8 areas on your LinkedIn profile where you can make your voice heard

One of the things I like about the LinkedIn profile is the ability to express your written voice. This is particularly important for job seekers, as it gives hiring authorities an idea of their personality. The résumé, on the other hand doesn't do this as well as the profile.

As a job seeker, the goal of your résumé is to make you stand out among hundreds of others submitted for a job with value statements throughout. Your LinkedIn profile also needs to show the value you will bring to employers, only in a more personal way. This is why I tell my clients that their profile is a "personal résumé."

Background image

The background image is the first area that gives your LinkedIn profile voice. The back ground picture of one my clients shows her standing in front of a snowy mountain side. She told me it accurately reflects her love for hiking. Her image also is relevant; at the moment she was working for Appalachian Mountain Club.

On the flip side, if you don't sport a background image, it expresses a lack of voice. To some people who visit your profile, it may indicate that you don't care about your LinkedIn profile. This seems unfair, right? After all, LinkedIn no longer offers stock photos from its site.

If you're profile doesn't have a background image and you're looking for a quick fix, go to https://linkedinbackground.com/ to download a background image.

Photo

Your voice definitely comes through loud and clear with your head shot. The most important rules for your photo are it 1) includes only you, 2) is of high quality, 3) matches your occupation, and finally 4) expresses your personality.

When I talk to my workshop attendees about their profile photo, I stress they should project a professional image. This doesn't mean they have to wear a suit and tie or a suit and blouse. However, it should reflect their personality in a positive light.

Headline

Your headline is what people see on their timeline, along with your photo. So it has to entice LinkedIn members to open it. A headline like, "Project Manager at IBM" Doesn't do a great job of selling your value, and it certainly doesn't express your voice.

This is where you can opt for a key-word based Headline, such as:

Project Manager ~ Business Development | Operations | Team Building | Lean Six Sigma

Or you might want to use a branding headline that gives your Headline more voice:

"Ask me how I can meet aggressive deadlines in delivering quality products on time and under budget"

The branding statement is meant to pique interest and is more conversational; however, if you're goal is to optimize your profile, the key-word based Headline is the way to go.

Summary

This is a section that differs greatly from your résumé in voice. The idea with your résumé is to make it brief, while still demonstrating value. Brief is not the word to describe your LinkedIn profile Summary.

LinkedIn pundits will suggest different ways to write your Summary. What's most important is that your unique voice comes through. I suggest to my clients a variation of structures, such as:

1. What you do—perhaps what problems you address;
2. why and for whom you do what you do—you do work for company growth or to help people;
3. how well you do it—include accomplishments to back it up; and
4. where you can be reached.

Of course there are other ways to structure your profile's Summary, but what's important is using words and phrases that express your voice, giving readers a sense of your personality. This is as simple as using first, or third, person point of view. A Summary that lacks a point of view resembles that of a résumé; bland.

Articles and Activities

This section of your profile is often overlooked. Not by me. I always check to see if people have published posts on LinkedIn. Speaking of a way to make your voice heard, publishing on LinkedIn is a great way to do this.

You don't have to be a author in order to create an article and publish it on LinkedIn. However, you should share information that is relevant and of value to your audience.

I also don't overlook a LinkedIn member's activity on LinkedIn. You can learn a great deal about a person's voice by reading their shared updates. Your voice should be professional but, at the same time, professional. There will always be people who share updates better suited for Facebook. Don't be that person.

Experience Section

Believe it or not, your Experience section can have a voice. Many people will simply copy what they have on their résumé and paste it to their profile. This is a good start. But it's simply a start. From there you'll want to personalize it with a point of view.

The most obvious area of a job description is the job summary. This is where you describe your overall responsibilities for that position. Here's how I personalized my job summary to give it a voice:

I'm more than a workshop facilitator & designer; I'm a career and LinkedIn strategist who constantly thinks of ways to better market my customers in their job search. Through disseminating trending job-search strategies, I increase our customers' chances of finding jobs.

Here is part of a valued connection of mine, Adrienne Tom's, Experience section, which not only shows accomplishments, but voice as well:

?? If you want to move FORWARD in your career, generate increased recognition, and escalate your earning power with value-driven career tools = let’s talk.

?? My RESUMES differentiate executive candidates from the competition. For 14+ years, I've supported the careers of global C-Suite executives, VP’s, Directors, Managers, and top professionals through captivating executive resume writing.

Education

You're sadly mistaken if you think you can't show your voice in the Education section. Your experience in university or high school wasn't all about studying, was it? For your résumé it's the basic information, such as educational institution and location, degree, area of study, maybe GPA or designation.

On the other hand, LinkedIn encourages you to describe what was going on during the time you were in school. One great example is someone who was earning their Bachelor's while working full-time. Perhaps you were a scholar athlete. This is another opportunity to express your voice by describing the experience.

Volunteer Experience

We often don't consider including volunteer experience on our résumé, particularly if there is a space issue. There is no space issue with your LinkedIn profile, so don't miss the opportunity to express your voice in this area.

You volunteer at a homeless shelter. Describe your experience, in first-person point of view, and how it has had an effect on your life. Or you utilize your coding skills to develop a website for a nonprofit organization. Use your voice to describe the experience. In my case I describe how I help my alma mater with its Career Expo Night.

You have the opportunity to express your voice with your LinkedIn profile. Don't squander this opportunity. Yes, you must show the value you'll present to the employer, but hiring authorities want to know the whole person. What better way to do this than by using your voice?

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Bob McIntosh, CPRW, is a career trainer who leads more than 17 job search workshops at an urban career center, as well as critiques LinkedIn profiles and conducts mock interviews. Job seekers and staff look to him for advice on the job search. In addition, Bob has gained a reputation as a LinkedIn authority in the community. Bob’s greatest pleasure is helping people find rewarding careers in a competitive job market. For enjoyment, he blogs at Things Career Related. Follow Bob on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.