Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile For Recruiters (Part 1)

Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile For Recruiters (Part 1) Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile For Recruiters (Part 1) 1. Fully complete your LinkedIn ProfileLinkedIn clearly states that users with completed profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn. Its easy to see whether your LinkedIn profile needs more work as LinkedIn displays a percentage score, indicating level of completeness. So, before you do anything else like installing apps, joining groups, commenting on discussions, check your score and if its way below 100%, you should do some work to update your profile. LinkedInsidea of a completed profile means that you have included the following informationYour industry and location, An up-to-date current position (with a description), Two past positions, Your education, Your skills (minimum of 3), A profile photo, At least 50 connections2. Edit Profile URL to Make it More User and SEO FriendlyYour public profile is the public version of your Linke dIn profile and it is this page which appears in search engines, like Google. The voreingestellt URL which LinkedIn gives you contains your name and a lot of numbers which are not reader friendly and according to experts, not SEO friendly. So, adjust your public profile URL so it is as close to your name as possible, e.g. www.linkedin.com/in/firstnamelastname to make it more reader and SEO friendly.3. Summary Adopting an Inverted Pyramid Information StructureThe LinkedIn summary has more prominence than the profession profile that you might prepare in a resume. Typically, the LinkedIn summary is longer, maybe two or three times the length and is a more fully fledged personal branding statement than the resume profile. Because the LinkedIn summary is longer and contains two or three paragraphs, it needs more structure than the shorter resume profile to create a similar positive effect. Many experts recommend that you adopt the Inverted Pyramid Approach to present your information whi ch is an approach used in journalism to convey information in the most effective way. In short this means that the most newsworthy info should come in the first paragraph, which is the Who?, What? When? Where? Why How?, followed by theImportant details in the second paragraph, and Other General Info and Background Info in the third paragraph. The idea of this is that the reader gets a summary in the first paragraph and can leave the summary at that point and still get a good feel for what you are about.4. Register a Company ProfileOne thing that I always look for when assessing a candidates LinkedIn profile is a completed company profile, (which is signified by a file icon next to the employer name), as it provides enriching information about the caliber and nature of the employer and their businessUnfortunately, many companies dont yet have a company profile and current or former employees of those businesses do not therefore have helpful company profile icons, describing the emplo yer, which I think lessens the impact of their profile. So, if your employer hasnt created a profile, either ask them to create one or simply create one yourself.5. Attention Grabbing HeadlineThe LinkedIn profiles places a lot of emphasis on the Professional Headline that appears at the top of the profile just below your name. This headline is displayed prominently at the top of the page and also appears in the listings of search results, which means it will be very influential in determining whether a recruiter clicks on your profile or not. So ensure to prepare an accurate but attention grabbing headline to draw in the reader.6. Install AppsUsed well, the LinkedIn apps enrich your profile. Current apps include a WordPress app or Bloglink app which allows you to present your blog on your LinkedIn profile. Only use this if your blog relates to your business and industry. This is not for personal musings. The Slideshare app is great for showcasing personal presentations, that you hav e given, on your LinkedIn profile. Theres also theCreative Portfolio app for showcasing creative work in unlimited multimedia formats. They also have a GitHub App so developers can show their headline activity on GitHub. So, I strongly recommend that where appropriate you install apps and enrich your profile.I hope you have found these LinkedIn profile optimization tips useful. Well continue with more LinkedIn profile tips in part two.