LinkedIn profiles and resumes go hand-in-hand these days. Even if recruiters don’t find you directly on LinkedIn, you can bet your buttons they will look you up after reviewing your resume. If your profile’s no good, well, no interview for you!
Here’s a LinkedIn “anatomy lesson” to boost your profile’s “health” and increase your chances of success:
For help implementing any of these tips, search Google for “how to (do whatever) on LinkedIn.” The site offers a great knowledge base, and you’ll receive clearly defined instructions immediately.
Profile photo: Upload a friendly (smiling!) profile photo. The cropping should be similar to a passport photo. Your attire should reflect what you would wear to work on a day-to-day basis. In other words, use an image that says you’re professional and approachable.
Cover photo: This is the rectangular photo behind your profile picture. Many people don’t bother updating this, resulting in a half-baked-looking profile. Don’t be doughy! Upload a descriptive image that connects your name with your industry, inspiration, or key skills.
Headline: LinkedIn gives you 220 characters here to deliver a compelling value proposition. They automatically population this space with your company and job title, but you can do better. Think about the critical skills for the job you want to land, and discuss how you bring them to the table. You might even tastefully incorporate some emojis to reinforce the ideas you want to convey.
Here’s an example: Accomplished Project Manager with Proven Record of Exponentially Growing Teams, Operations, And Revenue ★ Electric / Solar & Design / Build Expertise ★ Organized & Strategic Customer Advocate
About Section: Here, you have 2,600 characters to tell the story of your skill and motivation. LinkedIn is a social network, so write this section in the first person like you’re having a conversation. If you’re openly searching, it helps to include a distinctive call to action for recruiters.
Example: Throughout my career, I’ve built and inspired high-performance teams of 100+, catapulted revenue from start-up to $7M in 5 years, and maintained 88%+ customer retention rates in highly competitive industries. I’ve developed expertise in all aspects of design / build, and most recently led my team at Tesla Solar to achieve recognition among the top 10 installment teams in the country! When asked about the foundation for my success, I believe a few things give me a unique advantage:
►Deep appreciation for the game of business and the people who facilitate transformation, from executives to hourly employees and contractors.
►Relentless drive to WIN supported by an intuitive ability to understand and harness market opportunities.
►Mastery of optimizing shoestring budgets, organizing tasks in Outlook, analyzing financial reports, strategizing schedules, and balancing multiple priorities.
►Comfort with ambiguity and “failing forward”; I’m ok with not having all the answers, and I love asking questions.
►Gratitude and good humor, especially when times are tough.
I’m an innovator who enjoys mentoring and managing as much as strategic planning. A construction and electrical / solar installation expert, I welcome demanding deadlines and goals because they push me to invent new, more efficient ways to do things! Saving 10 seconds on one task is a win for me. 😊
Due to family circumstances, we’re relocating to Austin, TX, which means I’m #opentowork. If your organization needs a tenacious, motivational leader who can provide context for planning and take decisive action, let’s connect! I would enjoy exploring how I can add value to achieve your short- and long-term goals.
Experience Section: This section should demonstrate a continuous work timeline without overlapping jobs, so be selective about what you include if you’ve had concurrent work. You can deal with gaps by adding sections about what you learned or explored during that time, but keep it professional. Employers are most interested in the last 10 – 15 years of experience, so stick to that time frame. If you have significant earlier work, you can mention it in the About section but don’t include it in the Experience section because you’ll have to list dates. You can cut and paste the information from your resume into this section or write it conversationally. Whichever you choose, be sure to connect what you did (with quantifiable metrics, if possible) and how you did it to provide compelling proof of your capabilities.
Skills & Endorsements: This section is critical because your list will help recruiters find you. I suggest selecting 5 – 10 job descriptions that interest you and highlighting the keywords you see. See any common threads? List them as your top skills, and then include any others that apply to you.
Recommendations: Add credibility to your profile by asking present / former colleagues to write you a recommendation. You can request this by going to people’s profiles, clicking the “More •••” icon, and selecting “Request a Recommendation.”
Other Information: You’ve worked hard for your publications, patents, courses, projects, awards, languages, organizations, etc., so let them work for you. At the top of your profile, click “Add profile section” to get a dropdown menu of the choices available to you.
Now that you’ve filled everything out, you’re almost ready to share your profile. Before you do, customize the URL to remove the ugly numbers LinkedIn assigns to you. You can do this by going to your profile and clicking “Edit public profile & URL” in the top right-hand corner.
Take care of the body of your LinkedIn profile, and the flow of recruiters through your page will dramatically increase! It’s a good idea to set a calendar reminder to perform a “check-up” every few months, where you’ll ask for a few new recommendations from people and update your Headline, Experience, and About sections as needed. Also, review the settings to ensure they align with your current needs, as LinkedIn offers many choices regarding who gets to see your profile and how they can view it.
