Posted By: jbaloun / |
Recruiters and staffing agencies are turning more and more to social platforms to find job candidates. 77% percent of employers use social networks to recruit and 94% of these employers use LinkedIn. As a job seeker, if you do not have a LinkedIn profile and are not incorporating LinkedIn into your job search, you are likely missing out on valuable job opportunities. Here are some tips on setting up your LinkedIn profile to help you get ahead in your job search.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking platform connecting professionals across various industries allowing you to professionally connect with colleagues, classmates, friends, family members, hiring managers and executives.
Setting up your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn’s simple interface and step by step instructions makes it easy to set up a profile and create a strong personal brand. Here are a few things that you can do to make yourself stand out.
Let them see your face. Having a photo makes your profile 7x more likely to be found in searches. You don’t necessarily need a formal headshot, but you should appear as a professional and avoid photos with pets, kids, significant others and anything that could be viewed as inappropriate for business.
- Include a headline. You have 120 characters in your headline to quickly and effectively brand yourself. Don’t just use your job title, include the areas of expertise that you want to be found in a search. Use brief, compelling and informative keywords to help people find you.
- Include your work history. Having your two most recent positions makes your profile 12x more likely to be found. Be sure to include any board or volunteer positions that may be of interest or value to your work.
- Convey your success, not your responsibilities. Listing your job responsibilities just lumps you in with everyone else. With each position, explain how you confronted your responsibilities, what you did, how you did it, what obstacles you overcame and the results that you achieved.
- Gain credibility with recommendations. When people recommend you, their words appear in your profile and are commonly searched by staffing agencies and hiring managers. Reach out to former supervisors, clients, colleagues, and customers and ask them to write a recommendation.
- Add the higher education schools that you attended, degrees received, specializations, awards and relevant details. Adding your schools allows your fellow alumni to find you and connect. If you didn’t finish your degree, you should still include information about your attendance.
For more career advice, check out our resources and tools section on our website for tips on resume writing and interviewing.