LinkedIn is THE place to go for both job-seekers and employers. It allows you to share your skills and experiences while building a network of contacts. Recruiters use the platform to source candidates. This means that having a compelling LinkedIn profile can help you stand out of the crowd and ultimately land a job. Here are some guidelines and tips that can help you create an outstanding profile.
Header
Profile Picture: Use a recent, high-resolution photo of yourself as the profile picture. You should be dressed appropriately and portrayed alone. Choose a picture with a simple background, good lighting, and a smile.
Cover Photo: Use your cover photo to make a good impression! Show your personality and interests. It could be a landscape picture of your favorite place, a picture of yourself hiking (or any other hobby), or a picture of your tools of trade. You could also go one step further by customizing a banner that shows your key strengths, professional accomplishments, or passions. Canva has a lot of free templates you could utilize!
Headline: This is a tagline that communicates who you are as a professional. This sentence or two will show up along your name in a Google or LinkedIn search. Highlight specific skills or accomplishments, such as “Java/Java Script Developer” or “B2B Customer Experience.” Showcase your goals by saying something like “seeking a full-time sales job.”
Pro Tip: Get a custom URL. LinkedIn will use random numbers in your URL when you first create your profile, but you should set a custom URL instead. Try to use your name or initials so that it’s easy for you to remember and share. You can do this by going into ‘edit public profile & URL’ and clicking ‘edit URL’ on the right.
Summary
Think of the summary as a 30-second pitch. Summarize who you are, your background, and career goals. Highlight your key experiences and achievements in paragraph or bullet form. You can also share something about yourself outside of work, such as an interest that might resonate with your future connections.
Experience
List your internships or leadership experiences in this section. Describe what you did in a clear and concise manner in the form of 1-2 bullets. In the description, emphasize the skills that are most relevant to the jobs you are applying for. Try to quantify your contributions so that recruiters can see the scope of your work.
Pro Tip: Add links and media to your experience section. Showcase projects, case studies, portfolios, or awards that are relevant to each role. Bonus points if you can include any metrics/data about your work and the impact (e.g. 200% increase in site traffic, etc)
Recommendations
Recommendations can increase your credibility as a professional; they should support the brand you have created in your profile. Seek out recommendations from coworkers, supervisors, and mentors. Communicate the skills or experiences that you want to emphasize with the recommenders. Lastly, keep your recommendations current.
Pro tip: The best way to receive recommendations is to give some first. If you write a recommendation for others, there’s a higher chance that you will get one from them. Start with your friends and branch out to colleagues at your previous job.
Skills & Endorsements
Skills can increase the searchability of your profile because they act as keywords. Maintain a list of relevant skills that are relevant to your career field and match your strengths. Your connections can endorse your skills, which will help you move up the LinkedIn search results.
Remember that you are creating a personal brand. Your LinkedIn profile is a representation of who you are as a professional. So make sure that different sections of your profile create a cohesive image of who you are and what you can offer to future employers.
