LinkedIn is an amazing tool for career development. Your profile hums along attracting attention while you are off doing other things. At least that’s how it should work. Here are some LinkedIn tips to make sure you are getting noticed.
When you choose your company, make sure you use the right one. In large corporations, there may be multiple divisions or different brands. Look at the profiles of your colleagues and leaders to see what they chose.
Describe your role in bullet points and make sure you use specific words that are common in your industry and area of expertise – especially technology and tools – be really specific with those.
Fill in as many of the areas of your profile as you reasonable can. You never know what people like me will be searching for or in what area we will look.
Have a professional looking photo – no dogs, please. And try to find something better than a clipped image from the last wedding you attended. Try this: get someone to take your picture right after your next haircut. That usually works well.
This one seems so obvious but check the email attached to your LinkedIn account and make sure it’s one you actually use. Click the little triangle beside the word Me in the upper right corner. You can review your settings and check your email address and notifications.
Post interesting things happening in your company or in your industry. That is the sort of activity that makes you look like a dynamic person who is paying attention to things other than summer Fridays.
Join some groups that reflect your interests. That bolsters how LinkedIn sees your expertise.
And finally, connect with people. You don’t have to accept every invitation that comes your way but make sure you add at least a few people every month. It keeps things dynamic and interesting.
Apply these LinkedIn tips and your polished profile will be more effective.
You can follow Laura Machan on her twitter account @recruiterscouch. A complete list of her articles can be found here.