Let me just move my next slide. Okay. So this might may feel a little bit controversial. The most qualified person in the room rarely gets the opportunity.I want you to sit with that for a moment. How many of you have been the most prepared in a meeting, the most experienced in the room, the one who's delivering the results, and then you're still watching the opportunities go to other people. Let me know in the chat if that if that resonates with you, because I know that it definitely happened to me during my corporate career. And what I'm talking about, it's not impostor syndrome. Yes. A 103100%. Yep. You're all there. Yeah. It resonates. I'm glad. Well, I'm glad that it resonates, but I'm not glad that, yeah, you're you're experiencing this as well. And it's not about impostor syndrome. It's not a confidence problem either.

It's a structural problem, and the structure is that you're not visible because we've been taught as women not to show off. And we'll go into this as we get through the slides. But that's what I'm here to talk to you about today. So what qualifies me to sit here and talk to you today? Kind of my proof of concept. So, you know, back in my corporate career, I absolutely hated LinkedIn. I despised it. It triggered me. It made me cringe. I don't know if any of you feel bad about LinkedIn as well. A mom returning from her career. Yeah. That was me. I've got two young children. I'll talk to you about that now. So back in 2020, I had a job, and I lost it because it just started in February.

And I fell down the furlough crack here in The UK, so I didn't qualify for any money from the government. And I was sat here with my children who were five and three at the time. No job. I couldn't go out to get a job because of the pandemic. And, yeah, I decided to to make that opportunity into something positive and to start my own business. And my LinkedIn profile was crusty. It was old. I didn't like it, and I had a 186 connections. So I took a course on LinkedIn, and I can't say this enough how much LinkedIn has changed my life. I'm here today talking to you lovely ladies and gentlemen as well about you know, it's not really my story, but, you know, how you can actually use it as a tool to better your life. You know, and kind of six years ago, I used LinkedIn. I started off kind of supporting SMEs with their social media. I used LinkedIn.

I didn't have a website, and it became fully booked in five months. And, obviously, that's not the way that I use it now. I'm much more strategic, and that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. But I just want to kinda give you an idea of, you know, how how when used correctly, you know, you you can get in front of so many opportunities. And, you know, like I say here, the pattern I keep saying, high performing women are being overlooked not because they're not capable and not because they're doing those things, but because their visibility doesn't match what they're they're living in their their organizations and, you know, in their day to day.

Just having a look. LinkedIn is a hard thing for me. Yeah. Love hate relationship in LinkedIn. Yeah. I get it. It's it's totally been there myself, but, know, I just kind of want to show you the opportunities. So, yeah, I think, you know, I've been as a result of my use of LinkedIn, I've now got 11,000 followers. I've worked with hundreds of brilliant women, and I help them get recognized for who they are and what they do. I've been featured in Forbes with my work, Stylist Authority magazine. I go on podcasts. I'm here today, you know, and sometimes I have to pinch myself, and it's all through using LinkedIn.

So it is a really, really powerful tool, and I know a lot of people love it or hate it. I love it. I still have days, I'm not gonna lie, where I cringe and I think, oh, I don't wanna do this, but that's just being a human being. So, yeah, I think, you know, like I've said, that's the gap that I'm gonna talk to you about today is that it's not just, you know, going on LinkedIn and doom scrolling. I want you to actually position yourself so that, you know, you you get found in the right rooms. So the pattern I keep seeing so let me describe something that you possibly may recognize. You know, you're resonating with what I'm saying. So a lady, she may be operating at a senior level.

She may be leading teams, making decisions, holding responsibility in her organization that impacts the strategy, the direction, the people, her team. And she's not early in her career. She knows what she's doing. She's very, very capable. But then you look at her LinkedIn, it doesn't land at the the level that she's operating at. And it's not because it's poorly written. It's just out of date. It may be I see it so often. Looks like a CV that you've copied and pasted at some point because you knew that you needed to be on there. And it's just not quite where you are. And then when somebody is gonna look at your LinkedIn, they see that, and they're gonna underestimate you because it's not telling the real story. You haven't given them the truth or enough to go along. They just think she's not active. You know, she doesn't maybe she doesn't care.

She's too busy, doesn't think it's important enough. And it's not that. It's because we're juggling kids, elderly parents, you know, all of those kind of things. I'm definitely in the generation gap, and it's hard to find time to do this thing as well as keep a house and pay the bills and drink your water and walk all of your steps and all of that kind of stuff. So, you know, it's it's difficult to factor in time for this, but it's really, really important because in that kind of short period of time that somebody is looking at your LinkedIn, they're underestimating you because it's not showing who you actually are. So it's about being findable at the right level. So, again, this may sound a little bit controversial, but opportunities don't come from applying. They come from being the person somebody thinks of when a conversation is happening. So just for a moment, I'll just check the the messages here. So yeah. Okay. Hi, Yvette. Hi, Celine. Hi, Alexis. So, yeah, think about the last opportunity in your career. How did it come about? Was it somebody that mentioned your name?

Was it because somebody searched through for you on Google or on LinkedIn? Was it because your name came up in a meeting? It's not always through applying for a position. Could be a thought. It could be a memory It because that your name suddenly came to them at that point in time and thought, oh, I know. Linda does that. And that's the mechanism that I'm talking about today. So these opportunities aren't because you're more qualified. It's because people remember you because of what you're known for when people are having that conversation. So, you know, sometimes I've I see it all the time on LinkedIn. Somebody can say, I saw it the other day with a CEO that I was looking for. Before I go to market, does anybody know an excellent executive assistant?

And then all the comments are there, people suggesting people, I'm DMing you, this person. Thanks for the recommendation. You know? And that's that's just the way that it is. And I know that he knows loads of great executive assistants because I worked with him, and there was a team of about 20 of them. But he's just, like, putting it out there. Is anybody looking for a job? And that's having the conversation. That's not him, you know, putting out a job and asking people to apply for it. Who who is out there? Who's in the market? Who's who's interested? So, you know, the question, I guess, I'm asking is how would you become that name before the job application becomes a more formal thing? I just wanna see if anyone's resonating with that. It's not commercial. It's facts. Yeah.

I didn't want anybody to think I'd be like, oh, with these statements because they are quite strong. Thank you for sharing your LinkedIn as well. That's great. So this is how decision makers discover expertise. Okay? So three ways. The first is search. So if somebody mentions a topic on Google or LinkedIn search to find your expertise, if you're not showing up and you don't have your profile saying who you are and what you do, you're not even in the room. You're not even being considered for that upper up up opportunity. So you need to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is singing really loudly and clearly in a way that, you know, you're not having to post loads of stuff, but it's optimized. So it's saying what you do, who you are, and have that one clear idea. The second is referral. Like I just mentioned, you turn to your network.

Who do you know who is an executive assistant, for example? You know? And that's how it works there. The third is memory. So when people have seen your name, they've seen you hanging around on LinkedIn. They know who you are because you're posting good content, and they've read it before. You know, something that you've spoken out or your name stuck for some reason, or maybe they know who you who you are, they can't remember your name. You know? Sometimes you'd be like, oh my god. Who is that guy that makes really nice candles? I can't think what his name is. And then you Google him, and he comes up with his Instagram or his LinkedIn. It's that kind of memory that we want to trigger so that you're very memorable for who you are and what you do, what your hopefully, your name is attached to that as well.

But perimenopause, I forget people's names all the time now. So I used to be really good at it, but my brain is too crammed. So these are the kind of hidden mechanics, and you can build these deliberately to help you get found. So how decision makers remember expertise? And the keyword here is gonna be repetition. Okay? So but what most people mean by repetition repetition is not posting every day. It's not by running around the Internet, posting content after content. I mean, I used to do that in 2020, and it worked then. I used to pay post on LinkedIn four times a day every day without fail. And I was just broadcasting. Come and work with me. Come and work with me. Come and work with me. And it worked then, but it it also probably attracted a lot of the wrong people as well because I probably looked really desperate.

I had nothing else to do, and now I don't have time to do that. You know? So I don't recommend that. But when you do post, quality over quantity, 100%. You know? And, actually, when you post something, make it count. Make it SEO friendly so that people can find it because LinkedIn is stacked in Google Analytics. You probably know this already, but it's being consistent with that same message, being clear with it, and having a profile that when people open up your profile and they land on it, they're like, wow. This is really good. She knows what she's talking about. You know, you've posted recently, so it it doesn't look like you haven't logged in for seven years, which, you know, sometimes people come and work with me, and they haven't done that because they, you know, they they're really kind of jarring with the use of having to use it because they've had a bad experience.

But, actually, being associated clearly and consistently with one idea over time is how it compounds, and we talk about that. So, you know, people see your name. They know exactly who you are and what you do, and this association is built slowly. So when people come and work with me and we start with their profile and we start with content, it normally takes between three and six months to reap rewards in terms of keynote speeches or invitations to events and things like that because it takes time to build that and, you know, practice to make it better.

That's the bit that people don't like doing because you have to publicly put the stuff out there. But trust me, it is worth it. You know, when it's publishing a LinkedIn newsletter, I'll invite you to connect with me at the end and, you know, subscribe to my newsletter. I send it out once a month. You know, that's memorable. People expect it. Sometimes if I haven't have sent it, people message me, hey. Is everything okay with your newsletter? You know, and it's that kind of point of view, that touch point that is consistent every month. And, you know, you want your profile to do the same thing that it's very clear. So it's not about being seen more. It's about being remembered for something specific. You know, precision and clarity over volume. That's that's that's my experience. I'm just gonna check. LinkedIn is so saturated with content. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

So depending on the market one is operating, niche recruiters reach out. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So so someone has your name, and they search it. They've got three seconds to form an opinion of who you are and what you do. So what does it say? At what level are you operating about? You know, your about section, does it sound like a job description? Have you got any recent activity? You know, are you just reposting other people's stuff if you actually posted anything? You know, what else are you doing? You know, have you been in the press? Have you won any awards? Are you speaking at events? You know? Is this building a profile that you want people to have? So, you know, and it it's it's like if your picture is, like, outdated as well, you know, make sure that you have a picture that actually looks like you.

Hopefully, I look like my picture. My hair is a bit bigger today. But, you know, I I've been to an award ceremony, and I wanted to speak to a lady who was up for an award, and I was like, oh, she's not here. She was there. I just didn't recognize her because her photo looked nothing like she looked like in real life. So, you know, just be aware of that. And, actually, you know, the higher like, the more recent it is, the the more trusted you are because you've been active and you've updated it. You know? And just have a little look at, you know, if you have got your experience, what you've got there. Is it something that you copied and pasted from your CV five years ago? You know?

Just after this, go and have a little look at your LinkedIn profile and see see what it's saying. Is it singing who you are? And this is what I call the visibility gap. The space between where live women are they're operating and how they appear externally. So, you know, in your company, everyone's thinking she's great. She's really, really good at what she does. She's the expert. But then you go like, I said before, you go to her LinkedIn. It you know, there's no there's no real presence. And this is a a real gap, and it's costing you money. It's costing you opportunities, and it is totally closable and sortable. You know, my clients when we reposition their their profiles.

You know, one of them, she's speaking in Dubrovnik next week, and that was an inbound inquiry from the event organizer. So, you know, it happens when you position your profile in a way for to receive opportunities that you actually want. It really, really does work. Next slide. So why strong performance alone doesn't work? So you this may resonate with you as well. You know, the ones who, you know, hope that your your good work will lead to a promotion. You know? The right people will notice. I worked hard on that. You know? And here's just an example. Two women, same organization, same capability, same track record, more or less. One of them presented the strategy. Her name is attached to the outcome. She's seen. The other one built it. Her name is on a slide in the deck somewhere, and she's just invisible.

And it isn't about confidence. This is the visibility structure. So the woman who delivered but stayed in the background was operating at an assumption that the work would hold more value than her name being attached to it. But we all know excellent work doesn't automatically get noticed, and it definitely doesn't always get noticed at this level. So, you know, your work needs to be credited, and you need to sing about it and blow your own trumpet, but you do it in a way that doesn't make you wanna cringe and feel sick. You just need to be really deliberate about the way that you position these kind of, you know, successes and achievements and, you know, the hard work. You need to talk about it. I'm just gonna check any messages. So, yeah, it depends on the market.

What if someone appears more experienced as much so they get overlooked from intern roles that they need to pivot? K. I'll come to back to that at the end. Sorry. So, yeah, what keeps you top of mind? So the women who were being recruited, the ones who have got messages in their DMs, the ones who are getting emailed about opportunities or speaking features, they're probably not the most prolific posters. They're probably not posting every day. They're definitely not going viral. I've been viral a few times. It it's so overwhelming and stressful. I would not recommend it. And I think so often we chase that dopamine hit of we need to go viral. That's not what we want here. We don't wanna be broadcast. It's actually just building clarity and being unmistakable about one thing over time. So the real career risk isn't self promotion. It's the invisibility that comes from avoiding it. Okay?

So it's every woman may has been taught not to promote yourself. You know, when you're a kid, don't show off. Don't boast. You know, that doing that is unseemly that letting your words speak is is not is not the right thing to do. The modesty is the virtue here. But the cost of this is concrete, and it's measurable. Opportunities go to somebody who's louder. Rules are created around somebody who's possibly more visible because they're in there talking to the people in the board, and names come up in rooms that you weren't there because you were busy delivering good work. So, you know, I just wanna say visibility is not self promotion. It is making sure the right people find you, place you correctly, and think of you when it matters. So visibility compounds over time, you know, positioning your profile correctly.

When that happens, like I say, speaking invitations arrive in your inbox. At the speaking event, the press are there, the press talk about you, then the board see the press feature. You you can see how it compounds over time. I'm just gonna speed up a little bit because I've gone over slightly. So, you know, there's one kind of strategic shift, and that is be really specific about what you want to be known for, you know, not just your job title, not just your list of skills. One thing and say it really clearly and say it everywhere, and this is your visibility anchor to be found for the right opportunities. So what does this look like in practice? So your headline which sits underneath your name on LinkedIn. I googled last night's CTO on LinkedIn. Thousands of people came up.

But actually, this is an optimized example, fractional CTO and tech adviser. And it may look like a lot of words, but these words are SEO friendly, and they're gonna get get picked up by people searching for them. I use the fence post to kind of give it space, so you need the space around the words so that Google can pick them up. But that kind of it may feel like it's a little bit messy, but you've got 220 characters. Use them all and use them well. And the first 40 characters, make sure that they sing who you actually are, like the Ron Seal approach because that follows you around when you're engaging on LinkedIn, which hopefully you will be doing. So five things I want you to take away. The strong performance alone isn't just about it's not just gonna give you the recognition.

You need to be visible with it. Opportunities find you through search, referral, and memory, and you can build all of those through your LinkedIn profile. Make sure that there's not a gap between your capability and how you're positioning yourself externally. Visibility means precision, not volume, not broadcasting, not just being everywhere. So, you know, go away today and think about what you want to be known for. And opportunities don't find the most qualified. They find the most visible. So I hope that has been useful. I've kind of rattled through the last three slides. I just wanna make sure I haven't missed anything. But, yeah, please do connect with me on LinkedIn. I have got my, reputation edit newsletter on there, which, you know, you're very welcome to subscribe to. And I'll just check the chat to see if there are any questions. You're very useful. Thank you. Thank you, Marielle.

Do I have an advice if on a tight, low budget? I'm not sure what you mean by tight, low budget. For LinkedIn in terms of premium, I'm not sure. Hi, Eunice. Day three. Everyone's connecting. This is wonderful. So, Alexis, what if someone appears more experienced, much more, so then they get overlooked for interim roles? They need to pivot. Yeah. Absolutely. If you're getting overlooked. Okay. Thank you. Most useful session so far. That's lovely of you to say. My problem is I jumped around in my career. Okay. That's fine. So whatever you've done in your past, I want you to put your LinkedIn profile as who you are now looking forward. And you're talking about where you want to go, where you want to be, not where you've been.

I hope that's helpful for you, but please feel free to DM me if you've got any further questions. Thank you. And, yeah, please do connect with me. And if you've got any questions, my inbox is always open. A different approach. Thank you so much. That's really kind of you. And, hopefully, see you through the the rest of the session. I hope you're enjoying the conference, and thank you for the for the fireworks as well. It's wonderful to feel the love. Thank you. Thank you. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And, yeah, go and enjoy the rest of the chats. Oh, how wonderful. All 26 of you. So, yeah, I will be connecting with you now as well, the ones that have shared. So, yeah, brilliant. Thank you so much. Great.