Tag: LinkedIn

Monetizing a Skill

Heck today a cat playing a toy piano can monetize their videos to earn income. I’m going to talk about getting extra money by using a skill or skill set on a job you create for yourself. More in the next blog entry about the specifics of where and how you can do this.

My experience is that a person should use LinkedIn to look for jobs and to recommend our connections for jobs. If you list on LinkedIn that you are Open to Work in a specific field you will get other LinkedIn members come calling for your service.

Here’s the word up about this though: I’ve been wary of persons who figure out what my personal email address is and send me a message to that account that is a cold call for me to hire them as the go-between for me and prospective clients of my services.

One man who sent me an email claiming he could get me public speaking gigs I confess I thought of as a pimp. Two others–a woman and a man–also claimed they could get me speaking engagements.

Just no. That’s about as reputable as trusting a business that staples their telephone number to a wooden telephone pole out on the street.

The worst is that you could get like I have a recruiting firm soliciting you via your work email. At first I hit reply to tell the person to stop sending job posting emails to my work account. Then I realized a real person wasn’t lifting a finger to click send to give me the postings every day. The person set up an algorithm to auto-blitz my work email. That’s when I had to click Report Spam.

It’s easy for a recruiter to find out your work email address when your employer has a website. They can simply guess how your name is spelled in the account and then type @queensuniversity for example after your first initial and last name.

The idea that a headhunter is using robo-emails like robo-calls on the telephone doesn’t sit well with me as an effective strategy. At my first job at the insurance firm the prime ethic was to “qualify your leads” for pitching to prospective clients. Not everyone is going to be in your target market so why pitch to them?

It might cost pennies on the dollar to auto-email people job listings. That’s really not cost-effective though. This is a “lowest common denominator” approach that should be frowned on.

You and I should be the ones self-initiating getting jobs that monetize our skills. LinkedIn is the ideal venue for reaching out to others and having them contact you as well.

It’s said that a person should post a comment to their LinkedIn feed 2 to 3 times per week.

In the coming blog entry I will begin to post a list of specific jobs us peers can get using a skill or skills we have.

Getting a Job After College

The book above the Prepared Graduate I recommend to every college freshman to read to be proactive while in school. Instead of being reactive after you get the degree.

One thing I take issue within a big way: she gives a sample pitch letter to send a person on LinkedIn in an attempt to snag an internship.

No—not at all should your first sentence be: Hope you’re doing well. It should refer to a new achievement of theirs and talk about why this victory impresses you.

(I learned this in a Zoom event the Roadmap Coach Christina Bryan hosted for leveling up your presence and persona in your career.)

Then the pitch should list how it would benefit them to hire you as an intern. To infer that doing so will enhance their reputation not just score you a job post-graduation.

After this you can list your school and your major. It’s the same thing as asking for 10 or 15 or 20 minutes of a person’s time to talk about questions you have about the field and line of work (traditionally called an information interview.)

Like I wrote 2 years ago in Working Assets your sales pitch should be about how you can help them with a project near and dear to their heart.

The one last issue I have is with the end of the subtitle attesting that you will be able to Step Into Your Purpose.

Should a 22 year know their life’s purpose so early in their lifetime on earth this time around? I would say this is where creating an Action Grid while in school or collecting SSI or SSDI can help. I talked about the Action Grid in Working Assets my career guide.

The subtitle should be “Step Into Your First Purpose” as in your first purpose at this stage of your life. In my last semester of college, I only wanted to publish books and invest in the stock market and travel to Sicily.

Still told The Prepared Graduate has other winning advice. The number one call out is getting a job related to your major while in college. Instead of taking any old job like flipping burgers to pay your bills. What if you can’t get an internship or job linked to your career while studying?

Be creative. Teach yourself a skill it would impress a hiring manager to know that you have. Start a professional podcast on the subject you’re studying for. Keyword in that sentence: Professional. Join a club on campus linked to the career—like the Student Marketing Association if you’re getting a degree in the field of marketing.

Plus, a professional organization devoted to your career might have a student membership option. Join—as the fee can be lower for a student.