As of April 2017, LinkedIn has over 500 million users and is the top choice for companies when looking for new qualified employees. 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates compared to 55% to Twitter and 65% to Facebook. However, it takes a lot for them to get to your profile. It depends on the job classification as well as whether your profile is optimized for it to be visible by recruiters. If you want to increase your chances of getting your profile discovered by companies, we’ll give you some tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Why Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile?
Aside from using LinkedIn for employment opportunities, there are a lot of advantages using this professional networking site. For one, it’s a great personal branding platform – it provides credibility as well as visibility. LinkedIn profiles are also usually on top of search pages so when someone Googles you, they’ll likely end up on your profile making LinkedIn one of the most efficient ways to manage your network.
8 Tips To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile For Employment
Make your profile visible and attractive to HR managers and recruiters by utilizing these eight tips:
Create Your Profile
The first step to optimize your LinkedIn profile is to build one. If you don’t have an existing LinkedIn account, create it now. If you, however, have an existing account, follow the steps below.
Upload Professional Headshot
Once you’ve created your profile, upload your photo. Never upload a selfie. Some recruiters might be forgiving with a selfie but uploading a professional photo leaves a better impression that you’re in LinkedIn for serious business and employment.
Claim A Public Profile URL
When you’re creating your profile, don’t forget about your public profile URL. Use a public profile URL that you can use and promote. Include it in your email signature, website or business card to help your profile be accessible to people or potential employers.
Write An Interesting Summary
Create a summary that will get people’s attention. Your summary is like a sales pitch especially if you’re looking for a job so include vital and notable information about you and your work experience. Make it short and precise. If you’re not that confident with your writing skills, you can hire someone to write it for you.
Update Your Experiences
Make sure to update your experiences but remember only to include relevant experience that will help recruiters assess if you’re fit for potential job positions or companies.
Publish Quality Content
Another way to optimize your profile content and get yourself out there is to post content. Write about areas you’ve specialized or have an interest in. Creating good, valuable content can improve your visibility in both your network and potentially outside of LinkedIn, as well.
Customize Email Invitations
If you want to connect to people or executives, make a genuine approach by crafting personalized email invitations. Don’t just send the generic, “I want to connect with you..”. Instead create a short personalized message – talk about why you want to connect with them or a common interest.
Ask Your Previous Managers for Recommendations
If you’re in good terms with your former employers or colleagues, you can ask them to write a recommendation in your profile and you can offer to do the same as a return. Recommendations serve as an insight to your strengths for hiring managers, helping them to sell your experience to potential employers so make it a priority to get at least 2 recommendations in your profile before a big job hunt.