In a highly competitive job market, it’s easy for your skills and abilities to be lost amongst the thousands of other highly qualified applicants. Known as a professional Facebook, LinkedIn is a way for a potential employer to gain a more personal insight into the type of person you are and what you can offer to their company. When being googled by a potential employer, it is more likely that your LinkedIn profile, over any other social networking site will appear highest on a list, making it your first point of contact and the first impression an employer will have of you. As a result it is imperative that you have a profile which is not only up to date, but filled with great attributes that makes it stand out to anyone viewing it. Here are a few ways to boost your profile to maximise your opportunities.
Having a good quality profile picture
Data shows that having a profile picture will boost your profile by eleven times. Having a photo, preferably a smiling professional one, is a good way for you to create a personal connection with a future employer. They can more effectively imagine an actual smiling face working for their company then just simply some words on a website.
Maximising your connections
Not only should you use LinkedIn to connect with your current employers and employees, it is also important that you are connecting with any other business professionals you have met so that they can remember and contact you if need be. Additionally, they can not only be future potential employers or recommendations but also assist you in getting into contact with key people in your industry, be a mentor and offer advice. Additionally when LinkedIn offers you jobs, they look at who you have connected with making your recommendations more tailored towards jobs you may be interested in, streamlining the whole process.
Include a professional summary & an eye-catching headline
The professional summary is like a 30 second pitch as to why someone should be interested in you as a person and you as a potential employee after all it is the first thing someone reads from your profile! An easy way to know what to include is to start off by saying something about your past, such as what interests led you to where you are now. Followed up by a sentence about your present, whether that is where you are studying or where you are working. And finally something about the future, such as where you hope to be in a couple of years or what kind of opportunities interest you. Similar to a headline of a new story in a paper, your headline or title on LinkedIn is a great way to draw attention to your profile and draw curiosity. Be professional and make sure your title is reflective of yourself as well as your professional capacity.
Adding multimedia components such as a blog post or links to previous work
Publishing your opinions and thoughts in a blog post or reblogging the post of mentors in your industry on LinkedIn can be a powerful way to put you on the news feeds of your connections. This in turn can lead to more views on your profile, differentiates your profile among other generic ones and makes you stand out. Adding an article you published on a website onto your LinkedIn, or a photo you took at a particular industry event can add more colour and break up the text in your profile, making it visually easier to read.
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