What I Learnt by Studying LinkedIn Profiles of Successful People
I’ll admit — I’ve never seen LinkedIn as a source of professional inspiration until very recently. And never before have I realised just how critical a fantastic LinkedIn profile can be to building a personal brand, connecting with other professionals within your industry, and receiving job offers.
Lately, I’ve started to connect with some incredibly inspiring business men and women, and by paying a little bit of attention to their profiles, I’ve learnt a thing or two and have been inspired to take some action. Last week I began taking note of what made a LinkedIn profile look great. How could I learn from these influencers to better communicate my own skills and abilities? What did these profiles have that mine lacked?
Today, I’ll run you through how what started as a simple exercise to update my LinkedIn profile, turned into much, much more.
Range of experience matters
I’ve worked at the same company for quite a long time (read: basically since the start of my professional career). Sure, I’ve done well by working through the professional ranks from an entry level position to a professional position. But, when I compared this to the LinkedIn profiles of some of my favourite influencers and successes, there is a big difference. Successful people have a range of experience in a range of different companies — accompanied by project details of what they achieved while operating across the various roles they’ve worked in.
Not only is there a range of experience, but the different roles and projects are all cohesive, in the same or similar field. They complement each other rather than being sporadically different. If the roles are vastly different, a good LinkedIn profile will show how the duties and responsibilities in the different roles complement each other. For example, in the case of being a doctor one week and a salesperson the next: The salesperson role was actually selling medical supplies to doctors, because of the his experience in working with the supplies himself.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that all successful people work in a wide range of companies. Some people are perfectly successful by being their own boss as entrepreneurs, straight out of school. But this is something that stood out to me as being an opportunity within my own career.
Upon reflection, I realised that I’d recently started doing some online research which I hadn’t yet added to my LinkedIn profile. By adding this work, and highlighting that my research specialty is business management and human resources (the field I’m currently working in), I’ve been able to add some cohesive, additional experience to strengthen my profile.
The exciting part? This didn’t just prompt me to update my own profile. It’s opened my mind to what more I can do to strengthen my skills and experiences.
Dot point descriptions are best
There’s an ongoing debate over whether one should use dot points or paragraphs in LinkedIn (and in resumes) when describing job role responsibilities. My personal observation from studying good profiles is that dot points are clearer, and they’re a more concise and efficient way to summarise past experience. Although some wonderful people are able to nail the art of a good paragraph, when they’re written badly, which most are — they can look fluffy and padded out.
After coming to this realisation, I recently updated my job responsibilities from bulky paragraphs to dot points. I feel like my profile now better represents my experience, skills and abilities. Try it out for yourself and see how it feels!
Quality not quantity
Quality is extremely important in a great LinkedIn profile. For example, there’s no need to include your high-school education. (Even though LinkedIn will ask you for it about a gazillion times). Prioritize experience, education and achievements that are inline with your current career trajectory, and leave out all the rest.
Linking your achievements with your job roles and education streamlines your profile
I’ve noticed that people who get really clever with their LinkedIn profile have courses linked to their university degrees, projects linked to their various job roles, and awards and achievements linked to their experiences.
After observing this, I went through my profile and linked a few key courses with my education. I did this by:
1. Clicking ‘add courses’;
2. Adding the name of the course, and then;
3. The course reference no. field and ‘associated to’ field becomes available — so these can be added in too.
This then allows the courses to not only show in the ‘courses’ section of LinkedIn, but as a tidy group under where you completed the courses.
Neat, hey.
Allow yourself to be inspired
This is my last point, but probably the most important. Opening myself up to learn from others is one of the greatest things I’ve learnt from this exercise. It’s easy to finish something like a resume or LinkedIn profile and leave it there forever- assume that it’s perfect how it is, and that it can stay that way.
What’s harder is looking around, acknowledging that we’re not perfect, and seeking opportunities for growth. What started as an exercise to update my LinkedIn profile has turned into an opportunity for me to absorb inspiration from some pretty amazing, influential people around the globe.
And I genuinely feel inspired. I feel excited. Rather than just adding to my profile, I’m looking for what more I can do to broaden my skills and experiences.
I hope that you can find some inspiration too. Start here, and see where it takes you.
Corinne Watson is a Human Resources Consultant and Advisor, who loves coaching leaders to better connect with their people through meaningful conversations, resulting in happier & more engaging places to work.
When she’s not working, she passes the time by creating artwork, and hanging out with her husband as newlyweds and their two furry dogs. She also blogs from a personal perspective on life, leadership and professional growth — you can check out her ramblings here.
