Ok, so you were told that you needed a LinkedIn profile. So what do you do? You got a LinkedIn profile. You threw up a selfie in your car or at your cubicle, copied your resume into each job experience section, and maybe added a few skills, connected with John in Accounting and other friends you work with, then added your education and degrees. And you haven’t been back on there since.
You’re set. You’re done. Profile complete, right?
WRONG!
You’ve got it all wrong.
There’s a misconception that LinkedIn is just for recruiters, older professionals, and large companies to share boring news, post some jobs, and give company updates or statistics.
Well, that may have been the ‘older’ version of LinkedIn.
But, have you logged on lately? Have you seen the activity, the new features, and the amount of possible connections and opportunities lately? Here’s the thing…
You may be sabotaging your career and personal brand by not having a complete, effective, and engaging LinkedIn profile.
Think of it this way… Your LinkedIn profile is an extension of your resume. Let me repeat..
YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE IS AN EXTENSION OF YOUR RESUME.
What I know for sure:
Employers are not only ‘Googling’ you, they are ‘Linking’ you (yes, I made that up). They are linking you to who you say you are and what you say you do. How do they do this? Through viewing your profile on LinkedIn. And yes, if you have a LinkedIn profile, it will show up in Google search results. Try it for yourself.
Employers are posting more jobs on LinkedIn than ever before. The tradition job search engines are still around and very robust but LinkedIn has stepped up their game in offering job posting features to employers looking to pull from the pool of candidates who match their needs on LinkedIn.
Your LinkedIn profile should not only be an extension of your resume but it should bring personality to your resume and cause your next potential employer to want to talk to you. A good profile will answer these questions:
Who are you?
What have you done?
What interests you?
What do others have to say about you?
What is the value you can bring to my organization?
If your profile does not answer these five questions COMPLETELY AND EFFECTIVELY then you’re possibly missing out on some awesome opportunities.
Here are the 11 ESSENTIALS to create an EFFECTIVE LinkedIn Profile:
Intro with your full name, keyword enriched headline, current position, full summary
A clear headshot and unoffensive cover photo
Engagement on articles and posts
Posting content that is relevant to your connections, your career, your interests
Giving & receiving recommendations
Skills and endorsements
Accomplishments
Education
Employment history with a summary of your achievements
Follow influencers
Membership & recent activity in relevant groups
Once you’ve taken care of these essentials, you should begin to see traction in the amount of connection requests you get, the amount of searches your profile shows up in, the amount of visits to your profile, and your overall engagement with new and existing connections.
Like I tell my clients, it’s best to update and enhance your profile BEFORE you need to. Just like your resume, it’s best to update LinkedIn and keep it updated before there’s a time crunch and desperate and awkward need to ask for recommendations and endorsements.
Now go back, check your profile, and give it a fresh new update.
If you like my Insights of Success blog post, could you please share it? Post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or simply share the article with a fellow colleague who needs some help. I’m on a mission to help more women be successful, and it starts with exactly this kind of knowledge. -Jackie