How to Reorder Work Experience on LinkedIn in 6 Simple Steps

When I'm advising professionals on sharpening their personal brand --  particularly when it comes to their resume, bio and LinkedIn profile -- my number one tip is to move eye-catching, results-based achievements to the top.

For all the many wonderful attributes of LinkedIn, it insists on complete chronology with work experience, so whatever job you're in right now sits up top. Then the last job you held, and so on. It doesn't matter if you were the President of the United States and now you're a professional apple picker ... CEO will be listed second, with your picking profession center stage.

Which is dandy if you're putting politics aside for greener orchards (no one could blame you, really), but if you're looking for a more professional image as you charge back into the working world (or change industries, de-emphasize a short-term job, or after a downsizing) there's a simple way to place your top accomplishments front-and-center.

6 Simple Steps to Reorder Work Experience on LinkedIn

1. Log into your LinkedIn, click "Profile," then "Edit Profile."

2. Scroll to "Experience," and click "Add a Position."

3. On the "Company Name" tab, type a broad category you want to emphasize. For example:
~Marketing Strategist
~Human Resources Professional
~Financial Consultant
~You could even go with something like "Career Highlights" or "Industry Experience." 

4. On the "Title" tab, type in a little descriptive. Think of it as a subheading instead of a job title. For example:
~ Company Name: Healthcare Marketing
~ Job Title: Key Career Achievements

5. On the "Time Period" tab, input a start time that best describes whatever you've categorized. So if you've been in your current field for 10 years, input "2004" for start time. The most important factor is that you input the end time after the next position that comes up! So if you resigned from your last position in May 2014, the end time for this position should be June 2014 or after. Yes, there will be crossover with other jobs, and that's okay. You're not claiming this is an official job you held ... you're listing work experience.

6. On the "Description" tab, include whatever you need to highlight. For example:
~Heartstrong Medical Company: created brand strategy resulting in new product sales of $40 billion.
It doesn't matter if that particular achievement was back in 2002, and you've held 2 different jobs since then. If it's something that needs to be said first, put it right up top.

One point upon which I want to be completely clear: I'm not encouraging you to fudge details on your LinkedIn (or anywhere.) In fact, I strongly encourage you to fact-check all your information for honesty and accuracy throughout LinkedIn and on your resume.

From a personal branding perspective, you must position your career results and achievements in a way that will intrigue a future employer. When you look at the scope of your entire career, success isn't necessarily sequential. So don't let a little technical obstacle on one of the top professional resources on the internet keep you from putting your best foot forward, right at the top of the page.

For a few more tips about pumping up your personal brand on LinkedIn, visit here and here. And if you need a little professional assistance getting that LinkedIn profile in order, send me a note at amyATamymacwritesDOTcom.

Have a great week!

Don't miss a post! Subscribe here:

Enter your email address:


Delivered by

Taming the Social Media Beast: 5 Easy Steps to Social Media Success

(Hey, Google Reader/RSS Subscribers: Don't miss a post ... click here to continue to get Amy Mac blog posts ... because Reader goes away in a few months!)

Whether you are starting a tiny business from your basement or you're a brand manager for a major conglomerate, anyone responsible for getting the word out about a brand has a vague sense they should be using social media much, much better.

Thing is, social media is overwhelming. You could always be posting more, tweeting more, updating your Facebook status more. Then you get to thinking "Is anyone reading this stuff? Is this really making any sort of impact, or would my time be better spent on traditional marketing? Or maybe just having a margarita and catching up on The Good Wife?"

I am sad to say, from a professional marketing and branding perspective, an effective social media strategy is paramount for connecting with your audience, and thus, you'll need to pour out that margarita (it's 9 a.m., for heaven's sake) and get cracking. Good news is, it's easier than you think to devise a winning social media strategy. In fact, I've broken it down into 5 easy steps:

TOSS the elaborate plan. Many social media efforts fail before they get started because there's too much planning. Nail down what you want to accomplish, make sure it benefits your audience, then GO.

FOCUS your efforts where your audience is most engaged. This isn't an all-or-nothing endeavor. Pick one place to focus, whether it's a blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or whatever and focus your efforts.

STICK to a schedule. Determine how much time you realistically have to spend on social media, put it on your calendar, and stick to it 100% of the time. Period.

CREATE an ideas file. There's that little "I had writer's block" problem solved.

HIRE it out. Maybe social media just isn't your thing. Pay someone to do it for you. Investing in marketing is always a good investment, and a smart social media campaign will build your business.

See? Easy.

(This post is a recap of an article from my newsletter. Read the full article "5 Easy Steps to Consistent Social Media Success" here. Sign up for the quarterly Amy Mac PR newsletter here.)

Photo Source: chicagonow.com via ROAR pro on Pinterest

In Between Days

Between an out-of-town trip for a volunteer position, visiting with friends from college, assisting with multiple year-end school projects (like the picture you see above), preparing for an upcoming trip to Florida for an Ironman (my husband’s, not mine), plus trying to cram in one million things to do in the last few days of school … well, let’s just say there are more to-dos than hours in the day.

Hence the “not blogging very often” situation you might have noticed here at the Amy Mac Blog. Stick around, and I promise we’ll be back in business shortly. In the meantime, a couple of notes…

First, a question I’m asked often is why I use Twitter, and if it’s an effective way to publicize a business. Stay tuned, I’m working on an article that will answer your questions. But the short answer is yes it’s effective, otherwise I assure you I’d not be cramming yet another task into my schedule. I am most definitely not one of those people wandering around looking for more things to do. And for the record, feel strongly those people should be caught in butterfly nets and held captive, as they are a danger to themselves and others. But maybe that’s just me.

Second, congrats to Mallory W. – your yummy salsa is in the mail, and will hopefully sustain your snacking needs while studying for exams!

See you soon! XO- Amy Mac

Hitting the Road

For my most recent Northside Woman article I issued this plea via Facebook:

Writing an article (due today, naturally) about Road Trips with Kids - what's your favorite tip for keeping them entertained in the car (and dosing them with Benadryl does NOT count as a good tip)? What's your favorite road trip memory from when you were a youngster?

Friends submitted the most fantastic responses, but my stringent word limit for the article kept me from sharing them all … but the memories and tips for travelling with kids were too good to keep to myself. Enjoy!

I distinctly remember riding in the back of our station wagon on the way to my Grandparents on Christmas Eve. I saw Western Barbie in her shiny Barbie box through the cracks into the trunk in the back and wondered to myself why we were giving my cousin Alice that Barbie when I had asked Santa for one. Miraculously Santa delivered to me a western Barbie that next morning! It still took me years to figure out what was really happening!

We play the ABC game with road signs. But, I actually just saw these cards at Learning Express for dinner games. I'm buying those for us to play this summer when we drive back to Texas.

We always played the ABC game... Where you had to spot every letter of the alphabet on road signs or license plate... We would keep our fingers crossed to pass "q"uick stops, e"x"xons, or e"z" marts... Those last few letters were always the hardest... Of course Ellen and I would also sing all the songs from our tape of the Grease soundtrack... she always got to sing Sandy’s parts, and I got stuck singing Danny’s

(the sister’s response) of course I sang Sandy's part... we also counted cows (whatever side of the car you were on was the side of the road your cows would be on) not sure that was exactly fun but we did it and somehow I think I won every time (there is no way I would have cheated). Now with the boys we just put a DVD in and are good to go.

She always got to sing Sandy's parts, and I always got stuck singing Danny's... I'm sure Chris would have killed for a DVD player-- if only they'd existed back then!She always got to sing Sandy's parts, and I always got stuck singing Danny's... I'm sure Chris would have killed for a DVD player-- if only they'd existed back then!

Listening to books on cd (Chronicles of Narnia—the present favorite), switching seats mid-trip (this always restores peace), handing out toys/books that I have kept hidden for a month or so before the trip (they respond like I've given them something brand new) . . . looking forward to reading it!

I LOVE LOVE hearing these stories! My children would, of course, dub these "Pioneer Days Stories." They are always stunned to discover when I was little it was perfectly legal not only to ride around without a seatbelt, but that, as a tyke, I was frequently allowed to stand up in the front seat on the way to the store. Though, upon further scrutiny, that seems to push even the boundaries of 1970s safety....

These days we take two cars! Divide & conquer!

Ok, my mom always had Tootsie Pops and we counted how many licks it took to get to the middle. Once you got to the thinnest layer of candy coating you just couldn't help but bite it, thus, losing! We had to listen to real country music, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, on 8-Track!! We also slept, with no seat belts, in the back part of the car (a Suburban so there were no seats, it was just flat.)

My mom had a bag of pennies and she would be creative, first one to find a black sheep gets a penny, we would be quiet and intently look for the black sheep. First one to find a dog in a car, a lady wearing a hat, etc. Then we could spend our pennies in the souvenir shop at our destination. I also loved the invisible ink books, still have them today and my kids love them!

Riding to West Tenn. from Disneyworld with the family of 4 and a 3-foot stuffed Mickey Mouse taking the middle of the back of a VW rabbit...

We used to drive to LA from Nashville from '73 - '80 around Christmas to visit Aunt and Uncle. We slept in the back of a Mercury station wagon ( think Griswolds) with no seat belts, but we did have a TV and VCR (mom was an electrical genius). We watched so many episodes of NOVA and National Geographic. Every year we would stop to ski somewhere out West – parents would take a different route every year. One year my parents gave us our own CB to play with on the trip. It’s amazing what truckers will talk about. I didn’t understand most of it at the time.

When our son was 18 months old we were driving up to Wisc. to visit. He was crying and really fussy (his sister was sleeping) so I opened up a Gogurt and handed it to him. He was so very happy and so very quite. Half an hour later I looked backed at them and the entire back seat was covered with Gogurt! He had flung it all around my brand new BMW. The roof, the dog even his sleeping sister was covered in the stuff! It kept him quite but I wouldn't recommend it - Jim was very happy to see us!

As much as I love being "published" (ha ha), I'm fresh out of ideas for road trips. I hate them!!! My only tip is to try to be the parent who drives, so your spouse has to deal with the kids' fights, passing back snacks, Kleenex, changing out the DVD's, and, God forbid, car sickness.

It's not old fashioned like alphabet billboard. We do the dvd thing. We travel A LOT. We do all of our shopping, dentists, & doctors 6 hours away. My biggest secret is for mom. Not really a secret, but I NEVER drive w/out a great book on my Ipod. Earphones work fine. Since it's not constant music I can hear the road safely.

My dad used to put 10 Hershey's Kisses in a row on the dashboard at the beginning of a trip. If we misbehaved, he would take one off and eat it in front of us. Whatever was left at the end of the trip we got to eat. Don't recall ever eating one.

Played "pa-diddle" (not sure how to spell it), the game when you look for a car or truck missing a headlight? Loved that game as a kid! These days we play the geography game when you say a city/state/country etc and the next one has to start with the last letter of the previous one...fun one! The girls love the alphabet animal or food game when you say something that starts with A and the next person says something that starts with B and so on! Can’t wait to read this article! You always crack me up!

Are my Facebook friends the smartest, most resourceful parents on the planet? Yes, they are. The best things I’ve learned about parenting I’ve learned from friends – and I hope you learn a few tricks for travelling with kids from this post!

Click here to read the full article! And become an Amy Mac Fan on Facebook, too!

Follow Me

I set up a Twitter account a few months ago because I heard I really, really had to have a Twitter account. Then I forgot it was there. Alas, two friends started "following" me this week, so I've decided if people are following me I'd better start paying attention. I'd hate to lead someone down the wrong path.

If you have a Twitter account, follow me at @amymacpr. You can sign up for a Twitter account at www.twitter.com.