If you haven’t signed up for LinkedIn yet, consider the following: it’s the world’s largest professional network
online with more than 277 million members in over 200 countries and
territories. In fact, professionals are signing up at an astounding rate
of more than two new members per second. And, an incredible 77 percent of jobs are posted onto the site.
Convinced? You should be. So, we’ll wait here for a second while you sign up.
Now that you’re all signed up for LinkedIn, here comes the most important part: Your profile.
Obviously, your profile needs to contain vital information: job
experience, skills, education, etc. But when 50 percent of users have an
incomplete profile, how can you get noticed? Instead of just being
another LinkedIn user with an unfinished profile, stand out from the
pack by becoming a LinkedIn All-Star.
While that may sound like an extremely difficult task, you can
actually achieve this status by following these 11 fast and simple
adjustments.
1. Updated and Appropriate Photo
Your LinkedIn profile picture should be recent, professional, and
recognizable. After all, your image is most likely the first thing that
people will see about you and it should reflect who you are as a
professional.
For future reference, make sure that your profile is not grainy or
pixilated, a selfie, poorly lit or from an inappropriate time, like
while at a party where alcohol is flowing. Finally, if you really want
to stand out, have a black and white image. Since the majority of photos
are in color, you’ll get noticed instantly.
2. Catchy Headline
Your headline is most likely the most crucial 120 characters on your
profile, since it’s announcing to the world who you are and why you’re
an asset. The headline should include important and descriptive
keywords, such as your title or job function. Also include your unique
set of skills that sets you apart from the crowd. Another way to improve
your “searchability” is by adding multiple titles. This will display
the various roles/positions that a person could search for related to
your profession.
3. Update Experience
This section needs to be up to date – LinkedIn states
that by including your two most recent positions can make your profile
12 times more likely to be found. However, instead of only listing job
duties, describe how you’ve impacted the company. You can also use this
section to detail the specific responsibilities, awards, honors and
accomplishments you had with previous and current businesses.
If you’re a student or unemployed, make use of this section by
illustrating your passion, skills, expertise and how you can be an
asset. Since most of us don’t have the time to read a book, try to keep
this section short and to the point, about 150-250 words should suffice.
4. Get Recommendations
You may have noticed that when someone endorses you it will appear
below your work experience on your LinkedIn profile. And, next to each
endorsement you’ll see how many people have endorsed you for a
particular set of skills, which LinkedIn is very high on. However,
good-old fashioned well-written recommendations remain the optimal way
to boost your reputation by adding credibility.
The best way to secure a great recommendation is to simply ask for
one. It’s probably a good idea to personalize the message and send one
at a time, even though you can request up to 200 people at a time. And,
don’t hesitate to offer a recommendation in return.
5. Make Sure You Summary is Complete
This is prime real estate for people to learn more about you, since
it’s where you can describe your expertise and educational background.
So, why not make sure that the 2,000 words in the Background Summary
module is complete?
Introduce yourself in a conversational, yet professional, manner and
try not to be entirely self-focused. This is also the area where you can
provide links to your portfolio.
6. Join Groups and Get Connected
The whole point of being on LinkedIn is to connect. So, you should at
least consider joining 10 groups – if you want to achieve ‘All-Star’
status, you must have 50 or more connections. Simply head over to the
contacts tab in your profile and click “Add Connections.” You can also
set it up so that LinkedIn will upload contacts from your e-mail service
provider to see who has a LinkedIn profile. Also do a search for
co-workers, former colleagues and college classmates to expand your
network.
Why is this so important?
Since there are over 1.8 million groups to choose from, this is the
perfect opportunity for you to increase your relevancy, discover new
people to join your network, and the ability to send direct messages to
people who are not in your network. However, to prevent “email
overload,” you should adjust each group’s contact settings to your
liking. And, make sure that they are professional connections as well.
7. Follow the Company You Want to Work For
As we already know, LinkedIn focuses on connecting people within a
professional network, but it can also be used to follow a particular
company – which is a neat feature for job seekers. Just click on the
“Companies” link from the home page, and enter a keyword to locate
companies of interest. After landing on a company’s overview page, just
click on the “Follow” company button. By following a company on
LinkedIn, you’ll have access to updates from that company, like job
openings and establishing new connections.
Furthermore, you’ll also want to follow influencers. This allows
viewers to get a sense of your interests and values. Since influencers
post regularly on LinkedIn, you’ll have the opportunity to comment on
and share articles that are meaningful to you and your network. And,
make certain that you follow your own company, if you have one. This
proves that you’re a team player.
8. Include Media
You can easily add videos, images, links, documents or presentations
in your profile just by utilizing the “square plus sign” icon in either
your Summary or Experience sections. By including media you’re able to
effectively showcase who you are as a working professional and
individual. It’s one thing to describe your work, it’s another to
actually show what your talents are, which could lead to a meeting,
phone call or useful connection.
9. Post Frequently
When you post frequently, you have the chance to increase engagement,
which in turn, will also increase the likelihood that you’ll appear in
others’ LinkedIn profile searches. Post relevant industry news, blog
posts, or articles once a day as a status update. People are most active
between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM on weekdays (just don’t get busted for
updating your profile at work!).
10. Privacy Settings
Double-check your privacy settings to know what is and what isn’t
being displayed. Within the privacy settings, you’re allowed to change
the information that others see about you, such as contact information,
your contacts and how others are connected to you. And, if you’re just
snooping around on others’ profiles, you can always set your profile to
anonymous. This way they won’t know who you are.
11. Make Use of a Vanity URL, Badges and Signatures
You should probably convert your LinkedIn profile into a personal
brand statement for the world to see. To accomplish that, you’ll need an
easy-to-remember address to type into the browser’s address bar.
However, since the default LinkedIn URL for your profile isn’t the most
in-depth, you’ll have to customize the URL as a vanity URL.
Start by going into the ‘Profile’ section of your homepage and select
‘Edit Profile’. On the bottom-right section of the page there should be
a link that states: “Customize your public profile URL.” Once you click
the link, you can actually give the last part any name you would like,
as long as it’s available. And, as easy as that, you have a vanity URL.
You’ll also want to add some LinkedIn Badges to your profile – which
is found underneath the setting for the vanity URL. Badges are cool
graphics that can be placed onto blogs, emails, online or resumes, to
name a few. All you have to do is to select your preferred button and
copy-paste the HTML code in the box.
Finally, promote your profile by adding your LinkedIn URL in your
email signature. Just that quick addition is essentially attaching your
resume to anyone you email.
