LinkedIn has recently published its second annual list of the Top Voices 2020 for Spain and we are very excited to announce to the whole EAE community that the largest professional network has named the author and researcher at EAE Business School, Pilar Llácer, as one of the most important opinion leaders in the whole of Spain.
Alongside 14 other influencers, Llácer was named at a national level as one of the leading expert voices on issues such as digital transformation and employability. The quality of her content, interaction with her followers and the frequency of her posts have consolidated her status as an influential expert because, throughout these challenging months of the pandemic, she has helped throw some light on the Spanish labour market.
“I have been on LinkedIn since 2004, which has enabled me to build a network of over 22,000 professionals from all over the world”, explained Llácer. I have often been to events and meet people who only know me because of my contributions on LinkedIn”.
It should be noted that Pilar is the author of one of the leading books on contemporary employability, entitled “Te van a despedir and lo sabes” (“They’re going to fire you and you know it”, 2020). In this book, with an interesting structure and the help of a fun symbolic game, the author has managed to produce a thorough analysis that is both illustrative and useful for understanding how to operate in today’s complex employment world.
“The impact of my posts is not only due to the content, but also the way I tell it”.
“What topics do I post about on LinkedIn? Employment, education, digital transformation, ethics, philosophy, leadership, etc.”, explained the author. “Perhaps the impact of my posts is not only due to the content, but also the way I tell it. I create little announcements to ensure that everything I talk about has an impact”.
Over the last few months, she has combined her research duties with her work as a conference speaker, primarily focusing on issues relating to employability and digital transformation. As we have seen, LinkedIn, is one of Llácer’s key platforms, so who better to explain how best to make the most of the network?
“Nowadays, it is not just a matter of working, but also knowing how to sell our work, make an impact and communicate it effectively”.
“LinkedIn is a perfect platform for selling our work. Nowadays, it is not just a matter of working, but also knowing how to sell our work, make an impact and communicate it effectively. Lots of professionals just see LinkedIn as a database for looking for work or they only remember to update their profile when they are fired or lose their job. That is a big mistake because LinkedIn is not just for finding work. It is the ideal platform for creating our personal brand. You have to spend time on LinkedIn but it is time well invested for building your personal brand.
Pilar calls herself a denier of uncertainty, as she prefers to focus on what she refers to as the four great certainties:
- The employment market has changed radically, both in terms of the format, with remote working, and the content.
- We have to embrace a process of lifelong learning and professional reinvestment.
- All professions will have two key features: digital competence and sustainability, or green jobs.
- Robots are rubbing their hands at our lack of preparation in an environment that can be automated very quickly.
“The way to find work has changed radically”, explained Llácer. “It is now more a question of marketing and making ourselves an attractive product for companies. If there is no demand for our work, forget about it, because you are not going to find a job, unless you create it yourself, but you will still struggle to find clients who need your work. Therefore, it is crucial to reinvent yourself and redirect your career towards jobs in greater demand and, most above all, develop this capacity to sell our work attractively on all the professional networks, including LinkedIn”.
What do we have to do to be attractive to companies?
Achieve sustainable employability!
As an employability expert, Llácer emphasized that the trick to being attractive to companies is based on having sustainable employability. “This means constantly developing and fostering the functions and competences that enable is to stir interest continuously both in and outside of companies”, she explained. To achieve this, we need to focus on three verbs:
- Reinventing: the capacity to adapt your experience to the demands of the labour market.
- Learning constantly and with vision.
- Selling every day. The value of your personal brand.
Congratulations, Pilar!