LinkedIn Playbook: High-Impact, Low-Time LinkedIn Habits

I Don’t Have Time Myth

Most professionals only log into LinkedIn when they are actively desperate for a new job. That’s a mistake—by then, your network is cold, and you're starting from behind. You don't need to become a full-time content creator. You just need consistency. 15 minutes of strategic activity a day keeps your profile active in the algorithm and keeps you visible to recruiters. Think about this from a different perspective, a health lens: Treat this 15-minute block like a daily professional vitamin, not a major operation.

15-Minute Daily Routine

Let’s break down our quick, 15-minute habit or routine into three digestible and distinct parts. I recommend opening with some time that I describe as Warm-Up (you may think about it as a clean up from the previous day), followed by High Value Engagement, and you wrap up with some Warm Outreach. Below you can see a bit more about each of these. You may find that on some days, you invest more time with your Warm-Up, and that is OK!

Warm—Up

Playing sports all my life, I’ve come to understand the importance of warming up… although maybe age as something to do with how much I value that now! With your LinkedIn routine, the Warm-Up is designed as a 3-5 minute lead in to get rolling! During this time, you should check on your pending connections from previous outreach and view any messages or comments that you may have received back from prior engagements. There are some days that you may receive 5 messages from different people, and your warm-up takes more than 5-minutes, which is great! Those responses and engagements can take more dedicated time in those situations.

You’ll also want to review and accept any pending connection invitations during the warm-up. You may even have some spam to delete. If you don’t have much to do with any of these tasks, take a minute or two to hit your profile and make updates, or browse some groups that may add value to your LinkedIn experience!

High Value Engagement

Instead of hitting LinkedIn and mindlessly scrolling through your feed, we are going to be more intentional. For 5-7 minutes, your goal is to identify two or three posts and comment on them. These posts can be from industry leaders, target companies, or active LinkedIn groups you are a member of. Some professionals believe that in order to maximize on LinkedIn, they have to develop posts and content, but comments are a great, secret backdoor to networking efficiently on LinkedIn.

Your comments should have depth and be insightful. Leave a thoughtful, substantive comment on each. Don't just type "Great post!" Add a sentence of perspective (e.g., "I've noticed this trend in the logistics sector as well, especially when handling scale..."). Don’t confuse substantive with a long, drawn-out post though. You don’t need to write a novel to be thoughtful and insightful. As with all things, I recommend being authentic and genuine with your comments!

Warm Outreach

With the last 5 minutes of our daily LinkedIn time, we want to strategically engage with connections. The task is simple: Intentionally message one current connection and reach out to one new connection possibility. When considering your established network, there are a variety of options for a message, such as congratulating someone on a promotion or new role, reconnecting to schedule a coffee date, or check in on someone who was working on a project or assignment. With new outreach, this could be a recruiter for a target company or a professional in a role that you aspire to be in one day - sent with a low pressure message inviting them to connect.

Profile Check

What good is building a strong habit for active engagement on LinkedIn if your profile is out-of-date? If a recruiter clicks on your name from a comment and finds an outdated, text-heavy profile that reads like a boring job description, your 15 minutes are wasted. We want to make sure that your profile is optimized to showcase the value you bring to any company or opportunity!

Next Steps

The first thing you should do is carve out when you’ll set your 15-minute LinkedIn routine. Some people like the same time everyday, while others like to move it around. Do you, but put it on your calendar! Build the habit - set reminders - do the tasks. As you move to being more active on LinkedIn, it’s important that you’ve optimized your profile. This can be a great place to start and where I can definitely help. You can schedule a LinkedIn appointment with me easily. We can review your profile and make improvements, strategize your outreach, research companies and groups, or start with the basics if LinkedIn is new for you!

The Mid-Year Career Audit: How to Evaluate Your Professional Trajectory

Power of Reflection

Many professionals only reflect on their careers during specific times, most notably at performance reviews. While those are good times to take time to reflect on the previous year, reviews also carry additional weight and focus from supervisors. With many performance reviews occurring in December/January, this makes June an ideal time to do personal reflection. If your performance reviews occur in the summer time, flipping the calendar and revisiting this in December is ideal.

Reflecting on where you’ve been this year and what you’d still like to accomplish is valuable at a mid-way point through the year, but professionals should view this as a health check on their career. From that lens, this career health check can become an annual “winning move” that helps you audit your career equity.

4 Principles to Evaluate

For our mid-year career audit, we will dive into 4 principles we recommend evaluating. Taking time to reflect on each principle will allow you, as a professional, to gain a holistic understanding of your current career situation.

Impact Audit

When was the last time you updated, or even thought about, your resume? I’ve worked with professionals that had not updated their resume in years, which often leads to forgetting some of the wins they’ve had throughout the years (small & big accomplishments). If you actively review your goals or metrics during performance reviews, take some time to think about what you have accomplished in the time since that last review. What are some metrics and successes that you can claim? I encourage you to write down those wins - and celebrate them if you haven’t! Once you have these written out, where do you want or need to go from here? Mapping out the rest of your year, making pivots, and adjusting course can set you up for great professional growth.

Compensation Audit

Budgets for next financial year begin to be drafted and worked through between Q2 and Q3 for many employers. Your financial audit should begin now as well - position yourself BEFORE budgets are finalized and approved. Think about some of these questions: Is your salary keeping pace with industry expectations? Have you researched what your market value is? Are you being squeezed to fill two jobs instead of one? Have your contributions and successes exceeded goals, metrics, and expectations? Reflecting on and answering these questions can help you determine if a raise should be advocated for, and help you illustrate your argument for the raise. Doing a market analysis for yourself can also help determine your current value!

Fulfillment Audit

Fulfillment principles aren’t as easy to evaluate. They take deeper reflection, but are critically important. A lack of fulfillment can lead to professional burnout - sometimes this hits hard and fast, while other times it happens over the span of years. Some may call this a sanity audit, reflecting on the mental aspects of their professional life. Consider how you FEEL about the work you are doing. An important consideration for many professionals is are you still learning and growing, or just coasting through the motions. Take time to reflect on whether or not your current role still fits within your long-term professional trajectory or goals.

Network Audit

Relationships are the backbone of professional networks. Summer time is the perfect time to “heat up” those connections and relationships, especially if they’ve gone cold over time. Connect back with our previous blog for ways to network during the summer months if you need some inspiration. The network principle consists of two main pillars for a professional, the internal company network, and the external professional network. Spending time on both this summer will put you in the driver’s seat for your next move!

Next Steps

An audit without execution is potentially just an itemized list of frustrations. Whether your audit reveals it’s time to advocate for a promotion internally or quietly launch a confidential external pivot, you don't have to map out that playbook alone. If there are pieces of this puzzle that you’d like help with, schedule your Career Audit appointment today to review the 4 principles and design a carefully constructed, personalized plan for continued career growth!

Summer Networking Secrets

With summer fast approaching, and hopefully here to stay in Ohio (where Winning Move Careers is based out of), I thought it would be a great opportunity to share some insights and secrets to maximize your time networking this summer! We will focus on 3 successful strategies for summer, along with examples of where you may connect with for events.

Turning “Out-of-Office” Dead Ends into a Competitive Advantage

Summer is of course a time that professionals take advantage of weather and school being out to take much needed time away from the office. For a savvy networker, this doesn’t create a barrier, but an opportunity! Most people list a date that they will return to the office. So, as you email professionals and receive that dreaded reply that they are out until ‘X’ date, make a note of that date. This is a great time to recommend having some sort of database to record these things! Set yourself a reminder to follow up with another email to that contact 2-3 days after the return to office date!

Leverage the Summer Slack for a Win

Think about what we’ve shared above - the weather is nice, vacations are ripe for the taking, some professionals are out of the office. This also leads to much of your competition taking a 3-month hiatus from networking. This means you can stay top of mind for your connections, executives, and decision makers. Many decision makers have additional flexibility during the summer months due to vacations and other factors. That flexibility gives you ample opportunities to take advantage! A low-pressure conversation with someone interested in learning more about them or their company is just what the summer doctor ordered.

Capitalize on Summer Events

Have you ever thought about where people are during the summer months? Which local venues host corporate events during the summer? Doing some research can give you an inside scoop on where you can find and connect with professionals you are interested in talking to. As an example, if you are a sports fan like I am, attending a major or minor league baseball game is a great way to see a lot of people. There are often groups there from companies, and you can always find some logos on shirts. Standing in line for a drink? Strike up a conversation with the people around you! If that conversation is something you’d like to continue, get their contact information for a follow up. You don’t need to take 50 copies of your resume to an event to stand out - start and maintain quality conversations is enough to get you in the door.

Where to Find Events

Where ever you find yourself during the summer, there are organizations that host events for professionals to connect. If you are interested in specific industries, look for national, state, and local organizations that might host an event you can attend. Most major cities have young professionals organizations that are great. Many groups host events like golf outings or other fundraisers you may consider attending!

If you are local to the Cleveland/Akron areas, organizations like Engage! Cleveland or the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club are great starting spots to seek out some great events.

Are you service minded? Connect with community organizations and non-profits that are hosting events. These are great ways to make a positive impact on the community and meet other people who share that same passion!