Think of your LinkedIn profile as building your brand. Use your LinkedIn to market yourself to potential employers, business opportunities, and potential connections. Often time it is easy to avoid building out or updating our LinkedIn profiles. This only sells you short in the long run.
Start With A Great Profile Picture
When choosing a profile picture for your LinkedIn profile, don’t choose the selfie you took in the car in a parking lot with your seat belt still on. Your LinkedIn is the foundation of your branding. Your profile picture is the first impression someone viewing your profile will have. Headshots are the best for profile pictures on LinkedIn. You want your face to cover about 60% of the photo and look professional.
Complete Every Section of Your Profile
It might seem like the bio is the only necessary part of your profile to fill out, but this is incorrect. You should complete every section of your profile. You can only sell yourself short if you don’t provide information in every section possible. The more information your profile has and the more you have completed the more likely your profile will show up in searches.
Add Substance to Your Headline
It is common to just add your job title to the headline. Optimize your profile even further by adding substance to your profile. Next to your profile photo, your headline is the first information section that will leave an impression on someone viewing your profile. Some things to consider when crafting your heading are add in high-volume keywords, write a clear description of what you do, and highlighting the industry you work in.
Use Your Summary as Your Story
When writing out your “About” section, keep in mind that LinkedIn has a separate experience section to highlight your past and current experiences. This is the section to highlight why your work experience and skill matter and set you apart from others. Write it as you would a generic cover letter of sorts.
Highlight Your Skills and Certifications
Having a Bachelor’s degree is an amazing accomplishment, but as that degree gets older and older it becomes less and less relevant. Employers want to see how your skill sets have evolved. LinkedIn offers skills tests that you can take and has a great resource called LinkedIn Learning that can be utilized to gain certifications. As well as you can add in your certifications, accolades, and skills.
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