How to take your LinkedIn from oh no ??... to hello ??!

Last week I shared a post on some of the common trends I’ve been noticing across the tech industry since stepping back into agency recruitment. One of which is people still not making the most of their LinkedIn profiles.?

In my opinion your LinkedIn profile is more powerful than your CV. It can be the difference between securing the best jobs out there and not even getting your foot through the door.?

Currently in the UK, 77% of all recruitment is done through LinkedIn. I know for us here at Inara that number is closer to 95%. So why are people still neglecting their profiles??

If you’re currently open to work, curious about the market or just wanting to set your shop window out so you start to receive better and more aligned job opportunities then here are some quick and easy things you can do in less than an hour.

1. Profile picture: Use a clear, up to date profile picture. Something nice, soft, and engaging, where people can recognise you if they bump into you at meetings, events or even out and about.?
2. Cover photo: Doesn’t need to be a personalised banner just something that is representative of you and the things you enjoy, for many years I had the Manchester skyline.?
3. Pronouns: Set your pronouns so people know how to refer to you when reaching out.?
4. Headline: This a chance to showcase you and the things you’re interested in / passionate about. It can be so much more than just your current role title and employer.?
5. Talks about: You can use five # of topics you lean into for example I have #events, #people, #careers, #culture, and #inclusivity (you need creator enabled to add these)
6. Open too: If you’re looking for your next role or looking to grow your team you can set this so it shows up on the profile picture. Warning Whatever you’re looking for, be ready for a barrage of messages, a lot of which might not always be relevant.??
7. Creator Mode: This is a game changer for anyone wanting to take LinkedIn and their personal brand seriously. It will allow you to really focus on your content, gather data & insights into what’s working, see who it’s reaching and look how much engagement your getting on your profile.?
8. Featured: Once again another great tool for people who take sharing content seriously. It’s a great place to pin your top content like articles, podcasts, events, post, etc. to your page so people can access them easily.?
9. About: This a chance to tell people about you in a few sentences or paragraphs. Try to make it personal and not just professional, in my opinion this is a great way for people to get to know your interests, values, technical skills etc.?
10. Experience: This day and age your LinkedIn profile is viewed way more than your CV, so use your work experience section like a mini CV. Make sure you add detail into where you worked, what you did, what skills you used etc.?
11. Skills: If you want to make sure your profile is coming up top when people are searching the platform then make sure your skills are up to date and more importantly relevant (this is super useful when you’re ‘open to work’). If you are an engineer with experience in Java, Go, AWS and you put Azure, .Net and C# in your skills you will appear in the wrong searches.??
12. Recommendations: I always make sure I ask for recommendations on a regular basis, not with every person I work with but at least a few throughout the year, especially when we’ve done some great work together. Good recommendations allow people to see what others have to say about you and can instantly build trust.???
13. Interests: A great way to show people who and what you're interested in.??
14. Causes: What's important to you in world affairs, sustainability, animal welfare, education, arts & culture etc.

As you can see I’m a huge advocate of LinkedIn and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it, so if I can pass on my knowledge to any of you wonderful people and help you get more from the platform then that’s a great day at the office for me.

I hope you’ve found this useful, let me know if you’d like to see more LinkedIn and personal brand content.

#behonest #becurious #behuman #beyourself