I’ve arrived in Bangkok to teach digital marketing at Harbour.Space and as always I’m so happy to be here. There’s so much great food to eat and so little time!

This week’s Networker is Lori Golden, who dispenses frank, transparent recruiting and HR advice through her LinkedIn presence. She’s now building a new coaching and consulting business, The Rebel HR, based on her extensive experience. Read on for her (also frank) advice for anyone who wants to build their LinkedIn presence, including job seekers.

What’s new related to LinkedIn? Here’s what caught my eye this week.

• LinkedIn’s annual report of top MBA programs is out…and 8 of the top 10 are in the U.S. (LinkedIn)

• Because it can never hurt to have good recommendations on LinkedIn, here’s some solid advice on how to ask for them. (Forbes)

• LinkedIn expands into podcasts, with an iHeartRadio show aimed at Gen Z. (Social Media Today)

• Is your job one of the ones with the highest burnout rate, according to LinkedIn? Check here to see. (CNBC)

Welcome, Lori. Please tell us about yourself.

I am pivoting into my own personal brand and community called The Rebel HR. It's a community of disruptive HR, recruiting, and talent folks who want to make sure their voices are included in the transformation of hiring and HR.

What’s your industry?

Recruiting and talent acquisition.

What does LinkedIn do for you?

LinkedIn's done a lot of things for me! It's allowed me to have a voice, organically and authentically, that can take my 25 years of subject matter expertise and experience and leverage it to help people who need help.

I've been on LinkedIn since 2007. I’ve been in recruiting for 25 years. So I've played in that sandbox for my job, long before it became what it is today.

What are your main goals for using LinkedIn?

I want to educate people, I want to inform people, I want to help people pivot, I want to help people use their voices, and I want to help people build their platforms.

I am [also] very much around adding transparency to hiring, which is like a big black box that people don't understand at all.

Lori’s content strategy

Who’s your target audience on LinkedIn?

[One audience is] other people in the recruiting and talent acquisition space who've been in it for a little while, and aren't sure in this next chapter what to do. It's people like me—disruptive recruiting and talent leaders in a seat at a company and getting 2,000 applicants for one job and thinking, “How do I refine my process without alienating the right talent?" 

[Another audience is] those recently laid off. I'm all about hanging up the job search playbook and picking up the demand generation playbook because it's a proactive, aggressive and focused on an outreach campaign to get a job today. It’s no longer about passively waiting for opportunities; that strategy doesn’t work today.

Whether someone is in a company, newly laid off, or has been out of work for six months, my goal is to help them pivot. I help them reinvent themselves, identify their unique value proposition, and create a clear model where everything connects back to their core strengths. Together, we develop a personalized strategy that aligns with the value they bring to the market.

How do you decide what content to create and share on LinkedIn?

If I am riled about something, or I have energy around something, that inspires a post in that moment, only in that moment. Every now and again, when I have that moment, if I'm not in a place where I can post it, I just pop up in my notepad on my phone and write it out just enough to re-inspire that, and I'll post it later. But I rarely even ever go back to the notes to post because again, if I don't post it when I'm feeling it, I don't post it. 

How do you differentiate your content from others on LinkedIn?

My brand of content can be snarky. It's like a transparent truth with enough snark to get eyeballs on it. I show up like that. I’m the same when you read my posts on LinkedIn, who I actually am on calls, who I am in interviews with candidates, who I am when I'm selling myself. I'm who I am all the time. 

That's what I want people to do, the equivalent of that level of authenticity for you, to the point where it's okay if it doesn't land for everybody. I'm okay that not everybody likes my tone and style. If everybody liked my tone and style, my assumption is it would be way less effective because I'm pandering for the masses.

What makes your content successful with your audience?

I don't think it's the content or the words that I use that attracts people. I think it’s that people feel me when I'm posting it, like that energy comes through. My brand of content can be snarky. It's like transparent truth plus a little bit of spice to get it moving. And that's my brand.

What are the processes you use to create content? 

• Schedule in advance ❌

• Batch create content ❌

• Optimize for SEO/keywords ✅

• Follow an editorial calendar ❌

• Have specific content pillars/themes ✅

• Repurpose content to/from LinkedIn or reuse on LinkedIn ✅

• Use AI in any part of the content writing process ❌

• Have team/human support for any part of your LI process ❌

• Keep a list of potential topics somewhere (Notes, Notion, etc.) ✅

• Design or source visuals including infographics and carousels and video ✅

What types of content do you post to LinkedIn?

• Text only ✅

• Polls ✅

• Audio ❌

• Video ❌

• Carousels ✅

• Photos of yourself (selfies) ✅

• Photos of other people or things ✅

• AI generated images ✅

• Infographics (single image) ✅

• Other people’s graphics ✅

• Links to your company content ❌

• Links to other content ❌

• Reposts of others’ content (repost only) ❌

• Reposts of others’ content (with your thoughts) ❌

• LinkedIn newsletters ❌

• Responses to community articles ✅

• LinkedIn Live events ✅

How much time does it take?

How much time do you spend each weekday on LinkedIn on comments or Direct Messages (DMs), outside of content creation?

A lot less than it appears, and that's the trick. I only spend maybe a full hour a day total throughout many visits. I'll go on first thing in the morning, post something, and engage in comments. I usually check LinkedIn three times a day for comments and engagement.

Are you active on LinkedIn on the weekends, either posting or commenting or both?

Very little. Just positive mindset shift stuff. I was accused recently of posting rainbows and butterfly content. But that's authentic for me.

Lori’s biggest growth levers

What has contributed most to your growth?

I'll go on to LinkedIn three times a day, post and do a bunch of commenting. That’s what’s grown my platform.

How Lori makes money

How do you generate revenue in your business?

Coaching, some advisory work, and consulting. I'm working on a lot of passive lines with a resource page around my tech stack and around books. I also started a book club.

My goal is to have multiple lines of revenue, a more elastic adaptive approach to a very changing world, and it safeguards me. I'm watching content creator influencer-community people having to abandon what they've done because they didn't set up enough different lines [of revenue]. I am going to make this a foolproof, recession-proof, ebb and flow, economic change-proof business.

How do you quantify your success on LinkedIn?

I have 100% five-star feedback on all of my coaching reviews. I'm in the top one percent in the U.S of recruiting coaches and consultants. I’ve also grown over 15,000 [followers] in less than 12 months, organically, without any planning or growth goals.

Lori’s top tips

What challenges have you faced on LinkedIn? What’s made you almost—or actually—quit? What got you back on track?

Sometimes people get upset with my content when they don’t fully grasp the context. I’ve been named and shamed for things that weren’t even shameful. But I keep going because I know my content resonates with the right people.

What advice would you give others who are looking to grow and, ideally monetize their LinkedIn platform?

So this is my top tip for everything, whether it's LinkedIn, job search, or anything else you do; it's the Simon Sinek "start with why." 

Why are you doing it [whatever you’re doing]? Too many people do things without any why underneath it, so then when it gets hard, or they don't feel like it, or they have to spend money to get to the next level, there's no driver because they didn't have a solid, strong, established why to begin with.

What advice would you give other Networkers who want to build and leverage their LinkedIn presence?

If it's not fun, don't do it. And that goes for anything! If it causes you a lot of mental health stress and anxiety, it's not for everyone. I don't think everyone is built to put themselves out there [on LinkedIn]. If you're not willing to actually put your real self out there, you shouldn't do this.

Lori’s best post

Stephanie’s note: I’ve asked each Networker to give me one “best post,” based on their own criteria.

Read this post on LinkedIn

Why Lori considers this her best post.

It's actionable guidance and represents my proactive, aggressive approach.

How to network with Lori

• Follow Lori Golden on LinkedIn

My friend Billy Keels had a great post this week: What you DON’T need to do to be successful.

My motto is similar to Billy’s: Done is better than perfect. Take a look and let me know if you agree with me and Billy.

Read this post on LinkedIn

I’m always on the lookout for something that changes the way I use LinkedIn. It could be an idea, a tool, a process, or something strategic.

Have a tip I should consider? Hit reply to this email and let me know!

That’s all for now—I look forward to seeing you again next week for another Networker interview.