LinkedIn for Over 40’s At Melbourne Career Expo

LinkedIn For Over 40's at Melbourne Career Expo By Sue Ellson

Topic: LinkedIn for Over 40’s At Melbourne Career Expo
Date: Saturday 26 July 2024 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Organisation: Career Development Association of Australia CDAA
Address: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3006 Door 10
Event details: https://www.careerexpo.com.au
Program: https://www.careerexpo.com.au/wp-content/EventGuides/2025/?page=6
Slides: Below and https://sueellson.com/wp-content/uploads/20250726-melbourne-career-expo-linkedin-for-over-40s-sue-ellson.pdf
YouTube Video: Below and https://youtu.be/UbPAOoIn-Ho
Shared Online: Presentations, Videos, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Page, Twitter / X

LinkedIn for Over 40’s

By Sue Ellson

This session

Getting Interviews = Your application is aligned

Getting interviews but not getting a job = Not a fit, ignore reason, continue looking and/or revise strategy

  1. Background
  2. LinkedIn Strategies
  3. Additional Resources
  4. Questions and Answers

LinkedIn for Over 40’s

Why is this important?

  • Ageism does exist
    – Some suggest only include last 10 years history
  • Average age of retirement in Australia 56.9
    – Women 54.7, Men 59.4
    – Average age people intend to retire is 65.4 years
  • Peak Earning decreases over time
    – Women 44, Men 54

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/retirement-and-retirement-intentions-australia/latest-release
https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/22_05%20AGE%20INFO.pdf

  1. LinkedIn Profile Completion
  2. LinkedIn Regular Activity
  3. LinkedIn Engagement
  4. LinkedIn Networking
  5. LinkedIn Referrals
  6. Do Not Include
  7. Consider Consulting
  8. Consider WCH
  9. Consider LinkedIn Learning
  10. Maintain Digital Competency

1. LinkedIn Profile Completion

  • All Sections completed in detail with Media
    (allow 10 hours to complete)
  • Photo – Energy and Enthusiasm < three years old
  • Headline – Label and Keywords – appear in LinkedIn, Online Search and Generative AI Results
  • Include all email addresses forever (choose primary)
  • Descriptions – include Achievements (past tense), Tasks (present tense) and description of organisation
  • Connections > 500
  • Views / 90 days > 100
  • Searches / 7 days > 50
  • Skills Votes top 2 > 20
  • Recommendations Both Given & Received > 6

2. LinkedIn Regular Activity

  • React to Posts in Newsfeed
  • Add Comments to Posts in Newsfeed
  • Connect with everyone you meet online or in person – phone, text, email, events etc. from now on
  • Respond to Messages promptly
  • Respond to Connection Requests promptly
  • Respond to Notifications promptly

3. LinkedIn Engagement

  • Connections – Endorse their Skills
  • Connections – Give Recommendations
  • Connections – Ask for Recommendations
  • Stop Scrolling on Content (shows value)
  • Read Content (shows value)
  • Watch selected videos (shows value)
  • Teach the Algorithm what you value

4. LinkedIn Networking

  • Settings & Privacy, Data Privacy, Get a copy of your Data, Request Archive
  • Receive Email
  • Immediately Click Link
  • Download Files
  • Go through list of people in your Network and ‘re-connect’ and reach out to others and connect

5. LinkedIn Referrals

  • Search on LinkedIn using ‘All’ Filters
  • Search on Google Advanced Search (unlimited) https://www.google.com.au/advanced_search
  • See Selected People Results
  • Right click, Open in New Tab
  • If aligned, invite to connect
  • Follow up with information gathering questions and ask for a referral

6. Do Not Include

  • Number of years of experience (just list what you can do)
  • Commercially sensitive information (but you may be able to use percentages and not dollar amounts)
  • Negative comments (focus on solutions)

Read
https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement
https://www.linkedin.com/legal/professional-community-policies

7. Consider Consulting

  • Can start with a LinkedIn Profile only
  • Can create a LinkedIn Company Page
  • Can list ‘Providing Services’ in Open To section
  • Can potentially charge full rates but work less hours and still better than a lower-level full time role
  • Best to ease into this transition if you have been working full time for a long time

8. Consider WCH Working Close to Home

  • Look on Local Maps for Local Enterprises
  • Follow their LinkedIn Company Page
  • Click the Notification Bell for ‘All Posts’
  • Engage with their content and connect with local employees
  • Visit their Website and see if they have a ‘Careers’ section

9. Consider LinkedIn Learning

  • Micro Credentials
  • Learn Professional Skills
  • Learn Personal Skills
  • Free Access with Premium (and auto-adds to Licenses and Certifications)
  • Free Access with Local Library Card (need to manually add to your LinkedIn Profile)
  • Demonstrates you are willing to learn if completed regularly and recently

10. Maintain Digital Competency

  • Up to Date on LinkedIn
  • Consider yourname.com website
  • Make sure you are accessible in a variety of ways
  • See what other content about you is online
  • Everything in writing can be used in court
  • Anything you enter into a device is no longer private (can Hibernate don’t need to Close account)
  • Be respectful, always
  • Screenshot any concerns and keep records

Professional Support

  • CDAA Member
  • Pay by the Hour
  • Job Skills different to Job Search Skills
  • Secure a more aligned and better paying role faster and reuse job search skills in the future

Additional Resources
Skills to get a job not the same as the skills to do a job

What has been most helpful to you today?

Write a Review on
Google https://g.page/sue-ellson-author/review (158 Google Reviews) or
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sueellson2/reviews (13 Reviews)
Online https://sueellson.com/reviews (lots!)

Follow Sue Ellson’s Socials or Contact directly https://sueellson.com/contact

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2025

Maximising Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn for Over 40’s

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2024

Top Ten LinkedIn Career Tools

Top Ten Return To Work Strategies

How to Ask for a Promotion or a Pay Rise

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2023

Top Ten Tools for Job Seekers

Over 50 and Fabulous

Using AI for finding work 

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2022

10 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Secure The Work You Want

How To Choose Your Next Job Or Career

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2019

Creating an online presence

Online and Offline Marketing 

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2018

How to Australian-ise your Resume

Job Search Strategies for Mature Workers

Melbourne Career Expo Presentations 2016

Top 20 LinkedIn profile edits

Top 20 Career Attraction Tips

Top 20 Freelancer / Contractor Tips 

Career Development Association of Australia Presentations

Presentations and Publications since 2006

You can see all of the other Melbourne Career Expo Presentations here.