We see a fair amount of students and graduates who have been writing Linkedin profiles but they are unsure of what Linkedin is really for. Yes, you should be on Linkedin but if you are not using it properly then you are missing a huge trick!
Follow these steps and get your Linkedin profile writing moving in the right direction:
1. Make sure you have a complete LinkedIn Profile – 100%!
Think of your headline as your first impression when you meet someone. You want to say something about you, what you are all about. It’s the first thing people see when they accept or reject your invite. If you’re currently working for someone, put that in the headline.
2. Your summary is very important. You must…
Write in first person and…
* Explain what you do most and do best.
* Explain what type of business or work you want to do.
* Give reasons about why you’d be great to work with.
* Then give some specifics of what you can do.
If you are looking for work, keep your summary fresh on a fortnightly basis. It helps keep it more search engine friendly and shows you are active on the site and contactable.
3. The work experience section…
Before you put your work experience on the site, you need to think: “Does this support my future aspirations?” Are you talking about roles and skills that tell a prospective employer what you want do?
Always keep this in mind when you start writing down your skills!
4. Get recommendations…
It is important to ask for recommendations. Just think, who would you use for references on your standard CV? Then start thinking beyond that. The more recommendations the better.
We also recommend that it is best to have a slightly different number of recommendations than people you have recommended. Otherwise, it tends to look like a recommendation swap. So keep the number different. This doesn’t stop you writing recommendations for people though. It is how to get things started if you haven’t got any yet.