As a young professional, it’s important to maintain connections and make yourself visible to recruiters, colleagues, and employers. LinkedIn allows you to develop your personal brand and share it with the professional world. You can follow influencers to gain professional advice and insights, and with a strong profile and a good LinkedIn summary, you can attract potential job offers.
Follow these LinkedIn profile tips to stand out:
1. Maximize your summary
A good LinkedIn summary is essential for any profile. Your summary is the first thing many recruiters, connections, and potential employers will see. Make the most of it and include the important things about yourself. Briefly describe your professional or academic trajectory, and mention your key skills.
2. Showcase your accomplishments
Every good LinkedIn summary should focus on your specific accomplishments, either academic or professional. Are you the founder of a club on campus? Make sure to include the steps you took to get there, the mission, number of members, etc. Don’t be afraid to use numbers. Employers want to see tangible successes. If you increased your company’s social media reach by 150% – use it in your summary. Use this opportunity to clearly spell-out what your achievements were and what you contributed to the projects you have worked on. You should think in terms of context, action and results. Provide the context for what you did, explain exactly what you did in detail and then present the result and its impact.
3. Utilize additional sections
Regardless of industry or country, recruiters and employers want to see well-rounded applicants. Take advantage of the optional sections on your LinkedIn profile to speak about your hobbies, interests, and skills, even those that aren’t related to your career field. Highlight activities that showcase your adaptability, and if you have international experience, like an abroad internship, make sure to put it at the top! Here, you can show your passions and true interests, especially since you can discuss what you do outside of work as well. Hopefully, you will be able to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded individual with keen interests in a range of activities and subjects – an employer’s dream. Be sure to include any awards you’ve won and links to your website, blog, or any other profile you think might make you stand out.
4. Stay Active
Just like on any other platform, to get noticed on LinkedIn you need to be active. Ensure your profile is up to date and that you actively share and engage with other people’s posts and updates. LinkedIn is a great way to explore the professional world and connect with some of the most successful people in your industry. Articles, studies, and news reports are great ways to keep your professional audience engaged. Your LinkedIn feed will also help keep you caught up on the latest technological advances and changes in the world’s most influential companies. If you’re following influencers and connections, you’ll be able to stay up to date on their latest ideas, successes and career moves. LinkedIn’s most followed members include Bill Gates, Justin Trudeau and Ariana Huffington. Each shares unique insights into their personal and professional success, providing the perfect learning opportunity for young professionals.
5. Use Keywords
If you want employers and recruiters to find your profile out of the millions of profiles on LinkedIn, you need keywords that they’ll be searching for. These keywords will be different depending on your industry, so start by taking a look at words that show up in the job descriptions you read. Think about the types of things a recruiter searches for and use them to build a good LinkedIn summary and title. Potential employers and colleagues will likely view you on LinkedIn before making a final decision. And, even if you aren’t on the job hunt, a strong LinkedIn profile, using keywords that define you as a professional, will allow recruiters to find you online, and invite you to apply for positions. However, make sure you don’t throw in an adjective like analytical, responsible, or creative without backing them up in a detailed manner. Not only will employers see straight through this, but they’ve seen it so many times that there is no way for you to stand out.
6. Make the connection
If you meet someone at a conference or event, don’t just put their business card in your wallet and never look at it again. Reach out to them with a personalized message on LinkedIn within 48 hours, with a quick reminder about how you met and an anecdote to your previous conversation. Be sure to engage with their posts and content and to share your own. Using LinkedIn allows you to expand your professional network beyond just those people that you’ve met in person though. The average CEO has nearly a thousand connections. Use the platform to find and follow your inspirations and influencers, and reach out! You’ll be able to see where your connections work and who they know, creating infinite possibilities for introductions.
7. Provide contact information
When you’re looking for a job, you need to be easily accessible. If you aren’t comfortable sharing a personal email, consider creating a professional address that you can share on your LinkedIn profile to make it easy for recruiters to contact you.
8. Share your profile
Encourage people to connect with you on LinkedIn by including the link to your profile on your professional website and X, formerly Twitter, page. Anywhere you share your professional work is a good platform to connect to LinkedIn. Don't forget to proofread your profile before you share it widely, though! Mistakes such as typos give the impression that you have poor attention to detail and can be careless. Expect prospective employers to look at your profile and pick up on these errors, so it’s best to just make sure you don’t have any!
9. Nail the headshot
In addition to your summary, your picture is right at the top of your profile, so it’s important to make a good first impression. Choose a photo that shows a clear image of your face with a clean background. When you’re thinking of which photo to set as your LinkedIn profile picture, think of what you would use for Facebook, then choose the opposite of that. This isn’t the place for a picture of you pulling a hilarious face on a night out with the girls, or having a few beers with the boys. Your profile picture should exude professionalism. If you haven’t got an appropriate photo of yourself, it might be a good idea to have one taken. You should consider what you want employers to see when picking the right picture.
Since you know how to make your LinkedIn profile shine, don't forget to check you're not making these LinkedIn mistakes.
