5 Tips For Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn has more than 600 million users worldwide!  So whether you are looking for work or not, it’s vital that you have a presence on LinkedIn.  A LinkedIn profile will help potential employers and recruiters see your experience at a glance.  And this means that you are more likely to be contacted with relevant job opportunities.  However, there are some top tips when it comes to making the most of your LinkedIn profile.  And remember, sometimes a poor profile can be worse than no profile at all.

Here are our top tips!

The right profile picture

Your profile picture is the first impression people will get when they visit your LinkedIn profile.  It’s important that the picture you choose is right for your industry and your position.  But it’s equally important to add a picture as opposed to leaving it out.  If you don’t include a profile picture, think what that says about you.  Does it say that you don’t finish a job properly?  That your account isn’t very active?

But don’t worry.  if you’d rather not have a headshot, why not have a picture of you performing your job? Be creative to stand out, but keep it professional.

An eye-catching headline on LinkedIn

When anyone is searching on LinkedIn, what they see first is a thumbnail image and a headline. Whilst the default is for this to be your job title, it doesn’t have to be.  You have 120 characters, so you can be as creative as you want to be.  You can even use emoji’s if appropriate – they certainly help you to stand out. A great way to stand out is to think about what it is your job achieves.  There’s an eye-catching headline right there.

A well-crafted summary

Despite having 2000 characters to use in your summary, our advice is don’t!  Too much information and it won’t get seen.  We are all processing a lot of information on a daily basis, so keep it short and interesting!  This is your elevator pitch and getting it right will really help you to stand out. Not sure where to start?  Take a look at your peers or competitors for some ideas. But remember to make it your own!

Make connections

Just because you have a LinkedIn profile, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will start receiving connection requests.  Be proactive and get those invitations sent out.  Start with your colleagues and go from there.  LinkedIn is full of fantastic algorithms that will make suggestions of who you should connect with. If you are looking for work then connect with local recruiters who work in your sector.  You’ll be amazed how quickly you start to receive calls or messages with new opportunities.

Ask for recommendations on LinkedIn

Bonus tip. It is not essential but it will certainly help you to stand out!  Having recommendations on your profile is a way of helping to prove that you are good at your job.  Are there particular skills that you want to highlight – ask for a recommendation!  These can be from colleagues, managers, clients – get as many as you can!

So now that you have a standout LinkedIn profile, why not send us a connection request? You can also follow companies on LinkedIn too.  Follow Catch22 and be the first to know about our new jobs.