Everything you need to know to get a job with LinkedIn
Build a strong profile to create interest
A strong profile is a profile that others find and that makes the right people want to contact you. The profile is the first impression you give the people looking for you. The profile should also ensure that people who find you want to contact you. In this way, a perfect profile does some of the work for you. And the more you work with it, the better the effect.
There are an incredible number of clumsy and smooth LinkedIn profiles. It seems we tend to make ourselves more neutral to fit in as many contexts as possible. This is a danger because one usually does not become interesting to anyone instead.
To get any effect and gain results, you need to stand out, be relevant and create interest.
You also need to make your profile as complete as possible. LinkedIn measures your profiles strength and shows how yours is doing, from 0-100%. The higher the number, the better you will be seen in search results. So when a recruiter is looking for your skills, you will be better off, simply more visible, if your profile is more complete.
Some recurring key elements behind the most successful LinkedIn profiles are the following:
- Your profile needs to be targeted and relevant. The key to success among millions of profiles on LinkedIn is to be relevant. You need to convey where you are heading and what you are looking for. And you need to show a "red thread" between your previous experiences, which leads to the next job.
- You must report results and create credibility. LinkedIn is the worlds largest CV bank and putting your experiences and educations out there is fundamental. But to make contacts and create job opportunities, it is not enough to list experiences and educations - you must give as credible a picture as possible of your skills and show that you can create results.
- Ensure completeness and correctness. Your LinkedIn profile should be written correctly and be easy to take note of. To be found by recruiters and others who want to reach you, it is also essential that the profile is complete and that you fill in the correct information in the right place.
Some essential elements for an effective profile are: picture, headline, summary, and professional experience. These are the four parts that you should spend the most time on in your profile. They will make you more visible in searches, more people will click on and discover your profile, and you will create a better overall impression.
1. The picture
Your image and your headline are the two things that are most visible and therefore have a considerable impact. They appear, for example, in searches, when your profile appears in a group discussion and in the activity feed. The picture and the headline together make the first impression of you.
Pictures generally help build a relationship between people and make it easier for those looking for you to recognize you and know that they have found the right one. According to LinkedIn statistics, profiles with a picture get 14 times more visits than profiles without a photo. Use an image taken in a professional context that suits your industry. For example, if you are looking for a new job, a tip is to look at potential employers websites and see what pictures are used for their employees.
What works best is a close-up of your face, where you have eye contact and show a smile. Also, keep in mind that the image must be of high quality and fill out the entire field for the image. Preferably avoid passport photos, selfies and pictures with low resolution. But at the same time, keep in mind that a photo of you is better than no photo at all.
2. The headline
By default, LinkedIn selects your most recent job as the headline, such as "Business Developer on Go Monday." But if you do not have an exceptional title or work for an exciting organization, you need to do something more.
For Barack Obama ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/barackobama ) it works great to write that he is the President of the United States of America. But the rest of us have to work a little harder. The space is only 120 characters, but try to create interest. For example, you can enter a result you have achieved, what you want to achieve, a passion or a personal quality. Whatever you choose to write, make sure your headline stands out from the crowd.
3. The summary
The summary is the most challenging part and the more important one. According to LinkedIn, by having a summary, the number of visits increases ten times.
To create interest from other people (not least recruiters) you need to show personality, interests, will, driving forces, goals, ambitions and where you are heading professionally. And this is done, apart from the professional title, the most (and best) in the summary. The rest of your profile focuses on the past, what you have done and what educations you have attended. Research shows that what makes us interested in someone is the potential rather than history. And this is extremely important to show in your summary.
4. Your professional experience
Here you should describe your experiences more or less the same way as in a CV. A description of an experience must contain four parts to reach any results:
- A concise description of the organization or context you worked in. For instance, give a picture of how big the department you worked in was or how big the whole organization was. It helps others get a clearer picture of what you did.
- Your main area of responsibility. Even if you did not have a role that involves responsibility for budget, personnel or projects, it is crucial to think in terms of responsibility and not just specify different tasks you had. Too much focus on tasks may give the impression of you being more junior than you actually are.
- Main and most relevant tasks. Focus on what is most suitable concerning where you are heading next in your professional career. You do not have to include everything, but use each description to focus on the things you want to continue working on.
- Results that you have achieved or knowledge that you have gained. Show that what you have done at the employer has also yielded results. Of course, it can be in financial terms, but there can also be results in many other areas: improvements, satisfied customers, new orders, or something you have learned and take with you to future assignments.
An excellent way to get an idea of how LinkedIn works and get inspiration for your profile is to look at other peoples profiles. Visit friends and colleagues to see how they worked with their profiles. Also, look at people you do not know, but who you think are skilled in their field, skilled at presenting themselves, or who you see as role models. Do you know someone who has your dream job today or someone else who inspires you? Choose some of these profiles that you think seem good and take a closer look at them.
- Does the profile have a niche? Do you see a clear common thread?
- Do you get an idea of why you should contact this person?
- What makes this person unique compared to other people in the same industry?
- Is there something in the persons profile that stands out, something bold?
Here are a few tips on people to use as inspiration:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanetteforsandree/