If you’re new to LinkedIn or are trying to up your game on this social network platform, then you’re at the right place. We live in the times of social media and when it comes to maintaining a great looking work-social media profile, we all know it’s not easy. We often mistake LinkedIn for a networking platform where we have to show our ‘most boring’ side. But that’s actually untrue; you can still be yourself and present your professional skills in an effective yet interesting way.
Here’s how you can amp up your LinkedIn profile!
1. Have a catchy headline!
It’s all about grabbing someone’s attention in the first ten seconds. Take this as a rule before you get to even creating your profile. No one is going to look at your profile and spend 10 minutes reading what you’ve done unless it starts off with something extremely gripping. It could be a quote, a saying or even something you believe in as a professional.
2. Actively post on LinkedIn!
Being active on social media helps to build your network and there’s no secret to doing the same on LinkedIn as well. Publish and express your views about issues taking rounds in your industry or even news that interests you. This increases your search ranking, so if a possible employer is looking for you by only your first name, chances are the most active person will be on the list.
Writing a book review on The Outliers- The Story Of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (Rs 320 on Amazon) is a great start to stand out on LinkedIn!
3. Keep it short and simple!
Nobody likes reading essays, especially not when it’s a whole document long piece of self publicity. Go simple with the words and don’t use complicated words to describe your job. Keep it concise; try writing in bullet points and say stuff that conveys the point about why the person viewing your account should hire you.
The power of speech is an important tool to learn, and this book How To Make Powerful Speeches by Eamonn O’Brein (Rs 2,266 on Amazon) is worth a read!
4. Add the industry you belong to on your profile
If you haven’t done this already, you need to do it by tapping the edit key on your profile. For example: If you’re into Digital Publishing, add that to your list to get more visibility amongst your peers, colleagues and your future/ possible employers.
Once you’ve added the industry to your social media profile, here’s a great book on Becoming A Person Of Influence (Rs 191 on Amazon) to make the most of the digital age!
5. Add keywords!
Before anyone goes through your entire profile, they look at your summary first. Employers mostly find candidates using search terms that are specific to their industry. An example would be: “Video Editor, New Delhi”. If you’re a Video Editor based out of New Delhi, you should ideally add this to your summary. It makes your profile more search friendly and ranks it higher as compared to the others.
While it’s a great idea to improve your social media profile, here’s a book called The Art Of Creative Thinking (Rs 207 on Amazon) by Rod Judkins to read in the meanwhile!
6. Add your portfolio
This holds true especially if you’re into creative arts like Graphic Designing, Fashion Designing, Photography etc. It works as a hook for the client/ employer / the person visiting your profile to have a look at everything in one go and get convinced about whether to hire you or not.
7. Re-arrange your skill set and recommendations
Recommendations show what others think your strength is and it acts as a validation from someone who is not just you. If you think your biggest strength is writing but your recommendations says social media, it doesn’t hurt to reorder and bring social media on top. For an employer, this is looked at like an added skill set and not the opposite.
While with these tips, you’ve learnt how to up your LinkedIn game, here’s everything you need to know what Recruiters look for while hiring a candidate. Check it out here in this book called Stacked (Rs 861 on Amazon) and don’t ever miss out any opportunity ever again.
We hope you find your dream job!
Images: Shutterstock
