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Tips for Employees: How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

Tips for Employees: How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

Wondering how to attract recruiters on Linkedin by upgrading your profile? Follow these tips and stand out in a sea of users.

If you’re on the lookout for a new job, you’ve probably heard that the best way to land an amazing job is by upgrading your Linkedin profile. Well, you couldn’t be more right – Linkedin is a perfect platform to catch the attention of recruiters.

So today, I’m going to show you seven fast and easy tricks for getting noticed on LinkedIn while searching for a new job.

Let’s get a closer look!

Have an Eye-Catching Headline

Who are you? What’s your expertise? What’s your role? If you want to get noticed on Linkedin, you’ll need to work on putting together an eye-catching headline. Also, your headline needs to be SEO-friendly and optimized for Linkedin searches.

For example, let’s say that a recruiter is looking to hire a “PHP developer”. So, a recruiter looking for a PHP developer is going to search for that exact keyword. If you want to make sure that the recruiter finds your Linkedin profile, you need to include that exact keyword in your headline.

At the moment you’re reading this article, Linkedin is creating your headline based on your current job title and company. So, if you’re working at Trello as a PHP developer, your headline is: “PHP Developer at Trello”. But, you have 120 characters to work with.

What does this mean? It means that you have plenty of room to add additional information that will make your Linkedin profile rich with keywords and more easily discoverable. For example, consider expanding the headline to:

PHP Developer at Trello | Team Leader | Laravel | Senior Developer |

Write a Catchy Summary

The headline can make a great first impression, but the summary can really capture the attention of the recruiter. So, it’s only understandable why you should pay attention to putting together an engaging Linkedin summary that’s packed with keywords.

Besides keywords, your summary needs to present in a few lines what is it that you do and what makes you stand out from the crowd. You need to answer the recruiter’s questions: “Why should I hire you?”

For example, if you’re a digital marketer, your summary should say:

How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

Have a Professional Profile Photo

Now that you’ve handled the headline and summary, we come to the part where you need to add a profile photo to your Linkedin profile. My suggestion here is to avoid the part where you smile fakely and pose as a model. People want to see a charismatic face with a genuine charm and professionalism.

Your photo needs to make the right impression to recruiters and present you in the best light. You want to upload a high-quality photo that shows your head, neck, and maybe your shoulders. If you add a photo of your entire body, people might have a hard time recognizing you.

The photo should be current and of you and only you. Skip including other people or objects in the photo. Smile genuinely and get ready to impress recruiters.

Grow Your Contacts List

If you want to know how to make your Linkedin profile stand out from the crowd, you should seriously consider growing your contacts list. You should aim at getting at least 500 connections to tell recruiters that you’re interested in interacting with others. If you have 200 connections or less, you’ll leave the impression that you’re disinterested in networking with people.

However, don’t think that I’m suggesting you should go and start mass-adding people as connections. Instead, make sure you’re sending Linkedin personalized connection messages and letting people know why you want to connect.

Consider saying something like this:

Dear Sarah,

We’ve never met, but your profile came up while I was looking for relevant people in my field who live in Boston. I wanted to hear your thoughts regarding popular conferences I should attend while I’m visiting your town. Can we connect?

  • Your name

Join Groups

The road to how to upgrade your Linkedin profile and receive Linkedin job offers includes joining groups. You might wonder: “Why should I join groups on Linkedin?”

First of all, Linkedin groups are a great way to further your professional network, build your reputation, and increase your industry knowledge. Second of all, by being active on Linkedin groups, you’ll get the chance to show your expertise on a specific topic. You’ll form meaningful relationships with like-minded people and get noticed by people in your industry.

Aim at joining up to 100 Linkedin groups. However, becoming part of a group doesn’t end there. You should be an active member of that group by sharing relevant content with the groups. For example, let’s say that you’re an SEO expert. You may want to share articles about the newest trends in your industry and open discussions. Or, maybe you’re faced with a serious problem and need help from the community.

Your activity in these groups will definitely give your Linkedin profile a boost. Recruiters on Linkedin might also be members of these groups, and this increases your chances of receiving job invitations and going on job interviews. Make sure you post content regularly. Feel free to join discussions and offer solutions to people who’re struggling with a problem.

Be Sociable

A little too often, Linkedin users forget to be active on the platform, consistently. Meaning, if you want to make your Linkedin profile stand out and attract recruiters on Linkedin, being sociable is essential.

What recruiters want to see is someone who shares relevant content weekly. This signals to them that you’re a professional in your field who loves learning new things and sharing knowledge with others.

What you want to do is write articles and other types of content and post them on Linkedin. Writing original content will signal to your network that you’re a professional and serious person who loves what they do. Apart from writing your own content, consider publishing any other content that you think your followers might find useful. It can be a research you found online or an infographic.

Recruiters highly appreciate people who’re active on Linkedin and position themselves as thought leaders.

Gather Those Recommendations

Yes, it’s amazing that you worked at that accounting agency, but do you have the proof to show that you’ve been an exemplary employee? If you lack recommendations, recruiters might think that your experience is fake or that you are a low-performing employee.

So if you’re asking how to make your Linkedin profile stand out, the answer is: gather those recommendations.

Strive to include a short recommendation under every job you’ve ever had. And when you’re asking a person to write a recommendation on your Linkedin profile, let them know that the first two sentences are the most impactful.

For example, your recommendation should look something like this:

“Peter was the best office manager I’ve had in 20 years in this business. I can’t recommend him more highly.”

Gather those recommendations and you’ll be sitting at your new job in no time.

Conclusion

There you have it! Seven easy ways of optimizing your Linkedin profile. Whether you’re looking to land a new job or simply want to upgrade your social media profiles, you’re on the right track. Presenting yourself in a professional manner and being active on social media platforms is a  fantastic way of attracting recruiters’ attention. Standing out in the crowd might seem challenging at first, but nothing is unachievable when you have the right amount of effort and motivation! 

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