Hi Everyone, Susan here from TALTEK, Talent in Technology.
I came across this article, Rock Your Profile by Lauren Jolda from LinkedIn (always a credible source when talking about your LinkedIn Profile right?!), who discusses easy steps to make your profile stand out.
At TALTEK, our Talent Specialists (recruiters) use LinkedIn daily to find great people for our clients. During this pandemic, your LinkedIn profile (and digital presence on the far corners of the world wide web) has become so much more important in presenting yourself to the world virtually. Remember, LinkedIn is ALL BUSINESS – it’s not Facebook or Instagram.
Hence, I am constantly advising our talents to edit and optimize their profiles if they want recruiters like us to find them! Here is what I tell people:
Not one of your camper or of your dog but a great one of you, smiling. Use a background that doesn’t distract, and the dress code is business-appropriate. Remember that this is the first time someone will « meet » you. If it was a face-to-face interview, would you wear an old t-shirt with sunglasses hanging on your head? Probably not.
I’ve seen thousands of CVs and LinkedIn Profiles. Hence, you’ll want to make it easy for clients and recruiters like me to get “who you are” in as few sentences as possible. This is the digital equivalent of an « elevator speech ». Often, people’s profiles read like a treatise in identity crises that usually leaves me wondering – are you writing about:
You get the drift. The About section is where first impressions are made. Many professionals use LinkedIn for the sole purpose of networking, to search for information and/or recruiting purposes. Hence, your « About » section has to satisfy the 3 Cs:
Are you clear on what you want for your career trajectory and is that communicated clearly in this section? Keep it relevant and well-organized to score more clarity points.
In this age of short-form texts like Twitter, keep it short and sweet, interesting and engaging or risk losing your reader.
Edit and vet your profile a couple of times to ensure that your profile reads coherently and smoothly, addressing any gaps. Make sure you have no spelling, grammatical and other mistakes. You’ll be surprised at how quickly a recruiter will drop your profile like a hot potato the moment they spot something small like a typo.
I encourage you to put the title of your dream job on your profile, even if you’re not currently at your dream job. Then support that title with the relevant experience. If you are an IT professional, organize your technological skills as we center our searches around specific technological skill sets.
I see a lot of opportunity for improvement on a lot of profiles (you know who you are) where only job titles are listed without any details. Reading an empty profile full of amazing job titles is like drinking an ice-cold soda on a hot summer day – it tastes good but nutritionally deficient, and it won’t do you any favors.
Give your profile a boost and fill in your kick-ass work experience such as:
Lastly, the STAR method is a great way to illustrate your skillsets and accomplishments clearly and in context:
Describe the situation and when it took place.
Explain the task and what was the goal.
Provide details about the action you took to attain this.
Conclude with the result of your action.
LinkdIn profiles are a continuous work in progress. There’s never truly a time when you can say your LinkedIn is complete. Nonetheless, it can be overwhelming to make too many changes at once. So, take baby steps – Make changes regularly to keep your profile updated. Work to get endorsements and recommendations over time. Before you know it, your profile will be an All-Star profile!
Stay tuned for more from TALTEK! We are just getting started.
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TALTEK is an information technology (IT) placement and consulting firm. We find the TALENTS you need when you need them. Our expertise, technology, and human approach result in better hiring decisions, better retention, and successful teams.
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