Insiders guide to LinkedIn

An Insider’s Guide to Nailing Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is, without a doubt, the most effective platform for professional branding.

For recruiters, the platform enables head-hunting the very best talent. For candidates, it allows you to market your skills and interests to a professional network, all while giving you access to a range of opportunities and exposure. Here we share some pro and insider tips when building your LinkedIn profile.

How important is LinkedIn to the job search? Love it or hate it, LinkedIn is the best tool out there to help you find a new job. Yes, job boards are still heavily used by recruiters and companies alike, but LinkedIn enables you to advertise yourself far better than by merely submitting a CV.

Here are some of the most significant advantages of a good LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn allows you to express yourself professionally and uniquely, enabling you to stand out from the crowd of similarly skilled job hunting rivals. You can demonstrate y our personality, your enthusiasm, your pragmatism, and even your sense of humour with LinkedIn. Trying this approach in a CV may not be beneficial depending on the industry you’re in! We’ve come across a multitude of quotes in job title sections of Linkedin profiles. While these showcase personality and aspirations - be aware of the industry you’re in and what level of professionalism you’d need to display. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value” –Albert Einstein – 1320 profiles.

“Do or do not. There is no try” -

Yoda - 1368 profiles.

This one is a nailbiter. Yoda’s passionate speech, addressing a doubtful Luke Skywalker, inspired a mere 48 people more than Albert Einstein’s wisdom. You might think that Star Wars quotes are particularly popular among the IT crowd, many of whom were around in 1980 to witness this moment live, in the movies – and you’d be right!

Here’s what most of the recruiters are paying attention to: Your attention to detail when describing yourself is what is paid attention to most on your profile. Spelling mstakes on a profile/CV stand out like a broken pixel on a TV and don’t give assurances you’re not going to make these mistakes in your work. Ensuring you’re accurate with your spelling and grammar is fundamental when putting yourself out there on the job market. It’s also important to nail that summary section. Believe it or not, bullet points are beneficial. Some of the most useful summaries are those which include a short introduction in the first person. Around five lines are enough, which notes your primary experience, what you’re most skilled at and enjoy most, and what your current role entails. Don’t be afraid to mention tech here too. Below the summary, you should bullet point list your primary skills in descending order. Recruiters head-hunt talent using keywords, so make sure to highlight keywords that accurately demonstrate your core values and skill-set.

Presenting your job history concisely & effectively. The most effective way of doing this is to chronologically list your job history and your current/most recent role at the top.

Most companies don’t care what you were doing 20 years ago, especially if it was an unrelated role to what you would be doing for them. Within this list, the most effective way of demonstrating that you could be a potential candidate is to give an overview of what you’re doing within that role. A short bullet point list of the tech/duties involved, then finish it off with a couple of lines about your achievements - the best way of piquing interest. Be sure to have consistency between your LI profile and your CV. The best way to make that headline stand out?

Emojis! No, obviously joking. Whilst putting emojis in a headline is different from what most people do, it makes one stand out for the wrong reasons. Your headline should be short, accurate and truthful. You’ll see many people on LinkedIn proclaiming that they’re

Entrepreneurs or Gurus or the Mandalorians of their industry. Only those people believe that, so if you want to be taken seriously, be honest. You’re not going to get hired because you’ve invented a snazzy title for yourself.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do” –

Steve Jobs - 4.909 profiles.

We agree with Steve. You need to love what you do to do great work. You need to work for it - and likely a lot.

But as Marc Anthony and many others already knew: “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” (83 profiles).

A quick reminder that Marc was married with J.Lo for ten years. Posting content & what not to do Candidates don’t need to worry about doing lots of posting on LinkedIn. If it’s a requirement of your day to day job, i.e. you’re a marketer or spokesperson for your company you should be mindful of that. If so, post relevant content, not quizzes about what type of bread you are, your personality, or your daily routine. No one goes on LinkedIn to find out what time you usually wake up.

“Work hard, play hard” - Unknown – 12.909 profiles.

Did you expect this one?

This phrase indeed leaves room for interpretation. Does it mean that after working hard, you enjoy a lavish lifestyle? Does it mean that you also tend to be especially attracted to leisure when you believe in hard work as a recent study suggests? Or are some people who use this phrase inspired by Wiz Khalifa’s and Dj Tiesto’s lyrics? In absolute numbers, Amazon employs the most people with this quote. But while Amazon is simply a gigantic company, another company called “Rock Central” employs a whopping 22 people with this quote on their profile. That is nearly 7% of their staff! Can you imagine that work environment? Neither can we.

Pro Tip! If you’re a .NET Developer, for example, it would be welcome to post material that your community would find useful, articles discussing best practice or upcoming version releases and so on. A content strategy makes you stand out, shows real enthusiasm when interviewing for your next position, and shows conceptual aptitude for your new job.

Updating your LinkedIn profile for 2021: 3 key takeaways

Don’t make your LI profile a carbon copy of your CV. LinkedIn is an online platform for professionals to share their experiences and get noticed for their work. If it’s a copy of your CV, you’re missing the point of LinkedIn. If a CV is a picture, think of LinkedIn as a video. Be honest about who you are and what you do. Don’t create job titles or positions which you think are niche or cool. LinkedIn is far more transparent and is not social media. If someone reads your fictional job title and still wonders what you do, you’re missing the point of LinkedIn. Try not to overdo the emojis; you’re an adult. No one likes to see a profile full of the eggplant emoji unless you sell eggplants for a living. And even then, what are you doing on LinkedIn? Also, a good and sensible recent photo helps. Remember why Kennedy beat Nixon; that reason is still a subliminally present factor.

A Brief History of Disruption: Through the Eyes of a Blockchain Startup

About Aikon:

We believe in the decentralised future. A world where everything will be digitised - and tokenised. Where every asset and service can be managed more safely, easily, and without middlemen.

“Will blockchain disrupt my industry?” is one of the most asked questions since the technology’s

inception in 2008. And rightfully so.

With transparency and increased security being at the core of the blockchain concept, solving many of the current issues for corporations and individuals alike, blockchain seems to be positioned correctly for triggering fundamental changes all around. The core blockchain concept of a decentralised network provides increased transaction transparency and security than any existing information system. Hence, this technology offers answers to many of the contemporary issues corporations and individuals both face at the moment. In this sense, blockchain seems to be perfectly positioned for triggering fundamental changes all around. However, to fully understand the term disruption and distinguish it from buzzwords companies use to stand out, it’s essential to look at some of the most famous disruptive innovation examples and understand how people chasing dreams took their respective industries by storm.

Nikola Tesla: Alternating Current (AC)

At the sunset of the 19th century, electric companies have been aggressively competing in a promising new industry that was drawing much capital. It inevitably led to what is now known as the war of the currents — a battle between two high-profile figures of the time, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison and their inventions — high voltage alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) systems, respectively. One of Nikola Tesla’s inventions, AC, was first deemed too dangerous for everyday use, especially after being promoted as such by the competition. However, the advantages of long-distance, high-voltage current transmission and low-cost maintenance soon gained traction as electricity was slowly entering homes at large. Moreover, it opened the possibility of achieving more significant scaling of economies and boosting industrial development further and faster than anyone anticipated at that time.

Alexander Graham Bell: Telephone

Although a constant in our lives today, when it first appeared, the telephone represented groundbreaking technology — a means of transmitting information vocally across great distances in a quick manner. It allowed for efficient communication between towns, countries, and finally continents which translated into social decentralisation, more flexible work arrangements, aid to first responders, and more. The change in people’s everyday habits was enormous, but it also created opportunities for a completely new industry to be born and grown around Bell’s invention. Although it has changed and significantly improved over the century and a half, the telephone’s influence has been as disruptive to people’s everyday lives then as blockchain commercialisation is today.

Steve Jobs: Macintosh, iPod, iPad, iPhone

In more recent history, one of the legendary inventor figures certainly has been Steve Jobs. Jobs and his business partner Steve Wozniak made complex computer technology more user-friendly and comprehensible with a long list of devices that revolutionised the computer and mobile communications industry. It also popularised the use of technology outside of strictly scientific or business-related environments. For instance, one of Steve Jobs’s inventions — the iPod, with its small dimensions, made music more available to people on the go. And while it may not sound like such a disruptive invention, music lovers who were once towing cassette players or confined to enjoying their favourite tunes in their homes, now had practically unlimited possibilities - and to them, that was positively disruptive. Not to mention the increased reach music now possessed, which ultimately upturned the entire industry.

It seemed so simple, yet so ridiculous — why would movie studios even want to get in on that?

Shigeru Miyamoto: Wii

During the 1980s, Nintendo became a household name. Still, the truly disruptive innovation by one of the most famous people in tech came two decades later with the introduction of an entirely new way of playing video games. Miyamoto made video games much easier to control via hand gestures - an idea that practically rebooted the videogame industry and made Nintendo’s competitors follow its lead in future developments. It also created a fantastic opportunity for video games to remain the favourite pastime by creating new player experiences. Even though the future improvements surpassed it, Shigeru Miyamoto’s inventions made a permanent mark on a generation and created a demand for decades to come.

Marc Randolf: Netflix

With the idea of making renting movies easier, Marc Randolf and Reed Hastings started a movie rental company in 1997. The concept was simple - order movies online, get them in the mail, return them the same way when done. Even then, it was a new take on video rental stores and an especially convenient option for those who didn’t have one nearby. However, the two have gotten their names on the list of innovators with the idea of turning Netflix into a video content streaming platform. It seemed so simple, yet so ridiculous — why would movie studios even want to get in on that? Would users pay to watch movies and TV shows in an entirely new way? As it turned out, yes, users saw the value and started flocking to subscribe to the service. The level of disruption Netflix has initiated in the rental movie industry is seen because it has reduced its fiercest competitor Blockbuster to one final store out of 9,000. Netflix forever changed how we accessed video content and became a need for numerous movie buffs out there.

So What Does Disruption Mean?

Based on the industry disruption examples, an idea at the bottom of the market is undervalued and with a low-class reputation — but with enough advantages over well-established products or services to become more appealing to the same consumer to displace them altogether. These are precisely the characteristics that blockchain can contribute to various industries and thus drastically change their landscapes and force companies to adapt quickly or perish. For instance, companies like Shutterstock can reduce tax liability by implementing smart contracts and reducing the fees associated with international financial transactions.

Industries Blockchain Will Disrupt

There have been significant changes in several industries already, and more are expected to take place. Here are the most affected sectors by blockchain-brought innovations: • Financial services: This sector provides some of the most visible disruptive innovation examples. Blockchainbased systems have already improved the speed and cost of financial transactions while offering a more transparent and secure accounting form. Distributed architecture and decentralisation concepts continue to modernise conventional financial services, with the idea of “decentralised finance” (Defi) taking shape through directly connected participants as equals.

Without the need for intermediaries or centralised institutions, people are engaging in P2P lending and borrowing with complete control over assets via non-custodial wallets. Users maintain control over their rights to assets and identity through its safekeeping. Blockchain changing all aspects of existing financial services is one of the most notable avenues of disruption for blockchain. Most significant financial service disruption from blockchain has already begun with the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) movement. The decentralised financial system allows all actors to conduct transactions wholly transparent and accessible and within fair governance standards. • Healthcare: Turning back to more providing more reliable and personalised service are the primary healthcare systems. Patients feel more comfortable managing and treating health issues from their homes with technology, leading to remote monitoring and self-checkup technologies (e.g. smartwatch, smart band). Blockchain provides the opportunity for patients to share anonymised data while still protecting their privacy. Logistics: To stop wasting resources and improve process efficiency, logistics companies are rapidly turning to blockchain technology for sharing information among a whole ecosystem of partners, while still preserving data privacy. Energy trading and renewables: Blockchain commercialisation is slowly paving the way for smart contract-based local renewable energy markets to trade energy with significant financial benefits. Adtech and privacy: Using the blockchain network for consumer information, the opt-in/out data can be shared between publishers and advertisers via a standardised consent management solution. Utilising consent provenance this way also aids companies to comply with various privacy legislations.

Conclusion

Given the speed with which blockchain technology is developing and the variety of uses it brings, it’s inevitable that it touches all aspects of business development. Bearing this in mind, it makes sense for your company to proactively take on the role of disruptor and make changes on your terms.

Blockchain will disrupt every industry — will your company be ready?

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