Whether you’re looking for a job or not, maintaining your LinkedIn profile is important to your overall career growth. Recent research shows that 92% of recruiters use social avenues to find quality hires, and 87% are using LinkedIn. With this in mind, staying up to date with your LinkedIn profile can not only keep you prepared if you need to find a new job, but it also leaves you open to other opportunities you may not have been aware of.
Here are five ways you can make sure you’re LinkedIn is ready for recruiters.
1. Use Keywords
If you’re familiar with the TopScore System, this should be nothing new for you. Keywords identify your core skill set, interests, and distinguishing characteristics. You want to make sure and use them consistently throughout your profile without sounding robotic.
2. Reference Your Accomplishments, Not Your Job Description
While you can identify the overall area where you worked in a certain position, focus more on what you accomplished in the time you were employed. For example, finished projects, team awards, or individual goals that you accomplished in that time. Save the detailed job descriptions for your resume.
3. Get a Professional Email
This rule applies to your resume as well. It’s hard to take someone seriously when their email is cooldude92@yahoo.com. Get an email with your first and last name, and that’s it. This will convey your professional demeanor before the recruiter ever meets you.
4. Use First Person
In your resume, using first person is discouraged. However, on LinkedIn, first person is the best way to approach your profile. Because LinkedIn is a social networking website, it’s a good idea to interject some personality into your profile. Just remember to keep it professional.
5. Show Off Your Portfolio
Don’t simply rely on listing your jobs through the years. Include work samples on your profile. LinkedIn allows for Word documents, PDFs, images, or even video samples. This interactive element adds a little extra “oomph” to your resume.