How to get a Winning LinkedIn Profile?
LinkedIn is the number 1 social business platform with over 600 million users worldwide – can you afford not to be on it?
Who needs a profile
Whether you are a recent graduate, active job seeker, happily employed professional or just looking to expand your business and peer network LinkedIn offers something for everyone. You can engage with peers in your network and community, help your career, build new business relationships and contribute to topics of interest. By having an active profile, you can stay connected with the people & groups who are within your area of interest.
Steps to your winning profile
Photo – Make sure you have a professional photo on LinkedIn – no holiday snaps, wedding pic’s, or nights out photos. Your photo should be friendly, open, and professional. People want to know who you are - who are they connecting to?
Tag Line – This is really important and sits just under your profile picture it is a one-liner that describes who you are or what you do. Make it catchy and unique to you.
Summary of who you are
Put in a few lines here, mention some of your key achievements, what are you most proud of. Tip- always write in the first person. It's a great section to write about your expertise, background and achievements in your own way, make it personal and try avoiding buzzwords such as extensive, attractive, etc
Relevant Industry Experience - Write a short concise overview of your last few roles again try to focus on your achievements. Your LinkedIn profile should not be an exact replica of your CV, it should give your reader a little more or different information about you while still highlighting your key skills and experience. You don’t need to go into as much detail as you would with your CV.
Volunteer Experience – definitely fill in this section if you have or currently do any type of volunteer work, 40% of future employers are as interested in your volunteer experience as they are in your paid experience. Be proud of giving back whether it is helping a charity, volunteering in your local GAA, the Football club.
Education – in addition to your main education make sure you add in any extracurricular activities such as awards, honours, committees you have received or involved in.
Skills – add in your key skills you can use a max of 50 but start with your main skills – this is what your network and colleagues can endorse you for and therefore giving your profile more weight.
Achievements – Add in any special achievements you are proud of
Request Recommendations – this is a great way of bolstering your profile, ask for requests from team members you have worked with, previous employers, clients etc. Give recommendations also
You can also check out the following YouTube video from Heather Austin which goes through some of the above steps in more detail and gives you sample profiles.
Here’s to connecting with you on LinkedIn
Audrey
