Top tips to improve your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn has become the single most important social network for professionals globally. Since the pandemic, it has become even more vital for networking as we now spend less time meeting people face to face and building our connectivity in more traditional ways. Many of us spend a lot of time working to build the profile of our employers and enhancing our own place in the workforce. However, we spend less time thinking about how to build and showcase our own personal brand, and LinkedIn should be the first starting point for your personal branding strategy.

I work with many clients who are thinking about their next career move and, in my experience, building an effective LinkedIn profile often has a much higher impact on the opportunities they see than a newly formatted CV or cover letter.

Please find below my key tips to think about in order to optimise your online presence in LinkedIn. Some of them will take a couple of minutes whilst others are a longer-term project, but I believe that all of them are well worth considering in order to give you a strong profile which appeals to employers and recruiters.

Upload a professional profile picture

LinkedIn is a social network and we all like to see who we are dealing with – please do remember though that this is not Facebook or Instagram so your profile photo should reflect your professional image and not you on your summer holiday! I would recommend a smiling head and shoulders shot, wearing business attire. That’s all you need to create the right look and to ensure that people realise your profile is real and in use.

Make your LinkedIn headline more than your job title

I see countless headlines which offer no clue as to what people actually do. When I was a head hunter, I used to use LinkedIn daily to identify potential candidates and, when you are scrolling through lots of profiles, it is important to be able to identify exactly what someone does as easily as possible. It is great to say that you are a CEO or a Relationship manager or a Client Services Manager but that tells me nothing about your industry or your specialism. Add some extra detail so that everyone who sees your headline knows what you do and in what sector, industry or market.

Write an ‘About’ section

Lots of people don’t complete the 'About' section. I believe this is a mistake as this falls at the top of your LinkedIn profile and it represents your first and best opportunity to tell a story about your career. When I write LinkedIn profiles for my clients, I try to combine some real information about what they have done, coupled with a handful of key achievements or competencies. This works well as it humanises you and is an excellent summary of what you can offer as a professional. Trust me when I say this is well worth the effort.

Don’t leave the ‘Experience’ section blank

One of my pet hates is LinkedIn profiles with just an employer and job title listed, as this means absolutely nothing to a reader. In fact, depending on your job title, this could mislead someone completely and result in you missing potential job opportunities. I recommend that you write at least a couple of sentences to explain your role and, preferably, you should have several bullet points which gives a reader certainty about your specific responsibilities and achievements. Please do be aware, though, that LinkedIn is a public forum so make sure you avoid listing any confidential information.

Grow your network

It is vital to add relevant contacts to build up your network - the more contacts you have, the higher you will move up the LinkedIn search rankings. This will make you a lot more visible to recruiters and potential employers and will increase your chances of being considered for roles which are not publicly advertised. Focus on adding recruiters who are active in your space, together with senior leaders and HR professionals at firms you may be interested in joining. Current and former colleagues are always a good way to build additional connections quickly and they will normally accept your invitation without question.

List your relevant skills

LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to list up to 50 skills so please do use as many as you can and make sure you stay relevant by updating your skills as you move through your career. If you use all 50, then you can consider removing older skills which are no longer important or in areas of operation where you no longer wish to work. In my opinion, there is no value in adding generic skills such as ‘Microsoft Word’ or ‘Excel’ as familiarity with these is routinely expected for all job seekers in 2023.

Request recommendations

Recommendations are personal references, written to demonstrate a positive impression of working with you. If you scroll down to the ‘Recommendations’ section of your profile, you will find a drop-down menu by clicking on the + symbol which makes it straightforward to ask your chosen connection to recommend you. Make sure that the people you approach will add value to your profile due to their own position or seniority and it is worthwhile personalising the invite; I would also suggest that you offer to recommend them in return.

Share media, thought pieces or articles

Anything you can add to your profile which positions you as a subject matter expert or thought leader is a real positive. As long as there are no confidentiality restrictions, you should consider adding any collateral that you produce for your employer as well. Any white papers or research reports you have written can also add to your own profile as well as the firm you work for.

Add comments

There is no point in having a great network if you don’t engage with your connections, raising your own profile in the process. If you see an interesting article or post in your feed, consider if you can add value to the debate with your own experience and insight. At the very least, you should ‘like’ posts which you agree with as a starting point. Anything you can do to create some ‘noise’ in the wider marketplace is a positive in terms of making you more visible.

Follow influencers

Following relevant influencers on LinkedIn helps to include interesting content in your feed, which can add to your own knowledge base. You then have the option to share this with your network or comment when you think it adds value. I would avoid following any overtly political or controversial figures though!

Final Thoughts

If you can get LinkedIn to work harder for you, this will raise your profile, expand your network and make it much more likely that you will be contacted by hiring managers or recruiters. Once you have made the changes above, this is passive and doesn’t require a huge time commitment from you, outside of spending ten minutes a couple of times a week ensuring that you haven’t missed anything important. The best news is that this is all cumulative – the more you do to improve your LinkedIn profile, the more you get back in return and the activity will snowball rapidly, making it much more likely that you will see a wider range of opportunities.

If you would welcome a discreet conversation regarding your LinkedIn profile, your CV or any other aspect of your career transition, then please do get in touch to book an initial free consultation.