LinkedIn is one of the largest social media networking websites in the professional space, with more than 600 million users. From new start-ups to corporate giants, executive position holders to interns, you can look up the who’s who of any prospective industry.
Apart from networking opportunities, LinkedIn is a great place to search for potential jobs. A report by Omnicoreagency.com states that more than 100 million jobs are posted on the website each month! In addition, your LinkedIn profile lets you build a unique personal brand that can impress potential employers.
Your profile on LinkedIn is the foundation for your personal branding. It can act as a marketing platform for your competencies, achievements and opinions about different industries.
Therefore, your LinkedIn profile can be a great way to be heard and be discovered. A compelling profile can translate your achievements and ideas in a way that resonates with other people and communicates your uniqueness.
Here are a few great tips for creating a LinkedIn profile that can stand out from the crowd and illustrate your best abilities. Of course, you can customize these tips to shape your profile as per your career priorities.
1. Write an effective introduction
Your profile introduction is one of the first things noticed by visitors and prospective employers on your profile page. Therefore, it has to be effective in letting them know that your skills are relevant.
You must update your introduction with your location and your industry. LinkedIn data suggests that listing industry information can increase your profile views by nine times. It also increases the probability of your profile popping up in recruiter searches by 38 times. Similarly, adding your current location can also help you get up to 19 times more profile views.
2. Think of your headline to be more than just a job title
Your LinkedIn headline is positioned just below your name and might be the first thing catching a visitor’s attention. Most people usually fill this with their current job role, which is a wasted opportunity.
Instead, you can think of the headline as a miniature billboard advertisement to market your profile. You can use this space to attract your target audience with thought-provoking or witty copy. You should mention what you bring to the table and how prospective companies or customers can benefit from you.
Here’s a great example:
Jack Reacher
Out-of-the-box digital marketer to help brands tell their stories | Passionate storyteller | Caterer to 300 happy clients.
3. Build your story with a strong summary
Your LinkedIn summary is a longer form of your headline. You have 2000 characters to work with; hence you can dive deeper into your story. It pays to be creative and paint a picture of who you are as a professional.
While you should focus on your past experience in the LinkedIn summary, you should also include your career goals or your dream job. Also, do include the relevant keywords that are connected to your field.
You can check out some LinkedIn bio examples before you start writing your LinkedIn profile.
4. Enhance your credibility with recommendations
Another great way to boost your profile is to add recommendations from people you have worked closely with in the past. These could be previous employers, professors, classmates or business partners.
These recommendations act as social proof of your skills and abilities. They convince prospective employers that you’re worth hiring because other people have been satisfied with your quality of work.
A study by the Avid Careerist discovered that a profile with a more significant number of recommendations can rank higher than profiles that don’t have recommendations.
While it is good to ask for as many recommendations as possible, ensure that you are not bothering your contacts unnecessarily.
In addition to these LinkedIn profile writing tips, you can also enhance your profile by managing your endorsements proactively and including the impact or results you’ve demonstrated in your industry.
These tips can only enhance your career journey and achievements. However, you will have to keep working on reaching the career goals you’ve set for yourself.
One great way of enhancing your profile is to pursue industry-oriented programs relevant to your domain. That way, you can ensure that you are up-to-date on the latest industry trends and hiring patterns.
The Toronto School of Management (TSOM) offers a wide range of programs in partnership with renowned industry learning specialists like Amazon Web Services, CompTIA, Digital Marketing Institute, Tableau, and Oracle Hospitality. Click here to explore the practical hands-on learning approach for TSOM programs.
