Attract New Opportunities. Key Tips.
Michelle Bentley – General Manager – Hender Careers – 1 Jun 2022
I review many LinkedIn profiles as part of the support I provide people in career transition or for whom want to leverage their career opportunities in some way.
Many people have what I would call an ‘adequate’ profile, in that they have the basics, in headings but not details – name, photo (sometimes), company / role titles, qualifications / training. But such skeletal information is not likely to attract a broad suite of talent searchers. So, they are not very informative and undersell a person. Such profiles rely on reviewers / recruiters knowing what you know or can do – skills, capabilities and responsibilities - based on assumption. And that’s risky.
Your profile should reflect what you want it to do for you. Skeletal may be fine, if you are not looking for any other opportunities now or in the near future. You just want to be seen to exist!
But if you want to attract people, draw them to you through your profile, then here are some key tips to consider… and apply!
It’s all about word alignment / recognition and words people may search on to find ‘a you’!
So, in order of a top-down review – some suggestions / observations for the essentials are:
- Directly under your name – put key words of work or titles that reference your expertise now and work that you seek to do. They may be a role title, skills or competency related eg. CEO, Director | Leader, Manager | Risk, Quality, Compliance | Project Manager | Strategy, Governance | Coach, Mentor etc You can have as many as fit! But don’t be too random in your word selection. That may be confusing!?
- Photo – Yes. A professional one, not quasi personal / social. Head and shoulders.
- About / Summary – focus on areas of your expertise, knowledge and capability. It’s important to reference key skills and competencies, people management or leadership, as relevant. It should give a broad overview with some specifics – that duplicate the words under your name. LinkedIn works on algorithms. Avoid lots of lovely words to describe you. People don’t use those as ‘search words’.
- Experience / Career History – briefly reference key responsibilities, scope or scale of those, or perhaps a couple of achievements. Dot points or broad statements about your responsibilities will enhance reader understanding of what you actually have been doing / achieved. You only need to do that for the last couple of roles.
- Board / Committee involvement can add value too. Particularly if you seek such opportunities.
- Education / Qualifications – are important to include
- Organisations – you follow – generally of minor benefit. Interest-sake only
- Endorsed Skills and Recommendations – are of lesser sway these days. Minimal benefit.
- Overall - Be succinct – people are too busy to read a full CV – it’s a profile only. Connect with others, broaden your networks (in a considered way, not random) so you can expand your visibility. Interacting with other professionals through LinkedIn feeds can assist – but beware ‘over exposure’! Blatant self-promotion can be a put off to others!
In Summary - Key considerations for a LinkedIn profile – include logical search words that align with what you are selling about yourself, what you are good at and what you want to do next - so people can find you easily!
