If you are serious about your career, you need a great LinkedIn profile that is optimized and up to date. it’s not enough to just have a LinkedIn page, you need a great LinkedIn profile that draws attention and helps you connect with the people who can help you expand your career.
In this article I’m going to share with you 10 useful tips to make your LinkedIn profile stand out, take your time and read carefully then apply all you learn
1.Custom URL
The first tip is to get a custom URL. when you create a profile, LinkedIn automatically gives you a random URL, but you can set a custom URL, in a set that is easy for you to remember and share. usually people use their name, for example my LinkedIn URL is LinkedIn slash in Abdul-Bida you can also add your certifications like CPA to optimize your profile. Therefore in order to create a customized LinkedIn URL, you need to go to your profile at the top right of screen, click on edit public profile and URL at the top right corner and from there you can personalize the URL for your profile, and you’re done.
2. Profile Picture
The second tip is to choose the right profile picture for your LinkedIn, you should upload a great profile picture that is recent and up to date, and your face should take up at least 60 percent of that picture frame also make sure to wear what you usually wear at your work and make sure to smile with your eyes. unfortunately on LinkedIn those profiles without a photo are easily pushed aside. Therefore if you don’t have a professional headshot to use, it’s worth the investment hopefully now your iPhone has a high resolution camera that you can take high quality pictures of yourself. remember don’t use any images, where you have to crop other people out, so if you need a new picture don’t over complicate it just find a good background and face a natural light source and take a picture that’s it.
3.Cover Photo
The third tip is to add a cover photo that reflects you. the banner above your profile picture is where your cover photo goes, it’s the first thing on your page so you want to make a good first impression at a minimum. you should use an image that means something to you maybe a landscape view of your favorite place or some thing that showcases your brand, you can also use a picture of yourself doing your job, you can add the service you offer or even you can add a meaningful quote. Therefore if you want to customize a cover photo, Canva has free LinkedIn Banner templates that you can go ahead and customize right now for free. you can also find a free stock photo to use for your background and get rid of that gray box at the top of your page
4.Professional LinkedIn Headline
Tip number four is to write a LinkedIn headline that rocks, now your headline is right under your name on your profile, Therefore it will be the first thing that people read Now the default setting will fill the section with your current job position and that’s okay for starters, but it can be whatever you want so why not try something that stands out just think of it as a small billboard advertisement for you. so here are some examples of the best LinkedIn headlines
in the world hopefully you can get some ideas and customize them and use them for your profile just tell everyone your job and what you bring to the table and try to provide a little credibility that’s it alright
5. Active Activity on LinkedIn
Tip number five is to hide your activity on LinkedIn, getting your LinkedIn profile up to date is a key to starting your job but that doesn’t mean you want your co-workers or your boss to know what you’re doing to prevent every little update to your resume from being sent to entire Community, you can choose to limit the broadcasting and hide your activity on LinkedIn to do that, you need to go to settings, and privacy go to visibility scroll down on under visibility of your LinkedIn activity, turn off the share profile updates with your network. congrats you have successfully updated your privacy and from now on your profile updates will no longer notify your connections and your nosy colleagues.
6. Right Keywords
Tip number six is to use the right keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile. Therefore if you want your profile to be discovered by recruiters on LinkedIn, you need to include the right keywords all over your profile including your headline summary, work experience, and skill section, for example if you do digital marketing you could add these keywords all around your profile, content marketing, Facebook ads, PPC advertising, and Google ads. so whenever a recruiter looks for Google ads specialist your profile will still pop up, if you are not sure which keywords to add the best advice I can give you is to find a good job posting that comes closest to the job you’re looking for and find the keywords from there, so make sure to go ahead and copy and paste all of them in your LinkedIn profile
7. Unprofessional Description
Tip number seven is not use any buzzwords. buzzwords are the self-promotional sentences that are usually used in your headline for example, experience expert specialized and certified. I’m not saying you can’t describe yourself as these things I’m just saying just using these words are not going to convince people that you have, these qualities you need to prove it and show it in your profile features. I always say that the best thing is to remove any buzzwords and just be clear and specific about your accomplishments
8. Connection
Tip number eight is to customize your invites and request connections, thoughtfully you can start building your network by connecting with people you already know like your contacts friends and employer. but you can also request connections from people you don’t know who has the same carrier as you or they might be able to help you grow in your career, you can go to LinkedIn alumni tool and find people who went to your college, or you might request to connect with people who work at companies and jobs you’re interested in, no matter who you’re requesting to connect with make sure to include a personalized message if you really want to connect with them regardless of the number of your connections try to be very specific about what you hope to get out of this connection.
this is an example of connection message templates I personally use so feel free to take a photo right now and use it for your own once you connect you can continue the conversation you’ll also start to see each other in your feeds so you can comments on their posts and updates.
9. Outline Your Experience
Tip number nine is to add links to your work experience, you can go ahead and add links images and videos to your work experience section as well as your featured section, Therefore use these to your advantage, you can link to your company website, project that you have worked on, articles, or reports, that you have published or anything that can let hiring managers see your work with their own eyes
10. Customize Your Massage
Tip number 10 is to send voice messages, so one of the best ways you can stand out from the crowd and build relationships with your connections, is to be different and send voice messages with this feature you can record or send voice messages up to 60 seconds long. so instead of sending a boring long takes that everyone gets 10 out of them every day you can go ahead and write a great template and just record yourself while reading it loud and just sending to your connections. so here are three reasons why I personally prefer sending voice messages.
The first one is people speak about four times faster than they type so making voice messages is a more efficient way of explaining long
Ideas number two is leaving a voice message instead of calling your connection can often be better for them as they can listen and respond to your message when they have time and
Finally speaking in your own voice allows you to communicate more effectively it also prevents miscommunication which often occurs in writing communication.
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Alright this is the bonus tip and my bonus tip for you.
Add your LinkedIn profile to your resume, so after you put all of this work into your LinkedIn profile you make sure that you direct people to your profile. you can add your url at the top of your resume next to your name, email address, or even you can use a hyper link to it, so anyone reading your resume in a mobile phone, or in a laptop can easily click on that and go to your LinkedIn profile, hopefully on LinkedIn you can see who has recently viewed your profile as well.
Alright now, you know 10 ways to take your LinkedIn profile to The Next Step. but you’re just halfway the next step is to go ahead and read this article next and learn how to make a Canadian style resume because you don’t want to miss these Advanced tips in that article
