How to Supercharge Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is perhaps king when it comes to social networking for professionals. It is the place where you can meet other professionals or people related to your profession. It is also the place where recruiters go to hire individuals. Here, you can introduce yourself to them either passively or through networking – take informational interviews, for example. If you want recruiters to notice you, here’s how you can supercharge your LinkedIn profile to help you get hired.

Update Your Profile Picture

Recruiters want to get a sense of your appearance and confirm their impressions that you are the right fit for them. Your resume can only show and tell so much about yourself on one page. That’s why recruiters turn to LinkedIn to see if they can find out more about you.

If you have a LinkedIn account, your profile picture should be appropriate for the types of companies you expect to work for. For example, wearing a business suit would be appropriate if you were looking to find employment with a law firm. On the other hand, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, flip-flops, and sunglasses would not be appropriate. Instead, this will ruin your chances of getting a job at a law firm or something similar.

Next, your profile picture should be a closeup of your face (not too close) or from your shoulders and up. If your face is too zoomed out, no one is going to see it. People want to see your eyes, including your expressions. Are you smiling? Smiling tells recruiters that you are friendly – a valuable quality to have if the job requires a lot of communication with customers. Do you look confident? If your expression gives the impression that you look worried or uncertain, recruiters will feel the same way and back away.

Reassess Your Background Picture

A background picture may not be considered as significant as your profile picture, but it can still influence recruiters to pick you. The background picture is another way to describe yourself or the work you do. It could be an image of your brand or something that ties in with your preferred profession. The objective is to keep this professional looking. Avoid offensive images. Canva is an excellent, free tool for designing a background image for your LinkedIn account.

Incorporate Keywords

Did you know that using the right keywords can help you get noticed by recruiters? You can easily look up job titles on LinkedIn or Google to see what words or phrases are being used by others and incorporate those into your profile. However, use keywords that are relevant to the recruiters that you want to find you. Using the wrong keywords can hurt you if you’re not careful. Include keywords in your summary, your headline, and the experience and skills section. For additional tips on implementing keywords into your LinkedIn profile, check out this helpful LinkedIn guide.

Grow Your Connections

If you’re trying to grow your LinkedIn connections so that recruiters can find you, networking is one of the best ways to accomplish this. Attend networking events so you can meet new people. Bring an electronic business card, such as our Linq digital business card, to easily and quickly direct recruiters to your LinkedIn profile. An electronic business card is a great way to add your social media links, including your LinkedIn URL, to one place. The person only needs to scan your card with their phone, and they’ll receive a link that will take them to your online digital business card profile. There, they will find your LinkedIn profile link.

Avoid Using Cliché Words

How frequently do we use words to describe ourselves like ‘expert,’ ‘leadership,’ and ‘motivated’ in a resume? Or even on LinkedIn? Too frequently. While you want to prove your value to potential recruiters, avoid using adjectives that are cliché. Recruiters are less likely to be impressed or interested if they find too many of these words littering your profile. To captivate their attention, you will need to find new words or ways to describe yourself without being misleading. This will be tricky because you will have to think outside the box. One way to help combat this challenge is to Google synonyms for these overused words. Alternatively, you can look up other profiles on LinkedIn for inspiration.

Create a Powerful Headline

Your headline for your profile is more than just your job title; it is also a quick introduction about yourself and the work you do. Consider including your motivation for what you do or your mission. For example, let’s pretend you are a tax accountant who helps people with their taxes. On your LinkedIn headline, after listing your job title, you could quickly describe what you do to help others save money when it’s time to file taxes. Again, take advantage of implementing keywords where you can.

Show You Are Human in Your Summary

Your summary section is a place where you have the opportunity to tell recruiters more about you. It is not your resume. True, you can – and should – slide in some of your professional skills, but this section is more about how you became involved with your profession. You can even make it more personal by adding details like what some of your hobbies are or what matters to you – whether that be your family, your goals in life, or your mission (finding a cure for cancer, solving water needs for a community, etc.).

Recruiters do want to know that you are human and that they can relate to you in some way. Be sure to tie in how those items fit in with your chosen career path or how they have helped prepare you for your career. There are some great examples on this LinkedIn post if you need help or ideas for writing your own.

Time to Supercharge Your LinkedIn Profile

As simple as some of these methods and tips appear, they will significantly benefit you. Recruiters will have an easier time finding you, and you will create the impression needed to capture their attention. Now that you have some ideas for achieving this, it’s time to go and supercharge your LinkedIn profile.