Your LinkedIn Profile Can Light Up Your Career

Once upon a time people used to attend mixers and leave with a stack of business cards for their rolodex. That’s how business people met other business people. My, how things have changed. Now we have our LinkedIn profile. It’s a powerful tool, but not everybody knows how to use it. 

Let’s dispel some myths, clear confusion, and learn how to use LinkedIn. It’s a powerful tool that can help you advance. It’s a professional networking platform where you can meet others in your industry, and it lets you connect positively for business. 

LinkedIn is about like minded people getting together to connect and share experiences, new information, new technology, and brainstorm on challenges. When used correctly, it allows you to build your brand as an expert. 

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your LinkedIn profile: 

Build Your LinkedIn Profile

Make sure that you have a photo. Don’t hide who you are, your shine matters. You’ll also want to make use of your background photo space, and choose an image that attracts people. Your “About” section should be 3 sentences and match the career statement section of your resume which we talked about in Resumes That Slay. 

Make sure your LinkedIn profile is optimized with keywords and doesn’t include more than 15 years of work history unless its relevant to your industry. The experience should mirror your resume and get updated often. Include entrepreneurial experience if relevant to your industry and the level of the position you would like to land. 

Leverage LinkedIn’s Features 

Always mark yes for “open to opportunities”. You can set it to recruiters only. Do ask for recommendations, they can be really helpful if you are intermediate in your field. LinkedIn will send you opportunities, so keep your eyes peeled! If you notice that people are finding you in search but aren’t reaching out to you, don’t feel bad. You might be more senior than they need.     

The information on your LinkedIn profile should be truthful, so don’t let other people take your skill tests. When you get a job based on skills you don’t have, you could get fired. Don’t endorse strangers, LinkedIn can tell and won’t prioritize endorsements that aren’t sincere. So, be honest. (No seriously, be honest!)

Connect, Share and Engage 

Connections are important, but don’t accept everyone. Only accept people who are relevant to your current role or who are in a new industry you want to transition into. When you do connect, make sure to comment, like, and engage with other people’s posts. Share relevant and interesting content to establish yourself as an expert. It’s not like Facebook, so resist the urge to post that picture of your lunch (unless you’re a chef, or an event planner and lunch is your job.) Posts aren’t throttled in the same way as they are on Facebook so feel free to share content that will attract new people to you. People will see it.Your LinkedIn profile can help fast track your career if you know how to use it.

Want more information like this? You can join my free Facebook group to learn more about how to use LinkedIn so you can plan to slay. I can’t wait to share more with you!