LinkedIn is your own personal billboard. Start acting like it.
You’re scrolling LinkedIn again. Some days you’re on it A LOT. If you’re on LinkedIn, it means you have a profile and you think the site is valuable. I get that, I do too. But most of the profiles I see on the site are in need of major work to actually be effective.
LinkedIn has long been a staple in the job search and networking world but since Covid, the virtual nature of interviewing and hiring has made LinkedIn even more important. Your LinkedIn profile is truly your own personal virtual billboard. If you’re going to be on the site, it’s time to step up your game and have a profile you’re proud - not to mention a profile recruiters will notice.
So what are the keys to a great profile? There are many but here are 10 of my favorite tips to quickly improve the appeal and effectiveness of your profile:
Have a great headshot. Be yourself but make it professional. Consider the background behind your head - keep it simple. Be aware of your facial expression not being overly enthusiastic or overly serious.
Insert a background picture behind your headshot to tell more of a story about yourself. Click the pencil icon that allows you to edit your profile. From there click the pencil icon that sits on the wide image space. Many people have the default filler image from LinkedIn or a meaningless image of a mountain or an ocean - that says nothing about you professionally. It’s best to personalize your background image with something that represents your professional passion. You can pull an image off Google or check out unsplash, pixabay, or pexels sites for free images. Canva is a great app to use to create the background image within the LinkedIn template. Be sure to view your profile on desktop and mobile so you choose an image that works well for both.
Use a strong headline. Your headline appears below your name in your profile. You are more than just your current job title, which is what many of your profiles currently show as your headline. What you write there greatly affects how you show up in search results. Instead of saying, for example, ‘Marketing Coordinator,’ you could say, ‘Marketing Coordinator. Consumer-Focused, Brand-Builder, Digital Marketing Expert.’ You have 220 spaces for your headline, which LinkedIn increased from 120 but I’d say somewhere between 100-150 characters is perfect.
Have up-to-date contact info. Make sure your contact info is up-to-date and includes at least an email address. Consider joining us in the 21st century with a gmail account if you still have a hotmail or yahoo email. I have those too so don’t worry I’m kind of old as well so I feel you but agism is a thing so let’s not seem even older.
Write an impactful ‘About’ section. This is the first section below your headline. Many people neglect to write anything there, which is a huge missed opportunity to tell your story and plug in keywords. This section should give a strong overview of your expertise and experience (years, industries, functional areas) as well as what you’re looking for. Here’s an example for a job seeker in her 20s:
- Former Division 1 collegiate athlete with 4 years of experience in basketball marketing and ticket sales. Expertise in project management, marketing planning, and social media buying in the sports and entertainment industries. Seeking a challenging marketing position in a major league headquarters location or team office.
I would love to you to add keywords in your ‘About’ section too, check the next tip for that.
Leverage keywords. Put a keyword paragraph highlighting your areas of expertise at the end of your ‘About’ section. This is a great way to align yourself with the type of positions you’re interested in and come up higher in recruiter search results.
Actually put details against your work experience. Many profiles just list past positions with no details on what you were responsible for and the impact you had. Also be consistent with your formatting across jobs - bullets or a short paragraph not both.
Include visual examples. There are many places in your profile where you can add examples as images or links to sites or files. This is a great way, especially in your work experience section, to bring your expertise to life in more than just words. This is a unique way in which LinkedIn offers you much more than your standard resume in terms of your ability to tell a more robust story.
Have a recommendation written about you. Ideally have 2-3 in fact and have at least one from the current year. This section shows up at the bottom of your profile and is an easy way for people reading your profile to get a better feel for your professional reputation. Note: I don’t advise jumping right into LinkedIn’s automated ‘Request a recommendation’ feature. Email your contact first to ask them if they’re willing to do this for you otherwise it can come across as pushy if they just get the request from you through LinkedIn.
Ditch the ‘open to network’ feature from your profile. Everyone on LinkedIn is open to network. Highlighting that makes you look desperate. Even if you are feeling a little desperate, hold your head high.
The bottom line is, if your’e going to be on LinkedIn then bring your A-game. Spending a little time making the updates above before you start scrolling again will pay I off. Proof: I get lots of notes from people who read my book or took a LinkedIn Workshop with me saying they made the changes I suggested and BAM the job machine is in high gear for them now!
If you want more job search and career advice, check out my book ($19), “Made To Hire: How to Get the Job You Really Want,” or my online course ($50), “How to Get the Job You Want.”