What does your LinkedIn profile description say about you?

A good profile takes time to craft, refine & get right. And the language you use, as well as what you say, make a big difference to how you come across.

I've seen much good and bad advice about what to put in (or leave out) of your Linked In profile, how to structure it, the language, style etc. But it seems that few people give that much thought to it. But that's not the purpose of this post. The objective is to get you to think about injecting your personality back into your profile.

Don’t get me wrong, Linked In is not Facebook, so you got to keep it professional (including photos, ladies). But so many people's linked in profiles are often just a cut & paste off the position description of their employment contract.

But let me ask you, is that what you really DO? And if so, who do you do that stuff FOR?

I was thinking of laying this out as a strongly worded coaching piece, but sometimes….perhaps… humour is a more effective weapon. So let's have a little fun, shall we?

I received a connection request from the person below, and were they not serious, I would've thought that they were funning with me. Though I kid you not; not only is this a real job description, but it's also very highly indicative of about 50% of the 4,000 weekly followers I get.

Senior Manager- Digital Marketing

Ok, pretty standard & functional stuff, wouldn’t you say?

Let's start with the observations and see if we can pull it apart, shall we?

1. BORINGGGG! If this is your job as a senior manager, you need to get a better team. Not on of them has the guts to tell you that your profile sucks.
2. At no point on this list are there any mentions of meeting with the person who pays your salary - the customer. Sorry - once, in an offhand way.
3.  You would expect that a marketing person had some type of customer engagement. E.g. user feedback survey, customer Q&A, client presentation, pre-/during/post-sales conversation, trade show support, customer support response, marketing survey ,etc etc etc. No mention not one, in any form.
4. Half the stuff (tasks) on this list should be being completed by entry level staff, not senior managers. That’s equivalent to getting the CEO of a major company to write & collate data for his own annual report. Wouldn’t really be a good use of his time, right?
5. Next, where is the talk of conversations with team, with aspiration, with inspiration, or even, perspiration. At some point you 'gotta get stuff done'.

•  And where is his (or her) requirements for their own accountability?
• By what value creation is this person measured?
• What value do they create?
• Who do they support/help/serve?
• Which bring me back to the customers. Where are they?

6. AND I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS PERSON DOES

So perhaps we could have a little 'workplace honesty'?

Let's take a look at another; the position description of 'Janette' (not her real name), and then see if you can tell me what she does.

• Reporting to the MD, CEO, CEO, CFO & other staff (that’s what I call job-sharing),
• I ensure that the needs of the executive team are fully met and that they are fully satisfied (gentlemen, for any-one of you who is considering going anywhere NEAR that joke - just stop now) in their day' to day operations.
• Responsible for jumping to conclusions on an as-needed basis, running off at the mouth, and flying off the handle as often as possible. (ok, not really, I added this line, but I so love to use it).
• as appropriate (what, they have no inappropriate staff)

It's hard to know where this person focuses their time,but I have no idea of her role, seniority, or the impact she makes.

In contrast to that, I came across another connection request that gave me a really nice summary of who they are. We can very quickly see what interests them, what drives them, and where they are interested in heading.

• Electronics and embedded systems engineer graduate from the XYZ school of ABC, I want to help a company grow through the use of new technology.
• I’m interested in electronics and embedded systems engineering, and all about inventing cool gadgets, in school I spent a lot of time in scientific clubs. I love to build small embedded systems and see them work, especially what relates to the internet of things.
• New technologies and complex systems are a reality today for companies big and small. I want to ensure a business not only stays maintained and well-designed but also grows and remains on the cutting edge.
• I'm open for new opportunities in these fields: Electronics, Embedded systems, Telecommunication, energy, computer and network engineering

Personal, engaging, aspirational, entertaining, explaining. I'd hire them.

So how does that compare to your profile?

Is your personality showing? And if not, why not?

 "To Your Success", Daniel

PS. I've set myself a big bold challenge (have you?) - this is the 10th of 60 articles in 60 days. If you aren't following, commenting, sharing, subscribing, liking (or hating) any of my other articles, then what on God's earth are you doing reading this post? ;-)

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About Daniel

I'm a founder, mentor, advisor, venture investor, venture catalyst, accelerator, known as 'That Startup Guy', I am a co-founder of StartUp Foundation (The Startup Accelerator for Experienced Professionals. I am intensely, deeply, passionately dedicated to "The intersection between personal mastery & business entrepreneurship".

My goal is to help you, by guiding you through the steps, and past the challenges and pitfalls, to turn that 'Great Idea' into reality, whether it's a business, service, product, or to disrupt an entire market.

And if you've got an experience about startup success (or failure), comment about it. If you've got a question, reach out to me via your preferred social media. Other posts can be found here on Linkedin.