Before, Now And After Writing the No. 1 LinkedIn Book In Chinese (Hank Chin, APCA Director)

By Hank Chin
Director, Asia-Pacific Impact Coaching Alliance

Backgrounder To Writing The No.1 LinkedIn Book In Chinese

Since I have dual roles in personal branding and job campaigning, it's always my desire and need to keep abreast and study trends as well as look into what the future may hold.

And some time ago, after signing up for LinkedIn very early (it still wasn't very popular then), I have high expectations of its potential and so I invested my time to learn LinkedIn's new functions and how best to use them.

It was clear to me that LinkedIn was a future star.

LinkedIn is a very good platform to connect with like-minded people from around the world, and if it is used well it can be a very powerful tool with which to build your personal brand.

So I stuck with LinkedIn, and then about 3 years ago LinkedIn started really growing rapidly, especially after the job search function was integrated into the original interface.

It was at this time, that I thought that it was great timing to introduce LinkedIn to the Chinese-speaking world. From there, I invited a friend to write a book with me on the subject.

Innovative Content Plus Thinking Structure

Since very few people in the Chinese-speaking world had a clear idea of what LinkedIn, I spent the beginning of my book introducing the important and essential functions of LinkedIn to help readers quickly become familiar with LinkedIn.
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I also clarified the difference between LinkedIn and a professional résumé, which confused many people at the time and which still confuses many peopel today. From there, I shared my knowledge and experience on how best to use LinkedIn to connect with both domestic and overseas jobs. 

Throughout the book, I focus on the practical rather than the theoretical by presenting 7 real cases studies about jobs searches, business collaboration and recruiting, all of which happened to me and to the other author. 

I also share my perspective about networking on LinkedIn, the Quality vs. Quantity argument. And I developed and presented a LinkedIn connection grid (LCG™) to help you understand which type of connection strategy would work best for you based on your circumstances. 

Our LinkedIn Employment Flow (LEF™) is included in the chapter on job search strategy. In it, we teach you how to integrate your LinkedIn profile and professional résumé into your job search flow to pursue the job of your dreams. 

After reading LEF™, you'll have a clear structure of conducting job searches on LinkedIn.

In addition to this, I also map out an 8-week personal branding plan to help you build your personal brand through LinkedIn. By establishing your personal brand gradually, you will have a good chance of landing a job of your choice far earlier than expected. 

Personal Branding And My Future Plan

In general, writing a book is not that hard, but writing a book that contains valuable content is extremely hard and it takes a lot of time to accumulate the proper data and materials.

As I coach people on their personal branding, I firmly believe my book will help shape part of my personal brand in my target audiences’ mind, and this shape can be good or bad, which is why I am so careful with it to ensure that I am always building a positive personal brand in their mind. 

I really enjoyed writing this book and I hope to reach as many people with this book as possible. So far, I've been lucky that this book has been one of the bestsellers in the job search sector in the Chinese-speaking world. 

But, I'm still working hard to promote it and with LinkedIn getting more and more attention in Asia, I believe the book can be highly useful for people who want to learn how to leverage LinkedIn in their careers and professional lives. 

I will keep focusing on my core profession as it relates to job searching, coaching, job search marketing materials, personal and employer branding, career coaching, and the Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance to bring a positive impact and message to our audiences and members.

I hope you can leverage your LinkedIn network and create more opportunities through it. And while you're at it, don’t forget to sign up for APCA, where you can get more practical tips and strategies to jumpstart or supercharge your coaching career or personal coaching practice.

About Hank Chin:
Hank Chin is a Director of APCA, the Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance, and also a Principal of Hank Spencer the Top Rated LinkedIn Consultancy in Taiwan and Great China.

http://www.hankspencer.com