How to write an impressive LinkedIn profile and why is it so important?
Writing an impressive LinkedIn profile requires a combination of professionalism, authenticity, and strategic use of keywords regardless of your experience level. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create a compelling LinkedIn profile:
- Profile Picture:
Use a high-quality, professional headshot where you are smiling and dressed appropriately for your industry, keep selfies of you ‘out on the town’ to your personal socials.
- Headline:
Craft a headline that clearly states your current position and expertise. For example – “Marketing graduate with first class degree seeking entry level role in London” or, “Senior marketing leader from finance industry available immediately”.
Add keywords related to your skills or industry to make your profile more discoverable in searches by recruiters or in-house talent teams.
- Summary:
Write a captivating summary that showcases your unique value proposition.
Tell your professional story, highlighting your key skills, experiences, and achievements.
Mention your career goals and what you are passionate about.
Use bullet points and short paragraphs for easy readability.
- Experience:
Detail your work experiences with a focus on accomplishments and quantifiable achievements.
Use action verbs to describe your responsibilities and emphasise your impact.
Include relevant metrics or statistics to demonstrate your contributions.
- Skills & Endorsements:
List key skills related to your field. Be specific and use industry-standard terms.
Ask colleagues, supervisors, and clients to endorse your skills to enhance credibility.
- Recommendations:
Request recommendations from colleagues, managers, or clients who can vouch for your skills and work ethic.
Aim for a diverse set of recommendations that cover different aspects of your professional abilities.
- Education:
Include your educational background, mentioning degrees, institutions, and relevant coursework or honours.
- Certifications and Awards:
Highlight any marketing certifications, awards, or honours you have received, these can be academic, professional or personal achievements such as Duke of Edinburgh Awards or sporting achievements where you have raised money for charity/
- Projects and Publications:
Describe significant projects you’ve worked on, mentioning your role, responsibilities, and outcomes.
If applicable, include links to publications, articles, or presentations you’ve authored or contributed to.
- Volunteer Experience:
Include volunteer experiences, showcasing your commitment to social causes or community involvement.
- Custom URL:
Customise your LinkedIn URL to make it look clean and professional. It’s easier to share and looks more polished. E.g. www.linkedin.com/in/B2Bmarketeer
- Media:
Add multimedia elements like videos, presentations, or documents to showcase your work.
Visual elements make your profile more engaging.
- Engagement:
Engage with your network by sharing relevant articles, insights, and updates.
Comment on and share posts from others in your industry to demonstrate your knowledge and interest.
- Privacy Settings:
Adjust your privacy settings to let recruiters know you’re open to job opportunities if you are actively job-seeking. Don’t forget to allow people to send you messages via LinkedIn otherwise you won’t be contactable and may miss out on the perfect role.
- Regular Updates:
Keep your profile current with your latest experiences, skills, and accomplishments.
Update your status regularly to stay on your network’s radar.
- Keywords:
Whilst this might be number 16 on the list, from a recruitment perspective this is one of the most important points to understand. Your profile should be peppered with keywords that relate to your experience as this is one of the ways LinkedIn identifies suitable candidates when a recruiter or hiring manager is searching for candidates. Use industry-specific keywords relevant to your skills and expertise. This will greatly improve your visibility in searches and take the leg work out of your job search.
- Be Authentic:
Be genuine in your profile. Authenticity makes you relatable and trustworthy.
- Proofread:
Check your profile for grammatical errors and typos. A polished profile reflects attention to detail.
- Seek Feedback:
Ask a mentor, colleague, or friend to review your profile and provide feedback.
- Stay Professional:
Maintain a professional tone in all your interactions and posts on LinkedIn.
Remember, an impressive LinkedIn profile not only showcases your skills and experiences but also reflects your personality and enthusiasm for your field. Keep your profile updated, engage with your network, and you’ll be well on your way to making a strong impression on potential employers and professional contacts.
Why is an impressive LinkedIn profile so important?
Recruiters, hiring managers and potential employers often search for a person’s LinkedIn profile for a variety of reasons. Does the LinkedIn profile match what’s written on the CV? Is there any additional information on the profile that’s worth knowing? For those seeking a new job, it’s an incredibly useful tool and a very easy way to be approached for new opportunities, rather than relying on applying to job adverts which can be time consuming.
Why not spend 15 minutes on your LinkedIn profile using the above checklist?
