Did you know that 4 out of 5 business professionals have an active profile on LinkedIn and that when someone googles your full name, your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing that people see?
Fascinating data – which leads me onto a question: how do you make sure you have a great LinkedIn profile and that it’s doing a great job for you when it comes to building your own career profile?
The power of a great LinkedIn profile
As a search consultant, I look at LinkedIn profiles every day of the week. It’s one of my first ports of call when it comes to identifying the best HR candidates for clients.
LinkedIn is THE business 2 business network with currently over 600 million active users globally and that latest data reports that the UK now has over 25 million members.
We have talked about the value of having a great CV in a previous post and a great LinkedIn profile is your equivalent online.
How do you stand out?
The good news is that even though there are 27 million profiles on the UK LinkedIn platform there are some simple ways to stand out.
Add a photograph and contact details
The latest data from LinkedIn clearly states that profiles with a photograph get 14x more views. Leaving your picture blank or having a logo only doesn’t put you across in a professional way either.
A professional head and shoulders shot in business attire is the preferred option. Though a photo from your wedding with Mr or Mrs perfect or a recent night out might be your favourite, keep those for Facebook. You want to stand out as a professional – it’s easy to do, with most smartphones having amazing professional photographic capabilities.
Check if your email address is still fit for purpose. That original email address you grabbed on Yahoo all those years ago, might need a change – e.g. BatoutofhellJane@yahoo.com probably isn’t going to have the impact you want. It’s easy instead to grab a Gmail address like JaneSmith123@gmail.com that puts you across in a professional way.
Your title and heading
Though you can add your role title in your heading it’s also useful to have a sentence about how you help your customers. Hint: This is something potential candidates I work with rarely do and yet it will make you stand out head and shoulders above the crowd.
For Example:
“HR Manager specialising in implementing change management systematisation to enable organisations to grow.”
Your summary
Your LinkedIn summary is a great ‘selling’ piece for you and the value you can add to future employers. It’s common for many people to forget to fill this section out and yet it’s the first-place a search consultant or a potential employer will look. Remember LinkedIn is still a social network and though the subject is business you have free space here to say why you and your skill set would be a great value add to any organisation.
The key thing here is to understand your value and what you can offer a potential employer. Though on the surface a new employer buys you, importantly they buy your ability to solve their immediate problems.
Depending on your role and expertise listing your skill areas on your profile and in your summary, will make your profile jump out compared to others.
Fill it out in full!
I know it’s easy to scrimp on this part and don’t. If someone is interested in you for their next role they are going to read everything you have on your profile. Therefore, make sure you:
- Fill out your summary, highlighted how you help employers with your expertise
- List all your past roles that are related to your skills and the results you deliver
- List any specific projects you have been involved with
- List all your relevant qualifications
- List any volunteering and/or hobbies that you are involved with
Recommendations
Though it sometimes feels uncomfortable, ask past colleagues and contacts for recommendations. These can be added to your profile and certainly help in raising your profile.
f you act on the areas, we have listed above you will have a profile that will help you stand out from the crowd – guaranteed.
Would you like more help with building a great LinkedIn profile and carrying out your search? Then get in touch by filling out a contact form or calling directly at 01709717212.
