As we settle into this new era of social distancing, Zoom meetings, and working in your PJs, et al., it pays to spruce up your online presence, aka, your digital resume.

For any professional (in or out of the job market), that means tweaking your LinkedIn profile to make it as powerful as possible. Because let’s face it, in the (post) Covid era we live in, platforms such as LinkedIn are more important than ever before.

Keeping that in mind, we’ve scoured the internet (and the answers left on Quora by career counselors) to find the most effective tactics you can use to make sure your profile leaves a positive first impression on any headhunter/employer on LinkedIn.

Make it Punchy

• Create a Catchy Headline– We get it. That’s easier said than done, which is all the more reason to hire LinkedIn profile writers who can do all the heavy lifting for you, so all that’s left for you to do is look awesome (and employable-worthy) on your LinkedIn profile. Remember, the profile that under-utilizes the headline is a bad one. Keep it short (respect the reader’s time), try to be creative or classy (your readers will appreciate it), and use keywords (relevant ones).
• Craft a Great Summary– If your LinkedIn headline screams, “look at me,” the summary should tell the reader why. Get into the details, flaunt your skills, experience, motivation, and most important of all – your achievements.
• Ask for Endorsements– If what’s coming between you and that dream job is as little as an endorsement (or two) from your LI connections, then we suggest you reach out and get said endorsements. In fact, the more endorsements you get from authorities in the niche that you’re connected to, the more credence is placed on your LI profile, and the higher your chances are of getting hired.
• Say ‘No’ to Spam– Nobody likes spam (even in a can), and LinkedIn has a lot to go around, so save it. Whenever you post a comment or recommend/like something of a fellow LinkedIn job-seeker, make it count. If you have something of value to discuss with someone on the network, reach out but don’t be spammy.

Make Noise

With the way things have been going lately (social distancing, work from home, and all), it’s safe to say that LinkedIn controls the majority swath of the recruitment game, with many recruiters using it as their personal headhunting platform. In short, if LinkedIn was a search engine, you need to create that sweet keyword-rich SEO content that gets others to pay attention to the product you’re selling – yourself.

It’s true that it’s not enough to just have a LinkedIn profile. Optimizing your profile, personal connections, and industry relevance are all important factors that help LinkedIn’s algorithm recognize you from the meager 500 million or so monthly active users on the platform.

• Showcase Your Skills– Your skills are like hashtags that direct the viewer to what you want them to see. In short, showcasing your skills on your LinkedIn profile is important. Besides, you spent a lot of time and effort learning those skills, so whether it’s that leadership development workshop you took part in or a foreign language, don’t forget to include it in your LinkedIn profile.
• Personal Connections– Word of mouth is a good thing, whether in the offline or online world. Once you create your profile on LinkedIn, be sure to share it with family, friends, present and past colleagues, and even acquaintances (the more, the merrier). The idea is to get that “connections” number as high as possible which will only add to the credibility of your LI profile. For instance, if you are connected to your buddy Eugene, and he’s connected to Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey, then your LI profile stands a better chance of getting found (sorry, Eugene). On a side note, LinkedIn has capped that number to 30,000 1st degree connections, so no need to worry about maxing out. 500+ connections, and you’re golden.

• Relevance– Relevance is key to helping you get noticed on LinkedIn, or anywhere for that matter. If you’ve heard of Google, you know that its search algorithm is powered by a key metric known as domain authority. This is the measure of the authority of a website as compared to its peers. You need to think of your LinkedIn profile in the exact same way.

  • What makes you different/better?
  • What are your skills/experience?
  • What is your USP?

  This means more than just having your presence on LinkedIn acknowledged by your peers, but you need to share, comment, join groups, and like posts that mean something to you, or better still, start a blog. While LinkedIn may be used as a digital resume, it is also a content platform. So, make, share, rinse and repeat.

You can make that proverbial noise by making good use of these three tactics for your LinkedIn profile.

Look the Part

Superficial? Maybe. Acceptable? Absolutely. Make no mistake; in the corporate world, and especially on LinkedIn, books are judged by their covers. So, make sure you look the part, or else Eugene from down the hall is more likely to get that call from an employer faster than you. To be fair, that three-piece suit and $300 haircut spells sophisticated. Good job, Eugene!

• No Pictures Older than Six Months– The point is, choose a photo for your LinkedIn profile that looks like you. No, not the one from your freshman year in college. The more recent, the better.
• Go with a High-Resolution Image– Preferably, use a high-resolution image that’s been professionally taken (no selfies. What are you? Some Instagram model?).
• Be the Only Person in the Picture– This means no group pics. Do you really want your potential employer to guess which one’s you?
• Choose the right expression– Also, it’s best to keep things simple. Remember you’re not James Bond, so cut the smoldering look.
• Don’t Distract the Viewer– And try to avoid distracting the viewer with pics taken with people, lakes, rivers, wild animals, canyons, (or our personal favorite – cleavage) while you’re at it.
• Look Presentable– And most important of all, if you weren’t smart enough to invest in that three-piece suit like Eugene, wear what you would to work pre-Covid.

Put It All Out There

A potential employer who is scoping LinkedIn will be interested in knowing a bit about you before they go ahead and contact you. This is why job seekers should always make sure that they have completed their employment history so that potential employers find the information they need to take the next step.

Since leaving the employment history section blank is only going to result in the employer looking elsewhere, it’s best to make sure it includes accurate information.

Start with the dates of jobs that you’ve had, and include the dates when you left said jobs. You can also include relevant keywords to the job titles to make them more SEO-friendly (or LinkedIn friendly in this case). When including your employment history, it is essential to remember not to just cut and paste your entire resume; rather, you should make good use of the room that LinkedIn offers and complete the information on each job.

The description of each job matters. Don’t just leave bullet points of the jobs you have had in the past. Describe each job, and don’t forget to include your accomplishments in each of those positions. When it comes to including employment history on LinkedIn, be very specific. That’s the only way you are going to attract employers on the platform as opposed to not sharing any information on your past employment, which would make some potential employers assume you were fired.

Complete Every Section

When you choose to share your expertise on LinkedIn, be thorough and complete all of the other sections that LinkedIn offers in the profile creation screen. These key sections include your education, the projects you’ve worked on, the languages you are fluent in, volunteer activities, etc. Remember, the more you share about your professional career on LinkedIn, the better your chances will be of attracting the right employers.

Besides, including more information about yourself on the platform and adding in the relevant keywords is only going to mean a higher chance that an employer is going to stumble on your LinkedIn profile because they happened to be searching for similar keywords. So, what have you got to lose? Also, when attempting to complete every section, try not to brag, and definitely don’t lie about anything on your LinkedIn profile.

Additional Tips

• Experience is More than the 9 to 5 Grind– Many folks make the rookie mistake of only focusing on their work experience, which takes up the most part of their LinkedIn profile space. While that’s great, you must also include the experience you’ve garnered in other areas of your life. This means including anything other than what you’ve done at the workplace. As in, volunteering, internships, and participation in webinars, workshops, and the like, should all be included in your LI profile.
• Reach Out– Ask your connections and others who are already on LI if they can endorse your achievements or your participation at events or at the workplace. Remember, getting endorsements on LI is validation in the form of recommendations.
• Don’t Be Mysterious– The whole point of being on LinkedIn is to attract employers, so why would you hide behind a security wall? To make sure potential employers see as much of your LI profile as possible, you need to drop or at least decrease your privacy settings. Also, make sure that those that you are actively connected with are able to easily get in touch with you. And here comes the last tip.
• Keep Your LI Profile Up-To-Date– Making sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date will make it easier for those who you are already connected to, potential employers, and other like-minded people to contact you, without being directed to the AOL account you forgot the password to 10 years ago.

Ending Note

Thanks to LinkedIn, the days of jumping through hoops and asking that friend of a friend for a job interview are long gone.

LinkedIn has made it possible for you to get your CV on the desk of top industry professionals, and you don’t even have to be in the same country to do it. And all LinkedIn asks for is for you to keep updating your profile to make it stand out on the platform.

While there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to creating a LinkedIn profile, using the aforementioned tips should help you get a good head start as you search for that dream job.