LinkedIn profile tips for job seekers

Is your LinkedIn profile working as hard as you are? The reality is that in today’s professional world, having a great LinkedIn profile is crucial when it comes to connecting with roles that are an amazing fit for you. If you just put in a little extra effort, your profile can save you a lot of sweat and tears in your job search.  

Here’s just a few LinkedIn profile tips to get you started. 

How to create a LinkedIn profile? 

Don’t have a LinkedIn profile yet? Don’t stress! The best time to start is now. Head over to LinkedIn and get started. To create a LinkedIn profile, you’ll need to sign up with your full name and email address via their website. After that, you’ll be taken through the process of including basic information, a work-friendly headshot, your experience and positions. You’ll also be asked to write a neat little bio summarising your experience, industry and current situation. There'll be some good basic tips for LinkedIn best practices as you complete each step, so keep an eye out for those. 

Tips for your LinkedIn profile  

So, you’ve got your profile sorted, or you’re about to create one, and you need to know how to best optimise it for your job search?  

Here’s a few handy LinkedIn profile tips to get you noticed by hiring managers. 

1. Choose the right photo 

As much as we hate to admit it, people can and do judge books by their covers. Potential employers will be doing just the same with your LinkedIn profile. When your face pops up in a search or in the feed, you have a short window of time to make a good impression on hiring managers, so make it count! And don’t even think about skipping the profile photo - according to LinkedIn, members with one get up to 21 times more profile views than those without.  

Choose a photo that’s recent and looks like you and keep it professional. That means wearing what you’d wear to work and think about choosing a photo that looks like you’d be nice to work with – a smile never goes astray! 

2. Write an attractive headline

A clear headline will help you to define your own personal brand and help recruiters to find you quickly and easily. It’s only short, but it’s important! So, write something that makes you stand out – show off who you are, what you’re currently doing, your area of expertise, why you do what you do, or your goals. Anything that’s important to you, your personality, and your career.  Still need more LinkedIn profile tips when it comes to headlines? Here’s a few amazing examples to help you create your own.  

3. Turn your summary into a story  

Here’s your chance to tell your own story. Your summary is not just a place to list your relevant skills or the job titles you’ve had, it’s a place to show who you are, and give hiring managers a chance to get to know you as you really are, outside of your resume. It’s also a place to develop your personal brand. 

But that doesn’t answer the question, ‘how to write a good LinkedIn summary?’ In simple terms, describe yourself, your current situation or role, what makes you different and highlight your achievements. Tell a story about where you’ve been, and where you want to go. Here’s some great examples to inspire you. 

4. Steer clear of buzzwords 

Buzzwords are adjectives that are used just a little bit too often in LinkedIn headlines and summaries. If you use these words, you won’t stand out amongst hundreds of other job seekers. LinkedIn luckily has a list of these buzzwords to avoid, which you can find here. 

5. Make sure your resume and LinkedIn match 

Attention to detail here is key! Your resume and your LinkedIn profile may not look the same, but your past positions, companies, degrees, licences and certifications should match up, as well as the dates. We all make errors, but this kind could make hiring managers think you’re being dishonest on purpose. 

6. List your relevant skills 

Spend some time listing your relevant skills by scrolling through and selecting those that apply. This will help to back up your Headline and your Summary, makes it easier to find you, and helps your application stand out against other jobseekers who may not have those skills listed. When you list a skill, other LinkedIn users can also ‘endorse’ that skill, which shows employers and recruiters that people are vouching for you. 

But don’t go too overboard – an enormous list of skills that only slightly apply to you will look much worse than a list of fifteen that perfectly describe you.   

7. Request recommendations  

You can request ‘endorsements’ from your professional connections, who, if they accept, will write you a short testimonial that shows up on your profile. It’s a perfect way to give potential employers a snapshot of what it’s like to work with you, what kind of person you are and what you’re capable of. Be careful, however, to choose your endorsement requests wisely. Don’t ask past colleagues you barely spoke with, for example – and maybe don’t ask a former boss with whom you ended on bad terms! The best people to choose include people with whom you worked closely or who managed you directly, and with whom you have a good professional relationship. 

8. Show off your expertise or best work 

Do you have some specific work experience, specialisation or achievevement you’d like to share? Share away! This is a great opportunity to stay active on LinkedIn and show your skills in action. You could write about a new project, a day-to-day experience in your workplace, or even a post with useful, expert information or advice from your industry. Anything that shows you’re in the sector and you know what you’re talking about will make your profile soar. 

9. Proofread it attentively 

Spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes can really hurt your chance of recruiters and hiring managers clicking that ‘message’ button on your profile. It can make it look like you have poor attention to detail – but luckily, you don’t need to be the spelling bee champion to get through this step. Just use a tool like Grammarly, or even a good old word processor, to make sure your writing is mistake-free. 

10. Become an active user

And for the last of our last LinkedIn profile tips – LinkedIn is unfortunately not just a one-and-done process. To make the most out of all your hard work in setting up your sparkling new profile, you need to become an active user. That means interacting with your professional connections by responding to comments or commenting on their posts, making a post of your own from time-to-time, and making new connections. It’ll make a world of difference when it comes to finding your dream job!  

Not sure if you’re in your dream job yet, or need a little extra study to get there?  

Get that new qualification on your LinkedIn profile and check out Foundation Education’s course range here, or call 1300 616 197 to speak with a friendly Careers Advisor.