How to Make a Great LinkedIn Profile: 10 Tips
With more than 600 million users worldwide as captured in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, LinkedIn is easily the largest professional networking platform in the world. This means that, no matter what stage of the job-search process you are in, a presence on LinkedIn is important. However, having a presence in LinkedIn is not enough, with the gurus over at guttulus.com pointing out that if you are serious about your career and professional advancement, then you need a LinkedIn profile that is optimized and up to date. To help you with that, here are 10 tips on how to make a great LinkedIn profile.
Complete your profile
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, the more complete your profile, the better the odds that recruiters will find you. Therefore, it is important to put in the time to complete your LinkedIn profile. On top of helping recruiters find you, a complete profile is also important after a recruiter has found you and decided to click on your profile. This is because, as outlined over at guttulus.com, the recruiter will want to know what your skills are, where you have worked, as well as what people think of you. This is why it is important to fill out every single section of your profile. LinkedIn will help you with this as it measures the “completeness” of your profile as you work and offers you suggestions on how to make it stronger.
Add a professional headshot
Putting a face to your name by adding a profile picture is another tip that will help make your LinkedIn profile great according to the gurus over at runrex.com. Just remember that this is the first impression people will get from your page, hence you should consider investing in a professional headshot. LinkedIn is a professional platform and you want to use a professional headshot to show that you are, well, professional in your dealings. Given the huge numbers of people on LinkedIn, those without a photo are easily pushed aside and ignored.
Come up with an engaging headline
From discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, your headline is situated right below your name on your LinkedIn profile, and, therefore, will be the first thing profile visitors read. You have 120 characters to work with, and you should make them count if you want to make your LinkedIn profile stand out. Instead of just listing your job title, mention your specialty and how you benefit your company or customers. Also, make sure you keep your target audience in mind when creating your headline. Write for your target audience, whether you are speaking to industry peers, customers, or headhunters.
Create an interesting summary
Your LinkedIn summary offers you the opportunity to tell your story. As discussed over at runrex.com, your summary can be a longer form of your headline as you have 2,000 characters to work with. Avoid just focusing on your experience but instead focus on what you do well and what you can bring to a prospective employer. Also, remember that keywords are important here, which is why you should use words that you want to be strongly connected to in your field. Because of the short attention spans online, it is advisable that you avoid using up all of the 2,000 characters, and instead, keep it less than half of that. Be creative and paint a picture of who you are as a professional.
Highlight your experience
According to guttulus.com, you should also avoid simply cutting and pasting your resume onto your LinkedIn profile when highlighting your experience. Instead, make sure you include any jobs that you deem relevant to where you want your career to go, and then use two to four interesting and impressive bullet points for each job you include. You also want to use good action words to not only show what you did, but also what you accomplished in each position. You want to demonstrate the impact you have made, the change you have enacted, the initiative you have led, and the results you have delivered.
Get a custom URL
As the subject matter experts over at runrex.com are quick to point out, it is much easier to publicize your profile with a customized URL rather than the clunky combination of numbers that LinkedIn automatically assigns when you sign up. To get on, head on to the Edit Profile screen, and at the bottom of the gray window that shows your basic information, you will see a Public Profile URL. Click “Edit” next to the URL and specify what you would like your address to be. When you are finished, click Set Custom URL, and you are done.
Leverage numbers
As the gurus over at guttulus.com point out, you want to highlight past results in your summary. Whenever possible, include numbers and case studies that prove your success. Using numbers will help you to quickly establish credibility with your audience as stats are more impressive than mere words. For example, you can write something like, “I have helped more than 200 local businesses with their marketing strategies…”.
Use visual media
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, it is possible to add a background photo/cover photo on LinkedIn just like on Facebook and Twitter. Not only is it simple to do so, but adding a cover photo makes your LinkedIn profile stand out. You should pick a theme that speaks to your profession or personality. LinkedIn also allows you to connect other media to your profile like YouTube videos, infographics, and so forth. You should, therefore, get creative with relevant media and make your page jump off the screen and demand attention.
Avoid buzzwords
According to the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com, when crafting your LinkedIn profile, you should also avoid buzzwords like the plague. This means avoiding using words like responsible, creative, effective, analytical, strategic, patient, organizational, expert, driven, innovative, among others. Such buzzwords have been overused on LinkedIn, and if you want to make your profile stand out, then you should be more creative.
Treat your profile like your resume but use the first person
According to runrex.com, your resume isn’t just a list of job duties but it is a place to highlight your best accomplishments, or at least that is how it is supposed to be. The same applies to your LinkedIn profile, which is why you should make sure that your profile is more than just a list of your job duties. However, while you shouldn’t use the first person on your resume, it is fine to do so on LinkedIn. Therefore, instead of writing, “Tony Guo is a passionate marketing expert…” you should write “I’m a passionate marketing expert…”.
These are just some of the tips that will help make your LinkedIn profile stand out, with more tips as well as help with your profile to be found over at runrex.com and guttulus.com.