April 16th, 2019 | Updated on November 1st, 2021
LinkedIn is the first place, recruiters visit. Your LinkedIn Profile should be discoverable and catchy to your potential employers. It is easy to create a profile on LinkedIn, but few of us know LinkedIn searches work in terms of keywords, relevance and connections. LinkedIn search prefers profiles that are complete, hence it is important to use all fields and options available to you.
Here we have identified eight crucial steps to optimize LinkedIn presence.
Linkedin Profile Optimization Tips
Don’t Ignore The Basics
To open a LinkedIn profile, you need to fill in number of blank spaces. These include: your name, headline, projects, experience, education, etc.
You will get noticed by your potential recruiters by the keywords you have entered in your LinkedIn profile.
Name
Some people make the mistakes of taking the basic lightly. Instead of using their first, last and middle name, they enter their nicknames or humorous references to job titles. This is a big, big mistake which you must avoid at any cost. Remember, this is not a place for fun. It is a serious place where you are being watched by the potential recruiters.
Headline
Headline is one of the most visible sections of your LinkedIn profile. Be it newsfeed posts, “People You May Know Section” or job applications, this is the section which introduces you to recruiters. Good LinkedIn headline makes a positive impression and the bad one diminishes your chances of being recruited. You should be careful about the words you select for this section, for wrong keywords make it tough for other to know where you are employed and what role you perform in your present organization. Few relevant keywords should be enough to define your present job.
Experience
What you can do does not matter. What matters the most is what you are doing, and what you have done so for. Mention all the organizations that have hired you. Also mention your job responsibilities, achievements and growth.
Your current company and your present job responsibility should be prominently highlighted. It helps you maximizes your chances of getting selected.
If the website of your present or past companies have the details of project, you are/were part of, then provide a link to such sites.
Neither search results nor prospective employers like incomplete or inadequate job descriptions.
Your profile is viewed up to 29 times more if you have more than one position listed in the experience section.
Some More Tips To Better Showcase Your Experience:
- Showcasing past experience is much more than highlighting your previous jobs. How can you ignore freelance works or one-off projects that you had done?
- Your experience portion must reflect whether you have held multiple positions at a single company or not.
Within the Experience section, there is an Add button, which allow you to include more position at any time.
No Buzzwords Please
Resist the temptation of using buzzwords, because they are universally detested. Want Your LinkedIn Profile to Stand Out in 2019? Don’t Include These 10 Overused Words.
Pick The Right Picture For Your LinkedIn Profile
Your Picture Is An Integral Part Of Your Profile Because:
- You will be easily recognized when you meet a LinkedIn contact in person
- Person you know outside the LinkedIn should easily recognize your face. Hence, you should use the most recent photo of yourself.
- Nobody accepts a LinkedIn invitation of those whose profile pictures don’t make the right impression.
Follow Some Basic Tips While Selecting Your Profile Picture:
- Taking the service of professional photographer is worth the investment, because it is the photo that your potential employer sees first.
- Your photo must show the decent and most friendly part of you. You can’t judge your own image. It is advisable to ask for opinion. Others can tell you whether you are appearing just okay or looking friendly.
- Leave just a small space over your head. It should just show your head, neck and top of your shoulders.
- Your profile picture should reflect how you look at your workplace.
- Avoid casual dress, jewelry, etc because LinkedIn is not just any other social media platform. Since you are here for professional purpose, make sure that your appearance is normal.
- Keep it as simple as possible. Hence it is advisable not to be seen with pets or children.
- It is important to use good quality image. Stretched or pixelated does not qualify as quality image.
- Always use actual photo, avoid cartoon images at all costs.
Linkedin Optimization: Endorsements or Recommendations?
If you want to boost your profile’s visibility, try to get other members write a recommendation for you. What others say about you enhances your chances of recruitment.
One thing you must remember is that LinkedIn endorsements and LinkedIn Recommendations are two different things.
Endorsements vs. Recommendations
LinkedIn Endorsement functions the same way as Facebook’s “Like” button, where just a click is enough to get approval from others. But endorsements are not being viewed seriously because it is very easy to endorse specific skills or expertise. People don’t give too much thought before endorsing your skill. It works if you get lots of endorsements. But it does not become effective, if you get very few recommendations.
Recommendations carry more weight, because somebody has to write something about you. Unlike endorsement, writing a recommendation takes more time. It requires serious efforts and thoughts. Hence, it works better than endorsement, which is nothing but a passive-click based button.
How To Get Third Party Endorsements Of Your Talents?
- LinkedIn has “Ask to be Recommended” page.
- Visit this page by clicking “View Profile As” button.
- Approach somebody who not only knows your professional qualities, but can also write intelligently about your skills.
- Never rely on LinkedIn’s generic request message.
- Personalize your request and be specific about what skills you want to be highlighted by others.
- If you had worked with somebody in a certain company, and he knows about your communication role, then send a request to him to write a recommendation for you about this specific skill.
- Don’t try to get too many recommendations. Build your reputation thoughtfully, not hurriedly.
Linkedin Profile Optimization: Have You Heard Of These Hidden Features?
- Common Group: The biggest benefit of joining a common group means that you can send message to even those, who are not connected with you. All you have to do is click the hyperlinked members list and search the desired connection.
- Open Candidates: This tool helps you tell about new roles you might be interest in. Through this tool, you can specify the types of companies and roles you are interested in. Recruiters use this tool to find fresh new talent. It is a must use tool for those who are open to new and exciting job opportunities.
- Export Contacts: You can export a CSV file of your connections from the Contact Settings page on the LinkedIn desktop site. It is a simple process.
