Are you wondering how to boost your appeal in the eyes of recruiters with the perfect LinkedIn account? In this article, Mister Bilingual explains how to optimize your profile!
LinkedIn, what's that then? Somewhere between social network and an online CV platform, LinkedIn is above all an excellent platform for showcasing your professional profile, and recruiters are paying it more and more attention these days as they look for more background information on potential employees.
This is a key reason that so many people are creating a profile on the platform, in order to demonstrate that they are up to date with digital trends. Unfortunately, not enough people take the time to build a profile that is both professional and targeted to their recruitment objectives.
If you want to create the best possible profile suited to your job search, Mister Bilingue is here to show you how to optimize your LinkedIn in just a few clicks!
Let's begin by taking a look at the key elements that require optimization if you really want to create the perfect LinkedIn profile:
1. Your profile introduction
2. Your professional experience
3. Using LinkedIn as a social tool
So, are you ready to get going with your soon-to-be favourite social network by following a few simple and effective tips? Great, let's go!
In this section, we will outline the basic elements needed for creating your profile introduction.
These elements are both simple and essential because this is the first information that other members of LinkedIn will see. If you want people to click on your profile, make sure to follow our recommendations carefully!
Your profile picture is the focal point of your LinkedIn profile: it's that photo's job to show other members what kind of person you are.
For this reason, it's important to follow a few rules when choosing your photo.
First of all, make sure that your photo is of good quality, that you're alone in it, that it isn't a selfie, and, finally, that it's recent.
The goal here is to make you look as professional as possible, so make sure that you're dressed the part. And don't forget to smile and to be cheerful and vibrant, because this is the first impression that other members of LinkedIn will have of you.
To sum up, put yourself in someone else's shoes: who would want to click on the profile of someone whose best photo shows a blurry teenager caught unawares?
If you want to be more visible on LinkedIn, then you have to fill in your contact details for two reasons: this will allow your profile to be verified, as well as better ranked on the social network's own search engine.
This includes providing basic information, such as name, city and industry, that will allow recruiters and potential contacts to find and contact you easily. So, avoid specifying "Hollywood" in the area location if you actually live in Limoges. In short, be honest and professional!
When you create a LinkedIn account, it's important to put yourself in the shoes of the person who will be looking at your profile, by asking yourself what will attract their attention and get them to take a more detailed look at your profile.
The best way to do this is by adding a snappy headline in addition to your professional title. You should be able to explain what is special about you in a few words (3-4 maximum), by highlighting a personality trait that sets you apart from the crowd, for example.
Yes, it might take a little thinking about, but this is an essential part of your profile because it will be seen by everyone, including those who didn't even click on your profile!
Below your headline, you will need to add a summary to your profile giving a broad outline of your background and aspirations, as well as what it is that you can bring to your main target (this could be a potential client, a recruiter or a company, for example).
Maybe you're good at identifying problems and proposing solutions, for example. Whatever it is, this section is what can lead your target reader to stay a few minutes more on your profile to find out more!
Be aware that you're only allowed 120 characters in the 'About' section, so use them wisely with the help of carefully selected keywords that will allow your target reader to understand your personality and potential quickly and simply.
If you've already followed our advice from the first section to the letter, there's no doubt that you'll have already begun to attract LinkedIn members to your profile. Now's the time to prove your professional mettle by delving into detail on your skills and overall career path.
The 'Education' section on LinkedIn is where you can bolster your professional experience, especially if you've acquired specific technical and theoretical skills over the course of your studies.
In addition to stating your school, university, and degree, you can also go into detail on the specific courses and concepts that defined your educational journey.
You can also add here any activities that you carried out over the course of your studies, especially if they support your professional standing by demonstrating your know-how or experience with specific projects.
Last but not least, you also have the opportunity to outline your volunteering experience in a dedicated sub-section, 'Volunteer Experience'. As with the extra-curricular activities carried out during your studies, volunteering experience is a good way to highlight your expertise while showcasing your dynamism and commitment to causes that are important to you, beyond your professional life.
The 'Skills' section of your profile allows you to highlight your know-how across different fields.
It's by demonstrating your expertise in one or more fields that you can show the full range of your knowledge or even set yourself apart from similar profiles with more specific technical skills.
As we pointed out earlier, however, it's important to stay honest and professional by avoiding the temptation to include skills that you don't have or to exaggerate your mastery of them. If you only ever used Final Cut Pro once, for example, it's best not to claim that you're an editing whizz…
Finally, make sure to state your strongest three skills first, because they will be visible to anyone who visits your page. Beyond these three skills, don't go beyond 15 additional skills, all of which should be centered around the job or the position you're looking for (there's no need to add your expertise in juggling, for example, if your position is related to digital communications) .
The "Experience" section on your LinkedIn profile is probably the one that will be studied the most carefully. And that's for good reason, because this is the section designed to showcase your professional experience and demonstrate your suitability for the job market.
Once again, we recommend putting yourself in the place of your target reader and providing detailed information regarding your various positions and responsibilities. This will ensure that your reader can quickly understand what you have achieved and how.
For example, in this section you can:
When adding a professional experience, be sure to include a clear and specific title for the position held. In order to rank better in the search results, we also recommend linking each professional experience to the official profiles of the companies you've worked for.
As usual, be sure to only include experiences that will add value to your profile in the eyes of your target reader. No need to include those four months working as a ski instructor or years of babysitting, for example. Stay firmly within your area of expertise, even if you don't have a long list of experience to your name yet. Keep in mind that what matters most in this section is quality, not quantity!
Some LinkedIn members use this network simply as an online CV to share with recruiters. Don't forget, however, that LinkedIn is still a "social" network at heart, offering members the opportunity to interact and build a community through publications, comments and endorsements.
So, if you really want to boost your LinkedIn profile to the maximum, don't underestimate the full potential of LinkedIn as a social tool!
Like any social network, each member has the possibility to share content. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, however, posts on this network are not intended to reach your friends or loved ones, but professionals who might want to learn more about your field of expertise.
We strongly recommended posting original content on your profile regularly for the following reasons:
This should be obvious, but the goal of posting on LinkedIn is not to show off your most recent holiday with friends, but to promote your profile with professional posts that lend credibility to your area of expertise and increase your visibility to your target reader.
Make sure to use specific keywords and add tags to your posts in order to boost their appearance in other members' search results.
To have a LinkedIn profile worthy of the name, it's key to attract followers who are likely to share your posts as widely as possible. It's simple, really: no network, no interaction with other members, less visibility...!
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is designed to connect you to people with similar expertise, rather than your existing friends. Of course, it doesn't hurt to connect with your friends as a means of expanding your network, but the most interesting approach here is to search for people with whom you've crossed paths in your professional life and connect with them.
By forging connections with colleagues, clients and other associates, you can improve your profile's visibility to reach users from different spheres.
If you're looking to connect with people from companies or fields that interest you, make your interest known to them by going to their profile and interacting with their posts.
And if you can pluck up the courage, you can even try and connect with them. But make sure to add a brief message to any request outside your network of contacts. This isn't Facebook, people like to maintain a close-knit circle here!
Lastly, you can also subscribe to the official pages of companies, organizations, businesses, or even public and recognized personalities that interest you, as a way of staying up to date with their news. That being said, be careful what you click, because your subscriptions will be visible on your profile. We recommend subscribing only to pages related to your field (even if, like any section of your profile, the visibility of each section can be configured to suit your preferences).
Listing relevant skills on your profile is a good start... Relevant skills that are endorsed by other people is even better!
With LinkedIn, you can boost your profile's credibility by asking your contacts to endorse your skills. To do this, it couldn't be easier: simply ask your colleagues, associates and/or clients to endorse you for the skills that they have seen you demonstrate while working alongside you.
This recommendation system can be useful for justifying your know-how to a recruiter or future client, because it gives them some confirmation that your skills have already been tried and tested with other people.
Obviously, the more people who endorse you have a similar profile to yours, the more valuable their endorsements will be.
TO SUM UP:
To ensure an eye-catching introduction to your profile:
When it comes to describing your professional background:
To make the best use of LinkedIn as a social tool:
Well done, you made it to the end of this article! Thanks to Mister Bilingue, you now have all the knowledge you need to optimize your profile and make yourself more attractive to recruiters or potential customers!
If you're looking to optimize your profile on paper, we can give you a hand with writing your CV, too!
And if you don't know where to start with looking for job offers, we've also written a very thorough article on that to help you out.
We hope you find this advice useful and wish you all the best in your job search.
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