10 steps to getting a LinkedIn profile that rocks!

First impressions count right, and these happen before you even talk to anyone and often through your LinkedIn profile. 

Here are our top 10 tips to help you get a profile that rocks. 

1, Add a photo 

Remember it needs to be a professional photo though, its representing you so make sure you show who you are. They don’t all need to be super corporate and boring but not too crazy either. 

2, Tell people what you do in your headline

A funky headline is good, but will people know what you do when they read it? Don’t go overboard either, short and to the point is what your aiming for here. 

3, Complete your profile – All star profile

This is a minimum, at least complete your profile to get you to all star status. LinkedIn are even really nice and guide you through how to do this. A few hours from start to finish and you are done. 

4, Customise your URL

Go into your profile, top right hand corner and edit your URL, as a standard you get a horrible one something like https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/nickthompsonwerrodfkjfddflkn12123lkdvlkdnlndl2r2r2309u880098sdvlkxvlkn

Come on who is going to remember that? Change it to something easier to remember and also type onto your CV. 

5, Add detail to your jobs

Telling people your job title is great, but what did you do in the role!. 

No need to copy and paste your CV over, although you can if you want. Just make sure that you use industry standard words and not what they were called in your company or your pet names for things. People need to be able to find you. 

6, Privacy settings 

So you are doing all this great work, probably be good for someone to be able to find your profile now, Make sure you change your visibility by going into your profile and then editing the privacy settings. It’s in the place you just went when you updated your URL. 

7, Make sure your contact details are updated 

Really simple I know but when was the last time you checked your primary email address was actually yours, does it go to your work email, is that where you want it to go? 2 seconds spent updating and it could be the difference of actually getting the emails or not. 

8, Add your skills 

Make sure you add your skills, sure they are in the detail of your jobs but help yourself get found by adding them in the skills section as well. Remember to use the right terminology that is known within the industry or sector you work in. 

9, Post an article/ status update

Basically, be active, it’s all too easy to be a lurker on LinkedIn, why not come out of the shadows and post updates, comment on people posts (with relevant comments of course) or even post an article. I have seen some brilliant ones from people to say that they are looking for work and what they have done etc. think of it as your own digital billboard. You could even post a video if you are feeling brave. 

10, Be HUMAN

I started off by saying this is your first impression, so make sure the one you give is of you. I believe you should never stop being who you are and if that’s not right for a company then they are not the right company for you. 

I hope it goes without saying that there is a balance though, remember this is your professional profile. 

I hope you found these helpful and could even go some way to helping you find your next career move. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that completing these items will get you your next opportunity but they won’t hurt that’s for sure. 

What are you waiting for, time to get updating your profile.

If you want to see what opportunity could be right for you at IBM, why not use our Watson Candidate Assistant and let it do the searching for you.