LinkedIn is one of the most valuable weapons in your job-search arsenal.
It’s been called “Facebook for grownups” and “the world’s largest networking group for professionals.”
It’s clearly all that and more.
But, creating first impressions is the key to leveraging the power of LinkedIn in your job search.
If someone searching LinkedIn and you pop up, they quickly see three things: your name, your picture, and your headline. Your name, photo, and headline should be compelling enough to cause someone to click through and view your profile. Otherwise, people like headhunters, hiring managers and even your next boss will move on to someone else.
How can you make these three items stand out effectively?
1. First of all your name can repel more people than it attracts, so play it safe there.
Some people include an e-mail address as part of their name, or something goofy like numbers or special characters, in the hopes of being different. Yes, they stand out, but in an annoying and irritating way. LinkedIn is a professional network, so make sure your name looks professional.
2. Make sure your photo is professional. The more professional looking it is, the better.
It does not have to be taken at a studio. It should a headshot of you dressed up in professionally and in business attire. Not a body shot, not wearing sunglasses, not at the beach. Not a picture of you in a hammock with a beer in your hand. Put yourself in the role of the hiring manager and ask yourself: “If I am looking to hire someone, do I really want him working for me, based on the picture in my Linkedin profile?”
3. In the headline section of your profile, make the boldest, most compelling claim or promise you can about yourself.
If I search LinkedIn for a senior manager in HR, for example, I can find hundreds of them. The results will include headlines like, ‘hr manager, senior hr manager, , hr executive,’ etc. Then, one profile has this headline: “I’ve helped improve the retention of high-potential talent by 25% with innovative HR programs.” that person just got my attention.
Attention is everything online. No employer will click through and read your profile unless you first grab their eyeballs.
4. Use effective job titles on your profile.
I have talked to many recruiters and they say it is perfectly fine to change your official job title on your LinkedIn profile if it better helps clarify what you did. For example, a colleague of mine was once a “Senior SAP Organization Capability & Sustainability Manager.” When people looked at that title, it didn’t stand out and they didn’t know have a clue what this job was all about. More importantly she was losing potential job opportunities because of this confusion. However, when she changed it to what she really did: “Senior Training & Development Manager – SAP Project,” now those searching for T&D types better understood her role.
Now, go out and make it happen on LinkedIn, remembering that your objective is to turn online connections into offline meetings — and job interviews.
