We just saw how I suggested you craft your CV. Now, let's talk more about social media. And I will be very specific. I'm not talking about the others. I will focus on LinkedIn, because LinkedIn, for me, I believe LinkedIn did magic. It's the only place on earth where people are just allowed to share their CVs. You, your boss, the boss of your boss, everybody and everybody is in some ways actively looking for clients, looking to position her or himself without being offensive right by, for example, sending a CV. On LinkedIn, what is important? Linkedin is the place where you don't have the limited of the size of your CV. At LinkedIn, you don't need to restrict to one page or two pages. You can put whatever you want and people will just screen it. I put all the papers, everything. So you can really make a robust profile on who you are. Why this is allowed, and on CV this is not useful. Because when people are hiring, you are the ones sending a CV. But on LinkedIn, your information is there. People read. If they have a job for you or if they are just curious about you, it's a public profile.
So you can put whatever you want. And most of the time when you apply for a job on LinkedIn, the first screening will be automatic. So on LinkedIn, I strongly suggest that you put everything you can, all the work you did. Put, of course, a nice photo, a nice means, a well-taken photo, A good introduction, everything that it showcasing but you are not as restricted, as you are on the CV side, Maybe in the future the CV will not even exist.
I don't know, ok?. But you need to be just mindful on LinkedIn. On the other social media, what is important? Every single company that aims to hire you will see your other social media. Don't mess up. Don't mess up! Remember, think that everything you put on the Internet will stay there forever. Every time. Imagine that there is no delete button. As soon as you press send. It's over. It's done. Always be mindful that when you make a political statement, When you make a personal statement or when you criticize something, know that this will be seen by every single person on this planet, including those who will recruit you. Why I'm saying this? Because it's very common that people think, "Oh, no, this photo is just on Instagram".
There is no such thing. "Oh, my network is private". Oh, come on. How many times we saw on the news audios on WhatsApp that just leaked? So don't. Don't be naive. Every single thing you write or you post. Will be seen by anyone on earth. Be mindful of that, because these would it doesn't matter if you make a perfect, beautiful LinkedIn profile for your work as a project manager, including highlight in your projects, because there is a feature for you to highlight your projects on LinkedIn, if you mess up on the other networks.
This is the first thing I want you to share. To tell you. The second one, is networking. One of the greatest things for you to raise opportunities is to know other people in your field other project managers. And this is one great thing that helped me a lot, Was being a member of PMI chapter. You know, when I was starting my career, it was an amazing opportunity to connect with like minded people. So it's very important that you do your network when you do a course, do your network know people when you go to a Congress know. Take your business card if you still use a business card or whatever you want, but share your contact information with other people. Get to know people.
Improve your network. If you are applying for a job. And there is a connection that you have in your network. That you can reach out informally just to know more about the company. Why not doing that? These is something. How many people send me notes or reach out to me to know about how it's working for the UN? And this is absolutely fair. People need to do that. It's far better than you just, you know, just showing up to an interview or showing up to a job where you have absolutely no clue of what the company does or what the organization does. So be mindful. It's a massive opportunity for you to do networking. And the best way to start your networking is to look for people that work on own, in some ways in similar jobs that you. For example, if you work on IT and software development, try to connect to people in that field and try to expand that connection to say, okay, I know now the developers, but can I connect now with all the people in the IT sector? And then you start connecting and creating a good network that will benefit you and the others.
Why I said the "and the others" and not only you? Because you know, one of the biggest challenges and don't be naive, I said this when I recorded the What Matters. Don't be naive of thinking that you go to a network, a social media, just to get things. You know, you only send messages to people on LinkedIn to ask things, to ask them never to give things. And for me, for example, it's absolutely frustrating because I would say 90%, maybe even more of the messages I receive is just people trying to get something from me. Very few want to offer something and someone that said, "Oh, Ricardo, I read something and it's super cool. It's very close to what you do. Take a look on it". No. People just get. "I'm doing this. I'm doing this". Networking is two ways. It's not only you getting things.
So it's also an opportunity for you to share with people that you help people that you collaborate with people. These raise your brand awareness and value and these drives you to be more valuable in the market. Always think about that. This is this is a very powerful space. But at the same time, if you misuse it, it can create a damage that will be very hard for you to recover..