A LinkedIn professional profile is an online resume and portfolio that summarizes your career history, skills, accomplishments, and goals on the LinkedIn platform. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site with over 660 million users worldwide. Creating a complete LinkedIn profile allows you to maximize your professional presence and opportunities on the platform.
Why have a LinkedIn profile?
There are several key reasons to invest time in an optimized LinkedIn profile:
- Showcase your professional brand – Your LinkedIn profile provides an opportunity to demonstrate your professional capabilities and achievements to connections and potential employers or clients.
- Find new opportunities – Recruiters and hiring managers frequently search LinkedIn to find qualified candidates. A complete profile allows you to be discovered for new job openings in your field.
- Build your network – You can connect with colleagues, classmates, clients and subject matter experts who can help you advance your career. LinkedIn provides ongoing notifications about your network’s activities and accomplishments.
- Demonstrate expertise – The content you share on LinkedIn, including articles, presentations and projects, allows you to establish your thought leadership and industry knowledge.
- Research companies and contacts – Checking out a company or individual’s LinkedIn presence can provide valuable context before job interviews, sales calls, and other professional interactions.
In summary, a comprehensive and updated LinkedIn presence is a key component for professional branding, advancement, and opportunity in today’s digital era.
LinkedIn Profile Sections
LinkedIn profiles include several standard sections that present information about you to other users. Here are the key sections to complete:
Photo
Add a professional headshot photo of yourself in business or casual work attire. This provides a visual representation and more approachable presence.
Headline
The headline includes your current job title and company. You can also add other descriptors like areas of expertise. Keep it succinct.
About
The about section has a summary of your background, experiences, accomplishments and specialties. Include industry keywords that would be relevant for opportunities you are seeking.
Experience
Detail your work history including company names, job titles, employment dates and descriptions of responsibilities and achievements. List these in reverse chronological order.
Education
Provide details on your academic background including institutions attended, degrees attained, and study areas. List in reverse chronological order.
Skills
Add key skills to your profile and get endorsements from colleagues to build credibility. This highlights competencies for potential employers.
Recommendations
Request positive recommendations from managers, professors, colleagues, clients or vendors that have worked with you. Testimonials can greatly enhance your brand.
Accomplishments
Summarize major achievements, certifications, licenses, awards and publications. Quantify results when possible for maximum impact.
Interests
Sharing personal interests makes your profile more human and well-rounded. Topics could include hobbies, community service activities and entertainment preferences.
Connections
Build up your connections with coworkers, classmates, family, friends and other professionals to expand your reach and network.
Profile Custom URL
Create a custom URL for your LinkedIn profile to make it easier to share and remember, using your name or a professional variation. For example: linkedin.com/in/john-smith-marketing
Profile Photo Tips
Your profile photo is one of the first things people will notice about your LinkedIn presence. Follow these best practices for your photograph:
- Use a clear, high-quality headshot of just you (no backgrounds or additional people)
- Dress professionally as you would for an interview
- Look directly into the camera with good lighting
- Smile and project a friendly, approachable demeanor
- Ensure your photo is current and representative of how you look today
A professional photo inspires confidence in your capabilities and brand.
Customize Your Background Photo
Along with your profile photo, add a background photo at the top of your LinkedIn profile for further personalization. This could showcase:
- Your company office or working environment
- Headshot collage of colleagues and team members
- Infographics related to your work or industry
- Events, conferences or special projects
- Causes or volunteer activities you support
- Hobbies and interests outside work
Just ensure any images used are high-quality and professional. The banner photo appears at the very top of your profile page.
Write an Engaging Profile Summary
Your LinkedIn summary statement is one of the first sections people read to learn about your professional capabilities. Follow these tips for writing an engaging, optimized summary:
- Write in the first person voice using “I” statements
- Begin with a branding statement identifying your current role and expertise
- Use concise sentences and bulleted lists for skimmability
- Emphasize skills, accomplishments, strengths and specialties
- Quantify results and impact of your work
- Incorporate keywords and industry terms related to your target role
- Close with forward-looking goals or objectives
- Keep it relatively brief – under 700 words
The summary should capture your value proposition for the opportunities you are pursuing next. Review it frequently to keep it updated.
Recommendations
Here are some tips for getting great LinkedIn recommendations:
- Provide recommendations for your connections first to build reciprocity
- Request recommendations from people you worked with closely who can highlight specific projects
- Aim for a variety – colleagues, managers, clients, vendors, professors etc
- Suggest key details and accomplishments the person could include
- Follow up your request with a thank you note
- Show appreciation by endorsing skills for the recommenders
- Offer to provide a recommendation in return
Authentic, thoughtful recommendations add tremendous credibility to your capabilities and brand.
Profile Checklist
Here is a checklist of key components to complete a compelling LinkedIn profile:
Section | Complete? |
---|---|
Professional Photo | ✔ |
Headline with Current Position | ✔ |
Custom URL | ✔ |
Background Photo | ✔ |
Summary Statement | ✔ |
Work Experience | ✔ |
Education | ✔ |
Skills | ✔ |
Recommendations | ✔ |
Accomplishments | ✔ |
Interests | ✔ |
Connections | ✔ |
Ensuring each section is complete allows your LinkedIn profile to capture your full professional presence.
Keywords
Incorporating relevant keywords in your LinkedIn profile helps ensure you come up in recruiter searches:
- Review job listings to identify key terms and skills employers are seeking
- Take note of keywords in profiles of people in your target role
- Incorporate industry buzzwords and jargon
- Include both hard skills (tools, software, etc) and soft skills (leadership, communication, etc)
- Sprinkle keywords naturally throughout profile sections
- Avoid overusing keywords or repeating the same phrases
- Update keywords periodically as your focus evolves
With the right keywords, your profile will get discovered by the opportunities best aligned to your capabilities.
Profile Performance
LinkedIn provides data on your profile views and interactions. Monitor this to assess performance:
- Who’s Viewed Your Profile – This shows companies and titles of people viewing you, highlighting areas to focus.
- Post Analytics – Provides impressions and engagement for content you share.
- Search Appearance – See how you rank for keyword searches and where you could improve.
- Website Demographics – Data on who is visiting your profile from LinkedIn vs. Google.
- Profile Comparison – Compare your profile views and connections to peers.
Analyze this data regularly to optimize your profile and increase quality engagement.
Profile Sharing
To maximize views of your LinkedIn profile, actively share it on other platforms and in communications:
- Include a LinkedIn icon with link in your email signature
- List your LinkedIn URL on your resume, online portfolios and websites
- Share profile links when networking online and at in-person events
- Promote your profile on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
- Embed LinkedIn profile widgets on personal blogs or sites
- Link to your profile in professional bios, thought leadership articles and speaking proposals
The more places your profile is linked, the greater your discoverability will be.
Engagement
To build engagement once you have profile visitors, incorporate these best practices:
- Network Updates – Share career news, articles, events that display your capabilities.
- Thought Leadership Content – Publish insights, trends and tips showing your expertise.
- Commentary and News Reactions – Provide your perspective on developments in your industry.
- Photos From Events – Attending conferences and networking events? Post pictures interacting with colleagues.
- Pulse Surveys – Leverage LinkedIn’s polls and surveys to crowdsource opinions from your network.
- Join Groups – Become an active participant in industry and special interest groups.
Frequently interacting with your network strengthens relationships and presence.
Automation
Some aspects of maintaining your LinkedIn profile can be automated to save time:
- Use LinkedIn bots like Dux-Soup to automate customized outreach messages.
- Integrate apps like IFTTT or Zapier to cross-post content across platforms.
- Connect your LinkedIn profile to an online portfolio or website to synchronize.
- Use scheduling tools like Hootsuite to plan future profile updates.
- Install the LinkedIn browser extension to import contacts and easily share updates.
- Subscribe to LinkedIn feeds of key influencers and companies for ongoing insights.
Automating profile management, content sharing and relationship building can help streamline LinkedIn efforts.
Privacy
To control the visibility of your LinkedIn activity:
- Profile Photo Visibility – Adjust who can see your profile photo.
- Public Profile Settings – Limit public visibility of work history, education, connections, etc.
- Activity Broadcasts – Turn sharing on or off for profile changes and new connections.
- Notifications – Manage which notifications you receive and frequency.
- Group Activity – Control if your group posts and comments are public.
- Address Book Uploading – Enable or disable ability to sync contacts.
Regularly check your privacy settings to ensure you are comfortable with the level of profile visibility.
Customizations
Take advantage of options to customize your LinkedIn profile and presence:
- Organize profile sections in preferred order of importance.
- Showcase pages display visual portfolios, articles, projects etc.
- Add profile badges to highlight certifications, volunteer work and causes.
- Select profile themes with personalized background colors and styles.
- Use call-to-action buttons to drive desired outcomes like contact requests.
- Enable open profile to allow anyone to message you through InMail.
Tailor your profile to create the best representation of your professional brand and goals.
Premium Account
Upgrading to a premium LinkedIn account provides additional options such as:
- See everyone who has viewed your profile
- Send unlimited InMail messages
- Perform advanced profile searches and filters
- Create customized talent pools of prospects
- See expanded insights on your profile and content performance
- Take free LinkedIn Learning courses
- Schedule and record video meetings within LinkedIn
A premium account enhances your ability to build relationships, research contacts, and increase your visibility.
Do’s and Don’ts
Here are some key do’s and don’ts for your LinkedIn profile:
Do:
- Showcase achievements, awards and major projects
- Use a customized URL for branding
- Highlight technical and soft skills
- Publish engaging, thoughtful content
- Join targeted industry groups
Don’t:
- Exaggerate or misrepresent qualifications
- Have spelling or grammar errors
- Share unprofessional opinions or negativity
- Overuse industry jargon and buzzwords
- Include personal details like age or marital status
Following these guidelines helps present the most credible and compelling representation of your personal brand.
Conclusion
In summary, a complete LinkedIn profile serves as a dynamic online resume showcasing your professional capabilities, brand, network and potential. Dedicate time to building an informative, optimized profile that recruits and impresses the right audiences for future growth. Consistently monitor your LinkedIn presence and activity to maximize impact. Leverage all of LinkedIn’s capabilities for relationship building, staying updated on industry trends, and advancing your career.