Leveraging Social Media

& Finding a Job with

Bruno Bensaid

18 Oct 2010

� About the Speaker

� About Social Media

� Building a Linkedin profile

Agenda

� Building a Linkedin network

� Linkedin Groups: Anteroom to success

� Linkedin Answers: You are the Expert

� Getting the job

Bruno Bensaid

Founder of an investment banking advisory firm

and a mobile industry (non-profit) organization,

public speaker, geek, advisor and angel investor in

the China Internet & Mobile industries. Involved in

community work when time allows.

About the Speaker

Bruno Bensaid

Founder &

Partner,

Shanghaivest

Founder,

MobileMonday

Shanghai.

Linkedin member since 2003; 2716 linkedin

connections among which 75% are CXOs, 15% are

friends/classmates, 10% are unknown.

771 Facebook friends (30% are not real friends…)

790 Twitter followers (including 30% of spammers).

The Top Social Media Sites Around

1/6th of the world’s pop. using SNS*

• Facebook, founded in 2004 ($987 Mil), 500 Mil members. Last

round valuation: $10 Bil., current transactions trade at $40 Bil

valuation (SharePost). Facebook is a consumer-oriented SNS.

• Twitter, founded in 2006 (raised $55.7 Mil), 145 Mil

members, est. valuation: $4.3 Bil (source: SharePost).

*SNS: Social Network Service = Social Media Website

members, est. valuation: $4.3 Bil (source: SharePost).

• Linkedin, founded in 2003 (raised $103 Mil), 75 Mil members,

est $2 Bil valuation (source: SharePost). Largest prof. SNS.

• Viadeo (France/China), founded in 2004, 30 Mil members,

mainly in France and China. The 2nd largest professional SNS.

• Xing (Germany), founded in 2003, listed (Frankfurt), 10 Mil

members (Sept 2010), mainly in Germany, Turkey, Spain.

Where 3 degrees of connections can lead

What you can do with Social Media

• Amass connections & impress your friends

• Avoid meeting people in person

• Find a date/mate/virtual friends…

• Find business partners , clients, suppliers, leads,• Find business partners , clients, suppliers, leads,

conduct business in any form,

• Research companies, markets and people,

• Meet like-minded people, share your activities,

• Lead discussions and groups, contribute & learn.

• Recruit and be recruited.

Building a profile “101”

• Don’t build a CV again, build an industry insider and expert

profile and highlight the salient points that fit you / your goal.

• Remain factual, achievement-oriented and honest.

• Get (good) referrals: pick referrers carefully, avoid

subordinates and friends, prefer native English speakers andsubordinates and friends, prefer native English speakers and

short referrals. Amend referrals if necessary. Refer back.

• Convey openness: share your connections, remain open to

connection requests and remain accessible.

• Share the groups you joined and what you write/read

(slideshare, amazon reading list etc) on your profile.

• Incomplete or botched profiles are worse than no profile at

all: explain achievements & ask for referrals asap.

Building a profile “201”

• Make profile public (use Linkedin Settings)

• Use keywords for search engines.

• Build short and impactful header – 1-2 lines with keywords (ie

Specialist of Energy sector in France | general manager| CFA)

• Custom & searchable URL: www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmith• Custom & searchable URL: www.linkedin.com/in/johnsmith

• Linkedin Status: refresh regularly, make it short and relevant

and highlight recent contributions (articles, blog post), public

speaking occasions, location (optional), and other content.

• Add links (websites of your company or organizations).

• Don’t put non-professional items in your profile

• Don’t get started 2 weeks before looking for a job. It takes

months to build a strong network and a complete profile.

A Snapshot

1. Go for the low hanging fruits first: invite friends, (ex)

colleagues, classmates etc. Aim at quantity first, then quality

2. Research companies and sectors you are interested in,

search people and understand their progression path.

3. Read target people’s profiles carefully to understand their

Building a network “101”

expectations. Get a feel if the person is an open-networker,

average bloke, or hard-to-get kind of person.

4. Find the right angle to approach him/her keeping in mind

what you can contribute to him/her.

5. Connecting through a 1st degree “friend”: identify the

dynamics (relationship between this person and the

targeted 2nd degree connection) and the weight your 1st

degree “friend” can bring in convincing target to connect.

1. WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE OTHER GUY ? When writing an

invitation message, highlight the value you bring to the

connection, and only after, what is your main motivation

but DO NOT TALK ABOUT JOB SEARCH IN AN INVITATION.

2. Send a “Thank you” note via linkedin and email to the

other party who accepts your invitation. In the note, offer

Building a network “201”

other party who accepts your invitation. In the note, offer

to communicate offline (skype preferred at first) or email

on a specific topic, at a time convenient for both (don’t

sound desperate by accepting all timeslots – play a bit

“hard to get” as well).

3. Contribute without being asked first: offer to connect the

person to someone else you have in mind, send industry

insiders’ news on a regular basis, pick a topics of interest.

1. “There is no sympathy in politics Linkedin” (original quotefrom Margaret Thatcher): accepting or inviting connections isnot about making friends but creating value for both (and ifthat creates friendship subsequently, even better).

2. Reach critical mass (+500 connections is ideal) but throughquality invitations on the long run.

Building a network “301”

quality invitations on the long run.

3. Caveats: getting too many “dings” from members you invite(but who reject your invitation) can get your Linkedin profilefrozen temporarily or permanently.

4. Why accepting connections? Do you want to accept aconnection request from someone who will not reciprocate(like a head hunter) or from someone who has incompleteprofile (info asymmetry)? Shall you accept any Insead invite?

Building a network – the iPhone bug

Become a thought leader in Groups & Answers through timely

and relevant contributions & moderation etc.

1. Target the industry and company you are interested in.

2. Find the related Linkedin Groups and pick the groups with

the most members and highest activity.

Linkedin Groups: Anteroom to success

the most members and highest activity.

3. Reversely, target people you want to connect to, look at

what groups they have joined, then join the same groups

(maximum: 50 groups, non including sub-groups).

4. Read discussions & contribute by answering (or asking

smart) questions and offer to help moderate groups.

5. Build on these group discussions and invite target group

members using the “invite through a group” feature.

Linkedin Answers: You are the Expert

Getting the Job

Once foundation is laid out (complete profile, large and quality

network, relevant Groups involvement, participation to Linkedin

Answers), getting a job is far easier:

• Use Linkedin “Follow a Company”, “Follow Member” and/or

directly approach recruiting manager through Groups.

• Searching for Job Ads on Linkedin:

– If the company’s name is disclosed: reach recruiting manager (if this is

not an HR person) by getting a recommendation from an existing

connection already working in the company or who knows the person

well, and finally making contact once recommendation(s) done.

– If the company’s name is not disclosed (recruitment made by a

recruiter), DO NOT TRY TO INVITE THE RECRUITER AT FIRST, instead

send a linkedin message instead to discuss your profile’s relevance

with the job. Goal is to “force” the recruiter to review your profile

GOOD LUCK!

For more,

bensaid@fastmail.fm

China Cell: +86 13818184399

France Cell: +33 686056830

www.shanghaivest.com

www.mobilemondayshanghai.net

www.sh-angels.com