Please Don't Write Your LinkedIn Profile in the 3rd Person. Here's Why...
J.T. O'Donnell
Founder & CEO, Work It DAILY | Board of Directors, McCoy | Career & Professional Development | Job Search | HR & Recruiting | Employer Branding | Recruitment Marketing | Talent Management | Executive Coaching
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I am seeing a trend where people are writing their LinkedIn profiles in the third person. As someone from the recruiting industry, I need to tell you it makes me cringe.
Without realizing it, you're coming across pretty high on yourself.
Why? Have you ever listened to a famous athlete when they talk about themselves in the third person? Think about post-game interviews you’ve heard on TV or the radio. The athletes that talk that way sound really full of themselves. And, that’s EXACTLY how you sound when you write your LinkedIn in the third person. Your LinkedIn profile is yours. It's designed by you, for you. Writing about yourself in the third person is pretentious. It’s much more normal and accepted to write about yourself in the first person. Explain to the reader of your profile what you’ve worked on in a voice that is your own. As I always tell my clients, you are a business-of-one and LinkedIn is your webpage for that business. You need to connect personally to your audience. It makes you seem more real. It makes you more human. Don't depersonalize it by talking in the third person.
P.S. - Speaking of people who miss the mark on Linkedin…
Yesterday, I recorded this video on the two types of LinkedIn users. The PONTIFICATORS and the PRACTITIONERS. Watch here to learn how to avoid being the first, and embrace being the second!
javad at javad
4 年Hi good time Zanganeh I work in the field of saffron Would you like to cooperate We will send overseas quality saffron
Library Assistant (Temp)
4 年Thank you for your advice, I am at the moment working on my Resume and profile and I value all the suggestions I get.
BUSINESS PROCESS/PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT MANAGER/TEACHER
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Security Officer at On-Site Patrol Services, LLC
4 年I love your points on not talking in the third party. I'm paying attention to your advice. I'm in the startup mode and need all tips and foresight on how to network with others. Thanks for all you do. Larry sanders. God bless.
Senior Contracts Administrator currently actively seeking re-employment
5 年I recently read another practitioner advising one to simply use the action verb in a CV without a pronoun such as "I" or "he/she". Would you go along with that, since it's not 3rd person or 1st person, but focusses on the action rather than than who did it, which is obviously understood to be the person who's CV it is?