A strong LinkedIn profile will get you noticed

A strong LinkedIn profile will get you noticed

By Abhyank Srinet

LinkedIn is a great platform for personal branding and a powerful tool for recruiters. Over 450 million professionals use it for job search, networking, lead generation and more. This can also be a great channel to grab that job you have been dreaming about. Being aware of some tips and tricks will help your job search.

  1. ACCEPT REQUESTS FROM STRANGERS TOO

LinkedIn after all is a professional social network. The more connections, the higher the chances you have of developing stronger relationships with people from your industry. With every acceptance, there is a ripple effect and you could be just one or two degree of connections away from your life career changing job. By not adding a stranger on LinkedIn, you are stopping the possibility of its happening. In the digital world, accepting requests from strangers will not only help you break geographical barriers, but also open up new opportunities. Vast network comes with varied skills and expertise. This is could be a great way to share, expand and develop your skillset.

Of course, there are a few things one should always check. For example, their network connections should be decent, profile photo, and genuine recommendations. As long as the request fills those key requirements, you should be safe to accept the invitation.

  1. KNOW YOUR WORTH USING LinkedIn SALARY

To help professionals worldwide, LinkedIn has a feature to view salary information which would help make better career decisions and optimize your earning potential. This feature is available to all site users, but the ones who are premium members have an option not to share their salary details.

Knowing how much your fellow colleagues from the same industry are being paid will paint a clearer picture of whether your salary needs to be negotiated further. The filter function will help you sort the information based on location, years of experience, education qualifications and so on. With this you can get answers to questions such as which city pays the highest, or which company has a better remuneration for your qualifications.

  1. PERSONALIZE YOUR PROFILE URL

A personalized URL gives a sense of familiarity. It makes it easier to remember whose profile you have viewed. It also enhances your personal brand and makes it easier to share the link in email signatures and your resume.

In this ever-competitive job market, one needs to have an eye for detail. So, it’s time to remove the gibberish towards the end and personalize your url for a professional outlook.

  1. SHOWCASE YOUR ATTRIBUTES

LinkedIn goes beyond being a prospecting and recruiting tool. It can also be an incredible inbound marketing tool. Just by adding skills, one can get 13x more views. Listing your skills will help recruiters understand why you could be the best fit for a certain job. You can use the Skills section to showcase your skill set.

Endorsement is another great feature LinkedIn has to offer where your recruiters can see how your connections see your attributes and can vouch for you. As recruiters have no way of knowing how good you are, multiple endorsements will help you gain their trust.

  1. RECOMMENDATIONS ARE A GREAT TOOL

“When you say something about yourself it’s bragging; when someone else say something about you, it’s proof!”

Recommendations is a feature that could influence a recruiter’s decision-making process. Most recruiters want to know see if your peers and bosses agree with what you’ve said about your work. They are interested in knowing who you are. They want to get a sense of what it would be like to work with you. This can also positively affect your search rankings in LinkedIn and chances of grabbing that job.

  1. WRITE A STUNNING SUMMARY

A great LinkedIn summary is essential. It provides your professional essence to readers, and if it intrigues them, they will keep reading. It sums up your professional history, and qualifications, tells the reader what you looking for in your career. Mention what skills you possess that will add value to others. Also mention what kind of work you are involved in, be it projects, professional achievements, or soft skills. This will help people a get multi-dimensional view of you.

Add appropriate words that recruiters from your industry can relate to. This, if written well, will give you an extra edge over others. Also remember only the first 220 characters are visible at once. So, the more robust your summary, the more you will get noticed.

  1. A PROFESSIONAL PHOTO FOR A PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

Your profile picture is one of the most important elements of your profile. It is likely to get your profile viewed 14 times more by others and help recruiters recognize you when they meet you in person. As for a job seeking candidate, this could be a great chance for you to make a good impression. Key to this is a professional photograph. It could go a long way in creating a good impression.

Here are some important pointers to keep in mind, before uploading a photo.

  • Your photo should resemble the way you look.
  • Around 60% of the picture should contain only the face. Your neck and a little of your shoulders should be seen.
  • A formal dress code is essential for a corporate role.
  • Be picky with the background. A bright colour for the background of the profile picture like red or orange works well.

Overall it should be professional. Also, make sure it’s only you in the photo, and does not include any ancillaries such as your pets, your parents and so on.

You have only 100 milliseconds to form an impression through it. So be sure that your picture invokes a feeling of trust and credibility.

  1. PERSONALIZE YOUR REQUESTS

“I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”

Another blunder people make is not personalizing request messages on LinkedIn. This can severely affect the number of LinkedIn connections you’ll be able to make. Those 300 characters can have a huge impact in your career and it’s not worth taking this chance.

Use this opportunity to say something relevant and build a strong relationship. If you are connecting with someone who you don’t know well, use this opportunity to remind them how you met or know them. Introducing yourself or just adding the context of your relationship leads to a stronger connection and better work relationships. This can go a long way in creating a stronger network and a great rapport with your connections.

  1. CHECK WHO’S VIEWED YOUR PROFILE

This feature shows in the last 90 days, who has viewed your profile. LinkedIn allows only up to 100 views a day, so use it wisely. When someone has viewed your profile, you will be added to that person’s ‘Who’s viewed your profile?’ list. This is a great a way to show someone that you’re interested to connect with them. This is one of the best ways to grab attention of recruiters during the job search process.

This way the recruiter has a higher chance of becoming familiar with your name and while shortlisting profiles, this can buy you extra attention for your application.

  1. POWER OF STATUS UPDATES

Status gives you the power to be remembered by your connections and to stand out from others and get noticed by recruiters looking for people like you. Using the status update, you can really accelerate your job search. Due to its positioning on a profile, a recruiter may read the status even before reading the summary.

A good status update will demonstrate your personality and show a recruiter how motivated and engaged you are towards your career. Considering, a single status update can occupy up to 80% of the feed screen this could be highly influential. The secret sauce of a good status is in sharing updates that appeal to your network and potential employers.

 

Following the above tips will definitely help you boost your LinkedIn profile a few notches higher. If you need some more hacks to polish your LinkedIn profile further, visit ‘Top 33 Linkedin Profile Tips for Job Seekers In 2017’ to check out an in depth checklist, following which your LinkedIn profile would be ready to shine!

 

Good Luck!

 

Abhyank Srinet is the founder of MIM-Essay. He is a passionate Digital Marketer, Business Developer and Entrepreneur and lives in Paris, France.

 

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