7 Ways to Distinguish Yourself From the Crowd in a Recession

By James Adams

Recessions bring danger and opportunity to your career, so it’s important that you rise to the challenge and distinguish yourself from the crowd so you can prosper. Perhaps the most danger lies in the sense of job security where you think that your experience and tenure means that you will survive the bad economy.

As hundreds of coworkers and unemployed workers compete for your job, many of them have more qualifications than you and show willingness to work for less money, so staying competitive in the workplace is more important to you now than ever before.

Here are 7 ways to distinguish yourself from the crowd in a recession:

1. Keep your resume updated: Do not make the assumption that you will have a job tomorrow. Dust off that resume or start making a new one now. Make sure it includes all your latest accomplishments and offers reasons that demonstrate why you are a valuable asset who can boost an employer’s bottom line.

2. Have a good attitude: A recession can mean that people from all walks of life have trouble maintaining their lifestyle, causing a doom and gloom environment at the office. Distinguish yourself by remaining upbeat. Bring a ray of sunshine with you everywhere you go and you will get the attention of supervisors, managers, and executives as a person they need to help the company through difficult times.

3. Get beyond the paper and market yourself: Insiders have already picked over jobs advertised in newspapers and on online job boards, so relying on those sources leave you at a disadvantage. Competitive job markets mean that you must find ways to get to the people with real hiring authority. Market yourself as a product essential to success. Employers need people like you who can make a direct impact on their bottom line. Bypass traditional job ads and contact decision makers directly. Online sources such as ZapData can provide names and mailing addresses you can use as you market yourself.

4. Use social networking to connect with opportunities: Take the time to build your social network on Facebook and Twitter. By making connections now, you will have access to more referrals when you need them. This type of strategy can take time to implement, so get started on it now.

5. Make yourself stand out: While at work, you need to get out of the shadows and into the limelight. Let your company see you as a problem solver, a self-motivated creativity engine willing to take the lead on new projects. Don’t make it all about yourself either: praise others, ask questions, and let it be known that you are a team player who is vital to the success of your company.

6. Improve your productivity: Working long hours may contribute to the perception of your value, but you probably will stand out to your employer by producing more in less time. Efficient workers produce the most and will likely survive layoffs more than those who stay content with the status quo. Look for ways to do your job better and faster and you will remain while others are gone.

7. Develop your skills: Difficult economic times represent good opportunities to go back to school. You can learn new, recession-proof skills or you can develop your existing skills that increase your value to a new or existing employer.

By following these 7 ways to distinguish yourself from the crowd in a recession can make the difference between prosperity and the unemployment line. Get started making your own opportunities now so you can excel during troubling times.

Author Information

James Adams is a full time analyst and writer at a leading UK based ink cartridges specialist where he spends his time writing reviews of new hardware like the HP 350XL.

Photo Credit: Harrison Keely

Getting LinkedIn For 2010

Do you use LinkedIn? I do, having been a member of this professional networking site for several years now. Admittedly, I wasn’t keeping my profile up to date or active on the site until recently. Just before Christmas I decided that a makeover of my profile was necessary and could go a long way in helping me update my image online.

And that is what sets LinkedIn apart from just about every other online networking site: instead of connecting with people socially with perhaps a business component included, LinkedIn reverses that by putting the emphasis on connecting with people professionally. There is a social component thanks to groups, questions and answers, and a Twitter connection, but LinkedIn is all about enhancing your professional position online, perhaps finding a job as you connect with influential people in your field.

No posting pictures of your cat nor should you tell everyone what you ate for breakfast.

LinkedIn Backgrounder

First, some background details about LinkedIn for the novice: Officially launched in May 2003, LinkedIn is based in Mountain View, California, home to Google and other internet start ups. Much like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has been experiencing an explosive growth in the past year, topping 53 million members from 200 countries as of early December. Most people, myself included, use the free account to connect, but a paid business account gives you even deeper access to other members.

My reason for using LinkedIn parallels what the site is all about: connecting with people professionally. Your main connection with other members is your personal profile, a detailed page which can and should become your online resume (more about that later). Until recently, my profile had been wanting until I began to clean it up. There are some more changes that I will still make, but I’m satisfied that what appears there right now accurately reflects who I am and what I can do for my customers today.

Tips For Linking In

When you sign in to your LinkedIn account, you will be brought to a page crowded with information including your inbox, network updates (status, recommendations, profile changes, events, and more), group updates, and more. But the section you will want to work on can be found on the navigation bar (see below).

Click on Profile > View Profile and you will see the same page that everyone else finds when they look for you on LinkedIn. If you are not satisfied with your details > Edit Profile and make your changes. This is where you will be bringing your information up to date, adding details just as you would with your resume.

But it is better than an ordinary online resume. Your LinkedIn profile can be supercharged to include your personal photograph, links to your website or blogs, your career summary, specialties, and work history. I write my information in the third person, but I have noticed that others use their profiles differently, often as a way to market themselves directly to their customers.

Maintaining Your Connections

Your connections are what puts you front and center with other people. Though some folks are happy with a small group of manageable connections, I have chosen a path favored by many others: connecting with the most people possible.

You can do this by joining groups that make it easy to connect. One of the first things you learn about LinkedIn, is that you really need the help of others to link to others still. Sure, go ahead and import your email contacts as LinkedIn will find out which of those are already LinkedIn, allowing them to connect to you.

Be careful though: you don’t want to include people who do not know you as they may reject your connection request, instructing LinkedIn that they do not know you. LinkedIn will then restrict your ability to connect with others until you agreed to abide by their terms (which you thought you were doing), a small nuisance but one to keep in mind.

I have also been able to connect with thousands of people by joining a the LION group – Linked In Open Network – which I have added to my name. LION identifies me as someone who accepts all invitations without restriction. That also means that I can add hundreds of new people when their weekly opt-in email list arrives with new members willing to connect to you. Simply follow the instructions given and your email inbox will soon be flooded with acceptances.

Yes, there is a drawback here as you will receive more messages in your inbox then you may get in a week, perhaps a month. Use it on occasion as you’ll be busy checking profiles, answering personal requests, and deleting messages.

Recommendations Are Critical

The most important feature of LinkedIn for me is the recommendations others give for your work. For each position you feature and school attended, you can ask other people to recommend your work. This is important as their recommendation is the equivalent of a reference. Ask your customers who are already LinkedIn to first connect with you and then once connected to recommend you.

I should have been more diligent about this feature as I only had one recommendation until recently. Now I have four and I am working on several more. Soon, I will be updating my contact information on this blog and on my main The Article Writer website to offer a link to my profile on LinkedIn.

This offers a huge advantage to me: instead of writing pages of “about me” stuff and posting on various sites I own, I can offer one link to my LinkedIn profile, with everything people need to know about me. This can be a real time saver as it ensures that I maintain a consistent public face across the internet. By the way, when you google your name, your LinkedIn profile should appear on the first page of the results, provided your name is unique.

Questions & Answers

My favorite way of connecting with people on LinkedIn is by participating in their question and answer feature. Go to More… > Answers and you will be able to ask people a question or answer questions already posted by other members. As long as the question remains open, you can add your answer which will be one of many answers received.

Importantly, if your answer is spot on and you have written an article related to that answer, you can include that link in the web resources section following your reply. You can also notify other experts to forward the question to for them to answer and send an optional personal note to the person who asked the question in the first place.

Don’t be surprised if you hear back from the person who asked the question in the first place. Several times I’ve had people contact me directly to express their gratitude for my help.

Should You Upgrade?

While the basic package offers many features, LinkedIn also allows users to upgrade their accounts as a way to find and email influential people directly. I am not very familiar with what is offered and the price is not cheap, but there are some people who insist that the extra $25, $50, even $500 per month is worth it to them.

I suppose if you are looking for a new job, then the cost of an upgrade beats what you would pay a headhunter or recruiter for their services. I recommend starting out with a basic account first, upgrading once you understand what benefits are available to you.

Get Linked In

I have only touched on the benefits of LinkedIn from my own perspective, therefore I have also reviewed several additional resources which can help complete that picture for you.

2010 is here, so let us hope that it is a good year for one and all. If you are looking for work, then one of your resolutions should include starting or updating a LinkedIn account, perhaps the best way for professionals to connect online.

Resources

Forbes.com: How I Found My Dream Job Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn.com: Ten Tips on Building a Strong Profile

Mashable.com: 7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn

SmartMoney.com: Can A $1,000 Resume Boost Your Career?

The Wall Street Journal: LinkedIn Wants Users to Connect More