I've come to the realisation that nobody in finance likes 'self promotion' 🤣 Therefore I'm going to call out some wins I know: 1. Founding member @Mick Holton has just landed an Interim CFO gig 🥳 The Wolf 🐺 is back in business. 2. One of our 1st member's @Simon Coultas has landed a three month Interim CFO gig 🥳 starting on Monday! Absolutely delighted for Simon as his journey has been too long for somebody so great. 3. @Nigel Grace landed a short-term assignment with a previous employer 🥳 and highlights why it's important to stay visible on LinkedIn and to use your previous employers and contacts for jobs 4. @Nigel Grace content compliments from @Sean Renahan who is a new member and Nigel is smashing his content creation using a VCE model; Value, Credibility and Entertainment. 5. @Sean Renahan has completed 80% of his profile and is one page one out of ~3,500 FD's (~140 pages) with PE experience and in manufacturing. @Sean Renahan was invisible before when using some filters. 6. @Lorraine Parkinson love for planes, transformation and Wales could all be coming true! After I saw a dream job for Lorraine, I name tagged her and she's had the 1st interview. Good job I ignored the "agencies please pi$$ off" message 🤭 7. @Rachel Daly continues to inspire and motivate finance people all over the World 🗺️ to post content on LinkedIn. If you're not sure where to start with content, please speak to @Rachel Daly , @Nigel Grace or myself. 8. @Nikesh Davda has a permanent CFO role in Healthcare in his sights! 9. @Stelios Vassileou and @Patrick Southey are working like Ninja's behind the scenes. 10. @Chris Brayshaw who only joined today has removed some low hanging fruit in minutes and has a very nice banner setting the professional tone from the top. 11. @Jonny Shonn after his month in South America is back and his profile has also removed some obvious issues... And moving forward with a blended approach to job hunting; LinkedIn | Headhunters | Pro-active outreach.

It’s reported that LinkedIn is growing by 11k people per week globally. Malcolm has just joined LinkedIn UK and whilst his profile isn’t to my Bootcamp standard, it’s significantly better than the average LinkedIn profile. And a good effort! Therefore if you’re not updating your profile you’re probably falling behind. Here’s a link to Malcolm’s profile to view for yourself: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-punti

I know some of you have started posting content, which is great because it improves your visibility on LinkedIn. That said, it can be disheartening when impressions, engagement and likes look low. That’s normal and it doesn’t mean the content isn’t working. The graph below shows the impression range you should realistically be aiming for, based on the size of your network. Use it as a benchmark, not a vanity metric.

@Simon Coultas has just completed the LinkedIn Bootcamp and asked me a brilliant question last week, what else can I be doing? So we reviewed his LinkedIn SSI index (37), his number of connections and discussed how he needed to grow his connections to increase his visibility with relevant people. Because when you connect with somebody on LinkedIn, your weekly post will also gain visibility with their connections, so a multiplier effect for free. Based upon my experience most CFOs seem to have ~500 to ~1,500 LinkedIn connections which is quite narrow in my opinion however CFOs can be selective about who they accept and let into their feed so there's a counter argument on having a small but more exclusive connection base. Either way isn't a problem as it's a personal choice. Anyway, using my LinkedIn recruiter, Simon and I identified ~100 connections who may be able to help him in his job search and Simon has now increased his connections by 10% in less than one week. And as Simon said, this is WIP "Winning In Progress". So if you've completed the bootcamp, take a look at your SSI index and see whether you to could start to grow your connections. Note - at the time of writing this LinkedIn will allow you to add ~200 connections per week so you can grow your connections quite quickly but as always, it's about quality not quantity.

In speaking to two CFOs in this community today, it's clear the Christmas lull is upon us. Here's my advice to you. It’s tempting to grind through December, but that only sends you into January exhausted and useless. Treat time with loved ones as part of your job hunt, you need a clear head more than another pointless round of LinkedIn browsing. Switch off properly, without guilt. Set strict “office hours” for any job-search tasks so the whole holiday doesn’t turn into one long, anxious scroll or constantly picking up your phone. And be upfront with your partner or family about your plan; nothing breeds tension faster than being physically present but mentally somewhere else. Being honest, I do struggle massively in this area (switching off) and whilst that helps me to push forward, it's not always productive. So even I will be challenging myself this Christmas as well.