You may be adding new people after networking with them, but it doesn’t guarantee potential employers and recruiters will find and contact you.It is essential to update your profile to make your brand more marketable to potential employers. Regularly updating and adding new features to your profile helps you gain motivation to apply for more job positions and signal others of your unique skill set.
If your LinkedIn profile hasn’t been updated in the recent past, you may need to have an entire overhaul. Here are some ideas that professional recruiters recommend to upgrade your LinkedIn profile.
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Your Headline Should Be More Than Just a Job Title
It isn’t set in stone that your profile headline must comprise only your job title. You can add value to your headline by including more details regarding your role. For instance, what you love about your profession, and what your job entails.
These will set you apart from other potential candidates, as you will have an added edge. You can seek inspiration from fellow professionals who already have inspirational and impressive headlines.
Share Relevant Content on Your Feed
It is vital to create meaningful networks on LinkedIn, but it is much better to play an active role. You could appear in your connections’ feeds by adding value to them. You can achieve this by sharing content that your network will find relevant and helpful.
Start by closely tracking your LinkedIn feed. This way, you can share information that you and your connections deem genuinely interesting. The information should also align with your values and beliefs.
For instance, if you are a criminology professor at the university, you could share essays. A gun control essay, for example, would help you share your point of view as well as expertise on this specific topic.
Select a High-Quality Profile Picture
The picture you use for your profile represents your calling card. This is how people become acquainted with you on LinkedIn, and it forms their perceptions about you from the start. A high-quality picture will give people the right impression of you.
You ought to ensure that this picture is pretty recent and it looks just like you. Ensure that you are well-groomed in your photo and dress professionally like you do while working. Make sure to smile with your eyes to come across as approachable.
Expand Your Network
An easy and effective way to grow and expand your LinkedIn network is by syncing your profile to your email address. This syncing enables you to receive suggestions on people to connect with on LinkedIn.
This particular strategy is efficient in surfacing relevant individuals to communicate and network with. Additionally, there are no connection requests sent without your approval. Therefore, you get to vet your potential networking connections beforehand.
Apart from this, regularly follow up on conversations and meetings with the network that you have created. It is an excellent way to ensure that your network is up to date and vibrant.
Make Your Summary Tell Your Story
One thing you need to have is a detailed summary. Many people fail to take this into consideration when creating their profiles. Your LinkedIn summary offers you the opportunity to tell your story and sell yourself. Therefore, you shouldn’t only use it to list the job titles that you have had previously and currently. Instead, bring the skills that you have acquired to life. Let your potential employers know and see the value that you bring to their firm.
Invest adequate time in drafting your summary. Come up with different versions and go with the one that best tells your story. Your resume is among your most important pieces of content marketing. Thus, it is worth the effort.
Read: How to grow your digital brand in the physical world
Show Your Relevant Skills
Listing your skills is among the easiest and most effective ways of upgrading your profile. The best way to go about it is first to list out the skills that you possess. After that, you should then proceed to pick out those that are relevant to your career.
This process enables you to substantiate your headline and summary description. The important thing here is to remain relevant. Including a list of skills that aren’t relevant to your interests and career may not be helpful.
Therefore, frequently polish up the inventory of your skills to keep your profile up to date. This will also help your potential employers to identify any admirable skills in you as a potential employee.
Customize Your LinkedIn URL
By customizing your LinkedIn profile, you make yourself more visible as your profile can be easily distinguished from others. To make the most out of LinkedIn, make an effort to look professional. As insignificant as it may look, it might be the one thing that sets you apart from other candidates.
Having a personalized LinkedIn URL creates the impression of an individual that pays attention to detail. Customizing your LinkedIn profile is possible with a few simple steps, and it will open you up to new opportunities.
LinkedIn Mistakes to Avoid
You can work hard to enhance your LinkedIn profile, but the following mistakes can cost you a perfect job offer.
Making the Profile All About You
At first glance, your LinkedIn profile should provide the user with information on how you can benefit them. Users on the platform are more interested in what you can do for them as opposed to who you are.
Read: How to start a blog for beginners
Having an Unappealing Headline
With LinkedIn, you have only a few seconds to grab the attention of the users. Writing a captivating summary and headline will make the users want to know about you and what you have to offer. A boring headline will not impress the users.
Including Personal Information
LinkedIn is a professional social media platform. Avoid posting too much personal information in your profile.
Avoid anything that is not business-related. Limit personal information to avoid losing your professional credibility. Also, maintain formal language when writing your headline, summary, and posting content.
Being Lazy
You can have an appealing LinkedIn profile, but all you will get is profile views if you don’t put in the work. Being inactive makes you almost invisible to your connections. On the other hand, if you are active, you will stay in the mind of your connections.
If you have writing skills, consider posting engaging and quality content on the platform from time to time. Engage with your connections’ by commenting on their posts to build a relationship with them.
Take Away
Making your LinkedIn profile work in your favor shouldn’t be complicated and time-intensive. It is also essential to create social proof in your profile. This will help in building authority and enhancing your credibility.
This is achievable by adding recommendations and endorsements to your profile. Reach out to people that you have worked with to recommend you. Avoid ambushing people that don’t know you.
Using some of these ideas, you should be able to upgrade your profile to a professional one. It will also make you look tech-savvy and experienced.
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