One LinkedIn post. Four job opportunities.

A woman posted on LinkedIn about a setback. A job opportunity that fell through at the last minute. She was vulnerable about it. She didn't hide.

That post got 200+ likes. Seventy-five comments. Twenty conversations. And four active job opportunities.

Her name is Yvonne Tan GPHR . A seasoned HR leader with 25 years of experience. She recently spent four months on sabbatical before jumping back into her job search.

I had her on my podcast, Women in HR. What she taught me about job search strategy is different than what most HR leaders are doing.

Your LinkedIn strategy is missing intention

That 200 likes didn't happen by accident.

Yvonne didn't post and hope for the best. She prepared the post carefully, then sent the link to roughly 20 friends and former colleagues with large followings in the HR community. She asked them to share it with their networks.

When those 20 people shared it, the post reached approximately 25,000 views.

"It's not just being passive," Yvonne said. "It's having an intention and then taking action towards that intention."

Most job searchers lose momentum here. They update their LinkedIn headline. Maybe post occasionally. But they don't have a strategy. They're not being intentional about who needs to know they're looking and why.

They're not leveraging their existing relationships to amplify their message.

That's the difference.

Build your personal brand before you need it

Most HR leaders wait until they get a redundancy notice to think about their brand.

By then, you're scrambling. You're playing defense. You're stressed.

"Invest in your personal brand. Design one that's who you are and what you believe in," Yvonne said. The best time to build your professional brand is when you don't need it. When you have space to think clearly. When you're not in crisis mode.

For Yvonne, that meant being active in the HR community. Speaking at conferences. Staying visible. Building genuine relationships. So when she did need to job search, her network was already primed.

The question: Are you building your brand now, or waiting until you have to?

Vulnerability isn't a liability

Most job searchers hide. They go quiet. They disappear for months while they interview behind closed doors. If something falls through, they don't tell anyone.

Yvonne did the opposite. She talked about her disappointment. She talked about filling her cup and being ready to contribute again.

"People relate to personal stories," she said. "I figured I would share that I'm ready, peppered with an attitude of gratitude."

When you show up as a human being, you give other people permission to be real too. You create the conditions for actual connection.

Your communication skills determine your market value

"You are as good as you're able to express yourself."

Yvonne said this when talking about a pivotal moment in her career. She was the most junior person in rooms filled with senior business leaders. She had valuable things to contribute. But her communication skills weren't matching her expertise.

So she joined Toastmasters. She committed to a leadership role where she had to speak every single month.

"To learn to swim, you have to swim," she said.

Over time, the gap closed. And her career moved.

In a job search, a hiring manager won't figure out your expertise over time. They'll make a judgment based on how you show up in the interview. How clearly you articulate your value. How confidently you speak to your experience.

If you're not expressing yourself well, the interview is where you lose the job.

Follow through

After her LinkedIn post, she got conversations. But she didn't just collect them and hope something would happen. She followed up. She made commitments and kept them.

"People remember when you have integrity of words and you do follow up," she said.

Trust is built through small acts of consistency over time. A simple email. Doing what you said you were going to do.

That's how opportunities materialize.

What does this mean for you?

Yvonne's success didn't happen because she got lucky. She was intentional. She'd built relationships before she needed them. She was willing to be vulnerable. She'd invested in her communication skills. She followed through on every commitment.

That's the difference between a job search that drags on for months and one where things actually happen.

If you're ready to approach your job search strategy, support and structure, I'm running the third cohort of my Job Search Accelerator for Women in HR. 12 weeks. Clear positioning. Solid job search plan. Access to the right opportunities.

You don't have to figure this out alone.

The next cohort starts on February 23rd. Let's chat if you'd like to find out more.

Onwards!