Do you feel like your LinkedIn page isn’t selling you well enough? Do you know that your LinkedIn page has become the first point of call for most recruiters both nationally and internationally?
If you’re looking to grow in your career, you might want to give your LinkedIn page a facelift.
Here are tips from LinkedIn influencer, Bernard Marr, to assist with this process. The steps in summary, are as follows:
It starts with your headshot
No, you don’t have to look stern and serious in your photo. In fact, according to Marr, smiling is always a good idea and the clearer the photo, the better. If you can get it professionally done, that would be a good idea.
Don’t let LinkedIn decide your default headline
By default, LinkedIn populates your headline with your job title and current company, but you don’t have to leave it that way. Consider listing your specialty and speaking directly to your audience. Include important keywords to enable your profile to become searchable especially if you’re looking for a job. Marr advises keeping your headline to about 10 words.
Do some work on your summary
Your work summary is supposed to highlight your key achievements. Ensure to list about 5-6 of them in your working career. If you don’t have any work experience, click here to see our guide for developing your cv and subsequently LinkedIn to still look sellable. Also, I didn’t know this previously, but you can also include videos and other media files in your work summary; this is a good idea if you’re a speaker or broadcaster for example.
The relevance rule applies to LinkedIn too
Only work that is relevant to your career path should be included on your LinkedIn page. Everything else is secondary and do not need to be mentioned. You don’t want an overkill.
Fill out as much of your profile as possible
This includes skills, volunteer associations, education, etc. This is the place to put all the interesting stuff that doesn’t fit on your resume but portrays you as a well-rounded individual. One quick note: If your volunteer experience directly pertains to your job search, put it in as work history, so it’s up in the relevant section, not down at the bottom. Also, ensure you’re active by sharing industry-related work content.
Ask for recommendations
The more, the merrier. Endorsements are great but a past manager taking the time to include a recommendation on your page carries more weight so don’t hesitate to ask for some. The meatier the recommendation, the better for your page.
I’m off to get mine started, I promise to fill you in on the before and after overall look of my page.
Photo Credit: Dreamstime
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