As I promised in the previous article from this series, today we will get into the finest changes you need to make in order to have an optimized LinkedIn profile.
If you haven’t heard about it until now check it out now. I’ll find out how to make the basic information on your profile make the best business card.
Do you need to put in the effort?
I said it in the previous article that not everybody needs to get into the details of each element on their LinkedIn profile. The basic are recommended to anyone as LinkedIn has a growing importance in mobile devices and can be used for emailing new contacts.
Now we will talk a little about when should you put the effort to have a fully optimized personal page.
If you only use LinkedIn as a place where people can find out your contact details and what is the best way to contact you then focus just on the first part. Getting into the details of each part might be a waste of time.
It’s not a bad idea but, do consider that you can choose what people can see on your LinkedIn profile in an easy matter. What I recommend is to take care of each part at the time and when you feel it’s ready and necessary make it public.
If you use for this page to engage and interact with new partners or future clients then you should seriously consider fully optimizing it. As well if you are building a professional personal brand.
If your number of contacts is growing fast, that should also be a trigger to take better care of your profile. Freelancers and people that use it for job searching are the ones that should take off all their LinkedIn profile details with effaces on different aspects.
As I will enter each part you I’ll mention who it is most favourable for.
Experience
I went directly to experience because I talked about background and header in the previous article. The title of this part is mostly self-explanatory. Here you should include the places where you have been employed just like in a resume.
Write the descriptions and make them personal. There are many LinkedIn profiles that leave those fields empty. This brings a confusion to most of your contact that see your profile.
They might not know what the title or company refers to. Plus it shows a higher implication from your side into the work you did there, and credibility.
As far as the order there are two ways I recommend you do it. There is the classic way of having it chronological (the latest at the top). This way you write your professional story by telling people how you got where you are.
The second option is to put them according to how relevant they are to your current position and what you want to do in the future. This way you are stating how everything in your life is connected to your current stage.
Don’t add more than 4 places. Eliminate the ones that aren’t relevant ones cause they will only make your LinkedIn profile be a very long scroll down. Let’s be honest what much difference did a 3 mounts job have?
If you want one of the job titles to stand out add and image or a video from your experience there. It will help people have more trust in you and create you as a real human character.
Publications on your LinkedIn profile
If you are a blogger or a writer this part will be overstuffed with titles. Not a good ideas because on this platform each element is presented so that means your page will become a long list of title of articles that people won’t read.
Yes, people want to know about your activity but don’t over do it. You are not just your blog. You represent it of course but you want them to met the person here.
Add only the most relevant ones. You can also ass one of them with the list of articles you published as an author on your blog.
That makes for only one title on your LinkedIn profile but the access to all your articles. It also makes it more probable for people to click it. Add links for your guest post if you consider it necessary.
Skills and Endorsements
For freelancers and job seekers this part is quite important but not only for them. It offers people to opportunity to give you feedback on what you work an more importantly on how you work. First establish what are your strong points.
They might be work related like abilities in different fields or programs or they can be regarding work ethic. This will make people consider you more reliable and capable if other recommend you as well.
You can ask for recommendations for your LinkedIn profile but make sure it’s from people you have actually worked with.
Projects
What an excellent way to showcase all the great projects you have been doing so far. If you are a Freelancer this will come in grate handy if you add a link towards a final results. Is also a great way of promoting your portfolio if you have one.
When adding a new project you will also have to choose one of the titles that you included in the experience part of your LinkedIn profile. If possible integrate them rather than using the Other option.
You could even choose to integrate the fact that you are a freelancer in your experience so far.
At the end of the profile
There are many categories of people out there that could use a well established LinkedIn profile. All it takes is a few hours of work starting from the basic to the more smaller details.
If you just one people to be able to contact or let them get to know you LinkedIn can help you get to the bottom of it all.
What other way do you have of making your LikedIn profile work while ? I can’t wait to hear your suggestions and questions in the comment section.
