Ever heard of LinkedIn’s Services Marketplace. No? How about LinkedIn ProFinder? They are the same.
In the past, resume writers needed paid LinkedIn memberships to be approved into the ProFinder list of service providers. In 2021, LinkedIn changed the portal’s name and made free business pages available to service providers.
What is LinkedIn Business Page
LinkedIn ProFinder launched in 2015 and connected service providers (e.g., resume writers) with potential clients. In 2021, LinkedIn renamed ProFinder to Business Services Pages and opened enrollment to more professionals.
The Services Marketplace enables LinkedIn users to locate potential service providers and get project proposals.
Currently, LinkedIn offers 14 service categories:
- Accounting
- Coaching & Mentoring
- Consulting
- Design
- Finance
- Home Improvement
- Information Technology
- Insurance
- Law
- Marketing
- Photography
- Real Estate
- Software Development
- Writing
Can Resume Writers Benefit From a Free Services Page?
Oh, you bet ‘ya!
Using a service like this makes perfect sense for those who need more clients.
But not so fast.
There are pros and cons to any free service.
Let’s first look at the pros:
Pro#1 LinkedIn is a powerhouse with its million-bazillion members – think we can agree there, right? 🙂 LinkedIn is one of the top 3 online networks used by professionals. The site’s unprecedented audience makes it an ideal pond for us to fish for new business.
Pro#2 A services page gets us one step closer to potential new clients.
Pro#3 LinkedIn delivers leads directly to our LinkedIn pages and sends a friendly email reminder. This is a huge perk.
Pro#4 As a service provider, you can receive proposal requests for:
- LinkedIn Profile/Resume Writing
- Career Coaching
- Interview Coaching
- Executive Coaching
Selecting various specialties is a HUGE benefit for resume writers who provide additional, complementary services.
Okay, let’s talk about the cons of LinkedIn’s Services Pages.
Con#1 You’re competing for clients against (what seems like) EVERY RESUME WRITER on LinkedIn. In truth, you’re competing with resume writers near you/the prospect. For example, a professional in New Jersey wouldn’t (ideally) get proposals from resume writers in California. LinkedIn attracts the nearest service providers and fans until they get 5 who bite.
Con#2 LinkedIn pages could be considered a “cattle call” service, making resume writers more of a commodity. Being a commodity brings forth a slew of issues. Too often, professionals select resume writers based solely on a lower fee. The challenge with this strategy is that lower fee generally goes hand-in-hand with lower-quality writing. Unfortunately, there’s never a shortage of folks who want a $4,000 resume at a $40 price tag.
Con#3 Prospects get 5 proposals only.
In short, this means you can’t dilly-dally when submitting new proposals.
You may have minutes … or at best, a few hours.
We mentioned as Con#1 that you could find yourself competing with ALL (maybe?) resume writers on LinkedIn, right?
As more resume writers use LinkedIn to source new business, the more competitive it becomes.
LinkedIn will likely increase the # of proposals it allows, but 5 is the limit for now.
Con#4 Resume writing is listed under “Coaching & Mentoring,” which is odd. “Resume Writing” would be better listed under the writing category. What does this mean exactly? It means that job seekers needing a resume writer may find themselves hiring a writer with less resume writing experience than they’d hoped. Currently, the writing drop-down menu offers:
- Blogging
- Content Strategy
- Copyrighting
- Editing
- Ghostwriting
- Technical Writing
- Translation
- Writing (not sure why they have this again)
Which would you pick if you were seeking a LinkedIn profile and resume writer? Yeah, we’re confused too. In case you’re wondering, the last item, writing, doesn’t offer another drop-down option.
Creating a Template Proposal
Remember we said above how time is of the essence? Save time by creating a template proposal that requires little customization.
Below is an example to get inspiration for writing your own:
Hey there, X! Thanks for allowing me to submit a proposal for your project.
Here are a few details about my skills as a resume writer.
First, I’ve been writing resumes for 20+ years. Second, I’m very recommended. Third, I have advanced resume writing skills, which you can see by checking out the many resume examples I have at websiteurl.com/resume-examples. These will give you an idea of what I do with resumes and give you a feel for my writing style.
Of course, you can also check out my qualifications and experience on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com…
Before I can provide a solid quote, I need to know more about your job target and see your existing resume.
My proposal includes a 15-minute phone consultation. You can also reach me by email @ [email protected], if you prefer an alternate way of contacting me.
Regards,
Your Name, Company
Phone Number | Email Address
Notice how we provide prospects with two links; one to a website and the other to a LinkedIn profile. We also provide prospects with a direct email and phone number. Since Google loves inbound clicks, we include a direct URL to encourage clicks and help improve (even just a tiny bit) Google search rankings. An email and phone number allow prospects to make contact outside of LinkedIn, if they prefer.
Like with everything, monitor and optimize your proposal content accordingly.
Proposals Without The Full Picture
Remember we said above the prospect DO NOT submit their old resumes as part of the proposal process?
Yeah, we don’t understand that either!
We guess LinkedIn (or, maybe we should say Microsoft who owns LinkedIn) doesn’t understand the importance of having an old resume to reference BEFORE providing any proposal.
Many of us won’t or can’t provide a solid quote without that “piece of the puzzle.” It would be like trying to quote a kitchen remodel without first seeing the existing kitchen. Not everything may need to be demolished, right?
The same is true for resumes.
How to Set Up Your Services Page
To apply as a service provider, click SERVICES MARKETPLACE from the dropdown under WORK (top right navigation when on laptop or desktop/under hamburger dropdown on mobile).
You’ll be asked to provide ABOUT details and add up to 10 services (e.g., resume writing, career development coaching, interview preparation). When you’re finished, click publish. Expect the entire process to take less than 15 minutes, with most of your time being allocated to telling people what you do in the about section.
That’s it. Easy enough, right?
What Kind of ROI Can You Expect
We wish we had better news, but as competition increases, results from LinkedIn service pages continue dropping.
