How to Create a Purposeful LinkedIn Profile (Part 1)

But first, some background...

I joined LinkedIn in 2009, but only became active a decade later. Initially, I would only log in once in a while, update my profile, have a quick scroll through my feed, respond to any messages, and move on with my life. I did not put much effort in, and I did not get much out - until late December 2019.

Realizing that I would need to start job hunting in a few months, since my project was coming to an end, I decided to switch up my LinkedIn strategy, jump off the spectator stand, and become an actual player in the game.

Now, 3 months later, I had gained almost 20,000+ followers and made literally thousands of new, amazing and valuable connections all over the?world. I went from appearing in 50 (max) searches a week and a couple of profile views a month to appearing in 3,000+ searches a week and 13,000+ profile views in the last 90 days. It is incredible what an impact some small changes can have.

I frequently get asked what I did to gain such a great following in so little time, and many fellow LinkedIn users seem to have the same questions. So, over the next few weeks I will be posting an article series and sharing posts about what I have learned so far, and try to answer some those common questions that many seem to have.

Before you start networking and increasing your visibility, make sure your profile shows off what an incredible professional you are and what you have to offer. If your profile looks like ??, all of your other hard work will be for nothing. Write a profile showing you are the best fit for the job you want, not just the job you have. Your profile is more than your resume/CV, it is your show and you are the star. Make sure you shine!

Here are some tips on how to create or improve your LinkedIn profile to help you kickstart or advance a career within the social impact field in three easy steps.

Step #1: Make a Good First Impression

• Personalize Your Profile Link - You can customize your Public Profile URL and add this link to your resume/CV, cover letter, and any professional e-mail correspondence. It is a great way to stand out and drive traffic to your LinkedIn profile.

Tip #1: Add your LinkedIn URL to your resume/CV, website, pitch deck or other social media to make it easy for people to find your profile.

• Profile photo - Profiles with profile photos receive 21x more profile views and up to 36x more messages than those without. Still not convinced? Your profile photo is part of your brand and an underrated marketing tool. You are literally putting a face to a name. Be creative, but be professional. Profiles with photos that look like they have been taken by a professional photographer are 14x more likely to be viewed . If you cannot afford a photographer, ask a friend to take a high-resolution, clean headshot against a non-distracting background. Use portrait mode on your smart phone, if you have that option, and play around with filter to get "the look" you want. Wear what you would to your first day of work or an important conference. Avoid selfies or photos with other people (or animals). Make sure your face takes up 60% of the frame, and that it actually looks like you. If your connections cannot recognize you based on your photo (because it is too small, blurry, old, or your company logo), it is not doing you much good. We are here to network and get to know each other, so show us the real you! You don't need to flash a massive smile, but look approachable at least. LinkedIn is not like other social media platforms. This is not a beauty contest. Whatever photo you think represents you well, use it!

Tip #2: Add a colorful circle around your profile photo, a solid color background, or blur the background to make yourself stand out.

• Background photo - If you are representing a company/organization, you may want to use their logo/banner. Add your own name and/or hashtag to the bottom right of the banner photo to personalize it, if your company allows that. If you are a business owner, job seeker or a student/graduate, you can create your own banner and/or download stock photos for free online.

Note: Be mindful of copyright/trademark laws. Never use images, slogans or other intellectual property that you do not have permission to use.

Tip #3: Create your own banner (for free) using e.g. Canva , Spark or Creatopy , and/or find free stock photos on e.g. Unsplash , Stockio , Pexels and Pixabay .

• Let People Know You're Open - You can indicate on the top of your profile that you are "Open to Work" or "Hiring", and it will appear as a semi-circle around your profile. This is a great way to announce you are available and looking for work/talent.

• Headline - Create a unique tagline that grabs your target audience's attention. Be more creative than just listing your job title; that is covered later in your profile. If you are a job seeker or student, list your desired job titles. This helps recruiters/hiring managers find you in keyword searches. Here are some examples of great headlines for inspiration.

??????: ???????????? ???????? ??????????????/???????????????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????. ??'???? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????? ?????????? ?????? ??'???? ???????? ?????????????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ???????????????? ?????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ?????????????? ?????? ?? ???????? ?????? ????????????(??). ???? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????????? "?????? ??????????????" ???? ???????? ??????????, ???? ?????? ???? ??????!

Tip #4: Switch your profile/banner photo and headline occasionally. I've been doing this to see what attracts my target group, and many existing connections have actually reached out to ask me about a change I made. It can be a great ice breaker!

• Make It Easy for People - According to LinkedIn, 70% of job seekers believe it’s important that recruiters and hiring managers know their gender pronouns, and 72% of hiring managers agree. Also, if you want to network with people outside of your own country, add your preferred pronouns and how to pronounce your name to make it easy for people to address you the way you like.
• Add a Video Cover Story - This is new tool that lets you “personalize your first hello” with a video message for your audience. This video tutorial can help you get started with your own video!
• About (Career Summary) - This is where you show off your own personality and throw in your best "elevator pitch." What makes you tick? Why are you so good at what you do? Why should anyone follow/connect with you? Present the highlights of your professional life (max 2,000 characters) and define your achievements in your own words. Here is a template that inspired my own About-section, and a few more examples to inspire you. You can also use different fonts or emojis to show off your own personal brand.

Tip #5: While this section is technically about you, make sure you're writing it FOR your target audience. This section is really for them to understand what you can offer THEM.

• Add Your Location - Don't forget to let people know in what city/area of the country you are located. Make it easier for people who are hiring or looking for connections in your field/location to locate you through searches. More than 30% of recruiters search for candidates based on location.
• To Add or Not to Add Hashtags - You can add hashtags to your profile (or company page), but they perform differently than they do in a post. They are not searchable or "clickable," which means they are not tagged keywords but may still help you appear in search results if the searcher specifically filters by People (or Companies) instead of Content.

Tip #6: You can have your same LinkedIn profile in multiple languages . You do not need to create separate accounts, and that way you'll appear in searches in both/all those languages!

Step #2: Showcase Your Background

• Work Experience - This section should not just be a list of all your past job descriptions or a simple cut/paste from your resume/CV. This is a great opportunity to present all your major achievements, and you can even attach media (documents, videos, images, etc.) to show off what you produced at each position. Avoid jargon or abbreviations that people outside of your company or industry may not be familiar with.

Tip #7: Add all your unpaid work experiences and commissions of trust under Volunteer Experience, and professional memberships under Organizations.

• Education and Professional Training - List any ongoing or completed academic degrees and/or trade school/vocational training under Education, Licenses & Certifications and Courses (under Accomplishments). Include the institution, degree, dates of study, concentration, final grade/distinction (if above average), and any noteworthy activities or societies. You can also upload your thesis/dissertation or any other media to show off your expertise. This section is not only relevant to potential employers/clients/customers, but may help you (re)connect with alumni and old class mates to expand your network even more.
• Skills - List as many skills as possible, as long as you actually possess these skills. Members with 5+ skills listed are 33x more likely to be contacted by recruiters and other LinkedIn members, and they also receive up to 17x more profile views.?The more skills you add the more keyword searches you will appear in, but choose your skills wisely to ensure you appear in the searches you want to appear in! Not all skills must be specific to your particular career/sector, include some more generic soft or hard skills .

Tip #8: Review profiles of other people in your field for inspiration on what to include in your profile. You can also check e.g. what Skills are associated with the job you have/want by browsing job openings, and add those.

Step #3: Prove it!

• Featured - Many people do not utilize this profile section enough, but it is a great opportunity to showcase your LinkedIn content (posts/articles), share links to external websites, or upload media files to highlight your achievements. Put your best foot forward and show off your best work here, or perhaps some recommendations/reviews/ awards that show what you bring to the table.
• Endorsements - This feature verifies that you posses the skills you claim to have. Look up your former supervisors, colleagues, fellow students, etc. and endorse all their skills that you personally know they have. If they do not endorse some of your skills within a few days, send them a polite message mentioning that you endorsed some of their most important skills and that you would greatly appreciate if they would consider endorsing some of your skills (at their convenience). You can re-arrange your skills in a different order depending on how many endorsements you have for each skill. One endorsement from an expert in that area is more valuable than 100 endorsements from people who are not skilled in that area. That is why it is best to seek endorsements from people you have studied/worked with first. More information about skills endorsements can be found here .

Tip #9: "Trading" endorsements is unethical and never a good idea. Your reputation is on the line if you endorse someone who does not perform well. Only endorse skills you have personally verified.

• Recommendations - Request professional or personal recommendations from anyone who would know your past work performance and can verify your professional skills, e.g. a supervisor, colleague, client, customer, or vendor. Here are some templates for LinkedIn recommendations. If you are unhappy with a recommendation, you can either hide it or request a revision. More information about requesting/revising/hiding/deleting recommendations can be found here .

Tip #10: To encourage others to write you a recommendation, write one for them first and offer to draft a template for them to save them time. If you're a student/graduate, then ask your teachers/professors, fellow students or even family friends to write you an academic or character reference.

Never endorse or recommend someone on LinkedIn who you would not recommend in real life. The endorsements/recommendations features are great to build "social proof", but if some people continue to abuse these functions then they lose all value...

• Skill Assessments - LinkedIn claims candidates who complete their Skill Assessments are significantly more likely (~30%) to get hired. All you have to do is to select one of the available Skill Assessments (see Skills-section of your profile) and take the test. The test results are kept private, but if you pass the test (70% or above) you can add a "verified skill"-badge to that skill. If you do not pass the test, you can study and keep re-taking the test until you do.
• Accomplishments - This section is another great opportunity to highlight your major achievements, publications, patents, projects, honors/awards, or any additional languages you speak. What are you proud of? Tell us!
• Prove you have expertise in a certain area by either posting and/or commenting on relevant content. Your past Activity on LinkedIn is showed on your profile, so make sure it represents you well. This will be covered more in my next article, but do not underestimate the importance of being active and contributing to discussions as a way to improve your profile and visibility on LinkedIn.
• Finally, now that your profile is ready for the world to see, start promoting your profile outside of LinkedIn by adding a badge to your blog, online resume, or website!

Anything else you would add?

I would love to hear from you. Please share your feedback or any other tips/advice you may have in the comments. Remember to like/reshare to help others also see this article!

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This is part of my "A Global Impact Nomad's Guide"-article series. In total, I wrote 4 articles about how to leverage LinkedIn to kickstart or advance your social impact careers:

• How to Create a Purposeful LinkedIn Profile (Part 1)
• How to Build a Solid LinkedIn Network (Part 2)
• How to Start Creating Your Own Content (Part 3)
• How to Boost Your Visibility on LinkedIn (Part 4)

You can also find all the articles I wrote here .

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