In today’s competitive job market, having a polished LinkedIn profile can give you a significant edge. Here are some insider tips to optimize your LinkedIn presence effectively:
- Show You’re Open to Work
Many candidates aren’t aware that companies with annual LinkedIn Recruiter subscriptions usually search for profiles marked as “open to work.” This simple status update can significantly increase your profile’s visibility and the number of InMails you receive about job opportunities. There are two ways to show this on your profile – one public and one private. The public method is via your profile photo, choosing the frame that has a green circle banner that says #opentowork. You can also click the “Open to” button, select “finding a new job”, enter your preferences which includes visibility as “All LinkedIn members”. The private method is to select “Recruiter only”, so you can discreetly signal your status without alerting your current employer. - Dial-in Keywords and Skills
Half the battle is just getting eyeballs on your profile, so make it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to find you. Attracting the right attention starts with the right keywords. Find a job description that matches the job you are seeking and identify the most significant keywords and terms. Then, integrate these terms into your profile responsibly, ensuring they appear in your top skills section, under each work experience (up to 5 skills), and the skills section at the end (for which people can endorse you). - Complete Your Profile
LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards users with complete profiles, which means you are much more likely to show up in search results. Ensure your profile 100% complete by adding your professional information, summary, skills & expertise, education details, current position and work history. LinkedIn assigns different strengths to profiles based on their completeness, and there’s a huge advantage to being at the highest strength. - Add Your Contact Info
While InMail is a powerful tool, not everyone has access to it since it’s a premium feature. If you want to make it easy for everyone to contact you via your LinkedIn profile, add your contact information. While you can add most any contact method here, an email address is usually enough, but adding a personal website or instant messaging option can provide a nice touch. Pro tip: set a custom profile URL to make sure it is easy for you to remember and share. If you have a premium account, you can utilize the open profile feature that allows anyone on LinkedIn to contact you directly for free, even if they are not connected with you.
- Add Links and Media to Your Work Experience
Your experience section can be more than just text. You can add links, images, videos, and files to the entries in your Experience section as well as your Featured section. This is a nice addition that can add some additional context to your work. Link to your company website, projects, presentations, published articles, or anything else you deem appropriate. - Become an Active User
Completing your profile is just the first step. Being an active user is the number one way to start seeing more success on LinkedIn. This includes regular post updates, sharing articles and pictures, actively commenting on posts, and engaging with other users. Joining relevant groups, following company pages and important people can significantly increase your visibility and help you stay informed. You can also answer questions on articles within the LinkedIn community that allows you to collect badges for being a Top Voice on the subject. Actively using LinkedIn will help you grow your network, be more visible to your existing network, and learn more about your role, industry, and potential opportunities.
Your LinkedIn profile is your digital introduction to the world of potential employers. These tips are designed to ensure that when the right people find your profile, they see a polished, professional, and proactive candidate ready for the next opportunity. As always, you can always reach out to BridgeView for more guidance on your job search.
