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How LinkedIn Helps Women Shatter The Glass Ceiling

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LinkedIn is no longer an add-on career management activity; it has become essential for anyone who is serious about career advancement. And for women, who comprise only 23 of the S&P 500’s CEOs according to Catalyst, LinkedIn is poised to become a sledgehammer that will help tear down the glass ceiling once and for all.

It Grants Access To C-Suite Power Brokers

True to its name, LinkedIn offers new ways of making connections across all ranks of corporate America, leveling the playing field for women in new ways. A recent Harvard Business Review study titled “Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers” explores one of the reasons why this is so crucial: “Informal networks are a precious resource for would-be leaders, yet differences in men’s and women’s organizational roles and career prospects, along with their proclivity to interact with others of the same gender, result in weaker networks for women." Perhaps their networks with senior executives are not as deep and broad because fewer women have access to these executives. LinkedIn searches and connecting strategies are typically gender agnostic and can help women communicate with senior leaders, pursuing opportunities they would not obtain directly from the people they know.

It Lets You Build Networks Well Before You Land Your First Job

Women are entering universities at a significantly higher rate than their male counterparts. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 12 million females attended college in fall 2014, compared with 9 million males. Women can make the most of this leverage by joining LinkedIn well before they look for that first job out of college; from on-campus networks to internships, LinkedIn is essential to establishing the right start for your professional success. With such a high number of women enrolled in college, you would expect women to comprise at least half of LinkedIn’s membership. But they don’t.

It’s A Requirement For Getting Interviews And Landing A New Job

A friend of mine who recently joined the corporate management team at Uber told me that in applying he was asked to send his resume and a link to his LinkedIn profile for review. For men and women alike, a LinkedIn profile provides a much richer portfolio, but a majority of LinkedIn members are men. This makes it even more important for women to start seeing LinkedIn as essential, not optional. Another advantage of LinkedIn is the credibility it lends. People don’t typically lie on their LinkedIn profile because it is visible to so many more people than their resume – and recruiters and hiring managers know this. In The Effect of LinkedIn On Deception In Resumes, Jamie Guillory, M.S. and Jeffrey T. Hancock, Ph.D. showcase their study of deception in resumes vs. in LinkedIn profiles. Their results refute the assumption that Internet-based communication is more deceptive than traditional formats.

My friend got the job and credits his highly polished LinkedIn profile as a key ingredient in getting the interview.

I have also heard of a new protocol in the proposal and bidding process; I know of several consulting companies and law firms that have been required to include hyperlinks to the LinkedIn profiles of the consultants/attorneys they propose in lieu of written bios. This trend will increase and extend beyond professional services firms.

It’s The Key To The Passive Job Market

If you want opportunities to come to you, you need to focus on building a stellar profile and using LinkedIn regularly.  The passive job market has exploded. Hiring managers and recruiters favor the employed over those who are looking for work when seeking ideal candidates – and the world’s biggest database of employed professionals is LinkedIn. In a step toward minimizing gender bias, the SEO terms emphasize your talents – not your gender.

You may not know of opportunities that are ideal for you, but you sure want to be visible to those who have them. Think of building and executing your LinkedIn strategy as planned serendipity.

It’s The Place Where People Go To Learn About You

More and more, your LinkedIn profile is your first impression. That means colleagues, friends, prospective clients and business partners are looking to LinkedIn for the 411 on you. This gives you an unprecedented level of control over how your personal brand is communicated. To a prospect, your LinkedIn profile is YOU when you aren’t there. Even if people are researching you in Google , it’s likely that they’ll end up at your LinkedIn page. That’s because when someone searches your name, your LinkedIn profile will typically show up at the top of the search – making it the first thing they will see when they’re researching you. We know from research done by Chitika that 66% of Google result clicks go to the top three results.

And it’s easier to brag in LinkedIn. Women are less likely to tout their accomplishments at the workplace than their male counterparts, preferring hard work to speak for itself. According to a whitepaper published by Women of Influence, hard work makes women invisible in their organizations. LinkedIn allows women to document and share their accomplishments more comfortably than through overt chest-pounding.

It Helps You At Your Current Job

Even at companies with robust intranets, employees are using LinkedIn to learn about their colleagues. You can stand out internally when you have a polished profile, and it also helps you do your job better. LinkedIn offers great ways to source staff, keep the saw sharp, benchmark your department and be a visible evangelist for your company by sharing their posts with your connections and groups.

Why Does This Resource Remain Untapped by Millions Of Women?

Although women are catching up in the workforce, they still lag behind their male counterparts.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women represent 47% percent of the total employed, yet only 44% of LinkedIn members are women. That 3% difference may seem small, but 3% of 330 million is around 10 million.

The gap is surprising because women certainly don’t shun social media. According to Catherine Ford at Entrepreneur, a greater percentage of adult U.S.  women use Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter than their male counterparts. The only social network that boasts more men than women is LinkedIn.

Another cause for concern is the fact that women aren’t as engaged on LinkedIn:

  • They have fewer connections. Women average only 101 1st-level connections according to Expanded Ramblings, yet data from Statista tells us that 75% of LinkedIn users have over 200 connections, with over a quarter having 500-999 connections. And according to Glen Casey at Boolean Black Belt, of the 100 members with the most connections, only five are women.
  • They seem to be less likely to have a headshot. I couldn’t find any peer-reviewed research to support this, but my anecdotal evidence indicates that women more often have headless profiles than men. I get about 200 LinkedIn requests each week, and last week I tracked them. The results of my unscientific study show that women who sent me a connection request were 17% less likely to have a photo than men. Yet we know that having a photo makes a profile 11 times more likely to be viewed. Anyone who feels invisible at work can relish the potential for visibility on LinkedIn, and that begins with a first-rate headshot.

My hope is that this post will reverse those statistics. If reading this post motivates you to build a stellar LinkedIn profile and start using LinkedIn as a career advancement tool, here are a few links to some of my previous posts with ideas that will help:

22 LinkedIn Secrets LinkedIn Won’t Tell You

3 Steps To Writing The Perfect LinkedIn Summary

5 Easy Ways To Build A Brilliant Background For LinkedIn

3 Simple Steps To Building A Powerful LinkedIn Network

Role Models

There is some encouraging news when it comes to women and LinkedIn. Some of the women who are using all of LinkedIn’s elements are really knocking it out of the park. Here are seven excellent profiles that are complete, authentic and compelling:

Kirsten Boileau - Using the power of digital innovations to transform business | Social Business | Social Selling | Digital Marketing

Kathy Caprino  -  Int'l Career Success Coach, Speaker, Leadership Trainer & Writer helping women build rewarding, impactful careers

Janet Powers  - Digital Consultant, Community Builder, Workforce Productivity Catalyst and Content Curator

Karen Stevens - Senior Leader - Career Services and Talent Management | Practice Development | Client Success Solutions | Human Capital

Lois Martin - CFO, EVP at Ceridian | Public Company Board Member | Leading Corporate Transformation

Stacy Donovan Zapar – Founder, Tenfold - Employer Brand, Social Recruiting & Sourcing Strategist at TripAdvisor - @StacyZapar (perhaps the most connected woman on LinkedIn)

Ora Shtull - Executive Coach. Speaker. Author - The Glass Elevator: A Guide to Leadership Presence for Women on the Rise

If you want to expand your success, put some effort into LinkedIn – and help your female colleagues, friends and family members reap the rewards too.

Learn how to make your LinkedIn summary reflect the true you. Download my complimentary information-packed webinar on How to Write the Perfect LinkedIn Summary.