How much do you understand about making LinkedIn work for you? Maybe you’ve heard it’s just a place to upload your resume and wait for employers to find you? The truth is, LinkedIn is so much more than an online resume. And while adding your profile won’t be enough to drive employers to your door, you can certainly use it to grab attention from the right people.
Joining LinkedIn is an easy way to establish a web presence. When you set up your profile, you have an opportunity to showcase your talents and achievements in a professional context, and from day one, you can potentially be seen by millions of people.
But, if you want to benefit from the platform, you can’t simply set and forget your profile. LinkedIn is a fantastic tool to enable interaction between professionals, whether they’re your peers or your future employer. Here are seven ways you can get noticed and build a network of peers, recruiters and influencers:
- Use a high-quality photo of yourself that portrays you as a professional. Dress as you would if you were going for an interview, after all, in most cases your profile acts as a first introduction. There’s definitely no place for blurry social snaps or cute avatars.
- Make full use of the 120-character headline to introduce yourself, and what you do, in a memorable way. It’s fine to be creative and unconventional, as long as you remain professional.
- Remember, the whole point of being on LinkedIn is to be seen. When you write your LinkedIn summary, include contact details like your email address and phone number, so others can easily get in touch.
- And while we’re talking about your profile, it may sound like obvious advice, but remember to include keywords that relate to the job you want to do next. Recruiters know what they’re looking for, so help them to find you.
- Search for people who are leaders or influencers in your industry, and start following them. They receive a notification when you start following them, and their posts appear in your newsfeed, which gives you the opportunity to interact with them. If you comment on posts they’ve written or shared, you may find they remember your name and head to your profile to check you out.
- Engage with your industry. When relevant, include the names of companies or people you want to connect with in your posts or comments. They will see what you’ve written.
- Don’t neglect your profile, even if you land your dream job. Stay in touch with your network and keep building it by reading, sharing, discussing, and even writing articles on LinkedIn. You never know who you’ll meet or where your connections will take you in the future.
If you’d like some help setting up your LinkedIn profile the right way, you can sign up for a Making the Most of LinkedIn workshop.
