Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

Welcome back to another blog from your Student Trainers! Stick around to hear LinkedIn’s top ten tips for a stand-out LinkedIn page.

1. First things first, it is essential to choose a suitable profile picture. Common issues include:

- Poor lighting and quality

- Cropped and blurry images

- Stretched or warped photos

- Incorrect photo shape

2. Set the scene.

• A great way to really grab people’s attention is with a background photo. After all, images are more powerful than words. Adding a background photo could break up the wordy overtone and keep visitors more engaged.

• What makes you you

Uploading a photo provides visual proof of your skills, achievements, and merits, so a photo of you at a conference or receiving an award would be fab, but it doesn’t have to be limited to this. Something simple like a neat desk can convey professionalism, or a city skyline can denote where you’re based or looking to work from. With over 800 million LinkedIn users, a background photo can make you stand out further, especially considering most people keep the default image.

3. More than just a job title.

• Your description doesn’t have to be a job title.  Although this tends to be the norm, there is so much more you could include to stand out and showcase your perspective. It’s time to break some boundaries!

• Use your headline field to say a bit more about how you see your role, why you do what you do and what makes you get up for work in the morning.

This is an excellent space to show off your personality and professional goals in a pithy, punchy manner. If you’re interested in creative and marketing roles, this space could work to show off your talent as recruiters appreciate non-conventional skill presentations as proof of potential.

4. Story time!

• A LinkedIn summary is an opportunity to tell your story. You could add what has motivated you to make your career choices as well as your aims and ambitions. Or take this opportunity to show off your personality by adding your hobbies, passions, or interests.

• Try to highlight why your acquired skills matter, and the difference you make to others.

• Write a few drafts and share your summary post with your friends and family to get feedback on what works and what doesn’t.

5. Buzzword Ban.

• The most-overused buzzwords include the following terms:

‘specialised’, ‘leadership’, ‘focused’, ‘strategic’, ‘experienced’, ‘passionate’, ‘expert’, ‘creative’, ‘innovative’ and ‘certified’.

Feel free to describe yourself as any of these things but using these words could make it more difficult to convince employers you actually possess these qualities instead of just trying to pad your CV.  The already crowded buzzword algorithm may make it less likely you will be discovered by people you want to be seen by.

• Ensure you apply skills in your profile by providing examples.

Relating experiences and specific instances of where you applied skills and following the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Response) will take you a long way. However, keep it brief, as overly wordy examples can look monotonous, and you can elaborate in the interview. Using statistics and reporting results numerically will also impress employers.

6. Grow your network!

• Sync your LinkedIn profile with your contacts.  

This will allow the algorithm to suggest people to connect with who you may already know and expand your network quickly. However, LinkedIn does have a limit of 30,000 contacts, so try to prioritise quality over quantity.

• Get into the habit of following up on conversations with connection requests.

This enables you to establish a professional bond with other people - not just employers, but peers as well. Peer learning is one of the most underappreciated resources out there and your peers can provide you with valuable guidance.

• Say hello!

If you come across a profile of someone you want to connect with or learn from, don’t hesitate to send them a connection request! You can tailor your interactions and connect with people you might not have otherwise connected with. Personalised messages are a great way to boost the chances of having requests accepted. Detail why you’re interested in their profile, what you hope to achieve by connecting, or a bit about your sector and role(s).

7. Endorse, endorse, endorse.

• Endorsements from other members can increase your credibility.

Employers love to see proof of strong interpersonal skills and endorsements are a great way to demonstrate this. It also provides objectivity to your profile. Likewise, endorsing your connections can trigger a response to return the favour and establish a stronger bond.

• However, don’t forget to manage your endorsements!

Endorsements could skew your LinkedIn profile in ways that do not reflect who you are. Proactively use the edit features to control which skills to show. Try to keep endorsements that are either highly transferable across roles or relate to niche skills that are hard for employers to come by.

8. Skills assessment.

• A skill assessment is an online test you can retake as often as you want which allows you to show your skill levels with a Verified Skills badge on your profile.
• Data suggests that people with verified skills are 30% more likely to be hired. 

9. Recommendations.

• Defined as personal testimonies written to illustrate the experience of working with you.

• Request recommendations from people you value.

10. Get involved.

• Finally, ensure you interact!

• Share relevant content from your feed.
• Comment on posts to interact with others and raise awareness of your profile.

• Follow relevant influencers from your industry, demonstrating passion.

So, there you have it. These useful tips will allow you to prosper and make full use of the platform. Get out there and network, endorse, and land your dream job!

References:

LinkedIn. (2020). How do I create a good LinkedIn profile. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/112133/how-do-i-create-a-good

How to Network on LinkedIn Like a Pro. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/linkedin-networking-tips/

LinkedIn Sales Blog. (2022). 20 steps to a Better LinkedIn Profile in 2022. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/business/sales/blog/profile-best-practices/17-steps-to-a-better-linkedin-profile-in-2017