About this guide

I'm Justina Lydia, an ICF-trained coach. I work with people who are changing careers or looking for their next role, many of them mid-career and some coming out of narrow industries. You can read more about my coaching at justinalydia.com.

Why I wrote it

The same questions come up across many of my sessions: what goes in a skills list, how long a LinkedIn note can be, when to follow up, who to write to at a company. I have answered them one session at a time. This guide puts the answers in one place, so you can come back to them between our conversations and share them with anyone who'd find them useful.

How I checked the facts

Wherever a page states a statistic or a research finding, there's a numbered source next to it. Every claim was checked against the cited sources on 29 Oct 2026: I opened each source, noted the passage that supports the claim, and recorded the date. LinkedIn details, such as character limits and where settings live, come from LinkedIn's own Help Center and blog. LinkedIn changes its screens from time to time, so a label may look slightly different when you read this.

Where I couldn't find solid evidence, I either say plainly that it's my view from coaching, or I've left the claim out. Two examples: the popular idea that 70% to 80% of jobs are never advertised, and specific reply rates for job seekers' cold messages. I couldn't find a reliable source for either, so you won't see them stated as fact here. Every source is listed on the sources page.

Last reviewed: 29 Oct 2026.

What this guide is and isn't

It's general guidance from one coach, and it follows US and UK hiring norms. If you're applying elsewhere, check local conventions for resumes and applications.

It isn't legal, financial, immigration, medical or mental-health advice, and it can't know your situation the way a conversation can. Nothing here can promise an interview or an offer: hiring depends on many things outside your control. What it can do is help you spend your effort where it's most likely to count. If something here doesn't fit you, trust that, and bring it to a coaching session.

Interview preparation, offers and negotiation are outside the scope of this guide for now.

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