The Majority of Hiring Authorities Read the LinkedIn Profile Experience Section First, so Make It Shine
Bob McIntosh
?? I’m on the frontline fighting ?????? ???????? ?????????? against unemployment ◆ Career Coach ◆ LinkedIn Trainer ◆ Online Instructor ◆ Blogging Fanatic ◆ Avid Walker ??LinkedIn Top Voices #LinkedInUnleashed?
Most hiring authorities (recruiters, hiring managers, and HR) who read many LinkedIn profiles at a sitting will tell you that the Experience section is where they will go first when reading a LinkedIn profile. Not the About or Education sections.
I was curious to know exactly how many hiring authorities (HAs) go to a LinkedIn profiles' Experience section first, so I conducted a poll awhile ago. Based on this poll, 61% of hiring authorities venture straight to Experience. Marie Zimenoff , of CareerThoughLeaders.com , comments:
“Although the About section may be first in a profile, there are a few reasons a recruiter or hiring manager will likely start with the Experience section when reading a profile.
“First, hiring managers want to see if a candidate is qualified for the role before they take time to read an introduction like a cover letter or About section. Second, the Experience section titles are big, bold, and easy to skim – especially on mobile."
Invest more in your Experience section: 5 ways to do it
Given that Experience is preferred over About, it makes sense that you put your all into making it stronger. It’s been my experience that most job seekers don’t put as much effort into creating a strong Experience section as they do their About.
Is this because they’re encouraged by career coaches to beef up their About? I advise my clients to write a strong About section, telling their “story.” However, I also tell them they can also tell their story in Experience; that they can use first-person point of view even. Here is how Experience should be written.
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1. Experience needs to tell a better story
Don’t have verbiage for your Experience section? A quick fix of copying the content of your resume to your profile is the first step; however, you’re not done yet.
You still have to modify Experience to make it more personal, more of a networking piece of your document. This means your point of view should be first-person and, of course, include quantified results.
Start with a job scope to craft your story. For example: “As the Director of Marketing Communications, ABC Company, I planned, developed, and executed multi-channel marketing programs and performance-driven campaigns, using digital marketing principles and techniques to meet project and organization goals.”
Use first person point of view for your accomplishments to tell a story. Take, for example, an accomplishment statement from a resume might read:?“Volunteered to train Sales Team on Salesforce, increasing the team’s output by 75%.“
Better: I extended my training expertise by?volunteering?to train Sales Team on Salesforce. All members of the team were more productive as a result of my patient training style, increasing the team’s output by 75%.
Human Resource Professional providing companies and employees excellence and growth with!
2 年So, if we need to conform our resumes to each job description we apply too, does that mean we need to continually change out LinkedIn page too? ??
I work tech to sing karaoke | DevOps Engineer | Sysadmin That Programs | Mama Bear ??????????
2 年And a big thank you. The number of misguided recruiters pinging me has dropped dramatically since I added the following to my experience section. --- Read the about section before you read the experience section. Because I'm intentionally trying to disrupt https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/majority-hiring-authorities-read-linkedin-profile-section-mcintosh-1e/?trackingId=kGoa3D6q61JHQqUam63SQQ%3D%3D --- It's still high noise from recruiters and sourcers that don't read anything. However, I'm finally getting solid signal for the "I'm not a match for this. However, .... may be a great match for your QA roles."
Job Search Strategist ? I teach job seekers how to get unstuck and get a foot in the door at the companies they’d love to work for with their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and job search plans ? Certified Resume Writer
2 年I'm sure that some may read the About section, but I don't blame them for skipping it when so many LinkedIn users neglect this section. A resume summary should be tailored to a specific opportunity and not copied and pasted into an About section. I understand the benefit to adding keywords and achievements to a Job Title for keyword optimization, but how many recruiters using LinkedIn to search for candidates are using skills vs actual job titles to do this?
Procurement Leader | Buyer & Planner | Agreement Negotiator | Strategic Sourcing | Cross Functional Team Leader | “Money is of no value; it cannot spend itself. All depends on the skill of the spender.” R W Emerson
2 年Great advice! Thanks Bob.
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2 年So insightful, Bob McIntosh! While general readers might be checking out content and About sections, hiring authorities are still focusing on Experience first!!