If you don’t know how to make a great LinkedIn profile then you have clicked on the right link. I am here to offer you some free advice 😀 that won’t just assist you in making a decent profile but also, keep up the integrity consistent.
First of all, let me tell you why the LinkedIn profile is important for you. Regardless of whether you’re a businessman, job seeker, employee, or learner. LinkedIn is a one-stop solution for all your professional needs. Also, it is the largest professional network in the world that makes it a mandate for all businesses, professionals, and learners.
LinkedIn started as an online platform in 2002, to provide employment and make a mutual community for both employees and employers. LinkedIn allows businesses to make their business page on the platform to provide updates, information, and to list job vacancies in the organization.
Unlike before, LinkedIn is not just an online job provider. It has become the most used social networking site by business professionals. It is believed that any individual who is looking forward to shaping their career, or starting freelance work, or enhancing their network, or would like to perform any work-related activity so he/she must be an active user of LinkedIn. With each passing year, LinkedIn has seen a sharp hike in its users. As of May 2020, LinkedIn had 690+ million registered users in over 150 countries. All thanks to science and technology, the LinkedIn populace is on the boom and it’s not going to collapse shortly.
If something is so popular then there must be some reasons behind it, such as LinkedIn. Its user-friendly interface and features are best suited for professional individuals and learners.
Worldwide online job provider
According to the statistics, there are approximately 92% of the companies finding appropriate candidates through social media. Out of them, there are 87% of companies, using only LinkedIn to find the best candidates. Moreover, as per LinkedIn statistics as of April 2020, 35.5 million individuals are being hired through their LinkedIn connections.
A standout amongst other social media platforms for career growth
Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn too facilitates you to connect with like-minded people and relevant employers/businesses/startups that enable you to stay updated and keep them posted with your accomplishments or skills that you’ve learned recently. It helps them to understand your work better. The more time you’ll invest to help your audience understanding you and your work, the more you will get the return. Even I, myself get 80% of writing projects through LinkedIn connections only. LinkedIn motivates me to write more and get more clients.
Do you know who all are viewing your profile?
LinkedIn allows us to see who all are interested or recently viewed your profile. For your convenience, LinkedIn sends a notification whenever anybody views your profile. It helps to track your viewers as well as to comprehend the recruiters/companies interested in you. Further, if you’re a premium user then you can check back who has seen your profile.
Stay updated with all corporate news
Nowadays Instagram has become the most used social media application. Despite everything, some people still log in to LinkedIn consistently and update about their work. With my understanding, I can say LinkedIn offers you a chance to get corporate bits from an authorized resource that increases the news credibility and you can flaunt your knowledge in the matter among others.
An astounding platform for learners/beginners
LinkedIn is a free asset for all Freshers on the platform. Its news feed is always filled with plenty of business professionals’ status updates and their corporate news or contextual analyses. Within an hour spent scrolling LinkedIn, a person can learn more than an entire day at college.
Since all of you have seen that it is vital to make a LinkedIn profile yet it is likewise imperative to understand that it’s even more critical to make a great LinkedIn profile.
Always remember, “Irrelevant or disordered information is the same as no information.” It is pivotal to arrange the required information to communicate the correct information in the right order. It is important to understand from a recruiter’s perspective or a person who’s looking for any freelancer and thereby highlight appropriate information.
a. A recruiter or a client who’s interested to give you a job or hire you for a freelance project would prefer to know about your skills or what you have learned yet, to assess your work proficiency. You can add skills from the Skills & Endorsement section under View Profile.
b. Showcase your sample work in your LinkedIn profile to differentiate it from other users. Everyone on LinkedIn is trying to impress the viewers yet there are a few users who upload their sample works. Uploading the samples has two benefits; first of all, the recruiter/client gets all the vital information about you in one go that allows them to evaluate your competency more promptly. Second of all, your profile becomes more accomplished in comparison with others.
You can add links to your prior work or attach the samples through the attachment button in the summary section.
c. On LinkedIn, numerous groups/pages may address all your professional concerns. Though, you have to be selective about what kind of groups does match your profile as you can join up to 50 groups only. These groups/pages are an immense source of authoritative corporate information, a strong channel to promote your skills or talent, a quick feedback platform, a hub of recruiters. All these benefits clearly state the importance of joining LinkedIn groups or following respective pages.
Do you know?
On average, a person spends 1 minute on each profile. Whether the person would scroll down or switch to another profile, depends on what information you give in that 1 minute. The following are key points to highlight to create a great LinkedIn profile.
1. Always put in your time and efforts to make it worth
Take enough time and put appropriate efforts to make your LinkedIn profile. If an individual clicks on your profile, he/she might want to know about your skills, prior experiences and achievements, and what people think of you. The good part is – LinkedIn has a feature that helps you check the ‘completeness of your profile’ and offer suggestions to make your profile even better.
Please ensure: Don’t use those boring and overused words anymore. (Confident, multitasker, responsible, expert, adaptive, etc.) Be the most creative representation of yourself!
2. Picture for your persona
The very first thing a viewer views in your profile is your profile picture. According to psychological science behind a profile picture, on average a person takes only 40milliseconds to portray an image of an individual based on a picture. In light of the profile picture, the recruiter tries to judge your personality, approachability, and dominant nature. Indeed, we should not bother about what others think of us, but at the same time, we have to reveal our personality diplomatically to get as much as a possible consideration. According to psychological science, it is recommended to have a profile picture with:
– A wide smile with teeth tells about your friendly and polite nature and enhances the approachability.
– Your dress speaks a lot about your working profession. Take formal attire to show off your personality and competence as a professional.
– The profile picture should be either head to waist image or head to shoulders. Close-ups and side shoots can be less thought of.
– Do not put a picture with a hat, sunglasses, mask, or anything that hides your face or facial expressions.
– Make sure your eyes are open and try to put a picture where you’re facing the camera (highly recommended).
– Check what other professionals (same as your profession) are displaying as their profile picture, which will help you to understand relevant employers and their expectations.
3. Great headline for a great LinkedIn profile
If someone is looking at your profile, definitely it has some purpose behind it. Maybe he/she is finding a mentor in you or a suitable candidate for the job or any other professional interests. However, a viewer always craves something attractive and unique in everyone and LinkedIn’s headline feature allows showcasing yourself most concisely. Also, use appropriate keywords that may help your profile to stand out.
For example, job seekers on LinkedIn usually add ‘unemployed’ in their headlines to inform the recruiters about their availability. In this case, the recruiter will not be able to know what you can exactly do for them? On the contrary, I would recommend giving a bit more information about your profile. For instance, ‘Mass communication graduate, looking for job opportunities or ‘Experienced Software Engineer, seeking a competent job offer.’
4. Use Summary space to tell your journey at a glimpse
The viewer would always like to know more about you. Hence, it is essential to write an engaging summary so that after reading, the reader can make a favorable act (for instance, accepting your connection request, or considering you for a job). LinkedIn’s Summary feature helps the reader to understand your rational abilities too. While writing the summary, it is recommended to add the points listed below –
– Nobody likes to read a wordy article in a LinkedIn profile; it should be short and crispy with all vital information
– Elaborate your onsite duties and accomplishments
– Tell me about your thoughts, ambitions, and describe your personality
– Numbers are always given more priority; incorporate accomplishments and earlier demonstrated outcomes in numbers (if any)
– LinkedIn knows that a picture talks more than words; you can add photos and videos to your summary as well.
– Freshers are advised to tell about their qualifications and future endeavors as well as the link to their portfolio based on the requirements of relevant business/employer (if required) and make sure people can find you easily through your skills.
5. Get a custom URL (linkedin.com/yourname)
Custom URL makes the profile search easy, especially in the case of identical names. Moreover, it shows you have extraordinary information on LinkedIn that highlights in the long run to improve your profile credibility. Additionally, it is seen that profiles with custom URLs are given more preference in comparison with non-custom URL users.
Instructions to have your own custom URL from desktop/laptop:
· Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
· Click View profile.
· Click Edit public profile & URL in the right rail.
o You’ll be redirected to the Public profile settings page.
· Under Edit your custom URL in the right rail, click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL.
o It’ll be an address that looks like www.linkedin.com/in/yourname.
· Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box.
· Click Save.
Source: LinkedIn Help
Instructions to have your own custom URL from desktop/laptop:
§ To change your public profile URL:
· Tap your profile picture.
· Scroll to the Contact section and tap the Edit icon.
· On the Edit contact info page, tap on your personal Profile URL.
o You’ll be redirected to the Public profile settings page.
· Under the Edit your custom URL, tap the Edit the icon next to your public profile URL.
· Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box.
· Tap Save.
Source: LinkedIn Help
6. Ask for a recommendation/ endorsement
“The best advertising is done by satisfied customers.’’ 90% of the business comes from word of mouth and anyone who comes on LinkedIn, its major motive is to build contacts and expand the business online (most the preferred platform for freelancers) that make the recommendations or endorsements essential from respective clients or employers.
7. Keep your LinkedIn profile updated
Your LinkedIn connections must be aware of all relevant updates that help them to know more about you and your work. For example, your involvement in an ongoing project, your experience in past projects, case studies, newly learned skills, the last interview you gave/took, or anything related to your profession that may help your connections to understand you or your work.
8. Don’t hesitate to send connection requests
The more connections you’ll have, the more your business will expand or you’re more likely to get a job. It doesn’t matter whether you send the connection request or the other person. Likewise, it’s a smart action to send a connection request with a customized inviting message. It feels more personal as well as professional and leaves a decent impression too.
9. Stay active
As mentioned above, LinkedIn has become a mandate for all professionals. Your connections should never feel like you’re an inactive LinkedIn user that gives an impression of unprofessionalism but don’t stay 24*7 available on the platform too, it infers that you don’t have much work and you’re quite free. On average, revert within 24hours (not too late, not too quick).
10. Give respect, get respect
Like you, your connections must be using somewhat the same strategies to make a great LinkedIn profile too. That means, certainly they will also be uploading relevant business information and updating status to stay on the top. Hence, whenever you see a good piece of content or informative post, always appreciate and encourage that connection. Your one like or comment on a post will leave a good impact on another person and in return, he/she might help you to be on the top or may notice your profile that’ll help in building relationships too.
11. Take skill assessments, become a verified LinkedIn user
LinkedIn has its own skill assessments. Each user can give those assessments as per their domain. If you clear the assessment, you will get the verified badge from LinkedIn that will be showcased on your profile. Certainly, a user with a verified skills badge has more than a 30% of the chances to get the job he/she applies for.
For For more information, you can visit LinkedIn Skills Assessment | LinkedIn Help
Use these tips to make a great LinkedIn profile and let me know if you still face any issues, we can certainly find out the solution together. Also, tell me in the comment section if there’s anything else that bothers you about LinkedIn, I’ll try to solve your query.