How To Improve Your Linkedin Profile? Filter And Update
Are you between jobs or spending your time at your current job taking Buzzfeed quizzes? If you are unemployed or unhappily employed, use your time to the maximum by updating your LinkedIn profile! It may use a little more brainpower than scrolling through Facebook, but it will certainly have a much bigger impact on your future. Learn how to build a profile that will do some job searching for you by attracting recruiters as well as connecting you to a wide network of employee-seekers.
Start by taking stock of your profile. What skills, projects and accomplishments do you list and what purpose do they serve there? What jobs do you have on your profile and are they updated? What groups are you in and do you participate in them? Who are your connections and who are your pending connections? Are you communicating with your connections? What does your title say about you? Once you have answered these questions, you can filter out information that is not conducive to your career search and highlight information that is. You can target certain connections and monitor your interaction in certain groups. Really, you can get started creating an impactful LinkedIn!
To improve your LinkedIn profile, you should first understand the LinkedIn dynamic. It is a social media site, but it is professionally oriented. It has information from your resume, but it is not a repeat of your resume. Your LinkedIn profile can be interactive, in-depth and much more detailed than a resume or cover letter while it steers clear of the nonchalant self-expression characteristic of other social media sites. This balance is hard to hit, and may take practice.
Common Mistakes:
Not cross-checking all application materials with LinkedIn. Not only should the information match and be correct and current, it should also fit the professional brand that you are portraying. If you write your LinkedIn title as Web-Design Expert but your resume focuses mostly on copy editing and writing gigs, then you have an inconsistency that could cost you.
Having a laundry list of skills. This clutters the profile and shows a hint of desperation. Choose your skills wisely, and remember that just about everyone knows how to use PowerPoint.
Having typos and bad grammar. Read your profile carefully, have a friend read it and then read it again a few days later. One little slip-up could mean that you don’t get contacted for a position.
Using your current or most recent job title as your headline. You have creative license here! Make you headline catchy and targeted to your dream job while remaining truthful.
Take Advantage of these Features
Use multimedia to demonstrate your skills. If you already edited and targeted your profile, you can further improve your LinkedIn profile by taking advantage of the human attraction to video, sound and design. Upload your projects, websites, publications or design work. Embed videos of events or projects or interviews that you were involved with. Inviting your viewer to interact with your page and explore you on multiple levels will make you come alive for them.
Personalize your URL link to attract attention and solidify your professional brand. The more name repetition the better for name recognition and the more recognition, the more chance that you get hired! It is also handy to have a customized URL when you are listing your LinkedIn on your resume or business card.
Include recommendations and references to provide backing and evidence to your claims. Public endorsements can also further highlight your skills and potential.
It is proven that profiles with profile pictures do better. We are naturally attracted to human faces! So, get a professional snapshot and put yourself front and center.
Follow influencers and key leaders because your choice of the right people speaks to the seriousness of your profile. Their content in your news feed can also give you key insights, ideas and inspiration.