4 Reasons Why a Poor LinkedIn Profile Is Hurting Your Career

Your LinkedIn profile has a direct impact on your career and income. In fact, you can quantify how much it affects your income and career potential by not having a Rockstar LinkedIn profile.

As a Career Coach, the first thing I do is to make sure my clients know how important their LinkedIn profiles are for their professional lives.

Don't believe a poor LinkedIn profile is hurting your career? Here are the facts to back it up.

1. 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn as their primary source of candidate leads

If you are not getting regular cold calls from recruiters, your profile is lacking what today's job market is looking for. Time to start doing some hard core research about what people want in your industry.

LinkedIn is the ultimate tool for finding others and others finding you. Make the most out of both of these.

2. 80% of people will review your LinkedIn profile before meeting you professionally

Before you have a networking meeting with someone, there's a high chance that they will do their research about you before meeting up.

Based on your LinkedIn profile, many people will decide whether to 1) connect or 2) meet with you. If your profile isn't interesting and shows value to them, you are lowering your changes quite significantly.

3. It is the "Ultimate Personal Branding Platform"

Most people will only check out your LinkedIn profile, even if you have a personal or professional website. I see this all the time. People see my LinkedIn profile, but not my coaching website. It's fine, because I include everything I need on my profile.

Think of your profile as the ultimate one-page advertisement brochure featuring one product - You. Companies spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours producing a 30-second Super Bowl ad. Similarly, your LinkedIn profile is worth investing your time and money to get it done properly.

4. It's a "Modern Business Card" and your own personal Rolodex

Since LinkedIn is your "Modern Business Card," you want it to look professional and represent the best you have to offer. You would never carry a sloppy business card around, but that's what many people do with their LinkedIn profile. Must of the time, it is outdated, lacks substance and shows no real value. It doesn't have to be like that.

Nothing beats LinkedIn for maintaining all your business contacts. Business cards are so 20th Century and with good reason. Who can manage and sort through thousands of business cards? Not many of us.

Take a hard look at your digital business card and get feedback from others, look for inspiration and make constant updates. Find someone that knows what they're doing and learn what makes their LinkedIn profile work for them!

Tom Kent is a professional Career Coach and seasoned marketing executive. He has worked around the world from Silicon Valley and NYC to Berlin, Prague and Korea. As Founder of Tom Kent Coaching, he specializes in rapid career and job transition results for his clients.