Standing out from the crowd is hard to achieve, especially on LinkedIn, a global platform with at least 1 million active professionals.
If you are looking for a career change, it’s vital to create a LinkedIn profile and online presence that impresses recruiters and employers in your chosen industry. You need to give them a reason to be curious the more they learn about you. It may sound like a difficult feat, but it’s completely possible.
Furthermore, your LinkedIn profile should match the type of job you want. You are essentially using the platform to market and brand your skills, values and goals. And the hope is that you are contacted for an interview with a company that suits your ideal workplace.
In this article, you’ll learn methods that will make your LinkedIn profile more magnetic for the next job that could change your career for the better. We will give you tips on how to maximise your profile and optimise each section to further your chances of getting noticed by the best employers and recruiters in Ireland.
6 Fast Tips for Maximising your LinkedIn Profile Reach
Before we delve into what to include in the most important sections of your LinkedIn profile, here are some quick tips you can apply straight away to your page:
- If your LinkedIn profile visibility is currently set to private, consider changing it to public so that employers who want to find you, can.
- Use specific keywords throughout your profile that match the job you’re looking for. If you optimise elements of your profile with key terms and phrases you expect a potential employer to use, you will appear in more search results.
- The more robust your profile is, the higher you will be in the search rankings. So, ensure that your entire LinkedIn is filled out, including sections like companies, education, and awards. According to LinkedIn, they are the key items on which employers and recruiters search for.
- Post regularly on LinkedIn about topics relevant to the industry you are pursuing, tell people about your business achievements and share blogs or articles you’ve written.
- Use the LinkedIn importer tool to bring your real world professional relationships online and to find your contacts who are already on LinkedIn. The larger your network is, the higher your chances of getting noticed are.
- If you’re looking for a new job, it’s important to update your Career Interests section, as this will open the door wider to you receiving more opportunities.
What to Include in Each Section of Your LinkedIn Profile
Many people fail to maximise their LinkedIn profile reach when it comes to filling out each element. So, to help you create a captivating profile, here is what we recommend you include.
Job Title: Try to avoid generic terms such as “Brand Manager” or “Account Executive, as these don’t describe the unique value you have to offer prospective employers. Be more specific and demonstrate a customer-centric mindset by writing a job title that tells employers exactly what you specialise in. Think of keywords related to your current or future role, and if you incorporate those words, not only will it improve your search visibility, it will also demonstrate you speak the industry language.
Example: “Brand Manager” might become “Brand Manager for Creative Design Agency”.
Headline: Think of your LinkedIn headline as a 5-second elevator pitch that compels an employer to want to read more about you. Be specific yet creative, and remember to use keywords that accurately reflect your skillset.
Example: Injecting creativity and a fresh perspective into design brand campaigns.
Summary: Your summary section can be used for either a short and sweet snapshot of your personality, skills and work goals or a more elaborate narrative. Use this space to describe what your current position is, and if you are looking for a career transition, mention what the next role is that you are seeking. Remember to update your summary after each job so that’s it up-to-date and relevant to your current goals.
Work Experience: A thorough and detailed work history suggests a commitment to your career, which builds trust. It gives potential employers an idea of what your skillset looks like, so that they can decipher if you are a good fit for their job vacancies. Incomplete or small-worded job descriptions may raise questions with prospective employers and won’t help your chances of appearing search results.
Education: Giving details of the universities and degrees you have completed tells the story of your professional life. It proves your academic achievements and makes your profile more searchable through keywords. And remember, your ideal employer is looking for someone with the right skills and knowledge. So, instead of merely saying you went to a university, why not tell employers exactly which skills and knowledge you developed during your student days?
Skills and Endorsements: This section is a way of demonstrating social proof on LinkedIn for you and your abilities. Potential employers might notice that you have relatively few endorsements for a skill or experience that is required for their position and that you have received many more for a different skill. That sends a clear signal to them: where your expertise really lies. Therefore, it’s so important to have a strong LinkedIn network of people that know you personally and who can vouch for the skills you say you have. Don’t be afraid to reach out to former colleagues and managers and ask them to endorse you for a skill you want to be noticed for!
According to LinkedIn, people with 5 or more skills listed are contacted up to 33x more by recruiters/employers than other LinkedIn members, and receive up to 17x more profile views.
Recommendations: From an employer’s point of view, recommendations provide valuable insights into a person’s abilities and skillset. But gone are the days where 1 or 2 sentences is enough. Employers and recruiters now look for long, detailed recommendations that talk about a person’s strengths, how he/she got along with other co-workers and how the person overcame problems at work. When you reach out to your network and ask for recommendations, be strategic about it and suggest experiences or skills that you would like them to highlight. Ask them to quantify their recommendations by including specific examples because specific measurable examples attract more attention than some bland and generic statements.
To Conclude
It may sound like a lot of work, but once your LinkedIn profile clearly represents who you are and what your career goals are, the hardest part is over. The most important thing to remember in the quest for your next role, is that people with “up to date” profiles are discovered up to 18 times more in searches by employers and recruiters. LinkedIn suggests that if you’re currently in transition, rather than note unemployed you can add a title similar to what you want to pursue. For example, “marketing executive open to field marketing positions”.
The Author: Andrew Ganly, Associate Director, The Panel Search & Selection
Andrew has worked with The Panel for over 15 years’ and current manages the Accountancy Division. He is responsible for recruiting senior finance roles in industry on a permanent & contract basis, for a wide range of clients across multiple sectors, often on an exclusive basis. Whether you are a client looking to fill an important role or a candidate seeking advice on their next move Andrew is well placed to advise you on the current market.
If you would like to discuss your career path, contact Andrew Ganly on [email protected] or 01 – 6377085 today.
