How Immigrant Professionals and Allies can Leverage LinkedIn

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Your monthly source of LinkedIn tips, features and events to help you POWER UP your LinkedIn profile and presence and get the visibility and opportunities you deserve.

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June is Immigrant Heritage Month. It was launched in the US in 2014 to honor the contributions of immigrants and acknowledge their incredible impact to this country.

So to celebrate the month and LinkedIn , I wanted to briefly share my story as well as tips on how immigrants can leverage LinkedIn and how allies can support them on this platform

LinkedIn played a significant role in my professional journey as an immigrant.

When I moved to the US in the early 2000s, I barely had any network in this country.

I struggled to find a job that matched my expertise.

I learned later that unlike many other countries, getting a job, moving ahead with your career in the US, often happened through referrals, who you knew.

When I joined LinkedIn in 2007, I went about building my network.

First by connecting with people I went to school, university or worked with back in India and then gradually inviting professionals I met in the US to join my network.

2nd and 3rd degree connections slowly became my 1st degree connections.

LinkedIn was pivotal in not just helping me connect with peers and senior leaders, but also served as a powerful platform to help me reach a large audience and amplify my voice when I produced my documentary film, launched my business The Expat Woman and ran my events.

I never guessed that 15 years later a pandemic and lockdown would lead to me transitioning into a role that I absolutely love, a LinkedIn coach, consultant and trainer. 

LinkedIn helped me discover my zone of genius, my superpower!

And earlier this year, I was recognized by Influence Digest Media as one of the top LinkedIn experts in San Francisco in 2023.

➡️ If you have just moved to a new country or even if you have lived here for a while, don't underestimate the power of LinkedIn.

Here are some tips on how you can leverage the platform.

🎯 Create a compelling profile: Build a LinkedIn profile that highlights your skills, experience, and accomplishments in the country where you worked or went to school. Translate your profile into the language of your new country if necessary.

🎯 Build your network: Find and connect with people you went to school, college or worked with. Also reach out to  people you meet through networking events or professional organizations and invite them to connect.. Join relevant LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions to expand your network.

➡️ Here are links to two LinkedIn Groups that I run

LinkedIn for Thought Leaders

The Expat Woman

🎯 Highlight your international experience: Showcase your international experience and how it adds value to potential employers. Share stories or projects that demonstrate your cross-cultural skills, adaptability, and global perspective. This can help you stand out from the crowd.

🎯 Leverage LinkedIn job search features: Use LinkedIn's job search features to find opportunities in your new country. Customize your job preferences and set alerts to receive notifications about relevant job openings. Explore the "Jobs" tab, where you can filter by location, industry, and job title.

🎯 Utilize LinkedIn Learning: LinkedIn Learning offers a wide range of online courses and tutorials covering various industries and skills. Take advantage of this platform to enhance your skills, learn about the job market in your new country, or bridge any knowledge gaps you may have.

🎯 Add a Career Breaks to the Experience section on your profile : Career Breaks allow you to add context and share details about career breaks you’ve taken outside of regular employment in your work experience. If you took a career break because of your move to a new country, you can select relocation.

🎯 Participate in relevant groups and discussions: Engage in industry-specific groups, local networks, or professional communities on LinkedIn. Contribute to discussions, share insights, and ask questions. This can help you establish yourself as a knowledgeable professional and expand your visibility.

🎯 Attend LinkedIn events: Search for and sign up to attend LinkedIn Lives and LinkedIn Audio events that are on topics that are relevant to you. Participate in these events to network with professionals, gain industry insights, and discover new opportunities.

🎯 Request recommendations: Ask former colleagues, supervisors, or mentors to provide recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. These can enhance your credibility and validate your skills and work ethic. Also give recommendations to people who worked with you.

🎯 Stay active and engage with your network: Engage with your connections' content by liking, commenting, and sharing. This activity can help you stay visible, build relationships. Also if you are comfortable with creating content, share posts to showcase your expertise, build your personal brand and your know, like and trust factor.

LinkedIn Pro-Tip 

If you have a name that the locals are not familiar with, it's likely to be mispronounced.

The same could happen when you move to a country where people have names that you are not sure how to pronounce.

I've been guilty of mispronouncing names. So you are not alone!

With the global virtual events, workshops and meetings and remote work on the rise, it's likely you might have a speaker or host, a client, a colleague, a jobseeker, a hiring manager or a podcast guest that has a name that you don't know how to pronounce.

I love that LinkedIn is addressing this with their name pronunciation feature

"Correct pronunciation is not just a common courtesy — it’s an important part of making a good first impression and creating an inclusive workplace. That’s why we decided to provide a feature that gives you the option to share how to pronounce your name." LinkedIn press release on the launch of their new name pronunciation feature in 2020.

LinkedIn Name Pronunciation Feature

Use the name pronunciation feature to record your name and also listen to the recordings of those you are going to be interacting with 

When you use this feature to record the pronunciation of your name, the recording is displayed right next to your name below your profile photo in the introductory card.

You currently can’t record or edit your name pronunciation on the LinkedIn desktop site. It can only be done on the LinkedIn iOS/Android mobile app.

HOW TO RECORD AND DISPLAY YOUR NAME PRONUNCIATION

1. Tap your profile photo, then View Profile.

2. Tap the 🖊 Edit icon from your introduction section.

3. Tap + Record name pronunciation.

4. Tap the recording button and hold to record your name. Note: You can also cancel or preview the recording.

5. Tap the Use button when you’re satisfied with your recording. Note: You can also Retake the recording.

6. Tap Save.

RECORDING TIPS

While recording:

Make sure that the total recording time is within 10 seconds.

Limit background noise.

Speak slowly and pronounce each syllable clearly.

Hold the phone four inches from your mouth.

DO THIS - It should take you less than 10 seconds to record your name. If you want to maximize this feature, you could include a brief welcome message and share a little about yourself.

Check out how I pronounce my name and the message I've included by going to my profile and clicking on the audio or speaker icon next to my name.

🔴 Let me know in the comments if you are using this name pronunciation feature or once you do, let me know and I will check it out.

How allies can celebrate and support immigrants on LinkedIn

🌟 Amplify the voices and perspectives of immigrants

🌟 Comment, react  and share their posts with your network

🌟 Connect immigrants in your network with potential employers, clients, partners

🌟 Highlight non-profits that work with supporting and empowering immigrant professionals

🌟 Write recommendations for immigrants who you work with or have worked with you as a peer, employer or client

🌟 Create posts spotlighting immigrants in your network, in your industry and area of expertise

🌟 Interview immigrants who your audience would want to learn from on your LinkedIn Lives or LinkedIn Audio Events

🌟Like, comment, subscribe and share this newsletter with your network by reposting it and adding your thoughts or insights

🌟 Tag immigrants or people in your network in the comments of this post who you think might benefit from reading the content of this newsletter

LINKEDIN AUDIO EVENT CELEBRATING IMMIGRANT HERITAGE MONTH

Join me on June 15th at 9am PST for my monthly LinkedIn for Thought Leaders Audio Show with Women in the C-Suite who are also 1st or 2nd generation immigrants Gretel Tortolani , Katica Roy , Iliana Quinonez and Neetu Radhakrishnan

RSVP HERE

#ImmigrantHeritageMonth

#Immigrants

#Expats

#LinkedInTips

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🙋🏻 ♀️ Hi I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant and trainer specializing in LinkedIn profiles, content, building your network, LinkedIn pages and LinkedIn training for companies.

👉🏼 Send me a DM for any support you need with LinkedIn.

And follow me, Nyna Caputi, my hashtags #NynaOnLinkedIn and #TheLinkedInArchitect and ring the 🔔 on my profile to see my posts in your feed.