4 LinkedIn Strategies You Might Not Know

With 630+ million users worldwide, and 90+% of recruiters saying they use the site regularly, it’s clear that having a strong presence on LinkedIn is critical these days. If you’re like most people, you have a profile but rarely update it. But whether you’re using it for networking or job search, take care to manage and refine your “brand” and career story on the site. To help with this, consider a few strategies that you may not have heard before:

1.      Use a great head shot to get 21X more views than profiles without one. Make sure it’s a professional-looking head shot, with a smiling face, and no distractions in the background. Also, check your public profile setting to be sure that your photo is visible to ANYONE, not just your connections.

2.      Focus on 3 parts of your profile which carry more weight in recruiter searches:  a) the Headline under your name; b) your Job Titles in the Experience section; c) your Skills. So, this means: make sure all three emphasize your value and use the keywords that recruiters might be using to find candidates. You have up to 120 characters to create a compelling Headline, 100 characters for each Job Title, and 50 Skills.

A before-and-after example of a headline:

Before: Human Resources Manager at ABC Corporation

After: HR Manager & Talent Acquisition Expert ? Delivering Business-Driven People Strategies and Bottom-Line Impact

A before-and-after example of a job title:

Before: Vice President

After: Vice President—Business Development, Strategic Account Management, & Partnerships

3.      Carefully choose your 3 “featured” skills and top 10 industry skills. The default on LinkedIn is to order your skills based on the number of endorsements, so the skill with the most endorsements will rank first. You can manipulate this list so that the skills you MOST want to emphasize are featured. In edit mode, click or unclick the “pushpin” icon to the left of a skill to move it in or out of the top 3. While you’re in edit mode, you can also move skills around so that the first 10 skills in the “Industry Knowledge” section are most relevant. Click and hold the icon with 4 horizontal lines to the right of a skill to “drag” it to a new location. (If you have fewer than 10 Industry Knowledge skills, then you don't need to worry about the order.)

4.      Use LinkedIn to interact with companies that interest you. There are 3 ways to do this. First, go to a company’s LinkedIn page and click “Follow.” This will allow you to see the company’s posts in your feed and keep up-to-date on their news. Second, if you click the “Jobs” section of a company’s page, there’s a button to “Create Job Alert” for that company, so you’ll be notified if they post an opening. Third, on the Settings and Privacy page, scroll down to find the option to “signal your interest to recruiters at companies you have created job alerts for.” Clicking “yes” here will give you an extra bump with recruiters at these companies.

LinkedIn can be a valuable tool as you manage your career. Take advantage of these suggestions to optimize how you use it.

This article was co-written with Jeanne Knight, Career Coach and Resume Expert, with whom I frequently collaborate on career strategies and challenges.?