9. Complete the
summary:
• Treat it like your short
personal
advertisement/covering
letter. Assert your
personality and sell
yourself. There’s also a lot
of scope to be creative
here, why not try
embedding a short video
clip where you talk about
yourself?
10.
11. Upload an appropriate photo.
• LinkedIn is not Facebook, so having a
photo of you holding a glass of wine is
a no-no. Neither should you feel that
you have to put your passport photo
up.
• Choose a good headshot with a
neutral/inoffensive background. You
want to be personable and yet
professional. People will make
assumptions based on your photos so
you might as well make it a good one.
• And don’t be creepy, like this guy...
12. But just as creepy as his profile
pic? Not having one at all.
Don't forget to smile!
13.
14. Write your headline:
• LinkedIn automatically puts your current position as
your profile headline. Change it. Try to stand out by
stating what you have to offer and identifying your
unique selling point to attract recruiters.
• DO:
• Psychology Graduate, Specialising in Survey Design.
Interested in Market Research and Analysis
• DON’T:
• Motivated Graduate Looking to Work in Market
Research
15.
16.
17. Use keywords:
• Use keywords when describing your work. The more
industry-relevant keywords you have in your profile,
the higher you are on a recruiter’s search rankings.
This increases the chances of your profile getting
noticed. Breakout the keywords in the skills section
since this will come up in search as well, extra points if
you can rack up Endorsements for your skills.
• Keywords is not just about industry buzzwords. Often
graduates forget that the programming languages, or
industry specific tools like Google Analytics,
Photoshop, etc. are keywords that should be found on
their profile rather than just something like “campaign
management”.
19. Highlight
what you
can do:
LinkedIn has introduced a new section where you can add your
skills, languages, certifications and publications. The skills
section allows recruiters to search for a particular combination of
skills, which you may well have. As above, get endorsements for
your skills where you can.
Good: Brag about your achievements
Not-So-Good: Lie or stretch the truth about the number and
extent of your skills
You can also make your profile a bit more visual by adding links,
Slideshare presentations, videos and images to showcase your
work. As in the example below, I have included links to other
websites I’ve worked on as well as information about each
individual project I’ve been involved in.
20. Get
recommendatio
ns:
• If you did an internship and made a great
impression on your employers, don’t be
afraid to approach them for
a recommendation. It lends your profile
more credibility. Plus, what’s better than
a third-party endorsement?
• To play it safe, I would recommend
anyone to get to at least ten
recommendations and build from there
21. Claim your vanity URL:
• Personalise the web address for your LinkedIn profile.
This helps your results especially if employers search
for you on Google as well as making it easy to share
the link to your profile.
• A vanity URL, which we like to call a “branded link” at Bitly,
is a chance to get creative with your brand. Think about it:
we share links in nearly every customer communication,
whether it’s via email, on social media, on our website or
elsewhere.
22. Adjust your
public profile
settings:
• Go to the settings and select which
sections are visible on your public profile. I
would recommend having the summary,
your current position, skills and education
visible. There’s no point in crafting a killer
profile and then hiding it under a bushel.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29. Update
regularly
:
• Your profile should evolve with you.
It’s been a while since I’ve been a
fresh graduate so I’ve made sure to
update my own LinkedIn profile at
appropriate points in my career to
reflect the changes. By constantly
updating your profile, you’ll have a
handy jump-off point whenever you
need to update your CV and look for a
new challenge.
