Careers > Finding a Job
Maximise Your LinkedIn Profile
In March 2022, LinkedIn had over 33 million users in the UK (Statista, 2022). Whilst I’m sure you are one of the users, it’s likely, like many others, that you aren’t maximising the potential of your LinkedIn profile. Used correctly, LinkedIn comes with a whole host of benefits such as finding new opportunities, learning new skills, sharing expertise and gaining career advice.
In This Article
Key Points:
- LinkedIn has nearly 800 million members – use them!
- Keep your profile relevant and up-to-date – it is your virtual introduction!
- Utilise your network to keep up with the latest trends and learn from their expertise
- Stay visible – share your updates and experiences
There are a few key areas of focus to maximise your potential on LinkedIn.
Completing Your Profile
Your LinkedIn profile is your virtual introduction. It is the first thing colleagues, recruiters and potential employers will see. LinkedIn helps you complete your profile and keep it active by providing prompts – it’s good to keep on top of these.
- Profile Picture
Having a clear and professional picture is a good place to start. LinkedIn research suggests that having a picture of yourself leads to 21x more profile visits.
You can also take advantage of the background photo. It sits behind your profile picture and can be used to give some visual context of what you do, supporting the written portions of your profile.
- Headline
Explain who you are, what you do or what you’re trying to achieve. You don’t have many characters for this, so keep it brief.
- Summary
It’s about you – write it how you would like to be perceived and try to capture your reader right to the very end. It’s your opportunity to tell your story, highlight your industry experience, skills and achievements. According to LinkedIn, members who add a summary receive up to 3.9 times as many profile views.
- Experience
Give details of your current and previous experiences. Try to be specific about what your role entailed and what your key responsibilities were.
- Recommendations & Endorsements
You could ask some previous or current colleagues to recommend or endorse you for certain skill sets. This is essentially a ‘review’ that prospective employers can read. You can also recommend & endorse others.
Building a Network
Build a professional network that reflects your interests and goals. Add people from previous experiences as well as adding new contacts shortly after meeting them. In addition, you can follow individuals and companies of interest. By building a network, you are increasing your exposure to the latest trends within the industry, contacts for future roles, and your reach for any information you wish to share.
Staying Visible
Like many other social network sites, LinkedIn offers the opportunity to update your network through posting statuses, articles, videos and pictures. This is a great way to keep your network up to date with your latest achievements, share insights and experiences or showcase your industry expertise.
Are You Looking For a New Role?
LinkedIn also has a job searching function; it's a great way to look for a new role or browse what is available in your industry.
References
Statista. 2022. Share of LinkedIn users in the United Kingdom (UK) as of March 2022, by age group. [online] Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/ 278322/age-distribution-of-linkedin-users-in-great-britain/#statisticContainer> [Accessed 21 April 2022].
Callahan, S., 2018. Picture Perfect: Make A Great First Impression with Your LinkedIn Profile Photo. [Blog] Sales Blog, Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/business/ sales/blog/b2b-sales/picture-perfect –make-a-great-first-impression-with-your-linkedi#:~:text=Statistics%20show% 20that%20LinkedIn%20members, before%20even%20speaking%20a% 20word.> [Accessed 21 April 2022].
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