Many people wonder what to write on their LinkedIn profile and how to stand out from others. This blog post outlines the benefits of joining LinkedIn, explains the difference between writing your CV and LinkedIn profile, and explains what to write in each section of your LinkedIn profile.
What are the benefits of joining LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, designed to help colleagues and businesses stay in touch. LinkedIn sell recruiter licences to companies and recruitment agencies who wish to use the site to headhunt people who may not actively be looking for a new role and therefore cannot be found on internet job sites such as Monster, Total Jobs and Indeed.
LinkedIn is likely to be one of the first places recruiters, employers and anyone searching for your name visit to find out more about you. If you set up a public LinkedIn profile, this is one of the first results which appears when someone googles your name, so this allows ex-colleagues, managers and recruiters to contact you.
Many people use LinkedIn to build their professional reputation, by sharing industry trends, news or other insights with their professional network, sharing their participation in conferences / events, sharing company blog posts they have written and asking colleagues to endorse their skills or write recommendations which provide an insight into their background. The process of building your reputation and communicating your value is often referred to as personal branding, you may wish to read this article on personal branding.
Many companies post jobs on LinkedIn, so you will need a LinkedIn profile if you wish to apply for these roles. LinkedIn offers a variety of contact options, so you can choose whether you would like to be approached by companies and recruitment agencies about possible roles.
How is a LinkedIn profile different to a CV?
Your CV and LinkedIn profile have different purposes and different audiences. You control who sees your CV, by sending it to specific companies, whereas a public LinkedIn profile can be viewed by anyone, including your current company and its clients.
Your CV is a sales document which helps you secure a new role, by clearly setting out your achievements, whereas most people do not want their LinkedIn profile to make it obvious that they are considering career opportunities as this can be viewed by their current company. Your CV may contain commercially sensitive information such as metrics, client lists, and key achievements which can be inappropriate to share publicly to a wider audience on LinkedIn.
Your LinkedIn profile outlines your experience, so it is often shorter and less detailed than your CV. Most recruiters who contact you will ask to see your full CV.
What should I include in my LinkedIn profile?
Before you start writing your Linked In profile, think about your audience; who will read it, and what impression you wish to create. Perhaps your main aim is to sell your skills to recruiters, build your reputation (or personal brand), or attract prospective clients. Always write with your audience in mind. Linked In contains numerous sections, I suggest starting with the following sections.
Photo
Check your profile image conveys the impression you want it to, it’s usually best to use a professional looking headshot against a neutral background, so it looks like it was taken at work. Whilst it’s possible to leave the photo blank, this may discourage people from viewing your full profile.
LinkedIn Headline
Your LinkedIn profile headline and photo are the first things a recruiter sees when they search on LinkedIn, so this needs to encourage them to view your full profile. Many people simply write their job title, however if you want to stand out, write a short summary using keywords and descriptive words which demonstrate your skill set.
About / Summary
This is one of the first sections a recruiter sees when they open your LinkedIn profile. Write this with your audience in mind. If you are looking for a new role, read a few job descriptions and write your profile to summarise your skills / experience relating to this role. This section can be flexible in terms of length and content, so you can include links to an online portfolio or other sites. Aim for one or two paragraphs. Other ideas include telling your career story, explaining why you chose your career, what you are proud of, and what you enjoy.
It is worth including an email address or phone number in your profile, so people without a LinkedIn subscription can still contact you.
Work Experience
Look at a few job descriptions and focus on how your skills/experience match these roles. You don’t need to copy and paste your full CV in, focus on the most important 3-4 points. Most recruiters use LinkedIn to ascertain whether it’s worth asking to see your full CV, or to speak to you. The less you write, and the more important the content, the more you will stand out from others. State if you were promoted/recognised within a role.
Focus on your most recent roles and summarise your earlier roles. You may simply include one sentence for some of your earlier roles. Including too much information on your earlier roles takes the focus away from your more relevant recent experience. If you have over 15 years experience, you may wish to omit some of your earlier roles.
Skills
LinkedIn allow you to include up to 50 skills, which act as keywords and help your profile rank higher in a recruiters search. Look at a target job description, include some of these skills throughout your LinkedIn profile text (ensuring it reads naturally, not over-stuffed with them). Add the most relevant skills to the recruiter to a separate skills section. You can also ask colleagues to endorse your skills.
Recommendations
Most people who use LinkedIn don’t have any written recommendations (which are different to skill endorsements), so asking colleagues to write these can be a great way to show recruiters that your skills are relevant and that you are a high achiever who delivers high quality work.
Education / Certifications
Include your education and certifications related to your career path. If you have lots of relevant information then include it, if you’ve had a long professional career and your education is less relevant, then summarise this.
Accomplishments
This optional section is a good place to highlight languages spoken, projects, publications and awards.
What else should I consider when writing my LinkedIn profile?
Recruiters search for profiles using keywords and job titles, and therefore you will need to optimise your LinkedIn profile for the relevant keywords to ensure this is visible to recruiters. You may wish to read this article on how to keyword optimise your CV and LinkedIn profile.
When you set up your LinkedIn profile you can choose the type of information you wish to receive (e.g. jobs, reference requests, and expertise requests). People can only contact you through Linked In if you have selected this option. Most people select all options, so it’s not obvious to their current company that they are considering a new role.
It is advisable to fully complete the main sections on your LinkedIn profile, because this will make your profile rank higher when the recruiter searches for the relevant keywords.
Once you have set up your Linked In profile, you do not need to regularly network via LinkedIn if you do not wish to. However, if you do not regularly use LinkedIn, please be aware that LinkedIn use their own messaging system called InMail, so you may wish to set this up to forward messages to your email address, so you do not miss any messages.
Do you need professional assistance in writing your LinkedIn profile, so your experience stands out to recruiters? I offer CV writing help including a CV writing and LinkedIn profile writing service which includes a telephone consultation to discuss your experience, so I can write and tailor these documents for you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.
