If Facebook is a slightly-out-of-hand keg party, LinkedIn is a well-run networking event.
It offers job seekers and business owners multiple opportunities to showcase their expertise and connect with other professionals in a more serious setting.
It’s important to put your best foot forward on the platform, and here’s how to do that.
Polish your profile
Your profile is your public face on LinkedIn—a blend of resumé, business card, and personal introduction—so make it friendly, personable, and professional.
- Include a headshot.
This can be a casual photo as long as it shows your face. People like to “see” the person behind the profile. - Consider a banner.
Just like on Facebook, you can include a banner image behind your headshot on LinkedIn. If you have a brand image, upload it here. - Craft a headline.
If you think of this like a newspaper headline, you’ll be in the right frame of mind. It should be precise, catchy, and intriguing. Include the kinds of keywords you think potential recruiters might be searching for. - Craft your summary even more carefully.
The summary gives you up to a thousand words to describe yourself, but be wary of using too many words. You want your summary to be something a recruiter or client can quickly scan to establish who you are and what you do. - Personalize your URL.
You can quickly edit your URL to be something straightforward and memorable, like https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname/.
Set Your Intentions
What would you like to achieve on LinkedIn? A larger network? A new job? An increased client base? By making sure you’re clear about why you’re investing time and energy into this particular social media platform, you can maximize your chances of achieving your desired outcome.
Solicit endorsements
You have the opportunity to not only list your most valuable skills but also to solicit endorsements from friends and colleagues, and those endorsements can boost your desirability as a job candidate.
You’ll want to go about it with some restraint. It’s far better to have a few detailed, genuine responses than a large number of generic comments.
Ask a former boss if she might be willing to write a few words about your skills. You might even have a connection with a teacher or professor who’d be happy to praise your intelligence and dedication.
Link your professional social media profiles
It might not be wise to link your personal Twitter account to LinkedIn, but if you have a professional presence on another social media site, or you blog consistently, you can connect those to your LinkedIn profile.
That way, when you update another site, your LinkedIn profile will update as well, and that will make you appear more active and involved.
Make more connections
LinkedIn capitalizes upon the idea that everyone is linked within a few degrees of separation, but the more connections you have, the more likely you are to come to the attention of someone looking to hire a person with your skills and expertise.
The bottom line
These few tasks won’t take more than a few minutes but can make a massive difference in the overall efficacy of your LinkedIn presence, and that in turn can lead to good things for your career.
