Demystifying LinkedIn - How to Create a Profile That Works For You
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This document provides advice from John Tunison on optimizing a LinkedIn profile. It includes tips on choosing an effective headline and summary, structuring the profile sections, and using keywords throughout to be found in searches. Tunison recommends including experience, education, languages, additional information, projects, certifications, courses, volunteering, skills, honors and recommendations to give recruiters a full picture of the job seeker's qualifications and background. The goal is to tailor the profile to clearly communicate one's purpose and make connections that can lead to new opportunities.
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Demystifying LinkedIn - How to Create a Profile That Works For You
- 3. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 3 1. Your purpose? 2. The Licle Details 3. The Profile Structure 4. Headline 5. Summary 6. Experience 7. Educa,on 8. Sprachen / Idiomas / Языки / भाषाओं में / 语言 / اللغات / Languages (sorry I like languages…) 9. Addi,onal Info 10. Projects 11. Cer,fica,ons 12. Courses 13. Volunteering 14. Skills 15. Honors & Awards 16. Recommenda,ons 17. Groups 18. Following 19. Other Stuff 20. How to use LinkedIn® 21. Wrap-up Contents
- 5. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 5 1. Do you have a purpose in your life and your career? (IMPORTANT: if you do not, please stop here and work on that before sorBng out your LinkedIn® profile!) 2. If you do, your LinkedIn® profile needs to be defined by it. 3. How you use LinkedIn® will depend on what your purpose is. Fortunately you have some flexibility and it provides several helpful features to help you tailor your profile to you. 4. I am a “Business Generalist” and “Senior Execu,ve” with a focus on “Finance” who has made one significant career change…so my profile (and much of my advice) is tailored for this – please keep that in mind and take liber,es as needed where your purpose differs from mine. 5. I will try to address some of the other sec,ons of LinkedIn® that I don’t use in the “Other Stuff” sec,on. Tips & Tricks: 1. Use your purpose to guide you when deciding answers to key ques,ons. 2. Examples: 1. “what should I put in here for that year I took off between grad school and star,ng in investment banking?” – if you travelled the world you might say “Independent Research” as the Job Title and allude to gaining depth of understanding of some key world cultures in order to be able to becer evaluate companies as an investment banker. 2. “how should I describe roles prior to my career change?” – talk about your prior career roles in terms that make sense for your current career – focusing on lessons you learned and skills you gained that transfer. If you were a nurse who changed to teaching, skip the “recognized as best catheter and IV nurse in the Childrens’ Ward” but include “Developed ability to relate to and put children at ease when faced with new or difficult things while caring for them in the Childrens’ Ward.”. Your Purpose
- 6. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 6 1. Tie everything together – use same fonts, sizes, colors – use the same general structure for roles. Your profile will be easier to read. 2. Pay acen,on to everything in your profile…it is all visible...every stray comma, every spelling mistake, every odd inclusion that has no bearing on your purpose... 3. Make sure your profile and your resume complement each other – things like ,tles, dates, companies, and chronology should all match exactly. Things like job descrip,ons, responsibili,es, and accomplishments may be worded differently but should s,ll boil down to the same thing. (see next point) 4. Don’t lie! (won’t lecture here but I stop reading about a candidate if I detect anything that does not pass the sniff test or is in clear conflict with a known fact) Tips & Tricks: 1. Use a background image for your profile to add some character to it. Make sure you own the legal rights to it... 2. Pick company and school names that match exis,ng ones in LinkedIn®that have the most users (for example I could have put “Shell Oil Products US” but chose to put “Shell” instead – the former had a few hundred employees while the lacer had over 100,000...colleagues, classmates, and recruiters/hiring managers will find you becer this way. 3. Skip nicknames...unless you are a military pilot who intends to remain one indefinitely, nobody will really care what your callsign is/was (Sorry Maverick & Goose) and won’t think you’re more professional for lis,ng it...if you use a nickname professionally (and not your real name) then skip the real name... 4. Jargon should be translated as much as possible... The Licle Details
- 7. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 7 I think the following elements are appropriate for and even essen,al for just about any Business Person’s profile (in this order): Profile Structure 1. Headline (most important real-estate for LinkedIn®’s search algorithms) 2. Summary (next most important for LinkedIn® and might be the only thing a recruiter reads in their 1st pass) 3. Experience (key word heaven + a recruiters “research first port of call”) 4. Educa,on (only formal degrees or major courses of study and all of them regardless of applicability) 5. Languages (even if you barely speak English and no other languages – you should list it – but only list what you can speak) 6. Addi,onal Info (more keywords + ways to contact you and reasons to do so) 7. Projects (a “must” that few use – ,e these to people and jobs and watch as recruiters complement you) 8. Cer,fica,ons (if you have some that macer...don’t scrounge or list ones that don’t macer to your purpose) 9. Courses (same as cer,fica,ons...and list as many as you can...keywords...”John is a learner”...) 10. Volunteering (dirty secret – some companies won’t even consider a candidate who doesn’t have demonstrated volunteerism) 11. Skills (keywords + ways for your connec,ons to validate you) 12. Honors & Awards (same as cer,fica,ons & courses...) 13. Recommenda,ons (get these from a mix of bosses, co-workers, direct reports at every job if you can) 14. Groups (ever no,ce you can’t message someone you are not connected to…unless...you are in a group with them) 15. Following (think a recruiter might no,ce you are following their company?)
- 8. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 8 1. Make these words count – you only get a limited number of characters – these count as much as 3x in searches. 2. If you are an ac,ve job seeker then include mostly key words and job ,tles you want – guess what? Recruiters search for Chief Opera,ng Officers by typing “COO” or “Chief Opera,ng Officer” not by typing “Opera,ons Manager” or “Shix Supervisor”… 3. Pick at least 3-5 phrases or 5-10 words that show up the most in job descrip,ons you like and make sure they are in there in addi,on to the ,tles... 4. If you are a passive job seeker (see defini,on below), then you will likely have your current job ,tle and company here...but feel free follow the advice above (can’t and won’t hurt). Tips & Tricks: 1. You can use word or several online tools to count word occurences in job descrip,ons – just copy paste from the web, job boards, etc. – helps isolate cri,cal keywords. 2. Use the “|” symbol between keywords – looks professional and is character efficient. 3. Avoid complete phrases or being overly descrip,ve – remember this sec,on is about keywords more than anything else (and “the”, “and”, “A” and “-s” don’t buy you anything). Headline Passive Job Seeker: Anyone who is not an Ac,ve Job Seeker. Yes that means anyone! If you know for sure you are not an Ac,ve Job Seeker and you are not permanently re,red… this is you! Bad: Awesome and Dynamic Team Player With a Proven Track Record. Go Navy, Beat Army! Be_er: Finance Execu,ve and CFO. Successful in all roles. MBA. Strategic Finance advice. Great: CFO|VP Finance|M&A|Private Equity|Global|Strategy|Oil&Gas|Distribu,on
- 9. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 9 1. 1st Paragraph: High impact “I Statements” that communicate what you do and how you do it – imagine the list of problems hiring managers might face and make yourself the person who takes ac,on to solve them…be brief and specific by focusing only on things that are somewhat unique to you (avoid too many “Motherhood & Apple Pie” statements). 2. 2nd Paragraph: Key facts that describe your career in a nutshell – jobs, companies, levels of responsibility, important educa,on…descrip,ve enough to be read but heavy with keywords. 3. 3rd Paragraph: Special,es list...sort of a keywords list but very focused on topics you will have a fairly good list of “interview stories” to backup with. 4. 4th Paragraph: Keywords list...unashamed and out there...keywords that relate to you, your experiences and your skills. Tips & Tricks: 1. You can use word or several online tools to count word occurences in job descrip,ons – just copy paste from the web, job boards, etc. – helps isolate cri,cal keywords. 2. Don’t list keywords that you could not answer an interview ques,on credibly about... 3. List keywords if you have any experience with them and they are important to the kinds of jobs you would like. Summary “Corporate efficiency has led to a nasty trend of filtering resumes for keywords. This might save ,me, but it ensures that many of the best candidates will never make it to the interview.” -Leah Busque
- 10. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 10 1. 1st Sentence: Describe how you came to hold this job – this helps recruiters and hiring managers get to know more about you faster. 2. 2nd Sec,on: Describe your job and its key responsibili,es. Should be “readable” but not overly verbose – lots of keyword poten,al here. 3. 3rd Sec,on: Accomplishment bullets. The more clearly you can ar,culate what the direct benefit was the becer...in business that means $’s (maybe %’s and possibly “volumes”). List all that macer and none that don’t. No limit or minimum. 4. List all jobs and cover all ,me periods. No excep,ons. 5. If you are unemployed, look at my job from October 2015 to January 2016 as an example of what you should do... Tips & Tricks: 1. Use same format for all jobs and list similar aspects of roles as applicable to your purpose (for example I list size of teams I lead, scope of business and key dimensions for each role). 2. Don’t list accomplishments you can’t fully explain and that others would not acknowledge on your behalf 3. If you don’t know an exact number...it is OK to es,mate it...just be clear with how you did that and be prepared to explain (don’t worry, recruiters, consultants (see below) and others do it all the 9me). Experience “What do you do if you're an execu,ve who resigns? You declare yourself a consultant.” -Mo Ibrahim
- 11. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 11 1. List all formal degrees. 2. Include at least years acended and degrees earned. 3. The other details – if you were a 4.0 student I’d include it…if you were a 3.4 student maybe not? Ac,vi,es – can’t hurt as long as they support your purpose... 4. Media/Other materials – if educa,on cons,tutes the bulk of your marketability you may want to include important and very well done presenta,ons, papers or other academic work...otherwise and once you are more than a couple years out of college, please don’t (I suppose unless the work you did just received the Nobel Prize). 5. High School – to include or not? Well I say include it...if for no other reason than helping an old high school buddy who is now CEO of a company to find you easier on LI... Tips & Tricks: 1. This sec,on should be straight-foward – don’t overthink it! Educa,on “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin
- 12. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 12 1. If you speak it, list it (even if that is only English, and you think it is obvious). 2. If you have taken some classes and have any proficiency at all, list it…just not as “na,ve.” 3. If you do not speak it, cannot read it and may not be able to pronounce it...don’t list it! Tips & Tricks: 1. Only one: learn languages! It is proven to keep the mind sharp. It makes you smarter. It makes you more valuable in business, educa,on and life. It makes you more able to work across cultures and appreciate and value differences. Languages “Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” -Алекса́ндр Солжени́цын / Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.” -Michael Gove
- 13. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 13 1. Interests – are you interes,ng? I hope so – so list some of them…have a story to tell about them if asked...I like to think of this sec,on as “making John a licle more human.” 2. Advice for Contac,ng – OMG someone might get my phone number! If you are someone living in fear of “the grid,” you may not have a cell phone or email anyway and don’t have to worry about lis,ng your number or address – and probably aren’t too worried about your LinkedIn®profile either. For the rest of us, if you want to be contacted by hiring managers or recruiters, you need to make it easy to do so...so list a phone number and email and state how you prefer to be contacted. 3. Write a brief statement about why someone might want to contact you...help them want to reach out to you...encourage it... Tips & Tricks: 1. This sec,on should be straight-foward – don’t overthink it! Addi,onal Info “There's more to life than success, and if you can try to be more well-rounded, you'll be able to enjoy your success more. It won't own you or control you.” -Ricky Williams
- 14. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 14 1. Try to list at least one project per job and connect each project to at least two other people. 2. Link the projects to jobs and people (via LinkedIn® – not in words) – they will then show up under the Experience Sec,on. 3. Projects should be meaningful bits of work you have done where you played a lead or very significant role and delivered something of great value and importance. 4. Provide enough details about what the project was and what you did but don’t go overboard. Tips & Tricks: 1. If you are a well-prepared interviewee, you probably have thought about a list of “stories” you can tell in response to a number of interview ques,ons...use those as ideas for what projects to list. 2. As a courtesy, unless you know the person very well and know they would be OK with it, you might want to drop someone a quick note or give them a call before linking a project to them... Projects “Your first projects aren't the greatest things in the world, and they may have no money value, they may go nowhere, but that is how you learn - you put so much effort into making something right if it is for yourself.” -Steve Wozniak
- 15. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 15 Cer,fica,ons: 1. If you have one and it is important to your purpose, list it…if not don’t. 2. If it has expired, list it but show that it is expired... 3. If it is no longer relevant...your choice...being a cer,fied 8-track repairman if you are an electronics technician might just make you look a licle old? Courses: 1. If you took it, list it as long as it is important to your purpose. 2. Link these to jobs if applicable...then will show up in the Experiences Sec,on. Tips & Tricks: 1. This sec,on should be straight-foward – don’t overthink it! 2. But do list everything that applies! (but if you are an MMA fighter and TV personality, you might leave the Doctor of Mixology from Harvard off) Cer,fica,ons & Courses “I had a cer,ficate that said, 'Doctor of Mixology, Harvard University,' that I actually got from Harvard University. A friend of mine was a research assistant over there and it was one of those student or university perks and she brought me in on that. So I am a doctorate from Harvard and it only took me one axernoon.” -Rhonda Rousey
- 16. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 16 1. I have found some companies that will not talk to someone unless they demonstrate they have woven volunteerism into their life. 2. Especially for folks who are early in their career or looking for work or changing careers, volunteering can be a great way to gain (and demonstrate) relevant experience. Tips & Tricks: 1. If you don’t volunteer, you should...there are so many ways to do it, and many cost you nothing but a licle ,me… Volunteering “Research has shown that people who volunteer oxen live longer.” -Allen Klein “If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of 20 million full- ,me volunteers.” -Whoopi Goldberg
- 17. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 17 Skills: 1. You have some – so list them – they are keywords. 2. Others will be able to validate your skills and suggest new ones… Honors & Awards: 1. List ones that are relevant to your purpose... 2. List ones that are very important... Tips & Tricks: 1. These sec,ons should be straight-foward – don’t overthink it! 2. Validate others’ skills – they will almost always reciprocate. 3. You can override skills suggested by others if you feel there are others more relevant or important (and are up against the profile limit)… Skills and Honors & Awards “Awards can give you a tremendous amount of encouragement to keep ge‹ng becer, no macer how young or old you are.” -Alan Alda
- 18. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 18 1. People who are competent, successful and easy to work with are very easy for me to write recommenda,ons for…and I do when they ask. 2. Ask anyone you think will view you as competent, successful and easy to work with for recommenda,ons...try to get at least one per job and more from a range of bosses, peers and direct reports if possible. 3. I provide a short list of key points that I hope a recommender would make but make it clear that it is their recommenda,on and I am grateful for anything they will write... Tips & Tricks: 1. Try wri,ng a recommenda,on for someone first...then ask if they would reciprocate...it oxen works! 2. HINT: if you find it hard to get people to recommend you – you may want to get some 360° feedback! You are probably doing something very wrong and need to fix some things urgently!!! Recommenda,ons “A good face they say, is a lecer of recommenda,on. O Nature, Nature, why art thou so dishonest, as ever to send men with these false recommenda,ons into the World!” -Henry Fielding “Social media allows us to behave in ways that we are hardwired for in the first place - as humans. We can get frank recommenda,ons from other humans instead of from faceless companies.” -Francois Gossieaux
- 19. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 19 Groups: 1. Groups connect you to infinitely more people than only your 1st degree connec,ons – connect to large, relevant groups to be seen and to see (and be able to communicate). 2. Remember that LinkedIn® is not Facebook®…keep your off purpose or non-professional stuff off LinkedIn® (even if there is a group for it). Following: 1. Follow companies in your industry or that you would like to work for – you may learn something interes,ng and you may catch a recruiter’s eye. Tips & Tricks: 1. These sec,ons should be straight-foward – don’t overthink it! 2. Don’t see a group – start one! It is precy easy and can help build your brand. Groups & Following “The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.” -Buddha “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, par,es, na,ons and epochs, it is the rule.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
- 20. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 20 1. Publica,ons & Patents – if you have them, list them of course…especially important for more technical folks or anyone in Academia. 2. Supported Organiza,ons & Causes You Care About – op,onal in my opinion but can’t hurt you...but I would avoid anything that approaches any of the topics you would not talk about at a formal dinner with strangers (you know: Sex, Poli,cs & Religion). 3. Test Scores – important if you are a student but not so much once you are working... 4. Personal Info – I think phone & email in Addi,onal Info Sec,on is enough (shout out to my folks living in fear of “the grid” – I’ve got your back!). 5. Organiza,ons – if you have meaningful posi,ons in an organiza,on that does not fit as a job (Experiences Sec,on) or volunteer role (Volunteering Sec,on)...you can and should use this sec,on to add it to your profile. 6. Content and Websites – especially if you are a crea,ve professional you may want to post content or links to websites with it – things like videos, artwork, marke,ng pieces, etc. Do this in the Experiences Sec,on if applicable. Other Stuff “Social cohesion was built into language long before Facebook and LinkedIn and Twicer - we're tribal by nature. Tribes today aren't the same as tribes thousand of years ago: It isn't just religious tribes or ethnic tribes now: It's sports fans, it's communi,es, it's geography.” -Peter Guber
- 21. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 21 1. Update something in your profile weekly (even add/delete a “.”) – you’ll show higher in searches. 2. Use LinkedIn®’s recommended connec,ons to find people you know or those you want to – look at this frequently, search for classmates and colleagues using school/company name and dates. 3. Look at who views you – connect with them if you would like to network with them. 4. Look at other peoples’ Posts – comment on them if you can add value to the conversa,on – this helps your search rankings and can show hiring managers/recruiters how you think. 5. Create your own Posts – if you are an expert in something, share it to build a following and increase your search rankings. 6. Connect with people right axer you meet them – business mee,ngs, tradeshows, conferences, on the plane, etc. – get a business card or write down a name and send a connec,on request quickly. 7. Create a public profile with a name that makes sense (I’m at www.linkedin.com/in/JohnTunisonFinanceExec) - link this in your email signature. 8. Premium or not – if you can afford it there are a few nice features…if you are budget conscious, it is not the most impacŽul use of $’s out there IMHO. How To Use LinkedIn® “It's just madness. First email. Then instant message. Then MySpace. Then Facebook. Then LinkedIn. Then Twicer. It's not enough anymore to 'Just do it.' Now we have to tell everyone we are doing it, when we are doing it, where we are doing it and why we are doing it.” -Mark McKinnon
- 23. +1 (832) 247-7225 john.tunison@yahoo.com John Tunison – Finance ExecuBve All Rights Reserved 23 John is a Finance Execu,ve who builds high-performing teams who engages with business leaders and drives results. He tackles complex repor,ng, process and systems challenges and makes things work. He builds rapport and camaraderie within teams enabling becer performance. He connects various parts of businesses together because he speaks anything from "Finance" to "Opera,ons" to "Supply Chain" to "Engineering." He figures things out. John has over 20 years of combined Finance, Consul,ng, Project Management and Opera,ons Management experience, across eight countries/three con,nents, including: eleven years of progressive Finance Leadership roles in manufacturing, distribu,on and B2B/B2C businesses, two years in a high-poten,al expatriate internal Management Consul,ng role and seven years as a Naval About John Tunison Nuclear Submarine Officer. Significant experience influencing Execu,ve Leadership and delivering top-line growth/bocom-line improvement. Consistently rated in the top 10% of my peer group in all roles. MBA in Finance. Fluent German, Basic Spanish. Expert user of ERP/analy,cal soxware John’s career path: • US Naval Academy (BS Poli,cal Science / Minor German) • Nuclear Submarine Officer & Navy Program Director/Project Manager • University of Rhode Island (MBA Finance) • Finance & Consul,ng roles at Shell in Manufacturing, Downstream Business & Lubricants (Business Analyst, Business Analysis Manager, Project Leader/Management Consultant, Finance Manager) • Business Unit Finance Leader for two businesses at Univar (VP Finance, Procurement & Admin) • Business Unit Finance Leader for Ascend Performance Materials (CFO Chemicals) • Freelance Finance Consultant • CFO for Eureka Resources