Polish your LinkedIn profile today! Impress potential employers with a precise, impressive, and experienced profile that could score you the career of your dreams. Present the best “you” to potential employers. If you’re not as happy with your profile as you would like, it’s not too late! Establishing a strong LinkedIn profile is a lot easier than it appears. Transform your profile whether you’re actively job-seeking or just looking. Stick out from the crowd with an eye-catching headline, professional headshot, and more to make your dream career a reality.
Headline
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The blurb under your name on your profile is your headline. You want your headline to be impactful and memorable so you can stick out from the crowd. Don’t simply put your title in the headline because that will place you in a pool of thousands of other profiles with the same title. In the blurb, you should put your title and the “so what?” Think: what can you bring to a potential employer? Be sure to present your top skills and specialties since this is visible in searches. Even if you’re unemployed or a student, don’t put that in the headline; instead hone in on your experience and skills. Use this as a place to market yourself.
Photo
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Adding a clear and professional picture is the best thing you can do to make a good first impression. Connecting a face to your experience makes you more than just a name. When you add a picture, your profile is 14x more likely to be viewed. Take a photo in front of a neutral background in your nicest business attire. You don’t need to hire a professional since the iPhone camera quality will suffice. Make sure the photo looks like you and you’re centered. While you’re at it, add a cover photo that expresses your professional identity. For more tips on how to take the best profile picture, check out this guide.
Summary
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Don’t let your summary be another boring one in the bunch, showcase your voice! This is the place for you to show some personality while also explaining how got into your industry. However, stay professional and formal while doing this. Let your passion shine while you describe your work style and ethics. Also, don’t get too personal because you wouldn’t want your personal achievements to outshine your professional ones. Think about it as: professional you in a nutshell. Your summary is the place for you to market your professional brand so craft it carefully and methodically.
Endorsements
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Once you add skills to your profile, it’s time for you to reach out to your connections for skill endorsements. These endorsements allow your connections to endorse different skills of yours that will be shown on your public profile. When they endorse, it “contributes to the strength of your profile, and increases the likelihood that you’ll be discovered for opportunities related to the skills you possess.” It’s basically a way for your connections to confirm that you have those skills and therefore, they endorse you. Endorsing one another’s skills is a great way to establish a great connection with people in your network while demonstrating to employers that they are accurately presenting themselves online.