13 LinkedIn Profile Tips That Improve Your Chances Of Getting Hired
LinkedIn is the number one website for professional networking. The site receives an enormous amount of daily traffic. If you like to think outside the box and would rather work outside the cubicle, you need to use this site to your advantage. It has hundreds of millions of active users. This allows you to make the important connections needed to obtain the job you want. If working from home is something you want to do, LinkedIn is the place you need to turn to. To help you be successful in your job hunt, we have compiled a list of our most powerful LinkedIn Profile tips.
First, Setup Your LinkedIn Account
Before you can implement any LinkedIn profile tips, you need to set up an account on the site. It takes just minutes to set up your account. Don’t worry if you’re a current LinkedIn member that has not used your account for some time or that hasn’t optimized your profile. You can also start where you left off. If you’re ready to take your professional career to the next level, LinkedIn can help. Now it’s time for you to do some personal branding.
What Are Some Professional LinkedIn Profile Tips To Keep In Mind?
#1) Have A Goal For Your LinkedIn Profile
Having a goal for your profile is one of the most important LinkedIn profile tips. It’s imperative to have goals when you become a remote job seeker. Why is that? Goals provide a sense of purpose for what you’re doing. They allow you to track the progress you’ve made and ensure that you stay on the path to success. You want your LinkedIn profile to have a goal tied to it. What is it that you want it to do?
- Would you like remote recruiters to find you?
- Do you want to expand the current network you have?
- Would you like to connect with companies that are remote friendly?
A goal provides you with something to strive for. It helps to define what your target audience is. Knowing this LinkedIn profile tip enables you to write a killer profile.
#2) Know Your Target Audience
Your target audience is who you want to read your LinkedIn profile. The goal for you is to locate a remote job. The audience you’re targeting are hiring managers and remote recruiters. When you know who your audience is, you can then write a LinkedIn profile that brings these individuals to your page.
#3) Create An Amazing First Impression With Your Profile Picture
With your goal and audience in mind, it’s time to write a profile that captures their attention. You may not realize it, but 94 percent of recruiters will use LinkedIn to vet their candidates. That pretty much means that your LinkedIn profile can hinder or help your chances of getting the work-at-home job you want. If you’re going to be seen as the ideal candidate for a position, you need a great headshot.
Your face will be your brand. You may not like the idea that your LinkedIn profile is judged by the headshot. However, a profile picture helps to increase the number of people viewing your profile. Be sure to upload a professional picture for your profile picture. This shows others that you are competent and gives you credibility.
What’s important to remember is that your face will be your brand.
If you don’t have a photo already…
If you have the money, consider hiring a person to take a professional photo for you. If you can’t do that, you can download the LinkedIn App and use its built-in photo editor. Take a new picture or use one you already have. Whatever you do though, it needs to be a professional photo.
#4) Add An Eye Catching Headline For Your Profile
When it comes to personal branding, your headline needs to speak volumes about you. You should think about it because it is a necessary part of your professional profile, but you don’t want to overthink it. Avoid being overly clever, using buzzwords or using clichés. Your headline needs to highlight who you are and what you are capable of doing. Consider using it to bring out the professional achievements and accomplishments you currently have.
When a job recruiter is looking through the different LinkedIn profiles, they see the headline and profile picture first. This means you need to make a great first impression with these two items. By doing this, you ensure remote recruiters will want to stop and look at your profile. This is where you can “shine” in their eyes. With an enthralling headshot/headline, you can rest assured they’ll be looking at your profile.
#5) Use Important Industry Keywords In Your Profile
Keyword optimization is another one of the many important LinkedIn profile tips you need to utilize. Why is that? Keywords are what ensures your profile can be found by recruiters. With your keywords, you boost the chances of your LinkedIn profile showing up in Linked and Google searches. The process is known as Search Engine Optimization.
When you add to your LinkedIn profile, you increase the chances of being found. Make sure to put emphasis on the keywords and phrases that the targeted audience is liable to use to seek you out.
Important: Do not over stuff (spam) the summary and profile with the keywords. Instead, determine what the important keywords are that your audience is using and find a place for them in the text without overdoing them.
Visit the “Add Skills” section of the profile, and type in the skills you have. LinkedIn will give you suggestions. For instance, if you type in marketing, LinkedIn will show you various kinds of marketing skills people have been searching for. If you’re unsure of what keywords to use, this will help you determine what ones are best for your set of skills. Be sure to use these keywords throughout the profile so recruiters and employers can find you quicker on the site.
#6) Create A Personable Summary
After you’ve started your profile with the above LinkedIn profile tips, you need to wow these remote recruiters with your professional experiences. The idea of a LinkedIn profile is to tell your story using your relevant skills, achievements and accomplishments. The summary and experiences sections are where you talk about YOU.
How To Properly Use Your Summary
When people hear summary, they automatically think of a condensed version of something bigger. In most cases, this is true, but your LinkedIn summary should be something more than a condensed version of who you are. Implement these LinkedIn profile tips for your summary to make a positive impression on your profile viewers:
- Have a summary with at least three paragraphs but less than five paragraphs
- Come across as personable
- Write with the intended audience in mind
- Include industry-specific keywords
Bring Out Your Personality In The Summary
The summary must show off how professional you are, which means it’s time to do a little bragging here. You want recruiters to see how capable you really are and what credentials you have underneath your belt. You want them to have some reason to reach out to you. What you’re doing is selling yourself. So go all out.
- What’s your professional history about? What kinds of things have you accomplished?
- What jobs are you really good at?
- What makes you different from others?
These things are what recruiters are looking to learn about possible candidates – remote workers included.
The summary is their way of knowing who you are without ever meeting you in person. Let them know what you have to offer and why you’d be a great match for their company. This is the time to let your personality shine through.
#7) Showcase Your Professional Experience
Another one of the most important LinkedIn profile tips is to showcase your professional experience. While your summary is important, you want the experience section to speak volumes to remote recruiters. You want to show them that you have the practical experience they are looking for to do the job. Here, you want to list all your pertinent work history, beginning with the most recent.
With each job, be sure to add a short description of what you did and what you managed to accomplish in the job. Implement those keywords as mentioned above to ensure people find you.
#8) Legitimize Your Profile With Proof
Since LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals, one of our imperative LinkedIn profile tips is to have some social proof. To do this, consider uploading or linking work you’ve done to your experience section. The idea is to show others work you have done for another person. If you’re a graphic design artist, upload a design you have done. If you’re a writer, link back to a blog post you have written.
You want something tangible to show prospective recruiters. Why should they hire you? With tangible proof, you’re giving them a reason to hire you over another person.
#9) Use The Skills Section
LinkedIn has a Skills section. Adding your skills accurately is one of the LinkedIn profile tips that you need to carefully follow. DO NOT stretch the truth. If you really know how to do something, market the skill. If you barely know how to do something, don’t use it until you’ve become much more familiar with it. For example, you don’t want to include social media marketing on your skills section if you only use social media for personal reasons.
Only list skills you know you have experience in. Do this, and you’ll also get endorsements.
#10) Obtain As Many Endorsements As Possible
What Exactly Are Endorsements? How Can You Get Them?
The goal is to ensure your LinkedIn profile has some social proof. After you’ve published your profile, connections will see these listed skills and can endorse them. When you have a connection that endorses you for a skill, it shows others that you do have the abilities you claim to have. More recruiters will find you.
You need endorsements. Don’t be afraid to ask connections you have made to endorse you.
When you’re a remote worker, it’s a little harder to showcase your skills sometimes. Getting endorsements will improve your personal brand. This will give remote recruiters the confidence they need in your abilities to ensure a job well done.
#11) Don’t Forget To Get Recommendations For Social Proof
Another way for some social proof is by getting recommendations. These are a way for people to vouch for you. Personal advocates, if you will. They inform others that you are who you claim to be and should be given a second look. Recommendations, similar to endorsements, are attained by making recommendations about others. How do you make a recommendation? You go to a person’s profile – someone you’re connected to –and hit the three squares next to the picture. Choose recommend. The more you do this for your connections, the higher the chances for them to do the same for you.
#12) Customize The LinkedIn URL
Many people overlook their URL for the LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn assigns you one by default, but you can customize it however you’d like. By customizing it, you gain even more exposure, and remote recruiters have an easier time finding you. Here, you can include a keyword such as Freelance Web Developer Your Name Here. This also helps with SEO.
#13) Put The Finishing Touches On Your Profile
As you see, recruiters look for the really important things such as profile picture, headline and social proof. However, that does not mean you should forget the other things to fill out your profile. What kinds of things do you need to include in your LinkedIn profile?
- Add your university or college, connecting to classmates and old professors
- Follow businesses you have an interest in on LinkedIn
- Join LinkedIn groups that relate to what you have an interest in – career wise or personally
- Make connections to other LinkedIn users
These little things will do a lot in the way of puffing out your profile and making it stand out to others. It allows remote recruiters to see who you are. Again, it’s all about personal branding.
Bringing Together All These LinkedIn Profile Tips To Ensure Success
Following a LinkedIn profile strategy, is a lot to take in. You may even feel overwhelmed by it. However, if you take a couple of hours out of your day, you can develop a LinkedIn profile that stands out from the crowd and ensures that remote recruiters can find you. Sit down and write out a profile that speaks volumes to others about you. It can help expand the network you have, which is where about 70 percent of all jobs on LinkedIn will result from.
Do you have other LinkedIn profile tips, not mentioned here, that have worked for you? Please take a moment to share in the comments section and help out your fellow remote job / work seekers.
Personal Branding & Development, Professional Development, Working From Home Tips
