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10 Essential Tips To Make Your LinkedIn Profile Shine

Published in

Connectedreams Blog

7 min readJul 1, 2016

Social media is morphing from a collection of connectivity tools into a skill. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter have revolutionized the methods of recruiting in the short time they have been around. Now 90% of recruiters and hiring managers make use of LinkedIn to hire suitable candidates. About 93% of recruiters will visit your LinkedIn page before hiring you.

The fact that what they see will factor in you getting hired is a case compelling enough to start leveraging your social media profiles.

A LinkedIn profile done right can do wonders for a career. It could be the digital equivalent of your resume, the cornerstone of your professional persona,and a level ground for you to connect with highly successful people. However, leveraging the powerful tool that is LinkedIn could be challenging for a lot of job seekers.

We share a few helpful ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile.

1.

A Decent Photograph

A LinkedIn profile without a photograph is considered incomplete by employers and LinkedIn itself. Going sans a photo will hurt your chances of being found or taken seriously on LinkedIn. The photograph should be professional with you being the main subject, and should not be taken with your family, friends or pets.

2.

An Headline Teeming With Keywords and Information

You can give a very brusque description of yourself that includes your job title or what you are looking for by using the 120 character headline feature. As employers search for keywords while hiring, a keyword rich headline can crop up more frequently. The headline is the only scrap of information about you that is visible at the first glance among hundreds and thousands of other user profiles. It is critical that it persuades people to view your profile.

For instance, if you are a student with experience in social media marketing, and are seeking content writing opportunities, your headline could look like,

“Social Media Specialist | Undergraduate Seeking Opportunities in Content Writing”

3.

A Stellar Summary

Summaries are a way to convey everything about you that an employer should know.

A compelling summary can make a world of difference.

Tell Your Story: While writing a summary, establish a narrative of your life. Write in the first person and showcase your enthusiasm. Describe and demonstrate the mission of your life and your personality with a bunch of anecdotes.
Your Value, In Your Own Words : Your summary should chronicle your career history, your current job, what you are seeking currently, your accomplishments and what you can bring to the table if hired. Think of the summary as a cover letter to professionals and hiring managers you don’t know yet telling them what kind of an asset you can be.
Make it Personal Yet Professional: A LinkedIn summary should not necessarily mirror a resume summary, it can be much more personal and creative. It should be warm and welcoming, should include your long term goals, what motivates you, any fun facts that make you unique. Steer clear of the professional jargon in favour of being more conversational. The goal is to stand out, not blending in.

A summary plays a prominent role in helping employers to find you. Therefore, it should be laden with keywords and skills.

A Call to Action: Now that you are over with writing a summary that you are proud of, you should spell out whether you are looking for opportunities. Mention a way to contact you in the event an interested employer wishes to do so. Write down your email address, personal website URL for their perusal.

4.

A custom URL

All savvy LinkedIn users have a custom URL.To appear to be one too, get your own custom URL to add in signatures to emails, resumes & cover letters. The new URL you choose should be your name. However, as there are 400 million users on LinkedIn, finding a unique link could be a problem. To solve this, add your job title with your name, the job title you want, or simply a character.

On the Edit Profile screen, at the bottom of the gray window that shows your basic information, you’ll see a Public Profile URL. Click “Edit” next to the URL, and specify what you’d like your address to be. When you’re finished, click Set Custom URL.

5.

A Comprehensive Background Section

The background section of the profile contains work experience, education and volunteer experience. It should be updated and perfected to the T. The experience section is the crux of your entire LinkedIn profile. Make it a point to keep it up-to-date. Accurately specify the time period, the name of the employer organization and your position title. Be sure to accompany these with a succinct account of your role and achievements too.

6.

Skills That are Easily Recognized

Skills section is usually an uncomplicated part of your LinkedIn profile. However, it is imperative to add skills that the site recognizes. They are the ones being frequently searched by hiring managers.

7.

Recommendations from Peers and Employers

A glowing recommendation from a peer, a mentor, or a previous employer can add a lot of value to your LinkedIn page. Make sure you follow up on them to write you a recommendation to establish you as a competent and a credible candidate.

You will however have to let them know which skills of yours to highlight. Jog their memory through times you took initiative, led a team or made a good proposal. A recommendation letter with a personal touch to it is a valuable asset to get considered for positions of your desire.

Lastly, if someone is taking out the time to write you a recommendation, you should try to return the favor by writing them one too.

8.

50 connections

It is only after reaching a minimum of 50 connections that the true power of LinkedIn comes into play.

Join groups that cover different circles and interests and be active on them to get noticed. Make sure you exhaust all your existing contacts to form connections on LinkedIn.

It is through the networks of your connections that you have a better chance of finding openings of your interest.

Send a personalised In-mail invitation to connect with people you don’t know rather than the bland default message :“Please add me to your LinkedIn network”.

9.

Include Media To Keep Things Interesting

A LinkedIn profile marks a major departure from the traditional text-based resume. You can add images, videos, documents, presentations and links to your profile now with every work-related experience.

Utilizing the potential of these links will encourage employers to stay longer on your profile. They also help your hard work gain exposure.

For instance, if you write a blog, adding a link to your LinkedIn page will increase traffic to your site and attract employers to visit your profile.

10.

Be Proactive

After you achieve the status of an “All-Star” profile, a large chunk of your success on LinkedIn depends on actually networking.

Congratulate peers on promotions and new positions. Write recommendations for your connections and have them do the same for you. Stay active on the site even when you are not looking for a job or an internship. Always update your profile whenever you have a new feather in your cap, whether it is a professional accomplishment or a new position. Maintain a fairly good amount of visibility to your connections and activity on your profile. Be prudent about the things you choose to share and make sure they are not personal or unprofessional.

A LinkedIn profile marks your first footsteps in the professional world. A solid LinkedIn profile is an asset. The time you put in it will be an investment that only earns positive returns. Millions of connections are made on LinkedIn every day. There is no doubt that the luxury to fast track years of networking cannot be taken lightly. Be it opportunities, valuable connections or successful role-models, LinkedIn is where it’s at!