LinkedIn is the premier professional networking site, and you must do LinkedIn profile optimization if you want to get a job via LinkedIn. It’s also important to optimize your profile so that you can appear as an industry leader and drive traffic to your website and social media channels. Here are five ways to improve your LinkedIn profile so that it helps you succeed in your career!
What is LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional social network that helps connect with professionals to find jobs, find business partners, etc. It’s one of my favorite networking tools. You can even make money on LinkedIn. For this LinkedIn profile optimization is necessary. I’ve talked about using LinkedIn for your career in previous posts. If you are serious about getting hired or landing a new job, you need to know how to use LinkedIn effectively! Here thebinyameen going to share with you five ways that you can better optimize your profile on LinkedIn. However, before we get started here are three things that I want you to keep in mind: 1) Never compromise privacy 2) Never post anything negative 3) Always do everything with full transparency. Let’s begin…
1) Optimize Your Work Experience Section
There is a lot of competition for jobs on LinkedIn. Make sure you are setting yourself apart by including concrete numbers, like revenue or savings you helped generate, in your profile. Instead of saying that you helped increase revenue, say that you increased revenue by 20 percent year over year. Instead of saying that your team saved thousands of dollars by cutting expenses, say that it saved $10,000 each month. You should aim to make each bullet point in your work experience section quantifiable. (Don’t know how to quantify something? Find out here.) This will make your profile stand out among others who only list vague descriptions under their work experience sections.
2) Optimize Your LinkedIn Summary
A summary is a short paragraph that gives people a quick snapshot of who you are and what you do. This is usually at most three sentences long. LinkedIn has a place for it in both your current profile and on your Why choose me? page, which all recruiters see when they look at your profile. With only 250 characters, make sure each sentence counts! But remember, summarize all necessary information in these words.
3) Use Keywords on Your LinkedIn Profile
Another step of LinkedIn profile optimization is using keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile is a quick way to improve visibility for job seekers. While many people include words like engineer or programmer on their profiles, adding a long-tail version of those terms—such as systems engineer or software architect—can help you show up in more searches.
4) Optimize Your LinkedIn Picture
First impressions matter, so choose your LinkedIn picture carefully. Ideally, you’ll have a professional photo, shows your face clearly, and conveys your personality in some way. Choose an image that reflects how you want people to perceive you professionally—not too casual or it may appear that you aren’t all business. For example, if you are in a tech-related industry with young startup companies, avoid pictures of yourself in a cap and gown at graduation; instead, go for something more recent with less formal attire. If nothing else will do but an old picture of yourself with hipster glasses and a man bun (alas), try cropping it closer on top or bottom so most of your face is visible rather than hiding it behind thick hair.
5) Update Contact Information
One of your first steps should be to double-check and update your contact information. Many companies will look at your LinkedIn profile when considering you for a job, so you must have an up-to-date email address and phone number listed. It also helps if your professional info is linked to other sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and your website (e.g., DigitalAvior). Just be sure to keep everything updated; many people update their LinkedIn profiles only when they get hired or promoted, then never again. Don’t fall into that trap! The more active you are on LinkedIn, the more likely you are to stand out among other candidates.