What Makes a Strong LinkedIn Profile?

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Having a punchy headline is necessary to capture the attention of viewers on LinkedIn. On top of this, you need to ensure you are utilising the right keywords within your headline. This will allow others to find you as LinkedIn is basically a search engine to find professionals.

The best headlines are specific and are descriptive, this helps viewers know exactly what you do and what your purpose. By doing so you eliminate potential questions and viewers become more likely to take the time to review your profile rather than moving on.

Profile Summary

The Summary in your About section creates part of your first impression as it is one of the first things people see when looking at your profile. It is also the best place for showcasing your personality, particularly as the rest of the profile is likely to be more formal as it is a professional platform. The search facility also utilises the summaries to filter their results, so it is important to implement relevant keywords into your text. 

Things to consider while writing your summary;

• LinkedIn will only show the first 3 lines of your summary before the viewer has to select to “See More”.  Therefore, creating a compelling opening statement will be essential to spark interest for the reader to keep reading.
• Humanise your text by writing in the first person
• Highlight your biggest achievements
• Discuss why you are passionate about the industry you are in
• Express your motivations and goals
• Implement relevant keywords
• To show off a bit more of your personality, include some hobbies or interests near the end
• Use a call to action at the end. This could be a link to a website, imported media for viewers to engage with or a simple “Get in touch”.

Readers should be able to skim your summary in 30 seconds or less. So ensure your content is readable by using short paragraphs and bullet points to break up the text.

Customised URL

When you first set up your LinkedIn profile, the URL will just be automated and not necessarily look appealing. Customising your URL will help your profile be findable as well as creating a more professional look. 

We recommend using a mixture of your name and your profession. 

Make Your LinkedIn Profile Even Stronger

So far we have covered the fundamental elements that create a strong LinkedIn profile, however, to enhance it even further ensure you fill in the Experience, Education and Skills & Endorsement sections. Some people tend not to bother with these elements but they help show the full picture of who you are and what you are capable of doing.

Experience

When it comes to filling in your experience, it is up to you whether to include your full work history or just the relevant history. This is likely going to depend on your position on the career ladder as well as your previous experience. 

If you are not sure, maybe think about if you were in a previous job that wasn’t necessarily in the same industry as the current direction of your career, was there anything you took away that would be relevant? Or if you only include the relevant history, would it display big gaps in your career?

Education

It is ideal to include all your past qualifications, whether attained through formal education or through work. In addition to showcasing the foundation of your knowledge, it can help build connections particularly when first starting out on LinkedIn. 

If you are worried that including dates will reveal your age and you consider this undesirable, it is okay to leave the dates out. This is down to personal preference.

Skills & Endorsement 

Including your skills is particularly important for people wanting to advance their careers by looking for a new job. This is because listing your skills allows recruiters to quickly glance and develop an understanding of your range of skills. LinkedIn reported that including 5 or more skills can lead to 17 times more profile views and are 33 times more likely to be contacted by recruiters and other LinkedIn members. 

Plus, if you list your skills others can endorse you, which backs up what you have claimed to be good at. This will always be a good thing.

Now You Have a Strong LinkedIn Profile, What’s Next?

If you have done all of that, good job!

However, as it is a social media platform to develop your network you will need to regularly update your content and publish posts.

When creating content to post on LinkedIn it is worth remembering it is a professional platform, so make sure you implement content that surrounds your industry. We have listed some ideas to get you started:

• Share relevant industry or work-life based articles 
• Share links to your own blog if you have one
• Posts discussing fun statistics
• Content exploring industry innovations or changes
• Workplace updates
• Personal professional achievements

There you go, that’s everything you need to know about making a strong LinkedIn profile. We hope you found it informative and helpful.