LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network, offering a platform to showcase your skills, experience, and achievements to potential employers. An optimized profile can increase your visibility, build your professional brand, and help you land your dream job faster!
Learn how to boost your LinkedIn profile in 2023 so recruiters start contacting you!
Be strategic when building a LinkedIn profile
There are two general strategies for building a LinkedIn profile and marketing yourself on the platform.
First, you can use a LinkedIn profile as a landing page for recruiters. In this case, you don't have to customize your profile to cater to every company that catches your interest. Rather, it's better to provide a detailed representation of yourself that will fit many positions.
Second, you can use LinkedIn as a platform for personal brand building, growing your network, and getting more awareness. That is a much more proactive profile, where you need to use all your causes and transform them to fit your image and brand as a professional in your field.
In any case, try to complete your profile fully, including your work history, education, skills, and achievements. Not only does LinkedIn have its algorithm and prioritize complete profiles over empty ones, but it’s also like a missed opportunity. You wouldn’t apply with a half-empty resume, so treat your profile accordingly.
A great LinkedIn profile reflects your personal brand and showcases your skills, experience, and achievements to potential employers. It should provide insights into your personality and work ethic, as well as your interests and aspirations. A well-rounded LinkedIn profile will help you catch the attention of recruiters and network, and stack up to your resume.
Speak to your strengths
Studies show that a recruiter spends no more than seven seconds reading a resume. Your profile should speak out loud and clear to grab the recruiter’s attention.
Add all taglines from your previous job positions in the profile summary. This is the first information that profile viewers will learn about you!
When listing your achievements within every work, do not forget to mention the soft skills that helped you with these accomplishments. Everyone is looking for transferable skills – skills that are useful in many fields, like problem-solving or communication. Stress them when describing your previous experience in the outcome measurable manner.
Another approach to incorporate transferable skills is to fill in the Skills section. When you apply through LinkedIn, the system will show the recruiter how many required skills you have. The skills section helps LinkedIn adjust the recommendations for open positions for you. Keep in mind that Linkedin has a limit of 50 skills, so you may have to change them a bit if the desired position changes.
Endorsements for your skills increase your visibility and give you a competitive edge. You can first endorse your ex-colleagues and clients, which may encourage them to endorse you in return. But it is also fine to ask your connections directly.
Decide whether to accept new offers
Consider if you want to have the “Open to Work” feature on your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn states that this feature boosts messages from recruiters. However, it may make you look desperate or put your current job at risk. As a middle ground, you can choose the option "Share with recruiters only," which will notify only a limited number of recruiters.
Another way to present yourself for new opportunities is to fill the “Talks about” section with the five topics you are interested in. When someone looks for an expert opinion or wants to invite a guest for a professional podcast, the “Talks about” section will help to understand if you are a good fit.
Show your work ethic and interests
Your LinkedIn profile should also provide insights into your work ethic and interests. You can include any volunteer work or community involvement, which can prove your commitment to making a difference and your ability to work as part of a team.
Volunteering is also a great way to fill in the gaps between positions and showcase your soft skills or experience beyond your career path.
Connect with people
Networking is a key part of building your professional brand on LinkedIn. Connect with people in your industry, including former colleagues, classmates, and current clients. The more connections you have, the more opportunities you'll have to expand your network and discover new job opportunities.
Try to build contacts with recruiters and decision-making persons. By following them you can not only get first-hand information about job openings but also get a better understanding of the company’s values, insides from the organizations, and latest industry trends.
It doesn't mean that you have to add as many people as possible everyone or try to connect with people who you have never come across. Spamming may lead to a Linkedin ban and unfortunately we know such cases. In that situation, LinkedIn will permanently delete your page. Try to find the right balance in building your connections.
LinkedIn groups are also a great way to connect with like-minded professionals in your area, get answers to your questions, and make your name recognizable in the professional community. It may be more lucrative in the long run to give more than you receive in those groups. It will help to build your profile and be noticed by the community. But try to find a balance and not spam in those groups.
Be active
It is always a great idea to engage with the recruiters’ content by liking, commenting, and sharing it. It can help you build rapport and stay top of mind. However, remember that all your interactions with the news feed, i.e. likes and comments, are shown to your connections. Think strategically about what content to interact with. It may be better to scroll through the drama post or funny meme and engage with the posts directly associated with your professional sphere.
InMail, which is a feature for premium accounts, is also a useful feature at LinkedIn to contact recruiters directly to add a personalized message to your application or request additional information on the job listing. Although not all hiring managers might be available for a chat, you might be lucky to reach a decision-maker in the company and pitch yourself.
When shortlisting the companies that interest you, follow their pages and communities, as this will keep you up-to-date with their latest developments and job openings. Instead of aiming only at the big fish, create a list of five dream companies, fifteen companies that are interesting to work in, and ten that are ok but can become accelerators in your career. You might be surprised that other places can fulfill all your expectations from a dream job and company. And second, they can become a trampoline for a top spot. You will gain more relevant experience and become a more desirable candidate.
Creating regular and insightful posts can also contribute to your visibility on LinkedIn. You can post as often as 2-5 times per week, but make sure your content is professional and useful. The decision to share anything with the public reveals much about the individual.
How can the Career Team help get you hired?
Every Practicum bootcamp student receives a Career Prep program that helps build their professional profile and prepare for job applications. The package includes support in creating a decent LinkedIn portfolio.
“We pay a lot of attention to the students’ profiles making them more specific about the possible jobs area students would like to get. Our goal here is to make it as full and as present as possible. On average, we run up to 3 to 4 rounds of edits,” says Ana Mineeva, Practicum Career Product Lead. “But of course, it’s a continuous process. Let’s say a student does an internship and it is important to include this experience in the profile, too. We then work with a career coach to resume it properly.”
After graduation, all U.S.-based students are eligible to attend the Career Acceleration course to prepare for interviews, review application documents, and receive 1:1 career coaching.
“Many offers on LinkedIn have a “Quick Apply” button. Applicants click on it and think they will get an offer. But it takes much longer to land a job successfully,” Practicum Career Product lead Anastasia Cherepanova adds. “We will continue providing personalized support.”
Enroll in a Practicum bootcamp to enjoy all benefits of the Career Team’s support in your job search. Leveraging all of LinkedIn's application options is an excellent step, but we will advise you on many more.
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