Profiles form the foundation of LinkedIn. Your profile is your LinkedIn calling card, providing a quick snapshot of your professional background and experience.
Figure 2.1 illustrates a sample LinkedIn profile.
A profile can include the following:
• A summary of your professional experience and specialties
• Your photo
• Your current status with comments from your network
• A list of the positions you’ve held and your major accomplishments at each
• A list of the educational institutions you’ve attended and your major accomplishments at each
• Professional recommendations
• Data from LinkedIn applications such as your blog feed, Amazon reading list, shared presentations, and more
• A list of your LinkedIn connections
• Information about your interests, association memberships, honors, and awards
• Your contact settings
• A list of your opportunity preferences
Before you create your profile, you need to think strategically about what you want to accomplish. Here are some tips for creating a quality profile:
• Set goals for what you want to achieve on LinkedIn. Are you looking for a job? Do you want to develop your business and find new clients? Are you a recruiter seeking passive job candidates? Make sure that everything you include in your profile works toward achieving that goal.
• Make a list of keywords that relate to your experience, education, certifications, profession, and industry. Every industry has its buzzwords, and you need to include these if they’re terms a recruiter or potential client would search for. For example, an IT professional may include keywords such as Java, Oracle, SAP, or AJAX. A project manager might select PMP, PMI, UML, SDLC, or Six Sigma. A public relations professional, on the other hand, could choose PRSA, APR, or social media.
• Have your current resume handy for easier profile completion. You can refer to it for any necessary dates or other data you might have forgotten.
Remember, though, that a profile shouldn’t duplicate your resume. A profile is a strategic summary of your professional background designed to achieve specific goals.
If you really do want to include a resume on your LinkedIn profile, consider adding the Box.net Files application. With Box.net, you can share files such as PDF or Word documents on your profile. See Lesson 13, “Using LinkedIn Applications,” for more information about Box.net.
• Check for spelling and grammar errors. Nothing detracts more from a good profile than numerous typos.
• Remember that most people just scan your profile. You need to capture their attention quickly and not overwhelm them with unnecessary details that detract from your goals.
• Keep it professional. A few personal details such as your interests help humanize your profile, but too much emphasis on outside activities also detracts from your professional goals.
To view your own profile, click the Edit My Profile link on the expanded left navigation menu. The Profile page opens with the Edit My Profile tab selected, shown in Figure 2.2.
On the right side of your screen, you’ll see a box that displays your profile completeness. It should be about 25 percent at this point, just for signing up for a LinkedIn account. This box displays a list of the additional percentage points you receive for completing specific tasks.
You might notice that adding the listed percentages to your existing 25 percent still doesn’t amount to 100 percent. That’s because you need at least two past positions and three recommendations to achieve profile completeness.
To achieve a profile completeness of 100 percent, you need to complete the following items:
• Your current position
• At least two past positions
• Your education
• A profile summary
• A profile photo
• Your specialties
• At least three recommendations
Having a complete profile encourages people to network with you. In fact, LinkedIn indicates that users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities than those with incomplete profiles.
Just filling out the required fields to achieve 100 percent completion doesn’t guarantee success. You also need the right profile content. A few words in a field may count toward a computer’s view of “completeness,” but it won’t be effective if your profile still contains minimal information.
Now that you have a plan for creating a solid profile, it’s time to get started entering data. To create your profile, click the Edit My Profile link on the expanded left navigation menu.
The Edit My Profile tab displays your name, title, company, location, and industry based on the data you entered when you signed up. Click the Edit link next to any entry you want to change; this opens the Basic Information page.
The Basic Information page also includes several new fields. These include
• Former/Maiden Name. If you’ve changed your name at any point during your career, it could be difficult for former classmates or colleagues to find you. Entering your Former/Maiden Name makes it easier when people search for your former name.
• Display Name. By default, LinkedIn displays your full name. If you have strong privacy concerns, you can choose to display only your first name and last initial to anyone other than your own connections.
• Professional Headline. LinkedIn uses a combination of your title and company name as your Professional Headline, which should be sufficient for most people. You may want to customize this, however, if you’re seeking work, are self-employed, or maintain more than one job. Some people include targeted keywords, professional certifications, or degrees in their professional headlines.
Some examples:
• PMP-certified IT Project Manager Seeking New Opportunities
• Bestselling Author, Coach, and Business Consultant
• Public Relations Executive, MBA, APR, Fellow PRSA
Make your changes, then click the Save Changes button to return to the Edit My Profile tab.
The What Are You Working On? box on the Edit My Profile tab prompts you for a current status. You can enter something now or wait until you have connections who actually view your status. See Lesson 5, “Managing and Updating Your Profile,” for more information about status updates.
Although you already entered your current job title and company when you created your LinkedIn account, you’ll want to expand on that basic information. To do so, click the Edit link next to your current position on the Edit My Profile tab to open the Edit Position page, shown in Figure 2.3.
Enter a brief description of your current position, make any additional changes to the information you previously entered, and click the Update button.
Here are a few tips on what to include in the Description field:
• Use keywords. Think of the terms people would search for and use them in your description. For example, if you work in IT, mention actual technologies rather than vague generalizations.
• Emphasize accomplishments over job duties. For example, rather than say that you’re responsible for sales, focus on your sales achievements and awards.
• Be brief. The Description field is a summary, not a detailed resume.
• Keep your goals in mind. If you want to attract recruiters, think about what would interest them in a potential candidate. If you’re seeking clients for your business, focus on what would make them want to hire you.
Click the Remove This Position link on the Edit Position page to delete that position from LinkedIn.
If you hold more than one current job, click the Add Current Position link on the Edit My Profile tab to add another current position. This is particularly useful for self-employed or independent professionals who have several income sources. For example, if you’re an author, consultant, and blogger, you could choose to combine these activities under one position or create a unique position for each activity.
Add past positions by clicking the Add Past Position link on that tab. Adding past positions is important because it provides a clearer view of your background and makes it easier to connect with your former colleagues at previous companies.
Next, you’ll add information about your educational background. LinkedIn uses this information to help you connect easily with former classmates.
Consider the following best practices when choosing what educational information to enter:
• Include colleges and universities from which you received a degree.
• Include relevant certificates and continuing education coursework. For example, if you’re looking for a job in a new field and have completed a related certificate, you should include this information.
• Don’t include every continuing education course or seminar you’ve ever taken. It’s important to be strategic, not prolific.
• Don’t include your high school information unless you’re still in college, are a recent graduate, or specifically want to reconnect with high school classmates.
To enter educational information, follow these steps:
The decision whether to include your year of graduation is a personal choice for many experienced professionals. LinkedIn doesn’t require you to list the year you graduated; this is an optional field. Keep in mind, however, that LinkedIn won’t be able to automatically search for your former classmates if you omit your graduation year. You would need to perform a manual search for former classmates.
You don’t need to complete all the fields on the Add Education page to provide an accurate picture of your educational background. For example, details about your participation with the ski club or theater groups won’t add real value to your LinkedIn profile. Entering the most pertinent data ensures that people who read your profile focus on what’s relevant.
The next section on the Edit My Profile tab, Recommended, encourages you to request professional recommendations. My recommendation, however, is for you to first complete your profile and then add connections before requesting recommendations. See Lesson 10, “Requesting and Providing Recommendations” for more information about LinkedIn recommendations.
To list websites on your LinkedIn profile—as well as add other information about your interests and achievements—follow these steps:
You can use the Other option to gain name recognition for your site or blog. For example, if you have a blog called Project Management Best Practices, you might prefer to create a link with that name rather than using the generic “My Website” or “My Blog.” In addition, you can use this field to link to Twitter or other social sites.
To avoid clutter and prevent link spam, you can enter only three websites on your LinkedIn profile. If you have more than three sites to consider, think carefully about which sites would generate the most interest on a business networking site such as LinkedIn.
LinkedIn makes a public version of your profile available to all web users, regardless of whether they’re LinkedIn members or connected to you. When someone searches your name on Google or Yahoo!, for example, the public version of your profile appears in search results. Although a public profile is a great way to promote your career and gain visibility, it isn’t for everyone. Don’t worry. You have control over exactly what others can view on your profile. You can even hide your profile from public view if you choose.
By default, your public LinkedIn URL looks something like this: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/13/521/845. The numbers in this URL address aren’t very user-friendly, however, so you’ll want to customize your public profile URL to something easier to remember such as www.linkedin.com/in/patriceannerutledge.
To do so, follow these steps:
The next section on the Edit My Profile tab asks you to enter a profile summary. This is an important step because people scanning your profile often read this section first.
To create your summary, follow these steps:
To get some ideas about what to include in your summary section, analyze the profiles of others in your profession or industry. Each industry has its own buzzwords and “personality,” so what works for one professional might not be as appropriate for another.
The next section on the Edit My Profile tab, Applications, suggests several applications you can add to your profile. See Lesson 13 for more information about the many ways you can benefit from LinkedIn applications.
The next four sections—Experience, Education, Recommended By, and Additional Information—appeared earlier on the Edit My Profile tab. You can click the Edit links in any of these sections to make additional changes, or you can continue to the next section.
At the bottom of the Edit My Profile tab, you’ll find the Personal Information section. In this section, you can enter the following data:
• Phone
• Address
• IM (instant message)
• Birthday
• Marital Status
If you want to add any of this information to your profile, click the Edit link to open the Personal Information page. The Birthday, Birth Year, and Marital Status fields display a lock button next to them. Click this button to restrict visibility to only your connections or only your network.
Next, specify what types of messages you’ll accept and what opportunities you’re interested in. To update the Contact Settings page, shown in Figure 2.8, follow these steps:
• Career opportunities
• Expertise requests
• Consulting offers
• Business deals
• New ventures
• Personal reference requests
• Job inquiries
• Requests to reconnect
Finally, you should add a photo to your LinkedIn profile. A photo helps bring your profile to life and sets you apart from other LinkedIn members. A professional headshot works best on your LinkedIn profile.
To upload your photo, follow these steps:
To preview your profile, click the View My Profile tab on the Profile page. Review all your entries carefully, checking for content accuracy as well as for grammar and spelling errors. If necessary, revise any of your entries by clicking the Edit link next to the item you want edit.
See Lesson 5 for information about keeping your profile updated, printing your profile, promoting your profile on the web, and creating a profile in another language.
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