Entrepreneur Magazine Feature, Hiring Discrimination, & Overlooked on LinkedIn

Weekly Round-Up

Are Career Breaks a Good Idea?

I was recently featured in Entrepreneur Magazine alongside 17 other career coaches and professionals, discussing if career breaks are a good idea. From assessing the lead time for your next opportunity to aligning the break with your personal seasons, we touch on all the considerations, benefits, and downsides of a career break. Check it out by clicking here.

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Shinola Hotel in Detroit Sued for Discrimination

Research has consistently shown that many recruiters and hiring managers discriminate based on the name they see on a resume, but this case proves it true.

Dwight Jackson, a 27-year-old Black man, applied to Shinola Hotel with his actual name and was denied a job, but when he later applied as "John Jebrowski" and kept the rest of his resume the same, he was offered an interview.

He attended the interview and confronted them. Let's just say the rest is going to play out in court. Click here to read The Detroit News article.

Officials for Sage Hospitality Group, which owns and operates the Shinola Hotel states, "we take this allegation very seriously and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind."

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3 LinkedIn Tips to Boost Your Visibility

LinkedIn can be a little confusing and intimidating for some, but if you know how to leverage it, it can make a world of difference in your career.

The name of the game on LinkedIn is visibility. You want to be seen by as many people in your field or at your potential employer as possible.

Unfortunately, most people don't know where to start with that, so here are a few things that can help boost your visibility on the platform:

1. Update Your Search Optimized Areas - there are 4 main profile sections that can help you be found on the platform: your headline, summary, experience, and skills. These should be updated often with target keywords. You should update your profile reguarly as this will signify to LinkedIn that you are an active user. Even small updates in these areas can help you be seen.
2. Comment, Comment, Comment - I can't stress enough that comments are king on LinkedIn. Comments can help you build relationships, establish your expertise, and drive traffic to your profile. I'm not talking about the simple "Congratulations" or "That's great!" You want to add something to the conversation, share what you found useful about the post, or even share a conflicting opinion. It goes down in the comments and you never know who is watching.
3. Be active - LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes active profiles that provide value and original content to their networks; this means you have to step out of your comfort zone and start posting regularly. If you don't currently post on LinkedIn, start by posting at least once a week and try to build up to post at least 3 times a week. BE CONSISTENT. Share articles you've read (and your opinion/thoughts), videos, insights, and even mix in a bit of your life/personality. LinkedIn will recognize you an engaged user and prioritize you in their algorithm.

If you need help figuring out how to be seen on LinkedIn, book a free 30-minute consultation with me and let's build a strategy that works for you!

Alternative Job Search Sites

Where do you search for your jobs?

If you said LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor, then you might be getting caught up with tons of applicants.

Each of my past news letters have had at least 5 alternative sites for you to consider using; here are 5 more for those interested in startups:

1. Wellfound - the world’s largest collection of jobs backed by Venture Capital & Private Equity firms
2. Otta - from startups to tech giants, you'll find over 3,500 top companies and 70,000+ live jobs.
3. Only Startups - jobs at startups backed by top VCs.
4. Venturesome - over 100,000 current job openings at 3,000 hand-selected Venture Capital & Private Equity backed companies.
5. Meander - AI-Driven Talent Marketplace

Got a site that you like to use and want to share? Let us know by clicking here.

Stop Being Afraid of AI

If you read my last newsletters, I've shared 3 AI systems you could use: ChatGPT, Gemini AI, and Perplexity.

I recently learned about a new AI system, Claude, by Anthropic .

This week, I'm not sharing any prompts, BUT I wanted to let you know that I'm working on one-pagers to teach you how to use AI for your job search and career planning/professional development!

Be on the lookout for the link in the near future.

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