Networking For Skill Building

Your LinkedIn profile is a 24/7 inbound job magnet if you set it up right! It's an opportunity to have the hottest companies and hiring managers chasing you rather than you running after them. Impossible? Hell no. It’s how I got my senior product position at Affirm and the same story for VP of product at Apollo. Here’s the complete guide to converting your LinkedIn profile into a job-attracting asset: — 𝟭. 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 Don't use generic headline templates mentioning your job title and company name. ↳ Highlight your expertise or niche. ↳ Mention companies for credibility. ↳ Add a secondary offer; are you a coach, speaker, or consultant? ↳ Example: "Senior Product Manager @ TechCo | Driving B2B SaaS Growth 🚀 | Ex-Google, Ex-Amazon | Product Leadership Coach" — 𝟮. 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗘 Think of your "About" section as your personal story. ↳ Experience summary showcasing your value. ↳ Use storytelling to highlight your key achievements (don’t forget to mention numbers/results) with a personal touch. ↳ Wrap up by stating what kind of roles or challenges you’re interested in next. — 𝟯. 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗘 𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗘 How people perceive you depends a lot on how you visually present yourself. Here’s how to do it right: ↳ High-quality and professional headshot. Use AI if you don’t have a good photo. ↳ Don’t use cover photos for vague quotes; use it to highlight your achievements, awards, reviews, your products, etc. — 𝟰. 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 Your experience section is where the real depth comes in. ↳ Go beyond job duties and focus on the specific results and outcomes you achieved. ↳ Use the Situation, Action, Result (SAR) framework to highlight what you did and how it made an impact. (e.g., “Increased customer retention by 25% in 6 months”). ↳ Use industry-specific keywords so recruiters can easily find you in searches. — 𝟱. 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 ↳ Simplify your LinkedIn URL (e.g., linkedin.com/in/YourName) with a custom URL. ↳ Make sure to add a link to your portfolio, website, or a side project directly in your profile. ↳ Regularly review your contact info and make it easy for recruiters to reach out to you. — 𝟲. 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 Think of recommendations as built-in references that add credibility to your profile. ↳ Reach out to people who can specifically highlight your key skills and achievements. ↳ Aim for a variety of recommendations—managers, colleagues, and clients. ↳ Pin your top 2-3 recommendations. — 𝟳. 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗦 The "Skills" section helps you appear in searches and validates your expertise: ↳ Choose skills that define your professional strengths, and pin your top 3. ↳ Take LinkedIn skill assessments to add credibility with “verified” badges. — If you want to dive deeper into how to do it all with real-time examples and breakdowns, check out the guide below in comments.

𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬+ 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟰 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁! 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 - LinkedIn is your digital first impression. If your profile isn’t optimized, you’re invisible to opportunities. After going deep into top-performing profiles, I’ve distilled 6 powerful tips that consistently show up in the best ones. 👇 𝟭. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 = 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗲 A clear, confident, smiling photo builds trust instantly. Make it high-quality, professional, and well-lit. No blurry selfies, please. 𝟮. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 Forget just listing your job title. Use this winning formula: What you do + Who you help + How you help 👉 Example: “Helping SaaS startups scale with data-driven growth strategies” 𝟯. 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 = 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝗯𝗲 This isn’t a resume. It’s your moment to connect. Share your journey, highlight key wins, and infuse your personality. Professional doesn’t have to mean boring. 𝟰. 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗨𝗥𝗟 Ditch the auto-generated mess. A clean URL like linkedin.com/in/yourname boosts your credibility and makes sharing easier. 𝟱. 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 = 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗸 It’s the first thing people see, make it count. Use a banner that reflects your brand or value. Bonus: Make sure it looks good on both desktop and mobile. ✅ Ideal size: 1584 x 396 px 𝟲. 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 Want to show up in recruiter or client searches? Use relevant keywords across your: * Headline * About section * Experience * Even your banner image text (yes, it matters!) An optimized profile doesn’t just look good, it works for you. It attracts views, opens doors, and builds credibility while you sleep. Polish your profile. The right people are already searching, make sure they find YOU. 𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼, 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟳𝟮/𝟯𝟱𝟬. 𝗣.𝗦. 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗖𝗫𝗢𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗗𝗠 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻.

𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 With a decade of experience, from founding my first business in 2014 to achieving two successful exits, I’ve learned the immense value of collaboration, which we continue to prioritize at X-Shift through partnerships with local and global players. Building strategic business relationships is one of the most pivotal factors in driving business growth, especially in the tech sector. As someone who has navigated this landscape for years, I'd like to share a few invaluable lessons for anyone looking to scale their business through collaboration. 𝟏. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝: Partnerships give you access to the resources, expertise, and technologies that would otherwise take years to build internally. The right partnership can be the difference between staying stagnant and growing exponentially. 𝟐. 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥: One of the most powerful lessons I've learned is the value of blending global innovation with local expertise. For instance, at X-Shift, our collaborations with companies like XEBO.ai (Survey2Connect) Exotel or Knowmax allow us to bring cutting-edge technologies and innovation to our region. But it's our deep understanding of the local market that ensures these solutions resonate and succeed. It’s a perfect balance of global insight and local relevance. 𝟑. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞: A successful partnership is built on trust and alignment. It’s not just about the technology or the business deals. Shared goals and a common vision create the foundation for long-term, sustainable growth. Without trust, even the most promising collaboration will fall apart. 𝟒. 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐲: Stagnation is the enemy of growth. The tech sector evolves fast, and being adaptable helps you stay ahead of the curve. Don’t be afraid to pivot when necessary. 𝟓. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧-𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬: The best partnerships are those where both parties walk away better off. Seek out collaborations where both sides gain value, whether it’s through shared technologies, expanded markets, or enhanced capabilities. A partnership should be a journey of mutual growth, not just a transaction. While collaborations offer limitless opportunities, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 key question we must ask ourselves as companies is: have we done great work internally, to position ourselves for success when those collaboration opportunities arise? #collaboration #business #tech #global #saudiarabia #KSA

Most Directors and VPs have a LinkedIn profile that reads like a CV. And it is costing them opportunities they never even know existed. The problem is not their experience. It is how their profile presents it. At the senior level, your LinkedIn profile is not a record of where you have been. It is a pitch for where you are going. And most profiles are failing that pitch silently. Here is what I work on with every client before we touch anything else: Step 1: Rewrite your headline as a value statement. - Remove your job title as the first thing people read - Replace it with who you help, what you help them achieve, and how you do it - The algorithm uses your headline to decide who sees your content and profile Step 2: Make your About section do the selling. - Open with the problem you solve, not where you studied - Use the first three lines to earn the scroll. They are visible before the "see more." click - End with a clear statement of what you are open to or looking for Step 3: Quantify everything that matters. - Vague achievements are invisible at the senior level - Replace "led a team" with "led a team of 24 across three markets." - Numbers create credibility instantly and make your results impossible to ignore Step 4: Align your profile with the content you post. - The algorithm suppresses profiles that post about topics not reflected in their experience - Your headline, about section, and posts must speak the same professional language - Consistency across all three is what builds algorithmic authority over time Step 5: End every section with forward momentum. - Your profile should not just show what you have done - It should signal what you are ready to do next - The best profiles make the reader think, "This person is ready for more." Your LinkedIn profile is working for you or against you right now. Most senior professionals do not know which one it is. Which part of your profile do you think is holding you back the most? Drop it in the comments. Let's look at it together.

Many friends have asked me to help candidates improve their LinkedIn profiles and CVs Let’s do this in two posts. First: your LinkedIn profile. Everything matters in this market. My core LinkedIn profile drives 50% of the impressions on my page. 25% is the activity section. 25% is featured posts (start making content!). Here is what I recommend: • Use a custom profile photo and custom banner. Choose something clear, personal, and relevant that reinforces your professional identity. • Make your portfolio or website impossible to miss. Add it to Featured, Contact Info, and the beginning of your About section. Recruiters should reach your work in one click. • Write a specific, searchable headline. State your discipline, level, specialization, and strongest relevant skills. “Passionate game developer” or “seeking opportunities” says very little. Make it human, but clear. • Write a meaningful About section. Explain what you do, what you are strongest at, what you have built or shipped, and the impact you create. Show a human side. Use short paragraphs. • Structure Experience around contribution and impact. Keep relevant roles, but give the most space to recent work. Show scope, accomplishments, tools, shipped projects, leadership, and measurable results. Compress older work rather than deleting useful history. • Avoid empty entries. Every role should include at least one line explaining what you did and why it mattered. Contract and freelance roles still need context. • Use the language recruiters search for. Include accurate role titles, seniority, engines, tools, platforms, and specializations naturally across your headline, About, Experience, and Skills. • Set your location and Open to Work preferences precisely. Include target roles, employment types, locations, remote preferences, and relocation flexibility. • Add relevant skills and connect them to the roles where you used them. Put your strongest skills first. • Request recommendations. Ask managers, peers, reports, clients, or collaborators to describe specific work, impact, and strengths. • Feature only your strongest work. Lead with the item you most want a recruiter to open. Remove anything outdated, weak, or distracting. • Add education, awards, certifications, and volunteer work where relevant. These details complete your story. • Create a clean custom LinkedIn URL, check your public visibility, and add contact information. • Keep LinkedIn, your CV, and your portfolio consistent. Dates, titles, seniority, and shipped projects should match everywhere. Finally, open your profile on your phone. Give 30 seconds and ask: What does this person do? At what level? What proves they are good at it? What makes me want to learn more? If the answers are not obvious, keep editing. People are reviewing thousands of profiles. Make yours easy to understand, easy to trust, and hard to forget.

Most people think credibility on LinkedIn comes from posting more. It doesn’t. It comes from the quiet signals your profile sends before you ever write a post. Here are a few small profile changes that consistently lift trust, without you creating more content. 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, update your profile photo properly. Not “corporate professional.” Clear lighting. Neutral background. You facing the camera. (Smile!) And check your profile picture can be seen by either All LinkedIn members or Anyone in your visibility settings. If someone wouldn’t feel comfortable hopping on a call with you based on that photo, it’s costing you conversations. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, tighten your headline. If it says what you do but not who it’s for or why it matters, you’re leaking credibility. Specific beats clever every time. Someone should know in three seconds whether you’re relevant to them. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱, fix the first four lines of your About section, especially the first two! This is your real hook. If it starts with your job title or a long backstory, you’ve lost them. Lead with the problem you help solve and the outcome you create. (𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘴: 𝘈𝘥𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴) 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵, use the Services & Featured sections properly. These are prime credibility builders that most people ignore. - Services tells people exactly how you help and what they can buy. - Featured lets you showcase proof, offers, lead magnets, or authority content without forcing someone to scroll. If they’re empty, you’re making people work too hard to trust you. Finally, remove the noise. Delete the waffle and the non-essential. Buzzwords you wouldn’t say out loud. Anything that makes your profile feel busy instead of intentional. None of this is flashy. But under 360Brew, clarity and consistency matter more than volume. Your profile is training the algorithm and your buyer at the same time.

A CFO came to me with one question: “Why isn’t LinkedIn bringing me opportunities?” I didn’t need more than 10 seconds to see why. Their profile read like a basic career chronology: past-focused, dense, full of jargon. It didn’t give anyone a reason to reach out today. Don’t approach LinkedIn as just a ‘resume-like’ database. Look at it more like a giant search engine. If you want it to bring you opportunities, your profile must be built for search, connection, and positioning. Start with these 4 checks: 1.     Headline: Does it project your next move, not just your current job title? Most executives leave their headline as “CFO at XYZ Corp.”, which doesn’t help them in searches. Instead, use a value-driven headline with appropriate keywords: Chief Financial Officer | Fortune 100 | $50B P&L Oversight | Drove 18% EBITDA Growth and $4B Free Cash Flow | Global M&A, Capital Markets, Digital Finance Transformation This makes you keyword-rich for search and gives readers a reason to click. 2.     About Section: Does it read like a compelling conversation starter, or like a dull corporate bio? The best About sections: * Lead with a hook that makes people want to read more. * Share the kind of leadership problems you solve. * Spotlight strong impacts and results. * Close with a clear invitation to connect. 3.     Top 5 Skills: These should never be random; instead, they should be strategically selected and aligned with the skills that your future employers are looking for. Choose keywords that match your target roles (e.g., “Mergers & Acquisitions,” “Financial Strategy,” “Organizational Transformation”). 4.     Experience Section: Are your results front and center? Are you providing enough context to appease and interest a reader? Replace generic “responsible for” statements with quantified impact: “Delivered $120M in cost savings through operational restructuring”. People scan profiles, and numbers and specifics stop the scroll. When you treat your LinkedIn profile as an active marketing asset, it begins generating warm leads even when you’re not online. A strong profile isn’t just a biography. It’s your 24/7 business development tool. 🔁 Share this to help someone who is due for a LinkedIn refresh. #LinkedIn #Jobsearch #ExecutiveSearch

A professional connection once called me and said, "Tarjani, a client needs to file an appeal before GSTAT. Will you handle it?" I said, "Yes, definitely." He introduced me to the client and I started working on the appeal. During the assignment, we worked together at certain stages. For the rest of the client's work including GST compliance and other traditional assignments, he continued to be the primary professional. After the appeal work was completed, the client asked me, "Madam, apart from litigation, what else do you practice? Do you also handle all these other services?" The work he was referring to was exactly what my professional connection was already handling. My answer was simple. "Yes, I do. But I will not be taking up those assignments." The client looked surprised. But for me, this was never a difficult decision. Trust is the foundation of every professional relationship. If someone introduces a client to me for a specific assignment, that trust should never become an opportunity to take over the entire relationship. Collaboration is not about taking someone else's client. Collaboration is about bringing the best expertise to the table while respecting the professional who opened the door. The strongest professional networks are built when people know that working with you will never put their client relationships at risk. Skills may get you opportunities. Trust brings opportunities again and again. In professional practice, protect relationships more than revenue. The long-term returns are far greater.

Networking Is Nurturing For a long time, I thought networking meant attending large events, exchanging business cards, and following up with a polite “hello” message. Over time, I realized that real networking has little to do with events and everything to do with relationships. A network is a collection of mutually beneficial relationships. And networking is the act of nurturing those relationships. “Mutually beneficial” doesn’t just mean money. It could be advice, referrals, introductions, recommendations—or simply goodwill. Even in a mentor–mentee relationship, both sides grow in some way. Networking is not a transaction. Transactions are short-term; relationships are long-term. They wax and wane, but they last. High-value individuals understand this. They’re generous with introductions and advice. They don’t measure every interaction in money or minutes. They give, because they know value always finds its way back. Nurturing means staying intentional—meeting for coffee, catching up over a call, sharing an article that reminded you of them, or connecting two people who might enjoy knowing each other. Networking isn’t a one-time effort; it’s a continuous rhythm of care. So ask yourself: Are you collecting contacts—or nurturing relationships that truly matter?

𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. They are not. At the senior level, being capable is only part of the equation. The market also needs to be able to find you, quickly understand your value, and see a clear match between your background and the kind of role you want next. That is where LinkedIn matters. A strong LinkedIn profile is not just an online CV. It is one of the main tools recruiters use to search for, assess, and shortlist senior talent. If your profile is vague, dated, or missing the language recruiters are actually searching for, you can be highly qualified and still be overlooked. I recently worked with an executive who took a more deliberate approach to how he was positioned on LinkedIn. First, I clarified his target role and ensured his headline reflected it clearly, using the language recruiters in his market were most likely to use when searching. I then strengthened the skills section by replacing broad, generic terms with specific capabilities that reflected both his leadership scope and technical credibility. I rewrote his About section to show leadership impact, commercial value, and tangible results, rather than relying on the usual generic statements that say very little. And I helped him approach networking more strategically, focusing on relevant, personalised outreach rather than collecting random connections. The shift was significant. Profile views increased sharply within two weeks. Recruiter approaches started coming through almost immediately, and they were far better aligned to his background and salary expectations. Within four weeks, he had secured three interviews and created genuine momentum in his search. That was not luck. It was the result of clear positioning, a well-written profile, and a smarter approach to visibility. This is where many senior professionals lose ground. They assume their track record should speak for itself. But in a crowded market, especially at the executive level, visibility matters. If your profile is not working properly, you may be missing opportunities you never even knew existed. If you are not sure whether your LinkedIn profile is helping or hurting you, message me the word CLARITY.