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How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out

LinkedIn is a powerful professional networking platform that can help you connect with other professionals, find new job opportunities, and showcase your professional achievements and skills. Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to create a compelling LinkedIn profile that accurately represents their qualifications and experiences.

Whether You Realize it or Not, You Have a Personal “Brand.”

Your LinkedIn profile should express this branding. It’s essential to be consistent in the way you present yourself across other social media channels and your professional website if you have one.

Creating a personal LinkedIn profile is an important first step to unlocking the platform’s many opportunities and showing your personal brand to colleagues, clients, and potential employers. If you want to make your LinkedIn profile stand out, there are several steps you can take to ensure that your profile is as effective as possible.

Here are some tips for crafting an effective personal LinkedIn profile:

  1. Use a Professional Profile Photo: Your profile photo is the first thing people will see when they visit your LinkedIn profile, so make sure to use a high-quality, professional-looking photo of yourself. Avoid using selfies or casual photos; instead, choose a headshot that clearly shows your face and professionally portrays you.
  2. Create a Customized Banner: Your banner is an integral part of your profile, as it’s the first thing visitors will see when they visit your page. Create a customized banner that reflects your skills and accomplishments, as this will help you stand out from the crowd. The free Canva app is an excellent resource for creating professional banners quickly and easily. They have templates that can easily be customized to reflect your style and personal brand.
  3. Write a Compelling Headline: Your LinkedIn headline appears just below your name and photo and is a short, attention-grabbing phrase that summarizes your professional identity. Use keywords that accurately describe your skills and experience, and consider including your current job title or a statement about your professional goals. When you post or share something on LinkedIn, only 100 characters will be visible on the mobile app, and roughly 70 characters appear in the desktop app, so make sure your key message is not buried. Longer headlines will only be visible on your profile page.
  4. Optimize Your About Summary: The About section is your chance to showcase your professional achievements and tell your career story. Use this space to highlight your skills, experience, and accomplishments, and use keywords that will help you appear in LinkedIn search results.
  5. Include Your Work Experience: Your work experience section is a key part of your LinkedIn profile, allowing you to showcase your past job titles, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Be sure to include your current job and at least a few past positions, and consider adding any relevant volunteer or freelance experience.
  6. Add Your Education: Your education section is a great place to highlight your academic achievements and any relevant degrees or certifications. If you have a degree or certification in a specific field, include it, as it can help you stand out to potential employers and clients.
  7. Include Your Skills: LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skills on your profile, so be sure to include any relevant skills you possess. These can include hard skills, such as programming languages or software proficiency, and soft skills, such as communication or teamwork.
  8. Get Recommendations: LinkedIn recommendations are like online references from your colleagues, supervisors, or clients, and they can help you stand out to potential employers or clients. Consider reaching out to your professional network and asking for recommendations from people who can speak to your skills and experience.

What information SHOULD NOT be in your LinkedIn profile?

There are several types of information that you should exclude from your LinkedIn profile. These include:

  1. Personal information: Your LinkedIn profile is a professional networking platform, so keeping your personal information private is essential. Avoid sharing your home address, phone number, or personal email address that you don’t want others to have access to.
  2. Unprofessional photos: As mentioned above, using a professional-looking headshot on LinkedIn will portray you as a professional. Avoid using selfies or casual images, like wedding photos, vacation photos, or group photos.
  3. Sensitive or controversial information: LinkedIn is a professional platform, so it’s best to avoid sharing sensitive or controversial information on your profile. This includes information about your political views, religious beliefs, or other sensitive topics.
  4. Inaccurate information: It’s important to be truthful and accurate when creating your LinkedIn profile. Avoid listing false or exaggerated job titles, responsibilities, or achievements, as this could damage your professional reputation.
  5. Unnecessary or irrelevant information: Keep your LinkedIn profile focused on your professional accomplishments and skills. Only include necessary or relevant information, such as your hobbies or interests, if they are directly related to your professional goals.

How Far Back Should You Go With Education and Work History?

When it comes to including education and job experience on your LinkedIn profile, it’s generally a good idea to go back at least 10-15 years. This allows you to highlight your most relevant and recent experience while still showing the depth of your professional background.

However, if you have a particularly long or diverse professional history, you should go back further to showcase the full range and progression of your experience. In this case, it’s a good idea to prioritize your most recent and relevant experience and consider grouping older or less relevant experience into a single section or bullet point.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to include every job or educational experience you’ve ever had on your LinkedIn profile. If you have held several short-term or unrelated positions, you may consider leaving them off your profile to keep it focused and relevant.

Overall, the key is to include enough information to give a comprehensive overview of your professional background while keeping your LinkedIn profile focused and relevant to your career goals.

Does LinkedIn Improve SEO?

As a digital marketing consultancy focused on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), we take a holistic view of SEO. This means we look at all aspects of a website’s presence and performance on search engines, including social media platforms like LinkedIn. We see LinkedIn as a valuable tool for improving your SEO rankings.

LinkedIn can provide SEO benefits for both individual profiles and company pages. Here are a few ways in which LinkedIn can help improve your search engine rankings:

LinkedIn profiles rank well in search results.

LinkedIn profiles are often ranked highly in search engine results, so having a strong LinkedIn profile can help you show up in search results for your name and relevant keywords.

LinkedIn allows you to include keywords in your profile.

LinkedIn allows you to include keywords in your profile, such as your skills, experience, and industry, which can help you show up in search results for those keywords.

LinkedIn company pages rank well in search results.

Similar to individual profiles, LinkedIn company pages also tend to rank well in search results. Optimizing your company page with relevant keywords and regularly posting updates can improve your search engine visibility and drive traffic to your website.

LinkedIn can help you build high-quality backlinks.

LinkedIn can help you produce high-quality backlinks to your website by allowing you to include links to your website in your profile and company page. These backlinks can help improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.

The Best Time to Refresh Your LinkedIn Profile

When is the best time to update your LinkedIn profile? The answer to this question depends on your individual situation and goals.

If you’re actively looking for a job, it’s a good idea to refresh your profile before applying for any positions. This ensures potential employers or recruiters have access to the most accurate and up-to-date information about your professional background.

If you aren’t currently looking for a new job, it’s still a good idea to periodically update your profile with any relevant accomplishments or changes in your career. This will help keep your profile current and ensure that recruiters or potential employers have the most accurate information about you when they look at your profile.

Overall, no matter what stage of your career you’re in, it’s essential to regularly review and update your LinkedIn profile to ensure that it accurately reflects your professional background and goals. This will help you stay competitive in the job market and ensure that potential employers have access to the most current information about you.

How do I prevent my current employer from seeing that I am updating my LinkedIn profile?

There are several steps you can take to prevent your current employer from seeing that you are updating your LinkedIn profile:

  1. Adjust your privacy settings: LinkedIn allows you to adjust your privacy settings to control who can see your activity on the platform. To prevent your employer from seeing your profile updates, go to your privacy settings and select “Turn off/limit profile visibility.” This will prevent your employer from seeing your LinkedIn profile updates and other activity.
  2. Use a private browser window: If you are concerned about your employer seeing your LinkedIn activity, you can use an incognito window to update your profile. An incognito window is a private browsing mode that does not store your browsing history or track your online activity. This can help you update your LinkedIn profile without leaving a digital trail.
  3. Use a personal computer: If you have a company-provided computer, consider using a personal computer or laptop to access your LinkedIn account. This will help ensure that the company’s IT systems do not record your activity.
  4. Do not update your profile on an employer-provided VPN: An employer can track and monitor your online activity when you are working from home and connected to a company-provided VPN (Virtual Private Network). Companies often use VPNs to secure and encrypt internet connections and protect sensitive data, but they can also be used to monitor employee activity.
  5. Update your profile during non-work hours: If you are concerned about your employer seeing your LinkedIn activity during work hours, consider updating your profile during your personal time, such as in the evenings or on weekends.
  6. Be discreet: If you are actively seeking a new job or exploring new career opportunities, it’s important to be discreet about your job search. Avoid posting about your job search on LinkedIn or sharing any information that could tip off your employer.

By following these steps, you can prevent your current employer from seeing that you are updating your LinkedIn profile and maintain your privacy as you explore new career opportunities.

Stop Reading and Get Busy!

In conclusion, LinkedIn is a powerful professional networking platform that can help you connect with other professionals, find new job opportunities, and showcase your skills and achievements. Following best practices and recommendations from LinkedIn gurus, you can create a LinkedIn profile that stands out and effectively showcases your professional identity.

To make your LinkedIn profile stand out, use a professional profile photo, write a compelling headline, optimize your summary, include your work experience, education, and skills, and seek recommendations from your professional network. By avoiding personal information, unprofessional photos, sensitive or controversial information, inaccurate information, and unnecessary or irrelevant information, you can create a LinkedIn profile that is professional, relevant, and effective at showcasing your skills and experience, helping you connect with other professionals, find new job opportunities, and build your professional reputation.

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