Why is a Good LinkedIn Profile Critical in 2023?(The Fish)

When we launched Refreshing in 2013 the first thing we did was set up relationships with job boards where we could advertise for candidates. Responses we good and we headhunted using search tools on each board. Slowly LinkedIn, with it's regular updates, started to get better and better. The search function has improved dramatically and almost every role which is on any job board is also on LinkedIn, so we were just getting the candidates twice. We therefore decided to drop everything bar LinkedIn in 2019.

I speak to people regularly who say how “I must get round to sorting out my LinkedIn profile”. They are right. They do need to.

To explain we must consider how many companies there are in London who recruit in Finance. We think there are about 100. You can’t have relationships with more than 10? I have met one chap who has 42 companies in a spreadsheet, but that’s over the top.

How will the companies find you if they don’t know you already to tell you about the job they are hiring which is perfect for you? Well, in short, if you don’t have an up to date LinkedIn profile they won’t. If you do – they will. Here is what we deem important to have updated.

1)?????Photo. Without a photo the page looks like it’s not complete or the wrong page. Nice smile. Nothing out there. Not a wedding photo. Not a photo of you running. Not you having a drink. Just a headshot with a smile.

2)?????Dates. Make sure your university dates are in there (even if you worry people will work out how old you are). The reality is that people won’t look at that often, but when we run searches if we put in “Must have a minimum of 10 years experience” and you have no dates in there, you won’t come up in that search

3)?????About Section. To the point. Clear. No waffling. All about what you have done and what you want to do next.

4)?????WORDS. This is the most important. When we search for people we use search terms like “Commercial” or “Strategy” or “Director”. The more those words are on a profile, the higher you will finish on the search list and the more likely you will be contacted. You can put words in your about section or under each role you have worked. I’d suggest writing the top 5 words you want to found for and make sure they are repeated 5 or 6 times across your profile.

Why the fish reference.

The way I see it is that you are a fish which is desperate to be caught. The agency is fishing and you are swimming to the bait shouting “me, me”. That’s what your LinkedIn profile does!