Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting Social Media on August 9, 2009 at 5:34 pm
As a Campus Spokesperson for LinkedIn, I am currently in the midst of facilitating a series of training webinars for college career services professionals (sign up here if you haven’t already — they are free!). I recently wrote a blog post for CollegeRecruiter.com advising career services professionals how to improve their LinkedIn profiles. Today I’ve adapted those tips for job seekers and young professionals:
As the largest and most vibrant professional social network, LinkedIn provides a wealth of opportunities for job seekers and ambitious young professionals. But LinkedIn doesn’t work unless you work it.
How can you make the most of LinkedIn? Here are some tips for creating a profile that will impress employers, colleagues, headhunters, professional association members and more:
1. Include keywords in your summary statement. The Summary portion of your profile provides a chance to share the highlights of your bio in your own words. It’s also a place to include key words and phrases that a recruiter or hiring manager might type into a search engine to find a person like you. The best place to find relevant keywords is in the job listings that appeal to you and the LinkedIn profiles of people who currently hold the kinds of positions you want. Check out LinkedIn’s Company Pages feature to search through the profiles of employees at your dream employers. And remember, it is absolutely fine — crucial, in fact — to include unpaid or volunteer work in your Summary. If you are a current student or recent grad, you can include relevant coursework and extra curricular achievements as well.
2. Write for the screen. LinkedIn, or any website for that matter, is not the place for long-form prose. Present your summary statement in short blocks of text with lots of white space. Bullet points are great, too.
3. List all experience. One of the most valuable aspects of LinkedIn is the way it connects you with former colleagues and classmates—which, as we all know, are some of our best networking contacts. It would be a shame if a long lost former colleague or classmate, who happens to be a recruiter now, couldn’t find you because you hadn’t listed that shared employment in your LinkedIn profile.
4. Collect diverse recommendations. Nothing builds credibility like third party endorsements. The most impressive LinkedIn profiles have at least one recommendation associated with each job a person has held. Think about soliciting recommendations from professors, internship coordinators and colleagues, employers, classmates with whom you shared an extra curricular activity and professional mentors.
5. Share your news frequently. The best way to stay on other people’s radar screens is to update your status on LinkedIn (the box near the top of your profile) at least once a week. Tell people about events you are attending, major projects you’ve completed, professional books you are reading, successes you are celebrating or any other news that you would tell someone at a networking reception or on a quick catch-up phone call.
Want to become a more active user of LinkedIn? Check out the LinkedIn Learning Center and, for students, the LinkedIn Grads Guide. I also recommend Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover.
Facebook is what it is, but it is not the be-all and end-all of social media, and for the professional person LinkedIn is the definitive social media network. Recruitment agencies and headhunters are increasingly using LinkedIn to source candidates, so there is no better time than the now to get your career experience out there. Who knows what may come your way!
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This is great advice, thanks – nice to see a ’5 things you can do…’ article that includes 5 genuine tips that are neither a complete idiots guide or too random to be useful to the majority.
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Good one!
Thanks
Fantastic insightful guide for using linkedin. Can I add making your key sections (your best jobs/achievements) available on your external profile. This gives your name more exposure with those keywords for search engines. If a potential employer google’s your name you want this profile near the top
Great Presentation today!!!
Katherine C. Read
Assistant Director, Employer Relations
University of Central Florida
Thank you for some great tips.
Great advice. I think that’s one of the things most people don’t know is how to use online tools the right way.
[...] You Join the Real World, a popular career advice guide for college students and recent graduates. On her blog, she shares tips on LinkedIn for all job seekers. As the largest and most vibrant professional social network, [...]
Lindsey, very good, detailed, suggestions. This is helpful information for all new grads and people in career transition. Our economy requires we develop new, effective strategies for developing our profiles.
[...] How to get the most from one of the largest social networks, 5 steps for a successful LinkedIn profile. [...]
Great post. Thank you for this.
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