LinkedIn has become the ‘go-to’ when it comes to job-hunting and head-hunting. If you are considering making your next move in your career, LinkedIn is your new best friend. It is very important to enhance your profile so that you stand out amongst your peers. I have put together some easy tips for you to optimize your profile, for maximum impact.
Photo: This should be a recent, professional image of yourself. Avoid images with friends or from a social occasion.
Headline: This will make you stick out from the crowd. You have 120 characters to summarise your professional self, ensure to get your best qualities to the forefront. Get out the dictionary for snappy buzzwords.
Summary: This section allows you to become creative and personal about describing yourself as well as your experience. Include information about yourself, what you enjoying doing and how you work, this allows a hiring manager or recruiter to get a feel for who you are as a person. Include your most recent accomplishments. Describe what you do best in work and outside of work. Include testimonials from colleagues and peers. Why not add some images to bring your summary to life.
Experience & Education: This should be concise and to the point. You should only include relevant content that aligns with your career path. E.g. You don’t need to list working as a Barista for two weeks if you are now an insurance claims handler!
Connections: Begin to expand your network by connecting with your current and past colleagues, your fellow alumni and people from your industry.
Updating your status: The most effective time of day to update your status is between 7.30am – 8.30am. If you think about it, most people are trawling through their phones for morning updates on their commute to work. Only post professional content such as industry news, remember LinkedIn is not Facebook.
Groups: Joining groups is a fantastic way to open discussions with professionals in your industry as well as reaching out to clients and customers on a conversational level.
Skills and Endorsements: You need to add skills to your profile in order to allow others to endorse your skills. Make sure to list you skills in order of importance. Next, endorse your connections, this is a great method of validating your peers’ strengths and also an effective way for them to reciprocate.
Recommendations: It is a well worth exercise to request recommendations from your connections. Recommendations are generally one of the first things that head-hunters will read on your profile after looking at your experience.
So go on, bite the bullet and create your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to connect with Lex Consultancy on LinkedIn for the latest job updates ,news and advice.