Sophie is our marketing lead at Boden Group, she's a LinkedIn wizz. She'll always be making sure that every consultants personal brands are visible on socials. We'd like to think she knows a thing or two about how to make your LinkedIn profile stand out.
You may know that LinkedIn is a compelling way for you to get noticed when looking for a new job. LinkedIn is a platform that allows users to create profiles and connect with others in the professional world. It’s also a network that allows people looking for jobs to find them, and employers to find the best candidates for the job.
In the next few years, LinkedIn will be more heavily used than ever before. With more than 810 million professionals already on LinkedIn and over 58 million companies on the platform, it’s never been easier to find a job or even to land your dream boss.
If you’re having trouble finding employment and don’t have an updated LinkedIn profile, there’s no better time for you to change that.
LinkedIn is a compelling way for job seekers to get noticed. So it’s crucial you don’t just have a profile as it won’t necessarily attract the right individuals to your network. Setting some time aside to work on your profile will help you to connect with more like-minded people and make your profile more searchable.
Make sure that the information on your profile is updated, this is where recruiters will look first when searching for candidates. Make sure it conveys what value you can bring to employers or clients. Use keywords that relate directly to the industry / role / employer etc – this will help others search for you. Try to use a catchy headline like “looking for something new” or “ready for a change.” This will help get recruiters interested in what you have to say before they even read the rest of your profile.
Your headline for LinkedIn will be the first thing someone see’s when coming across your profile. Why are you on the platform? Are you looking to show off your expertise or searching for a new role, when you create a good headline for your LinkedIn profile you’re increasing your chances of people wanting to read more. You should consider including keywords relevant to your industry or job title, highlighting your unique value proposition, or showcasing your accomplishments and skills.
Write about what you do and why you love it? This is an opportunity for people who don’t know much about you to understand why they should connect with you – their mutual connections might think “Hey, if they like this person then I probably will too!” Your about section is the perfect opportunity to specify the industry you want to work in. If you don’t specify that you are looking for a certain type of job, then you risk people who aren’t relevant to your career moving through your profile.
Don’t leave this blank as a recruiter will not be able to gather much information around your experience and background if you are currently out of work use the job title of the ideal role which you are seeking to move in to.
Make sure that all your work experience is listed—don’t leave any jobs off just because they’re not glamorous or well-known. Use action words like “accomplished,” “earned,” and “delivered” when describing your accomplishments; these words show that you have done something worthwhile and makes it seem like you have more experience than someone who doesn’t use them as often as possible.
Don’t forget to add any skills, languages spoken, additional qualifications, courses undertaken or volunteering work which you have not mentioned in your profile so far. All skills and experience are relevant!
LinkedIn has been moving in this direction for years now, but there’s still quite a bit of reluctance from most users when it comes to sharing video or photos. One of the reasons for this is that many people don’t know how to post these types of content. They’re afraid of looking silly or unprofessional by making mistakes when they do it.
Visual content gets shared more than text-based posts so make sure that any photos or videos are relevant and engaging for others. Rich media includes photos, videos, and other types of visual content that engage viewers and help people remember you. In fact, research has shown that images are processed 60,000 times faster than text!
LinkedIn offers several ways to add rich media to your profile:
Embedded videos: You can post videos directly onto your profile page or group wall. This is a great way to showcase your speaking skills or demonstrate how well you communicate with clients.
Photos: Adding photos to your posts can make them more engaging, it makes what you’re writing more personalised, and a potential hiring manager can get to know more about you!
Upload documents: As LinkedIn allows you to upload different types of documents, it would be ideal for showcasing any projects, or documents that support your experience and knowledge.
For example, if you were a Project Manager within a Facilities Management service provider, involved in the fit-out of a retail site then you could have a case study document or before and after pictures of the fit-out.
It is also useful to try to pull out the key bits of information in these projects such as “Who benefited from the work?” “Was the project completed on time?” or “Were you able to cut costs by renegotiating with contractors or suppliers?”.
For your LinkedIn profile to be visible to the right people, you should complete every required section of your profile. Ensuring you complete all parts will allow recruiters to see your skills, work experience and projects you have worked on.
Just as you would with your CV include key achievements. Be as clear as possible and include elements such as the budget you managed, the number of employees you managed and any other results or efficiencies you made while working.
BONUS: Don’t shy away from asking previous or current colleagues for a recommendation. Try to ask people who you work very closely with on a day-to-day basis.
This section will let you include more about your experience, ambitions, skills, interests, and qualifications. The key is to sell yourself as much as possible. Also, in this area, you can add documents such as your CV, feedback, videos, presentations, external URLs and contact details.
Make sure there is no spelling or grammatical errors; these are things that turn potential employers off immediately so take care of them before hitting publish
Customise your profile URL, it is easy to miss that you can edit the link to your profile. See the below image for where to find this option. By default, LinkedIn will have a random string of numbers after your name in the URL.
We suggest you change this to your name, where you have a more popular name such as “John Smith” seek to differentiate this by using your surname first or adding the sector/industry which you work within.
To ensure that you show up in recruiters’ searches, you should try to include keywords that are included within the job descriptions of the roles that you are looking for.
By using advanced search filters, LinkedIn Recruiter allows recruiters and hiring managers to find the right candidates for open positions. This means that they can filter by your location, years of experience, skills, job titles, and other criteria.
The LinkedIn search algorithms can be optimised by you including relevant keywords in your profile sections. This can increase your chances of appearing in the search results and being seen by the recruiter.
Now you can start to build your network! The first step would be to search for previous and current colleagues as well as friends and family members.
LinkedIn also allows you to follow a company profile page where you can see who is employed there, news and social updates. This is also a great way of building a network with within companies which interest you. Look and follow our LinkedIn company page.
Share a post: You can share information around the service you offer, testimonials you have received, news items or even something funny. But be sure to be careful about the type of content and keep it professional.
Engage with others: It is also vital to engage with other LinkedIn users’ posts, comment, like and share, you never know you may gain some exposure and a great connection by having conversations with other people.
Now that you have built a strong and engaging LinkedIn profile, you should be able to land your dream job in no time.
It’s crucial you don’t just have a profile as it won’t necessarily attract the right individuals to your network. setting some time aside to work on your profile will help you to connect with more like-minded people and make your profile more searchable.
There are many social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, which can be used depending upon which sector you work within. But for most professionals, LinkedIn is the best platform to be signed up to. LinkedIn can help you to connect with recruiters or hiring managers and help you to find your ideal job.
If you want to stand out from the other candidates, you need to give the recruiter or hiring manager a reason to call you. Writing a LinkedIn profile that inspires action and helps you stand out from the crowd is easier than most people think. You’ll want to make sure that your profile strikes the perfect balance between professionalism, creativity, and thoughtfulness.
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