinLinkedIn ★ #AhaLessons