If you have an hour to make a few updates to your LinkedIn profile, there are some quick wins to increase your visibility to potential employers and recruiters, as well as anyone you want in your professional network. These updates can help you showcase your skills, experience, and achievements in a way that will make you stand out in your industry.
Even if you are not using your LinkedIn profile, what you don’t realize is that your profile is probably showing up in all kinds of data anyway. There are APIs that recruiters, salespeople, and others use to source information. In fact, my Microsoft 365 automatically finds LinkedIn profiles for any of my contacts and loads the link and picture right into my contacts list.
Here are 5 quick to-dos to optimize your LinkedIn profile:
1. Optimize Your Profile Picture and Background Banner
Your profile picture and background image are the first things people see when visiting your LinkedIn profile. It’s essential to make sure they are professional and engaging. For example, your profile picture should be a clear headshot, and your background image should be relevant to your industry or career goals. You could use a picture of yourself at work, an image of your industry, or an image representing your career interests.
This is an opportunity to show a bit of your personality. It’s not necessarily the time to have a behind-the-desk headshot. That depends on your career and personal brand.
For the background or banner, Canva is your best friend. There are great templates for banner pictures and photos with appropriate licensing that you can pull from the platform, even with a free account. Don’t leave that banner grey or use the LinkedIn basic photos.
2. Optimize Your Headline
Your headline is a short description that appears under your name on your LinkedIn profile. It’s the first thing people see after your profile picture and can make a significant impact. Don’t rely on the default of your job title in this space. It’s the most important real estate on your profile.
Use this space to highlight your unique value proposition and what makes you stand out from other professionals in your industry. Include your job titles, but write an engaging tagline.
I asked ChatGPT to give me five LinkedIn headlines for a Controller at a start-up tech company. Now, I would NEVER use these verbatim, but if you need inspiration, it’s an excellent way to start. This is what I got:
- “Financial Mastermind Driving Growth at a High-Tech Startup”
- “Scaling Finances for a Tech Startup: Proven Results from an Expert Controller”
- “A Tech-Savvy Financial Strategist with a Knack for Startup Success”
- “Innovative Controller with a Vision for Financial Efficiency in a Rapidly Growing Tech Company”
- “Helping Tech Startups Take Flight: Financial Leadership and Guidance from an Experienced Controller”
I’d probably work with number three and end up with something like:
A Tech-Savvy Controller and Financial Strategist with Proven Startup Success | Controller | Chief Accounting Officer | SaaS | Private Equity | IPO
3. Update Your Summary
Although your summary is a brief overview of your professional experience and career goals, this is another chance for the reader to get to know you. It’s an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills and achievements in a way that’s easy to understand and make a connection.
One of the keys to writing an engaging summary section is to write this one in the first person. As you write, pretend that you are talking to the reader and telling them about you, what you do, how you do it, and how you drive success.
Some of the best profiles I read also share something about the person. It could be as simple as “when I am not at work, I…” It depends on what you are comfortable with and how conservative your industry is, but this is the place to highlight more than work as a hook.
This is also a section where SEO plays a part. Be sure to put in some keywords or repeat your title. Anything that helps your profile hit in searches is a good thing.
Use bullet points and short paragraphs to make your summary easy to read. For example, you could highlight your top accomplishments, unique skill set, and career goals.
4. Add Relevant Skills
LinkedIn has made a big push in the last six months to do more with skills. They are deeply embedded in LinkedIn Recruiter and through different APIs that go to recruiting software. There are multiple places in the platform to check and see if you have the right skills listed for any job you apply to, as well as embedded suggestions as you update your profile.
Make sure you add skills relevant to your industry and career goals, or more importantly, remove those no longer relevant to your career goals.
5. Engage with Your Network
Engaging with your network is a great way to increase your visibility on LinkedIn, provided you are adding value and not just liking posts or making one-word comments. Many of my clients don’t want to post on LinkedIn – which is perfectly fine. You may get a bigger visibility boost by commenting on posts and stepping outside of your current network for visibility in your industry.
Engaging with a network doesn’t mean sending blind DM’s and asking for help or sending a résumé. A better strategy is to list the companies you want to work for and then find the people you want to connect with. Follow the people if they have that set up, or search their profiles for a few weeks and make valuable comments that help their content and visibility.
After a few weeks of commenting and back and forth, send that request to connect. Wait for 72 hours and send a DM to deepen the connection. Rarely do people like requests from strangers. But, if you are trying to connect with good intentions, people will recognize your name and experience and step up to lend a hand.
Sure, that’s the long way… but LinkedIn isn’t going to help you if you only turn to it for a couple of weeks every few years. Success is about playing the long game.
If you want to post, you can share relevant articles and post updates about your professional achievements. For example, you could share an interesting article and add your commentary on why you found it valuable. You could also share an update about a project you completed or a new skill you learned.
In conclusion, updating your LinkedIn profile can be a quick and easy way to increase your visibility to potential employers and recruiters and increase your career brand. By spending just an hour or so making these updates, you will showcase your skills, experience, and achievements in a way that can make you stand out.