LinkedIn – First Things First
If you don’t fully utilize social media, you are dating yourself! You need a great profile to stand out from the masses. It is valuable free digital real estate that is wasted if you don’t use it to your benefit, and I do mean to use as much of the space as possible. You should assume your LinkedIn profile URL will be sent with a quick summary to key executives considering you for positions even if we find you through a different channel. The days of opening multiple emails and attachments have passed. It is a digital world and you need to stand out.
Do Your Homework
- Identify the types of roles/companies that you want.
- Identify the critical skills associated with that role/organization – this will help you identify keywords.
- Structure your LinkedIn profile so that the skills/keywords can be found (repeated) throughout your profile.
Understanding Keywords
Once you have identified your keywords, the next step is to make sure they are present throughout your profile. The key areas to concentrate on in your LinkedIn profile for the search engine algorithms are the headline, about section and experience (employment history). Repetition helps! This is one of the tools we use to find you.
Headline – high value/high impact for the algorithms
Please, please, please be more creative than just your job title. You have a maximum of 240 characters (recently expanded), including spaces, to get someone’s attention. Don’t waste spaces spelling out titles; LinkedIn is smart and knows the acronyms. You don’t need to mention your current employer in your headline, so customize your headline for the role you want.
About (summary)
LinkedIn automatically shows the first three lines – so make them count with an impactful statement about you. Sell yourself! Remember, it is the current best practice to write in the first person. Social media is about making connections and writing in the third person puts up a wall. This section has 2,600 characters (recently expanded but I have not yet tested it) and is a great place to repeat your keywords and skills. Be creative and show a little of your personality!
Experience – (job title – this is another critical section for the algorithms)
LinkedIn provides 100 characters for each job title – think of it as a mini headline and expand how you use it beyond just the exact title your last employer gave you. Make sure you translate your title and job description to make sense to the outside world. Don’t assume everyone uses the same lingo. Not using your space/characters is a lost opportunity. You have 2,000 characters for the description. You should consider repeating your keywords/skills throughout your employment history.
Skills
LinkedIn allows you to have up to 50 skills on your profile. The skills you include on your profile should relate to the job you want, not just the one you had. The LinkedIn skills directory offers you a choice of recognized skills to choose from and don’t create your own – if it is not on the list, it is not in the search engine. Make sure you have enough depth related to the job you want.
Check your homework before you hand it in
- Please, please, please update your LinkedIn URL and not doing so tells the world you are not tech-savvy.
- Customize your banner. This is another way to stand out from the crowd. Sticking with the standard default banner is a missed opportunity to help people feel connected to you.
LinkedIn by the Numbers (characters)
- First Name – 20
- Last Name – 40
- Headline – 240
- About/Summary – 2,600
- Position/Title – 100
- Position Description – 2,000
* LinkedIn is constantly updating their platform, so numbers/characters are subject to change
