Everyone in today’s world has an account on LinkedIn, whether it’s for networking or finding new opportunities in the market. But many people take this platform for granted and are careless. They simply upload their resume and forget about their account. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have room for casual conversations and funny memes. Whereas, things are a bit formal when it comes to LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn profile optimization can help you to interact with like-minded people.Â
LinkedIn Optimized Profile?
An optimized LinkedIn profile is where you clearly showcase your skills. This can help you discover a good employment opportunity. And it shows your connections, who you are and what skills you possess to succeed in the workplace. When everything is laid out on your profile, it helps prospective employers make a favorable decision. It helps you rank higher on LinkedIn. And helps hiring managers to find your profile without much hassle.
Why Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile?
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile has now become a need rather than a want. Hence, you should fully understand why optimization is the best option. When you rank higher on LinkedIn, it helps recruiters understand your expertise. It can also help relay if you are open for work or not! Recruiters can then message you directly and begin the screening process.
LinkedIn Profile Optimization: How To?
Complete Your Profile
Before you voyage on the journey of your LinkedIn profile optimization begins with entering all the relevant information pertaining to your skills. When your profile is complete, it increases your chances of being visible. And recruiters can find you without any hassle. This is the bare minimum that you need to do if you want to become visible on LinkedIn.
Some elements that you need in order to complete your profile are as follows:
- A professional profile picture
- Your location
- Educational
- Acquired skills
- At Least 50 connections
- Previous work experience
Once you have completed the above criteria, you’ll want to optimize your entire profile with keywords relevant to your industry. You should shower these keywords throughout your profile. It will help increase your ranking and make you the first choice for hiring managers.
Professional Profile Picture
The key to LinkedIn profile optimization lies in uploading a professional profile picture. When people say that the first impression is the last impression, they are referring to your LinkedIn persona. Before a recruiter sends you a private message, they look at your profile picture. And would immediately click away if it’s you in shorts wearing fancy colors. It’s important to remember that LinkedIn is a platform where professionals gather to network, not a house party. When we talk about professional photos, it doesn’t mean pictures taken by a professional photographer.
Instead, your LinkedIn picture should be you dressed in a suit. Remember to keep it simple. I would advise taking a picture of yourself in either a black or grey suit, to make things better, wear a tie. The objective is to make the picture feel genuine, not something you picked up from a circus rally. Your picture should be inviting and friendly with a hint of confidence. Avoid using blurred pictures or uploading pictures of your side pose, no matter how good you think you’re looking.
This makes you look unprofessional, and there’s even a chance that recruiters may not even identify you. Also, avoid uploading group photos as your profile picture, as it doesn’t come across as professional. Once you avoid these mistakes, your profile will receive more visits. Recruiters would be reaching out to you to ask more about your expertise.
Pay Attention to Background Image
We have discussed the importance of having a decent LinkedIn profile picture, but now it’s time to understand the importance of having a customized background image. This factor is oftentimes overlooked and swept under the rug. You have complete freedom when choosing a background image.
I would suggest making it personal, something you’re good at but it’s not mentioned on your account or resume. If you like gardening in your leisure time, include a picture of houseplants as your profile picture. Or you could simply add your contact details. Here’s the conclusion; be creative and do something that would help you stand out.
It’s All in the Headline
Once a hiring manager has gone through your pictures, either profile or background image. The next step they would take is reading your profile’s headline. It should be a summary of who you are and what makes you great. It should be such that it grabs the users’ attention and helps build your positive persona.
It shouldn’t be your most recent job title. But more than that. Ideally, you should include what you aspire to become in the next five years. You would want to use relevant keywords that recruiters would be searching for in your niche. Lastly, include a hook statement that can help managers understand what it is that you bring to the table. Once this is done, you would see a significant improvement in job offers.
Tell a Story in Your Summary
Everyone loves a good story. It’s one thing that helps connect one human being to another. Everyone loves to read about songs of struggle and how one can triumph in uncertain times.
Use this human emotion in your LinkedIn profile summary. This section is your personal space where you are allowed to tell the audience about your struggles or how you can take their business to the next stage of development.
Whatever you write, make sure to activate the creative side of your brain. Ideally, your summary should be about your skills and why they matter. Put this perception in a story format, as it would help create a connection with viewers. Make multiple drafts and make your colleagues proofread. Don’t shy away from making any amendments, as it would help you in the long run.
Once you have incorporated the tips mentioned above, include how can managers reach out to you in such a fashion:
- Phone Number:
- Email:
- Website:
- Portfolio:
- Client Testimonials:
Post Relevant Content
Once your profile is up to date, it’s time to post content that’s interesting or is relevant to your niche. Your writing skills would come in handy when creating posts. You can also add a wide variety of industry-related keywords to your post to help skyrocket your profile visits. This is not just a one-time thing; you have to be consistent when creating posts. T
ry to post on your LinkedIn profile at least twice a week. You can also use hashtags to help boost your profile’s visibility. LinkedIn allows you to determine which type of content works for you and which ones you should stray from. This is done through the power of analytics.
You can gather insights on topics such as:
- Who watches your content?
- What kind of content gains the highest traffic?
- The shareability of your content
Request Endorsements
Endorsements are an essential part that can help build your profile and help you become a trustworthy applicant for the prospective job. You can reach out to your current or previous employers and ask them to provide you with endorsements. A hiring manager will likely reach out to you if your skills are verified by your colleagues.
You can create a list of quantifiable and quantitative skills and ask your connections to endorse you. Simply message them privately and ask for this favor. Once this is done, you will receive job offers left and right for your endorsed skills. Ideally, you should have around three to five recommendations, all saying the same thing on how you are an excellent team player.
Be Active
There’s no point in having an optimized LinkedIn profile if you barely use the platform. Your job isn’t completed once your profile is completed. It actually begins at that time. If you are not active on LinkedIn, your ranking will slowly decrease, and you’ll be lost amongst other inactive profiles. Hence it would be best to use LinkedIn daily, even if it’s for like 10 minutes.
Doing this would help improve your profile’s marketability, searchability and visibility. The time you spend on LinkedIn should be dedicated towards liking, sharing and commenting on
posts that are relevant to your industry. This ensures that you stay relevant, which helps open up a plethora of opportunities for you.
LinkedIn Profile Optimization – Conclusion
The future of hiring and onboarding activities would take place on LinkedIn. It would be a central platform where hiring managers can get in touch with qualified candidates. Businesses could network based on their locality. This becomes the basis of forming a close knit community driven by mutual respect. It would allow people to schedule meetings in the nearest hotspot instead of just exchanging messages on LinkedIn.Â
Featured Image: EveryoneSocial