LinkedIn has been around for over 18 years and currently has over 756 Million users. Elevating your profile and standing out may seem daunting, but if you put in the time and energy to make your LinkedIn better, it will show to employers, your connections, and the whole LinkedIn community. Here are some simple tips to get you started:
Make sure you have a professional profile picture and a cover photo that tells a little about you. A professional photo means a headshot with no one else in the photo (which means no cropping them out). It is so easy to take a professional profile picture with an iPhone and a blank background or something that will add interest without being too distracting. You want others to get an idea of the face behind the page. A cover photo (or banner) tells a little more about you. I have a photo of the mountains to show my love of Colorado, hiking, and all things outdoors. The cover photo should be 1584 X 396 px and your profile photo should be 400 X 400 px. Canva provides free cover photo templates, which can be found here.
Change your headline from the basic “job title at X company”. Showcase your skills and tell a little about yourself, but make sure not to seem needy or pushy in your headline. If you break up your skills and showcase some of the work you’ve done, it will be much more memorable than a job title. People will remember experiences more than titles.
Customize your URL. LinkedIn makes it so easy to customize, all you have to do is click “Edit Public Profile and URL”. Then, click the “edit” button next to your URL. This makes it easier for others to identify and remember your profile. Also, it shows you put effort into making your profile professional and neat. Also, when you put your LinkedIn URL on your resume (which is talked about in #8) it looks so much more professional than a bunch of numbers and letters. Your URL can be your first and last name, your initials, or something else that can be tied back to you.
Complete recommendations for others and ask for them in return. Recommendations are like built-in references. The more recommendations you have, the more credible you will appear. Making sure you also give them out to others proves you are willing to give to others rather than just bettering yourself and leaving others in the dust.
Take skills quizzes to prove your skills. These quizzes make you appear much more credible and display proof of your abilities. The best thing about these quizzes? You can take them as many times as you would like before displaying them on your profile.
Show off your work! Make sure to include media, links, and any other examples of your work in your profile. If there’s nothing to show for what you’re claiming, it makes your profile look less credible. We are all about credibility and building a brand.
Be active! Post to your page. Whether it’s personal, a motivational quote, a link, or something about your work, make sure you are actively posting on LinkedIn. With that, make sure you also interact with other people’s postings. This not only makes you engaged and involved in the conversation, but it also makes you visible to those looking at comments.
Make sure your resume and your LinkedIn profile match. If they don’t, this can degrade your personal brand and credibility. Also, put a link on your resume to your LinkedIn profile for ease of access. Your LinkedIn backs up your resume and gives more in-depth examples of what’s on your resume.
Use keywords to optimize your profile but avoid buzzwords. LinkedIn has provided a list of the top 10 Buzzwords in the US. Avoid them. The 10 are:
Specialized
Experienced
Leadership
Skilled
Passionate
Expert
Motivated
Creative
Strategic
Successful
You can read the article they were featured in here.
LinkedIn is such a widely used professional networking site, so making sure you stand out is essential. Putting in some time and effort now to apply these tips will not only make your profile stand out, but will also build your personal brand, credibility, and prove that you are willing to put in the work to make something special.