Diving into Leadership Head First

I have not written in a long time for this blog.  A side project, in addition to being extraordinarily busy at the end of Spring Semester, has kept me away from my favorite blog.  Despite not posting even remotely recently, I am still having daily visitors to the blog...  Therefore I'll try to keep some content coming.  And if you're just stopping by, thanks for browsing any of the content on here.

Today is just an update on my life.  It is busy.  If this blog had a second tagline, I could make it, "Brendan has 1000 things he could/should be doing, but instead he is blogging."  I'll leave it as is for now.

The title of the post indicates that recently I have been tasked with some new leadership opportunities at UC.  The one I am most enthusiastic about is being elected President of Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business Fraternity.  With over 100 men and women, all aspiring professionals I am confident will have fantastic careers, I feel truly honored to have been selected to lead the organization during my tenure for the next year.

If you, my lovely select few readers, know anything about my style of leadership, you will know this about me: If I am elected to a position, I owe it to the person or people I ran against to work harder and better than they would had they been elected.  That principle has kept me focused throughout my time in student organizations in college, and has brought me to this point.  In this case, however, the two folks that I beat out for this position are among some of the best student leaders I've ever met.  But I have nevertheless resolved to the best I can by the organization that chose me.

So what am I actually doing?  Well, if you ask that question as a business student, keep reading, maybe I'll convince you to join Delta Sigma Pi.  If you ask as a member of a local business, large or small, keep reading, maybe I'll convince you to partner with us.  Otherwise, keep reading because it might be more interesting than whatever work you have to do right now.

Here's what we're up to:

• Our new executive board is made up of 15 fantastic individuals, all of whom are working together to create the best ROI for every member of the fraternity, whether that be through professional headshots for members' LinkedIn profiles, a place in our soon to be hot commodity resume book, or new and exciting social activities combines with professional development.
• Our corporate sponsorship window is now open, which means that companies in the Cincinnati area can focus on utilizing our chapter to help them achieve their recruiting and branding goals if related to the University of Cincinnati, while DSP gets a bit of extra funding.  Our feelers are out right now and if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please reach out to ucdspsponsorship@gmail.com
• We just began a Campus Branding Initiative.  We have appointed a new Director position to focus on Campus Public Relations to further our name outside of the LCB.
• We are cultivating young talent.  Bringing in almost 50 new members last year, we have more brothers than ever, and we are doing everything possible to develop them into consummate business professionals.
• New community service initiatives will keep our efforts in the Clifton community.  This is a proud, diverse neighborhood, but there is much to be done.  We are planning a large Burnett Woods Cleanup for the Fall.
• Grand Chapter Congress is this August in Seattle, and myself and one other brother will be attending to vote on national bylaws and elected officials.
• 90th Anniversary of Alpha Theta is next school year! In 2014, we turn 90, and will be having a big celebration for brothers, alumni, corporate sponsors, parents, central office staff, faculty, and friends of the chapter.

Check out our website for more details on who we are as an organization, if you're interested.

Thanks for reading,

Brendan

Using Key Words on LinkedIn: Are You Giving Recruiters a Chance to Find You?

Today I have a quick topic: In an interview, you may encounter a question similar to: "What three adjectives describe you" or "What words would your friends use to tell me about you" or some derivative of that question.


Hopefully when you answer this question in an interview you don't say something like,

"I'm nice," or
"I like puppies," or my worst interviewing line of all time (true story):
"I care way too much about my hair."


Interviewers want an honest assessment of who you are and what you can bring to the table.  Maybe a better way to state those three qualities would be:

"I always have a positive attitude", or
"I am empathetic and considerate about how people feel, and I always want to make my environment a friendly one," or
"I pay close attention to detail."


Well I want to share a way to preemptively answer that question for recruiters who view your  LinkedIn profile.

When recruiters look at LinkedIn profiles, they search using specific words. Generally, the main search will be the industry and position type.  But to narrow the search, recruiters can search using key words.  The best place to put key words is in the "Summary" and "Experience" sections.  Let's go back to our interview question and simplify those phrases into key words:

Positive
Team player
Detail-oriented


So maybe your profile summary becomes: 

Positive team player seeking full-time marketing position in the airline industry.  Detail-oriented and ready to contribute to the success of your team upon graduation in the Spring of 2013.

See how the key words make your summary section much more targeted and explicitly state your intentions? Brilliant, I know.  It also does wonders for your personal SEO.

Be sure that you don't just throw words at a page.  Talk about your best attributes, not just what you think recruiters are looking for.

Check this out as well:
2012's Most Overused Buzzwords on LinkedIn

Thanks for stopping by, but mostly, you stay classy Cincinnati.

Brendan David O'Brien

A Strategy for Accepting Connections on LinkedIn

When a person first joins LinkedIn, they may have built a profile for any number of reasons.  Theoretically, according to LinkedIn, at least one of those reasons is in the following list:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• personal reference requests
• requests to reconnect

With these eight options, and I can think of a few others, it is evident that people are on LinkedIn with different motives.

So you may encounter the situation in which someone sends you a connection request, but you don't know them personally or why they asked to connect (this often happens to users who are active in groups).

If you choose to connect with this person, the most important thing to discover is why they have connected with you, lest you miss out on a potential opportunity.

Personally, I try to send a follow-up note thanking every person from whom I accept a connection request, but it is crucial to send a message to someone you don't know, thanking them for connecting and wishing them well or something to that effect.  You can also quickly view their profile and find something positive to mention in your message.

An example might be:

Hi John,
Thank you for reaching out and connecting with me.  I noticed that you also have a blog, and I look forward to following it.  Best of luck to you this year.
Regards,
Brendan

This accomplishes a few things.  First of all it is a solid, professional first impression.  It also indicates that you have taken an interest in this person as an addition to your network.  Finally and most importantly, it opens the avenue for communication for him to respond, indicating why he connected with you in the first place.

If this person responds (sometimes they don't), they might reciprocate the well wishes or maybe say something nice about your profile, but what is actually important is if they explain why they connected with you.

By accepting the connection request and opening the lane of communication, you have opened yourself to any opportunity that this person may have to offer.

Maybe you'll get a job offer from a LinkedIn member... Imagine that.

Thanks for reading, and please tell me your strategies for connection in the comments.

Brendan David O'Brien