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How I Transformed My LinkedIn Profile To An Opportunity Magnet
Personal Branding 101
Growing a presence on LinkedIn doesn’t quite spark the same excitement amongst peers in social settings as its Social Media cousin, Instagram. Although I may not have the largest of LinkedIn followings — something I don’t believe is necessary to have success on LinkedIn — I can most definitely say I’ve optimized my LinkedIn profile well.
I’d love to say that’s me blowing my own trumpet, but it’s not…
It’s a fact!
Nowadays, a week does not pass where I am not offered a new opportunity to work on a new exciting project. While I have to be selective with the opportunities I take to preserve my time [and sanity], I must say, I’m extremely grateful, even though sometimes it gets a little bit overwhelming.
Disclaimer: I will be using the term Data Scientists throughout this article but it really does apply to all professionals (i.e. I am more of an ML engineer than a Data Scientists).
The Power of Perception
Considering how often employers reach out to me for work — some I’m qualified for, and some that are completely out of my depth — it breaks my heart when people tell me of their struggles to break into the field or when I see someone who is struggling to get back into the workforce after some event took them out.
I know the problem isn’t that there’s a shortage of jobs. Some would argue that the problem is a lack of talent, which to some degree is true but I’d dispute it. Recall I mentioned, some of the jobs I’m qualified for, and some are completely out of my reach — they may be out of my reach but I’m still being asked to do them.
This taught me a major lesson about how hiring is done in Data Science, and possibly other fields. It also made me think that we [candidates] actually have more control over our job success than we may believe…
It’s not necessarily about what you can do. It’s about what other people PERCEIVE you can do.
Would you ask Cristiano Ronaldo to deploy a Machine Learning model? No. But, you’d probably ask him to score 5 freekicks in a…
