STAND OUT ON LINKEDIN: SEARCHING FOR YOUR NEXT JOB OPPORTUNITY

In this article, you can find top tips to help your LinkedIn profile stand out, as well as information on the free resources and tools available to help you with your job search.

Refresh your LinkedIn profile

Whether you’re creating a LinkedIn profile from scratch or refreshing an existing one, it’s important to consider that it is a digital representation of your professional self. It’s the first thing recruiters or talent professionals see, so make sure that your profile is complete, your employment and skills information is up-to-date, and your profile summary reflects who you are and your experience.

• Upload a profile picture:?First impressions count. Upload a profile photo that represents who you are as a professional. LinkedIn members with a profile photo have 21x more views and up to 9x more connection requests than members that don’t. Wear what you would typically wear to work, ensure your picture is recent and your face fills around 60 percent of the frame so you stand out. You can see more profile picture tips?here.
• Spotlight your expertise and experience:?Think of the summary section on your LinkedIn profile as your elevator pitch. This is a great place for you to summarize your professional story and also share what motivates you about your role or what you’re looking for in a new one. You can keep it to about four to five sentences or bullets. In the experience section, highlight your roles and what you were responsible for. Remember to include your key strengths and accomplishments, and add any relevant education, side projects, and volunteering experience to help round out your capabilities to recruiters visiting your profile. Also, make use of the?Featured section?where you can showcase work that you’re most proud of. For example, you can feature posts that you’ve authored or re-shared, articles you’ve published on LinkedIn, and external media like images, documents, and links.
• Highlight your skills:?Highlighting your skills is a great way to help you stand out to prospective employers and recruiters who can quickly get a feel for the type of roles that would be suited for you. LinkedIn members who have five+ skills listed are contacted 27x more by employers and other LinkedIn members. Your connections can also endorse your skills. Once they have, their name and picture will appear next to the skills listed on your profile. Also, check out the?Skill Assessments?feature which allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and proficiency of the skills you’ve added to your profile by completing assessments specific to those skills. An online learning course can help bridge any skills gaps that you may have. Microsoft and LinkedIn have recently partnered to help people learn new skills for free by offering access to nearly 1,000 hours of learning courses which you can access at?opportunity.linkedin.com.
• Let people know that you’re Open to Work:?When you’re looking for a job, you can let recruiters and your network on LinkedIn know that you’re?open to new job opportunities. You can download a simple green photo frame feature that sits on your profile picture and tells people that you’re ‘Open to Work’. If you specify the type of roles that you’re interested in and your preferred location, we’ll help your profile show up in search results when recruiters look for suitable candidates. Nearly 2.5 million LinkedIn members have adopted the frame to date, with those that have received 40 percent more messages from recruiters and 20 percent more messages from the LinkedIn community.
• Help people pronounce your name correctly:?Pronouncing someone’s name correctly isn’t just common courtesy, it’s an important part of making a good first impression – particularly in an interview – and being inclusive. If you’ve got a name that people may struggle to pronounce, we’ve created a feature that can help. You can create an?audio recording?of your name which sits on your LinkedIn profile. Once you add a recording, other members visiting your profile can quickly listen to the recording to better understand your pronunciation preference and subsequently ensure they say your name correctly. You can also listen to other members’ pronunciations by visiting their profiles when they have added a recording.

Find your next role

Once your profile is up-to-date and you’ve highlighted your skills and experience, these next steps can help you find the right role for you:

• Use your network:?Your network is a good starting point for helping you find a new job, and can be a great resource for advice and support. We find that having just 50 connections makes a big difference. Start by adding people who are around you in your everyday life, like family, friends, and colleagues. You never know if a friend is connected to someone who works for a company that is hiring.
• Ask for a referral:?LinkedIn applicants are nearly 4x more likely to get a job at a company where they have connections. When you reach out to your network, remind them how you know them and why you’re a good fit for the role.
• Set up job alerts:?LinkedIn’s News team is keeping track of UK companies hiring 50+ roles here if you're looking for inspiration for the type of companies hiring currently here. Explore the Jobs page and search by criteria, such as job title, location, remote work, industry, or company. You can also?set up job alerts?to get notified about new openings when a new role matches your search criteria, so you can be the first to apply.

In the current job market, with stiff competition for roles, it’s important to be proactive with your job search. We hope these tips help you build a standout LinkedIn profile and you find a new opportunity quickly. For more help and advice, you can find free resources at?opportunity.linkedin.com and for career opportunities visit www.spruceinfotech.com/job-seeker/