Now that you have gotten your LinkedIn profile to all-star status, its time to take things up a notch by optimize your profile so that you can be found more easily by recruiters or other professionals looking to connect with people in your industry.
Our friends over at Leisure Jobs have created an ultimate LinkedIn visual guide which you can use to optimize your profile. Follow the guide underneath to get the best out of your LinkedIn experience:
Name: Include your first middle (if applicable) and last name. Avoid nicknames and other popular industry jargon.
Headline: By default, LinkedIn would use your most recent position as your headline. As this is the most important aspect of your profile, edit it to include terms that would make it easy for others to define your industry and your role within it. So instead of Marketing Manager, XYZ Company, Award Winning Marketing Manager who has worked with some of the leading FMCG Brands.
Be sure to add your location and your industry to be more visible in searches.
Pro-tip: Customize your URL to make it easier for people to find you. By default, LinkedIn creates a URL for you, which looks like this linkedin.com/pub/career-sensei7342/7864 you should customize it into this linkedin.com/in/careersensei. You can do this by clicking on the grey box underneath your name.
Profile Photo: A profile photo can result in 14 times more profile views. Use a recent professional head shot.
Pro-tip: Be professionally dressed on your profile picture and keep the picture true-to-life, meaning that if you wear glasses or have your hair in bangs in your day-to-day life, be sure to capture the same in the photograph
Summary: Write a creative, succinct description which should include your present and future careers ambitions. Be sure to include your specialties/ areas of expertise as well as a call to action with your point of contact such as your phone number or email. E.g of a call to action "I am open to new opportunities, Call me on 000-000-000"
Pro-tip: Use the add media link to add links to slides, articles, blog posts etc to your summary to give credibility to your claims.
Experience: LinkedIn would arrange your experience chronologically starting with your current or most recent role. Be precise with your past experiences and current roles. Add as many roles you have functioned in as long as it relates to your current career goals. Avoid using passive language and opt to use action language instead as this shows you are more of an achiever than a doer. Include awards received or measurable metrics achieved.
Pro-tip: Add clips from videos, in-article quotes and other contents you have created that is pertinent to your professional life.
Projects: Include projects you championed or were part of to your profile. Including projects demonstrates your skills and reinforces assertions made in your job description. LinkedIn allows you to add connections that were involved in the projects.
Pro-tip: Add links to current projects to support credibility.
Education: Include information about degrees acquired and schools attended.
Pro-tip: Be sure to include activities you participated in while at school such as the societies you belonged to and the sports you played, this would help you make connections with other alumni and also impress onlookers.
Skills & Endorsements: LinkedIn users that include relevant skills to their profiles receive on average 13 times more profile views. Add skills that define your professional role, experiences and contributions.
Connections & Groups: Be strategic in making connections. You should not connect with people you do not know or don't have any common here's why. Make connections with co-workers, peers in your industry, present and past clients and customers.
Join groups to leverage on LinkedIn's networking potential and utilize the ability to contact other group members.
Pro-tip: Aspire to make at least 500 quality/relevant connections but try to keep your connections under 3,000.
Next up, I would be sharing with you how to use recommendations and endorsements effectively on LinkedIn, keep a date.
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