Recruiters love to use LinkedIn. It is sort of our bread and butter when initially searching for new people to add to our networks. Ensuring you have a cohesive, professional LinkedIn profile, will go a long way. Here are five tips to help you get started on the right foot.
Profile Picture
Not a bathroom mirror selfie. Not a bathroom mirror selfie. Not a bathroom mirror selfie. You get the picture (pun intended). Make sure that your profile picture is well lit, and in some form of business casual attire. This can be easily obtained by getting a friend or family member to take a picture of you in a well-lit location with a neutral background (leaves, concrete, white wall, etc.) You do not need a professional camera for this, most up-to-date smartphones will do just fine.
URL
A way to set your LinkedIn profile apart, is by customizing your profile’s URL. This can be done by going to the top right of your profile page and clicking “Edit public profile & URL”. From there you can press the little edit icon at the top right in the “Edit URL” block to change the last characters of the URL to your name. This way if you ever want to add your LinkedIn URL to a business card, the link looks more professional and is easier to remember.
Relevant Experiences
Your listed experiences should reflect the career path you want to go down. Essentially, make sure your past experiences will be relevant to new experiences you with to obtain. If you want to go into marketing, don’t list your accounting experience.
Keywords
When a recruiter is searching for profiles that have “Java Developer”, it is the keywords on your profile that will determine whether you show up in the search results or not. Integrating keywords into your profile that highlight the skills you want to be known for, will help you jump to the top of the search list when those skills are searched for.
Recommendations
It always helps to get someone to backup any statements you’ve made about past experiences. Getting a recommendation from someone is almost as credible as a letter of reference. When asking a colleague for a recommendation, it helps to also offer to write them one. That way you are returning the favor.
If you’d rather go directly to a recruiter, feel free to reach out to us today, and we’ll be more than happy to work with you to find your dream job.