The 3 Power Moves To Use LinkedIn More Effectively

The modern job search is not a passive activity. It is a strategic campaign. If your current LinkedIn strategy consists only of uploading a resume and clicking 'Apply,' you are missing the platform's true power. LinkedIn is not just a digital resume; it is the world's largest professional networking platform. The market is increasingly focused on what you can do (your skills) rather than just where you've been (your title).

To transition from a hopeful applicant to a highly visible candidate, you must shift your mindset from merely browsing to building. Success comes to those who engage with intent.

Here is a direct, actionable, and essential guide to activating your LinkedIn job search right now, drawing inspiration from high-engagement career strategies:

1. Own Your Narrative on LinkedIn

In the age of AI-powered recruitment, your visibility depends on how well you communicate your value. Recruiters are using skills-based searches, so your profile and activity must clearly demonstrate that you are a valuable contributor to your field. Here are some tips we provide our career coaching and business coaching clients.

• Create Value Through Content: Challenge yourself to make a post about a key takeaway from industry news, a webinar, or a professional development session you attended. Posting regularly, even just once a week, establishes your intellectual curiosity and personal brand.

• Optimize for ATS and Recruiters: Ensure your profile summary and experience section are keyword-optimized for your target industry. Your profile is your 24/7 pitch deck, and keywords help the algorithm find you more easily.

• The Completed Profile is Your Sales Deck: Ensure your experience section highlights verifiable accomplishments. Profiles with multiple skill endorsements receive significantly more recruiter views.

Example of a well-developed LinkedIn profile

2. Move from Passive Scroller to Active Networker

The path to your next role is often through people, not algorithms. Don't wait for recruiters to find you; identify and connect with the professionals who can help shape your future.

• Connect with Intent: Make a habit of connecting with people after professional events or conversations. Focus on quality over quantity. Send a personalized connection request, mentioning the opportunity to set up a 15-minute discussion.

• Leverage Groups: Join one LinkedIn group relevant to your industry, target role, or alma mater. These groups offer you the opportunity to connect with others who share your interests. Don't just join the group. Post, comment, and request to connect with others in the group.

• Engage for Visibility: Like, comment, and share content from the people and companies you follow. When you comment thoughtfully on a post by a hiring manager or a company's CEO, your name and profile are instantly placed in their immediate professional circle.

Join conversations related to topics that interest you.

3. Research is Your Edge: Identify the Opportunity

The most successful job seekers are also the best researchers. They know where the opportunities are before they are even widely advertised.

• Target Your Companies: Actively search LinkedIn for companies that are currently offering internships or full-time opportunities in your desired location. Look for signals of growth, such as frequent announcements about new locations or initiatives.

• Analyze the Hiring Manager: Before applying, look at the profile of the person who posted the job or the likely hiring manager. What is their background? What are they posting about? This can inform how you prepare for an interview.

• Prioritize New Hiring Trends: Be aware that remote work has become increasingly challenging. While a remote job might be your dream, you may need to build your resume to qualify for those opportunities.

Your job search requires deliberate action. By moving beyond the basics and incorporating these active, engagement-focused strategies—networking, posting, and researching—you immediately elevate your candidacy.

Stop waiting for opportunities to find you. Activate your search today and start building the path to your next professional success.

ADHD Tip 2: Master Time with the Pomodoro Technique

The Challenge of Time and Tasks

Individuals with ADHD often face significant hurdles when it comes to starting tasks (procrastination or feeling stuck, sometimes called ADHD paralysis), maintaining focus amidst distractions, accurately perceiving the passage of time (time blindness or time agnosia), and seeing tasks through to completion. Large projects can feel overwhelming, leading to avoidance, while even simple tasks can be hard to initiate without a clear structure or sense of urgency.

Introducing the Pomodoro Technique

Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, the Pomodoro Technique is a time management method designed to break work into focused intervals. The classic structure involves:

1. Working on a single task for a timed interval, typically 25 minutes (one "Pomodoro").

2. Taking a short break, usually 5 minutes, when the timer goes off.

3. Repeating this work/break cycle.

4. After completing four Pomodoros, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.

This technique acts as an externalized executive function support system. It provides the structure, time awareness cues, task initiation prompts, and break regulation that the ADHD brain often struggles to generate internally.

Why Pomodoro Works for ADHD Brains

This simple structure offers numerous benefits tailored to common ADHD challenges:

1. Combats Overwhelm and Paralysis: The Pomodoro Technique makes large, daunting tasks feel less overwhelming and much easier to start by breaking them down into small, timed chunks. The focus is just on the next 25 minutes, not the entire project.

2. Addresses Time Blindness: The ticking timer provides a constant, external, and concrete awareness of time passing, directly counteracting time agnosia. Over time, tracking how many Pomodoros tasks take can also improve time estimation skills.

3. Boosts Focus through Monotasking: The technique encourages dedicating focus to one specific task during the work interval, discouraging counterproductive multitasking and reducing susceptibility to distractions. The relatively short duration aligns well with the ADHD brain's potential ability to hyperfocus intensely for limited periods.

4. Provides Structure and Urgency: The timed intervals impose a clear structure on the work period and create a gentle sense of urgency, prompting focused effort within the allotted time.

5. Manages Energy and Prevents Burnout: The mandatory short and long breaks are crucial. They provide necessary mental resets, prevent the buildup of mental fatigue, and combat boredom, helping to sustain effort over longer periods without leading to burnout, which can often follow periods of intense hyperfocus.

6. Creates Motivation and Reward: Successfully completing each Pomodoro interval provides an immediate sense of accomplishment. Tracking completed Pomodoros offers visible proof of progress, acting as an external motivator and potentially providing small dopamine boosts.

Implementation Steps and Tips

1. Choose Your Task: Select one specific task to work on. If it's large, break it down into smaller steps that might fit within one or more Pomodoros.

2. Set Your Timer: Use a kitchen timer, phone app, or dedicated Pomodoro website/app (see resources below). Visual timers can be particularly helpful.

3. Work with Focus: Work only on the chosen task until the timer rings. Actively minimize distractions: turn off phone notifications, close unnecessary browser tabs, consider website blockers, or use noise-canceling headphones. If you have unrelated thoughts or tasks, you can quickly jot them down on a separate list to address later, then immediately return focus to the Pomodoro task.

4. Take Your Short Break: When the timer rings, stop working immediately. Use the 5-minute break to completely step away from the task. Stretch, get a drink of water, and look out the window. Avoid activities that can easily suck one in, like checking email or scrolling social media, as the goal is to refresh, not drain, mental energy.

5. Repeat and Take Longer Breaks: After completing four Pomodoros, take a more substantial break (15-30 minutes) to rest and recharge more fully before starting the next cycle.

6. Track Your Progress: Consider keeping a simple tally of completed Pomodoros. This visual tracking can be motivating.

7. Adapt and Experiment: The 25/5 cycle is just a starting point. The technique's effectiveness often hinges on its adaptability. Experiment with different work/break intervals (e.g., 15/3, 30/5, 50/10) to find what best suits one's focus patterns, energy levels, and task type. Starting with just a few Pomodoros per day can prevent overwhelm.

Potential Challenges and Solutions

• Distractions: If focus consistently breaks before the timer ends, try further reducing environmental distractions or consider shorter work intervals.

• Forgetting the Timer: Use phone alarms or app notifications as reminders to start/stop timers.

• Waning Motivation: If the technique starts to feel stale, try adjusting interval times, changing the type of timer used, or incorporating a small reward after completing a set number of Pomodoros.

• Overlong Breaks: Set a timer for breaks. Getting up and moving during the break can help reset focus better than passive activities. When the alarm goes off, you can transition back into productive activities.

• Breaking Flow: Sometimes, the timer might interrupt a period of deep focus. While it is generally advised to respect the timer to prevent burnout, some find it helpful to occasionally finish a thought or small step before breaking. Experimentation and self-awareness are key. Be kind to oneself if a session doesn't go perfectly.

Pomodoro Resources:

• Choosing Therapy - Pomodoro for ADHD Guide: https://www.choosingtherapy.com/pomodoro-technique-adhd/

• Deepwrk - Pomodoro for ADHD Explanation: https://www.deepwrk.io/blog/pomodoro-technique-adhd

• Boardmix - Pomodoro Benefits & Implementation: https://boardmix.com/tips/pomodoro-technique-adhd/ (Boardmix also offers a tool with a built-in timer)

• ADDitude Magazine - Expert Using Pomodoro: https://www.additudemag.com/its-about-time-2/

• UTC CPE Blog - Detailed Steps, Pros/Cons, App List: https://blog.utc.edu/center-professional-education/2020/07/02/how-can-the-pomodoro-technique-help-me-finding-power-through-productivity/

• Timer Apps : TomatoTimer (https://tomato-timer.com/), Marinara Timer (https://www.marinaratimer.com/), FocusKeeper (iOS), Focus To-Do (iOS/Android).

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If ADHD is hindering your productivity, working with an executive coach could help you build the habits, routines, and skills you need to focus and follow through more consistently. If you are interested in learning more, schedule a discovery call. We can discuss how we can help you better manage your ADHD.

Schedule a Free Discovery call

Conquer New Job Anxiety: Your Path to Success with the SET Approach

Updated 4/6/2025

You landed the job! Congratulations! The initial euphoria, however, often gives way to a wave of self-doubt and anxiety as you face the reality of a new role. You're not alone. According to Forbes, a staggering 87% of people experience anxiety when starting a new job. This is a normal, albeit challenging, transition. At Your Path Coaching and Consulting, we understand these feelings and believe in empowering you to navigate this change. Instead of letting anxiety dictate your experience, take control by developing a strategic plan for success. This blog will introduce you to the SET approach, a simple yet effective framework for excelling in your new role.

Introducing the SET Approach: Your Blueprint for Success

The SET approach is designed to help you proactively manage your transition, build strong foundations, and make a lasting positive impression. It's about slowing down, being intentional, and understanding the nuances of your new environment. To truly excel, you need to grasp the organizational culture, decision-making processes, resource allocation, and the definition of success. The SET approach guides you through this process with three key actions:

• Study Your Work Environment

• Engage with Stakeholders

• Tell Your Story

1. Study Your Work Environment: Knowledge is Power

The initial challenge in any new role is the knowledge gap. You're entering uncharted territory, and acclimating takes time. To bridge this gap, actively study your environment. Focus on understanding:

• Organizational Culture: What are the unspoken rules and values? How do people interact?

• Key Processes: How are decisions made? What are the workflows?

• Performance Expectations: How is success measured? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs)?

• Available Resources: What tools and support systems are available to you?

Remember, the first 30 days are crucial for information gathering. Leverage different learning styles, as suggested by Walter Burk Barbe, Ph.D.:

• Visual: Observe meetings, review documents, and study organizational charts.

• Auditory: Attend meetings, listen to conversations, and ask questions.

• Kinesthetic: Participate in hands-on activities, shadow colleagues, and learn by doing.

2. Engage with Stakeholders: Building Relationships for Success

Effective leadership and teamwork are built on trust, as Patrick Lencioni emphasizes. To build trust, you must understand and serve the needs of your stakeholders. Engage with:

• Your Manager: Understand their expectations and priorities.

• Team Members: Learn their roles, responsibilities, and challenges.

• Cross-Functional Colleagues: Build relationships and understand interdependencies.

• Clients/Customers: Understand their needs and expectations.

• Senior Leadership: Gain insights into the organization's strategic direction.

Schedule one-on-one and group meetings to actively listen, ask insightful questions, and identify opportunities to contribute.

3. Tell Your Story: Connect and Build Rapport

As you engage with stakeholders, be prepared to share your story. This helps build rapport and creates connections. Develop:

• A 30-Second Introduction: Clearly and concisely communicate who you are and your role.

• Relevant Anecdotes: Share experiences from your previous roles and your journey to this new position.

• Personal Interests: Share appropriate personal details to build connections.

Remember to engage in two-way conversations, actively listening and responding to questions. Aim for concise, two-minute or less speaking segments to encourage dialogue.

Your Path Coaching and Consulting: Your Partner in Transition

At Your Path Coaching and Consulting, we guide individuals through career transitions. Our executive coaching and business consulting services are tailored to help you:

• Develop a personalized transition plan.

• Enhance your leadership and communication skills.

• Build strong relationships and navigate organizational dynamics.

• Overcome self-doubt and achieve your professional goals.

Don't let anxiety hold you back. Schedule a free consultation with Your Path Coaching and Consulting today to discuss how we can help you excel in your new role. Visit our website at www.yourpathexecutivesoltuions.com to learn more about our services.

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Your Partner in Career Success

I'm not just a writer; I'm also a father, husband, executive coach, and former retail executive. My 21 years of experience leading operations, sales, and marketing teams have given me firsthand knowledge of feeling stuck, undervalued, and underappreciated.

But I also know the transformative power of professional development, the strategies for climbing the corporate ladder, and the profound satisfaction of finding fulfillment in your work.Your career path is a unique journey of discovery. Each opportunity builds upon the last. At Your Path Coaching and Consulting, we're dedicated to helping you gain clarity, accelerate your professional growth, and unlock your full potential.

We offer personalized coaching and consulting services to empower you at every career stage. Our expertise includes:

Executive Coaching: Guiding leaders to enhance their leadership skills, communication abilities, and team dynamics.

Business Consulting: Helping organizations optimize strategies, foster growth, and build high-performing teams.

Career Coaching: Assisting individuals in defining a career path and building the skills, network, and competencies needed to maximize their potential.

Our holistic approach combines proven techniques with a deep understanding of your needs and aspirations.

Connect with us:

Website: www.yourpathexecutivesolutions.com

Email: dcunion@yourpathexecutivesolutions.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/your-path-coaching-and-consulting

Testimonial:

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