Why LinkedIn?

• More than 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn regularly.
• There are 100 million job applications on LinkedIn every month.
• There are currently over 30 million companies on LinkedIn.
• These companies have over 20 million job listings.
• LinkedIn is currently available in 24 languages.
• There are 35,000 skills listed on LinkedIn.
• Job Applications Submitted Every Second to LinkedIn: 55 applications per second.
• 2 million posts, articles, and videos are published on LinkedIn every day.

With over 740 million members in over 200 countries, LinkedIn has quickly become the largest business-oriented networking website in the world. Putting together a professionally written profile will give you the credibility you need to be considered a serious player in any industry, while opening doors to networks that you may not have been aware of.

Job opportunities brought to you through LinkedIn will be relevant as they reflect your experience and preferences. Even if you are not currently looking for work, LinkedIn is your digital reputation and one of the first things anyone will see when googling you! Make sure you are making the right impression.

Remember to add your LinkedIn profile to your IDS Alumni Network profile.

To update your profile Login and go to 'My Profile' at the top right hand side of the screen, Edit Profile, and copy and paste the last string of text after the '/' from the URL of your LinkedIn profile into the LinkedIn box. e.g. https://linkedin.com/in/<<copy into box>>

If you are using the mobile app simply open the app click on your profile page, edit profile, and enter the same last string of text after the '/' from the URL of your LinkedIn profile.

1) Fill Out Your Profile Thoroughly

The most filled-out profiles on LinkedIn come up first in a recruiter’s search.

Add your work education/ experience correctly, be specific in your degree/ job title and remember to link your schools/ employer’s page!

Make sure to check out all the profile sections LinkedIn lets you include and add and fill in as many of them as you can (see the rest of this article for tips!).

2) Picture Perfect

LinkedIn profiles with professional headshots get 14 times more profile views and members with a profile photo get up to 21 times more views!

What’s the right profile photo? The key here is: aim for professional, but friendly.

• Use a recent and close up picture of your face rather than whole body
• Use an image with high resolution
• Make sure you are the only person in the shot
• Avoid harsh lighting and filters
• Don’t look too serious, have a friendly smile, and look confident

3) Make your Headline Count 

Having the right headline ensures you get found by recruiters for the right, relevant job, since a lot of them only search by title.

It should convey who you are and what you’re about in a short, clear, and concise way.

Make sure your title contains a keyword(s) that can be used to easily find you and pinpoint exactly what you do. At the same time, avoid the less descriptive titles as much as possible.

4) Create a Summary that Stands Out

Your LinkedIn summary is the first thing a recruiter reads after your headline, so it’s super important to get it right.

• A good LinkedIn summary section includes the following info:
• Your years of experience in your current field
• A list of your most relevant skills. This usually includes hard skills, tools you’ve used, programming frameworks, etc.
• Your current job title
• What you’ve excelled at, any relevant accomplishments
• What you’re passionate about
• What kind of role you’re looking for (if you’re openly looking for a new job, of course)

5) Optimise your Experience Section

This section can arguably be the most important section in your profile, it shows what you are qualified for therefore, it needs to stand out.

• For each position, include the responsibilities and achievements
• When possible, use Laszlo Bock’s formula for describing your achievements: Accomplished [x] as measured by [y] by doing [z].
• Skip out all the irrelevant work experience.

6) Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

If you’re looking to be discovered on LinkedIn, you need to include the right keywords in all your profile – headline, summary, work experience and the skills section (this tells the LinkedIn algorithm that your profile is VERY relevant to the specific keywords used).

Not sure which keywords to add?                                                                                                    The best advice we can give you is to find a job ad that comes closest to the job you want and “scan” it for keywords.

7) Show off Your Work

Have any cool projects you’ve worked on? Organized any important events? Written articles or books? Great! Show them off on your LinkedIn profile.

These are especially helpful if you don’t have a lot of work experience.                                          The way to show off your projects on LinkedIn is to add a “Featured” section.

To do this, go to your profile ➜ Click the “Add profile section” button ➜ Select “Featured” ➜ Pick what you want to add.

Another way to showcase your work is by adding multimedia to your experience entries –  the same rule applies, they pop out, look good and stand out for the recruiters.

8) Include Most if Not All of Your Licenses and Certifications

If you have certifications that are highly relevant for your role (or the desired position), you should include them on your LinkedIn profile. To do this, go to your profile, hit “add profile section,” and pick “licenses and certifications”.

9) Fill in the Skills Section and get Some Endorsements!

LinkedIn gives you a limit of 50 skills you can add, and you know what? Add all 50!

Add every skill you possess, as well as it’s synonyms (E.g. Java, Java Programming, Java Development) or derivatives (E.g. Digital Marketing, Content Creation, Online Advertising).

In case you have more than 50 skills to list, make sure to stick to the most relevant ones. Can’t think of 50? That’s fine, just add the ones you can think of, and LinkedIn will recommend similar ones.

Contact your co-workers & ex-colleagues who are on LinkedIn and ask them to endorse your skills. To return the favour, you can offer to also endorse them in return.

Why is this important? Because endorsements are social proof. While they’re NOT what the recruiter is going to go off on whether they should hire you or not, they’re going to make you a more “presentable” candidate.

10) Get Some Recommendations

Think of all the people in your professional crowd you’re close to and have had positive interactions with. Contact them and ask them for a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile.

Recommendations add social proof to your profile - they show that your co-workers and peers think highly of your skills.

The best, most meaningful recommendations you can get are from your direct management. Had a boss that was fond of you? Ask them to help out.

The second best are from clients / customers you’ve worked with. Someone, who was very happy with and appreciative of the work you did for them.

And thirdly, you can also ask horizontally connected co-workers to leave you a recommendation too, best if you worked directly together in a team - their opinion will hold more value due to them having spent the most time with you.

11) Don’t Ignore the Accomplishments Section

LinkedIn gives you a pretty long list of possible accomplishments you can add to your profile and we recommend making use of that.

 Anything you’ve done that you’re proud of and can show off - awards, languages learned, projects, publications, etc - add it!

For the accomplishments part, we recommend giving as much information about the projects you’ve worked on as possible. Include what the project was about, what you did, and what kind of results you achieved.

As for the languages part, just add the languages you know with the knowledge level (i.e. Beginner, Intermediate, Fluent, etc.), and you’re good to go. Mentioning languages on LinkedIn can always come in handy, as there are a ton of multilingual job opportunities out there for most fields.

13) Write in the First Person

Stick to the first person. Your LinkedIn profile is supposed to sound personal and sincere.

The third person expression sounds more “fake” and distant.  

14) Use Numbers & Data To Emphasize Accomplishments

Throughout your profile, use numbers and data to emphasize your achievements.

This will allow you to seriously stand out from the rest of the candidates.

15) Avoid Typos

This should go without saying, but it’s important enough to mention.

 Your LinkedIn profile is your “business face” - you can’t get away with making basic spelling mistakes.

So, we recommend double-checking, even triple-checking the text on your LinkedIn profile. Not the best at editing? Try using Grammarly - a spell-checking software that catches 99% of the usual typos or mistakes.

You can also ask a co-worker or a friend to proofread it for you if you want to be 100% safe.

16) Be Relevant!

Your LinkedIn profile should be 100% relevant for the positions you want to work, as well as your career.

• DON’T go on and on about your experience and skills as if it’s a novel
• DON’T add every little thing you know or have worked with, especially if it’s not in any way relevant to your current and future job aspirations
• DON’T fill your profile with buzzwords, things like “critical thinker, good communication skills, team-player, etc.”. Recruiters are desensitized to those anyway
• DON’T add soft skills - they’re only taking up space, and recruiters evaluate those during interviews anyway

When filling in your different LinkedIn profile sections, always take a second to stop and think “is what I’m writing relevant to the job I want to get”.

17) Be Active!

When on a job hunt on LinkedIn, it’s also important to be active on the platform.

You can do this by posting professional content you enjoy, as well as engaging with other people’s posts.

This lets you stand apart from other potential candidates and makes it more likely for the recruiters to notice you.

This doesn’t mean you need to spend all your day on LinkedIn, though. Just dedicate 10-20 minutes to it per day max, and you’re good to go!

18) Network, Network, Network!

At its core, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform. Meaning, it’s OK to add people who you haven’t met in real life - that’s what the platform is for!

Feel free to add recruiters, HR specialists, and hiring managers in companies you want to work for to your network.

This way, you’ll always be updated with open positions that they might have, and you’ll pop up on top of all other candidates when these recruiters do search for someone with your skill-set.

Keep in mind though, when adding connections on LinkedIn, it’s more courteous to send a connection request with a short message.

19) Turn on Find Nearby

LinkedIn has a very interesting feature for Mobile that not everyone knows about - “Find Nearby.”

The app shows you profiles of people who are physically nearby (within your Bluetooth range) and who have also turned the feature on.

As a given, you also show up as active to nearby users.

This can be extremely helpful if you’re going to physical networking events, conferences, or professional meetups as a means of meeting HRs in specific companies.

Once you know who’s at the conference or meetup, you can be on the lookout for them, and say hi whenever you get the chance!

To turn on the Find Nearby feature, you need to:

• Activate Bluetooth on your mobile device • Tap My Network icon ➜ Connect button ➜ Find nearby button.

20) You’ve Created Your Profile - Now, Keep It Relevant!

A profile that has not been updated in a while can cause a negative impression.

Challenge yourself to update a skill, an accomplishment, or even a course every couple of months. Keywords are also a great way to freshen up your profile!

Taken with thanks from shared resources produced by LiveAlumni