Essential LinkedIn Profile Tips For The Job-Seekers
LinkedIn is still the hottest place for job-search in 2022:
If you personally haven’t been contacted by potential employers, though, you might be wondering what’s wrong…
Well, that’s because you haven’t properly optimized your LinkedIn profile.
General Tips for Your LinkedIn Profile:
Fill Out Your Profile Thoroughly
Ok, there’s a reason we’re putting this tip at number one - it is essential that you thoroughly fill out your LinkedIn profile.
Why?
Because the most filled-out profiles on LinkedIn come up first in a recruiter’s search.
You may be the country’s leading professional in your field, but you might never be approached for it, only because your profile wasn’t thoroughly filled out. While that is not the ONLY factor that affects your place in hiring managers’ search, it is perhaps the most important one.
So make sure to check out all the profile sections LinkedIn lets you include and add and fill in as many of them as you can. And no worries, we will now walk you through how exactly to do that for each essential section.
Use Your LinkedIn to Tell a Story and Build Your Personal Brand
When you’re building your LinkedIn profile, you need to think about your personal brand, Dunay says. Who are you and what do you want to be known for? What sets you apart from your peers in your industry? Once you know your personal brand, you can express it throughout in your LinkedIn profile.
“Your LinkedIn is your opportunity to give the broader narrative around your strengths and work style,” says Muse career coach Heather Yurovsky. “You have more room [than your resume] to showcase a wide range of experiences and skills which means a greater chance that there will be something in your profile that a viewer will connect with. That connection is key in a job search.”
Make a Custom Profile URL
When you first create your LinkedIn profile you get an automatically generated URL - a pretty clunky one with a string of random numbers.
Having a more professional, clean, name-only URL is much easier to find, read, and share.
To change your URL, do this:
Pick the Right Profile Photo
First of all, yes, it’s important to have one. Members with a profile photo get up to 21 times more views!
What’s the right profile photo? The key here is: Aim for professional, but friendly.
You don’t want to come off as a stock photo for “office person smiling,” but at the same time, it shouldn't be something super casual (like your profile photo on Facebook).
Here are some of our tips on how to get your profile picture right:
Add a Cover Photo That Reflects You
The blank banner above your profile picture is where your cover photo goes. It’s the very first thing on your page, so you want to make a good impression with it. At a minimum, you should use an inoffensive image that means something to you—maybe a landscape view of your favorite place or something that showcases your brand, Dunay says. But you can also use a picture of yourself doing your job or customize a banner with words. You can add your personal website URL, a few of your key strengths, the services you offer, or even a meaningful quote, Wasserman says. Just keep it professional.
Get Your Headline Right
Your headline is super important since it’s the first thing recruiters see when looking at your profile.
It should convey who you are and what you’re about in a short, clear, and concise way.
Having the right headline ensures you get found by recruiters for the right, relevant job, since a lot of them only search by title.
Including profession-specific skills and titles is also ok, as long as they’re relevant and not too long.
Correct Examples
Incorrect Examples
Make sure your title contains a keyword(s) that can be used to easily find you and pinpoint exactly what you do. If you’re a developer and work mostly with Java, it’s best to put “Java Developer” as your title, instead of “Software Engineer”.
At the same time, avoid the less descriptive titles as much as possible.
Create a Summary That Stands Out
Your LinkedIn summary is the first thing a recruiter reads after your headline, so it’s super important to get it right.
See, recruiters don’t have the time to read your entire profile from top to bottom - they read your headline, then summary, and quickly decide if you’re relevant for the position they’re hiring for or not.
So, it’s important to get your LinkedIn summary right.
A good LinkedIn summary section includes the following info:
Or, to turn this into an example:
Correct Example:
I’m a Level 2 Customer Service Representative with 5 years of experience in the field, including chat, e-mail, and phone tech support. I’ve worked with plenty of CRM systems, most familiar with Drift and Intercom.
I’ve handled up to 200 different customer calls per day and I’ve been named “Employee of the month” twice:
Once for being fastest and most efficient with resolving tickets.
And second time due to having the highest customer rating.
𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐎’𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
DO’s:
DON’T’s:
Show Off Your Expertise or Best Work in the Features Section
Just below the “About” section is the “Featured” sections, which allows you to showcase media, links, and LinkedIn articles and posts at the top of your profile. Sharing the work or mentions that are most relevant to your personal brand and LinkedIn goals is a great opportunity to show your skills in action, Wasserman says. If you have an online portfolio, the “Featured” section is a great, highly visible spot to link to it.
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords
Want your profile to be discovered by recruiters on LinkedIn?
You need to include the right keywords all of your profile - headline, summary, work experience, and the skills section.
This tells the LinkedIn algorithm that your profile is VERY relevant to the specific keywords used.
For example, if you do digital marketing, you could add the following keywords all around your profile:
Recommended by LinkedIn
So, whenever a recruiter looks up “Google Ads Specialist,” your profile will STILL pop up if your job title is unrelated (e.g. “Digital Marketing Specialist”).
Not sure which keywords to add?
The best advice we can give you is to find a job ad that comes closest to the job you want and “scan” it for keywords.
What stands out? What is being repeated in the list of responsibilities and desired experience and knowledge? Go off of that.
Pro Tip:
Include Most if Not All of Your Licenses and Certifications
If you have certifications that are highly relevant for your role (or the desired position), you should include them on your LinkedIn profile.
To do this, go to your profile, hit “add profile section,” and pick “licenses and certifications.”
Pro Tip
Have a language certificate or two (or more)? You can include them too!
Whether you use the language in your job or not, knowing foreign languages is always a plus.
Fill in that Skills Section (And Get Some Endorsements)
The “Skills and Endorsements” section is also an important part of your LinkedIn profile puzzle.
Feel free to go wild with this one - LinkedIn gives you a limit of 50 skills you can add, and you know what? Add all 50!
Add every skill you possess, as well as it’s synonyms (E.g. Java, Java Programming, Java Development) or derivatives (E.g. Digital Marketing, Content Creation, Online Advertising).
In case you have more than 50 skills to list, make sure to stick to the most relevant ones.
Can’t think of 50? That’s fine, just add the ones you can think of, and LinkedIn will recommend similar ones.
Once you’re done with that, It’s time to get some endorsements.
Contact your coworkers & ex-colleagues who are on LinkedIn and ask them to endorse your skills. To return the favor, you can offer to also endorse them in return.
Why is this important? Because endorsements are social proof. While they’re NOT what the recruiter is going to go off on whether they should hire you or not, they’re going to make you a more “presentable” candidate.
Seek Out Strong, Relevant, and Recent Recommendations
Recommendations “really enhance the credibility of who you are as a professional,” Wasserman says. You can ask people you’ve worked closely with for recommendations, but “be sure to give that person talking points that help shape the story you want your profile to tell,” Yurovsky says. Your recommender should know what your goals are for your next career steps as well as what skills and experiences you’d like them to emphasize. And keep your recommendations current. Yurovsky recommends setting a calendar reminder to secure new recommendations at least twice a year.
Don’t Forget About Your “Interests” Section
Yes, LinkedIn has an interests section.
And no - this is NOT what’s going to land you your next job.
But what it WILL help you with is showing some personality on your profile.
Let’s say, for example, you’re a senior hardware engineer who’s really interested in working for a space travel company. You could include Nasa, SpaceX, Blue Ocean, and other space companies in your interests.
So, if a recruiter from such a company is looking at your profile, they’re going to be more inclined to contact you.
To add an interest - just look up whatever company, group or school you’re interested in, click on their LinkedIn page and click the blue Follow button under their name, as such:
Tips for Using Your Profile:
Be Mindful of Your Profile Settings
If you’re job searching, you can adjust your profile settings to let recruiters know you’re open to work. And if you don’t necessarily want your current employer to find out about it, you can tweak your settings further to hide this info from anyone working at the same company as you. You can also control who sees your updates, Hallow says.
Become an Active User
When on a job hunt on LinkedIn, it’s also important to be active on the platform. I.e. post professional content you enjoy, as well as engage with other people’s posts.
This lets you stand apart from other potential candidates, and makes it more likely for the recruiters to notice you.
So, whenever a job opening for your role pops up, there’s a good chance you’ll be the first candidate on the recruiter’s radar!
This doesn’t mean you need to spend all your day on LinkedIn, though. Just dedicate 10-20 minutes to it per day max, and you’re good to go!
Network, Network, Network
At its core, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform.
Meaning, it’s OK to add people who you haven’t met in real life - that’s what the platform is for!
Feel free to add recruiters, HR specialists, and hiring managers in companies you want to work for to your network.
This way, you’ll always be updated with open positions that they might have, and you’ll pop up on top of all other candidates when these recruiters do search for someone with your skill-set.
Keep in mind though, when adding connections on LinkedIn, it’s more courteous to send a connection request with a short message. Here’s an example of what a good connection message looks like:
“Hello [First Name],
I’m currently on the lookout for a new job and am expanding my network with professionals in the HR field, such as yourself. Will be happy to discuss any opportunities at any point.
Best regards,
[Your Name]”
Want to be more specific, but the 300 character restriction for a connection message doesn’t allow for it? After they accept your connection request, you can send them an intro message such as:
“Hello, [First Name],
I stumbled across your profile and saw you’re recruiting for Company X. I’m a big fan of their work and currently open to new job opportunities as a [Your Role].
If you currently have any relevant openings, I’ll be happy to discuss this further. If not, I’d still like to thank you for connecting and will be happy to be considered for any future opportunities.
Best regards,
[Your Name]”
Start Posting
All LinkedIn users can write posts or even articles on the platform. These posts will help you build up your reputation as an expert, Dunay says. You can post your perspective about what’s going on in your field or weigh in on a recent industry development, and possibly show off your writing skills at the same time. You can even share relevant articles you’ve come across elsewhere online. Even if you’re a new professional or new in your field, “you have something to contribute,” and other users will notice, Wasserman says.
If you don’t feel ready to write your own posts just yet, start by commenting. Select relevant interests on your profile and follow experts, thought leaders, and others in your field who have careers you’d like to learn something from. Then, engage with their posts on your news feed. You’ll learn, gain connections, and get “food for thought for your own posts,” Hallow says.
Don’t Only Pay Attention When You’re Job Searching
There are many benefits to LinkedIn for people who aren’t looking to switch jobs—from developing relationships with others in your field to learning new skills that will help you in your current job. Plus, “staying active on LinkedIn after you’ve landed that new role and are no longer job searching helps make that next job search that much easier,” Yurovsky says. Build up your network and personal brand before you need to tap into it to land your next job. You’ll also stay top of mind for people in your network, Yurovsky says, and “when it’s time to find the next right role for you, you’d be surprised how many people will feel invested in your search.”
Conclusion
Alright, you’ve been through the list.
At this point, you should know everything you need to know to create a killer LinkedIn profile.
Now, all you have to do is sit back, and wait for those job offers to start rolling in!