If you’re planning on starting a new job search in 2022, you need to know that how you search for a job has changed greatly over the years. Whether you’re a new grad, management professional, seasoned executive, or C-Suite office holder, you need to ensure that you have the “dos” and “don’ts” of today’s job search necessities down to a science BEFORE you start your search. One necessary tool for today’s jobseekers is having an optimized LinkedIn profile! A few easy “dos” and “don’ts” to consider when preparing your LinkedIn profile for a job search….
URL:
DO customize your URL and put a link to your profile on your resume. If your name is already taken, use a middle initial, special numbers, or a credential to make your URL unique.
DON’T use the URL that LI assigns you when you create your initial profile.
PROFILE BANNER:
DO have a customized banner at the top of your profile. There are plenty of free sites to create a banner on, or, if you aren’t into doing your own thing, hire a designer to create one for you. This is where you can show a little personality on your profile while still looking like a professional.
DON’T use the LI default banner or your current company logo – if you are in a job search.
PROFILE PHOTO:
DO post a recent, professional-looking headshot of you (and ONLY you) in the photo.
DON’T post of photo of you cropped out of a group photo at an event or a photo of you from 20+ years ago – you don’t want to see shocked faces when you arrive for your interview!
NAME:
DO display your name as it appears on your resume and what you go by in the workplace. Add any relevant credentials after your name.
DON’T use a nickname or outdated maiden name just because that’s the name you had when you created your original profile.
HEADLINE:
DO create a branding statement for the top of your resume and in the headline section of your LI profile. Use descriptive, high-impact, and industry-specific keywords to communicate your brand. You have 220 characters to brand yourself here – make them count!
DON’T use your current job title (LI default) in your headline – ugh…so boring!
ABOUT:
DO include a targeted, keyword-saturated career summary at the beginning of your resume and in your LinkedIn profile (About) section. Remember to write toward the job/industry you’re targeting. You have 2,600 characters to write your story – use them to your advantage!
DON’T bypass this section – and don’t just make it paragraphs of boring text – readers will lose interest in you and your qualifications immediately. Use bullets to separate sections that give a brief synopsis of your skills, experience, and achievements. Show the value YOU can offer in one quick read!
EXPERIENCE:
DO put your most up to date and relevant information on your resume and LinkedIn profile. Include achievements in bullet lists and job titles that are in line with what is on your resume.
DON’T include your entire career history-only jobs that are relevant to your current career goals. Stay away from posting proprietary or confidential information in this section.
EDUCATION:
DO include all of your relevant degrees. Undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral, etc.
DON’T include the years if you graduated 10+ years ago, or information about what you did in college unless it is pertinent and relevant.
LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS:
DO list certifications/licenses that are relevant to your career goals. If you are currently in the process of getting a certification/license, then just add it with the expected date of receiving the credential.
DON’T list actual license numbers (hello identity fraud???) on LI or include outdated information that is no longer active (unless it matters if you had it in the past).
SKILLS:
DO use industry-specific keywords/skills on this list. Be descriptive and ensure that your skills are in line with your level, job skills, experience, etc. “Pin” your top 3 skills at the beginning of this section. LI does this automatically – you need to ensure that the top 3 are truly, well, the top 3!
DON’T list bland words like “Leader” or “Projects”. Focus on stronger terms – “Executive Leadership” or “Project Management”.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
DO include your memberships in professional organizations (especially in industry-specific organizations). List your role in each organization (Member, Board Member, Committee Chair, etc.).
DON’T list organizations that you haven’t been affiliated with for years.
VOLUNTEER WORK:
DO include recent volunteer work or past work that may be relevant to your current job search goals. Include any leadership positions with organizations or special events you chaired.
DON’T put in volunteer work from 20+ years ago or if it was an event that was a one-hour commitment!
ADDITIONAL SECTIONS:
DO look at all the additional sections LI offers (Patents, Projects, Honors/Awards, Courses, Publications, Languages, etc.).
DON’T add a section just to add a section. You want to have relevant and informative content on your profile – not uninformative fluff that takes up space.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
DO give/request recommendations from clients, colleagues, supervisors, etc. Encourage those giving you recommendations to make them achievement/leadership-focused, so that the best you have is what they are talking about. You should have recommendations that are as current as possible.
DON’T use recommendations that are filled with typos or information that is outdated/unmeaningful.
SETTINGS:
DO check your settings and ensure that they are aligned with how you want to be seen, who you want to be able to see you, etc.
DON’T turn your profile completely off to public viewing. What’s the point of being on LI if nobody can see you?
DO make the profile unique to YOU. Make sure you can back up all the information you have put out there during an interview, and ultimately on the job for your next employer. DON’T take information from a friend’s or colleague’s profile or include skills/achievements that you can’t own. Your LinkedIn profile is a living document – keep it current and fresh. Finally – you have optimized the information on your profile, now you need to network! Engage with others by posting and commenting to get your name/profile seen by more people!
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for professionals and executives—when used correctly. One of many ways you can properly utilize LinkedIn is by participating in different groups. Joining a few groups can boost your LinkedIn profile development, since you’ll naturally gain more connections as a result. However, you have to be careful with how you approach these groups. Here are some great tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and expand your network by joining groups.
Choose Your Groups Wisely
You can join up to 50 groups on LinkedIn, but you don’t have to actually join that many. Consider joining groups related to your industry, your social life, interests, hobbies, school affiliation and other similar groups. The more groups you join with relevance to your interests, the better chance you’ll have of expanding your network properly with people you can relate with.
Observe Group Conversations
Once you join a group, you might not want to jump right into conversations. People in groups are generally familiar with one another, so they may not like it if you barge in on their discussions. Instead, sit back and observe conversations for a few days or a couple of weeks. See how the group members interact with one another, so you’re able to fit in more naturally once you become more active in the group.
Introduce Yourself
After you’ve made your observations and determined the group is a good fit, make a nice introduction to the group. Tell them to visit your LinkedIn profile to learn your background, but also tell them things about yourself that aren’t on your profile. The more you tell about yourself, the wider range of people you’ll be able to relate to. When you’re trying to boost your LinkedIn profile with more connections, relating to people is the best way to go.
Be Active
When you’ve introduced yourself, be sure to reply to any comments welcoming you to the group. From that point on, people are at least familiar with your name and would enjoy having you in discussions. One mistake people often make is not being active in a group, so other members will forget about you. Activity in LinkedIn groups is the best way to expand your network. Professional Resume Services is dedicated to helping professionals and executives boost their LinkedIn profiles by giving the best tips on LinkedIn profile development. Feel free to reach out to us any time for tips on how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and expand your network at the same time.
Three Quick Tips for Souping up Your Executive LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool for executives. With the high visibility your LinkedIn profile has, even some of the smallest mistakes could be critical. Just like with a resume, your profile has to stand out among the rest if you want to get discovered and considered for any job openings. Understanding how to optimize your LinkedIn profile will go a long way in getting the job you desire. Here are a few tips on how you can soup yours up!
1. Choose an Appropriate Profile Picture
LinkedIn is a social media platform, but it is much different from Facebook, Twitter or other platforms. When working on your LinkedIn profile development, the first thing to find is a professional photo. Your picture is the first thing recruiters will see, so make sure you present yourself in the best light. Save the picture of your family or you and your kids for Facebook. A good rule of thumb to remember is if you wouldn’t put the picture on your resume, it doesn’t belong on your LinkedIn profile. You can have a friend or colleague take a photo of you as well.
2. Customize Your URL
Your profile will automatically be assigned a jumble of numbers and letters at the end of the URL. It would look a lot better and cleaner if you added your name to the end of the URL, especially if you will be sending potential employers the link. It only takes a couple minutes at the most, but it’s a pretty important part of your LinkedIn profile development. Details like this may not seem like a big deal, but they matter to employers and recruiters.
3. Be Detailed and Truthful
Any LinkedIn profile writing expert will tell you to be as detailed as possible without stretching the truth. You have the freedom to write whatever you want on your LinkedIn profile, but employers also have the same freedom to investigate to confirm what you write is true. Trust us: they will check facts!
Unlike the typical resume, which should be fairly short, your LinkedIn profile should be more detailed. When it comes to how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, keywords are critical for being discovered. The more you write, the better chance you’ll have of using keywords to help you get noticed in the search engines.
While it may seem easy to develop your profile, LinkedIn profile writing is more difficult than it sounds. However, with some time and effort, you’ll be able to construct a profile to help get you noticed. If you need any help or advice along the way, just refer back to these three tips and get in touch with us for any other detailed questions you may have.
Social Media Makeover: What to Do Before You Start Hunting
Believe it or not, the majority of employers will review your social media profiles before hiring you. Social media used to be just a fun way to communicate with friends online, but since it’s been booming in recent years, recruiters are also utilizing social media. It basically gives employers free access to see how you interact with others, how clearly you communicate ideas and what you do when you’re not at work. LinkedIn is one of the most popular platforms recruiters use so you need to learnhow to optimize your LinkedIn profile before you get on the job hunt!
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Since LinkedIn is a professional social network, most recruiters will begin their search there. However, many people don’t keep up with their profile and experiences, which could cost them a potential job. If you don’t know exactly what should go on your page, you may consider looking into a LinkedIn profile writing service to help highlight your skills. Your profile could essentially be your first foot in the door to a potential employer. If they are impressed with your LinkedIn page, you are more likely to be included on their radar. If you don’t have the page filled out or if it’s sloppy, your chances are reduced significantly.
Make It Pop
Users are limited in how they can change their LinkedIn page so you need to make the most of what you have.LinkedIn profile development is a tough skill to master, but it can be done with a little time and effort. In addition to filling out the information on the page itself, you could also design a creative resume to upload. Of course, how creative you get depends on the job you’re searching for, but you get the idea.
Check Other Social Media Platforms
Just because LinkedIn is the main professional social network doesn’t mean employers will only look at it and none of your other pages. You have to assume they will check your Facebook, Twitter and any other pages you may have. Similar to learning how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you have to do the same with other platforms as well. Remove any embarrassing photos you wouldn’t want an employer to see. So many optimal candidates get passed over because of inappropriate photos, chatter, etc. Go through your communications to make sure you haven’t posted anything offensive that could deter a recruiter. Don’t forget to add privacy settings to all social media you wouldn’t want an employer to see. Fixing up your social media profiles is probably the first thing you need to do before you even send out your resumes. It only takes a matter of seconds for a recruiter to do a quick search for your name and know a lot about you.
Use These Five Important Tips for your Job Search on LinkedIn
Optimize your LinkedIn profile to ensure you get the best results.
There are a plethora of jobs to be found on LinkedIn. Once you have an optimized LinkedIn profile, you can start using the platform to find employment opportunities; however, how to optimize your LinkedIn profile is a whole different article. Most job seekers just check the Job Board on LinkedIn. After browsing the board, they spam some resumes and call it a day.
This method rarely works. LinkedIn is a social media site created with business networking in mind. There’s no networking in spamming resumes to job postings. Luckily, there are a number of different ways to find work using the platform with the help of your Linkedin profile writing service. Here are a few ideas for finding more great job opportunities on LinkedIn.
1. The Job Board
Of course, you’ll find the vast majority of openings on the LinkedIn main Job Board. You can create a profile based on exactly what kind of job you’re looking for through a number of factors. You can also use advanced search features to narrow down to a certain set of strict parameters, for example: within 10 miles of your home address. Pro-Tip: Don’t search for titles. Similar roles will have varying names throughout different companies.
2. Group Jobs Tab
Joining Groups on LinkedIn is an excellent networking tool. You can connect with others in the industry and post useful information to show your expertise. The Jobs menu within each group allows discussion of jobs in the industry and posting of open positions relating to the group.
Use this to your advantage. These job postings get significantly less traffic than posts on the main board. The openings in each group will also be targeted to a focused pool of candidates. Join up to 50 groups on the platform and start your search in the shadows.
3. Company Pages
Before searching through company pages on LinkedIn – it’s important to note the pages are used for branding purposes. Every company uses this space to put their best foot forward and make their organization seem like the best place in the world to work. That doesn’t mean you won’t find great jobs posted on a company’s page. It means you should take what a company writes about their corporate environment with a grain of salt. You’ll find job postings on these pages or a link to the business’s job portal.
4. Update Feed
The LinkedIn homepage features an update area. Here you’ll find postings of anything the Pulse feature thinks you’d find interesting. While you’ll see updates from your connections and other miscellaneous items in this feed, you’ll also see job postings from recruiters and hiring managers. These jobs will be fresh off the wire and often, urgent.
5. Don’t Apply Just Yet!
Have you thought about how to optimize your LinkedIn profile? You only get one shot to make a first impression. Also, make sure you’ve searched to see what kind of connections you have with a company you’re considering. Remember, LinkedIn is for networking.
