Improve Your LinkedIn Profile in 5 Minutes
You may know that your LinkedIn profile needs improving but aren’t sure where to start. When creating your profile, you likely added a headshot, current job, and maybe some past experience. When it’s done, however, it doesn’t look as good as you’d hoped. Making your profile look professional and complete doesn’t have to be a difficult task. You can make changes that will have a big impact but only take 5min.
1. Add a cover image
Adding a background image, sometimes referred to as a cover image, will help make your profile look complete. Some easy options are free stock images of your city skyline, maybe a picture of your office, or even your building. While it doesn’t have as significant an impact on search as a headline or summary, it will make your profile look complete when people land on your profile. Be sure to search for free images and don’t just save the first picture that comes up on google images. You may end up with some issues using an image that has a copyright.
2. Make your headline more than your title
LinkedIn will automatically make your headline your job title, but it can be much more than that. Your headline should be a quick summary of your professional persona. If someone reads your name and your headline, they should get a snapshot of who you are and what you do. An easy way to make your headline cover more than just your job is to include dividers (“|”, “*”, or “-”) and break it out into sections. The first second can be your job title if you’d like but include other descriptors of you. You have 220 characters to fill. Make sure you include keywords or phrases that you want to come up in search.
3. Write a two-sentence summary
The most common reason I hear why people don’t have a summary is that they don’t know what to write. While the best summaries tell a story and are often longer than just a couple of sentences, this is an example where something is better than nothing. Writing a couple of quick sentences that summarize your career and experience can make a dramatic difference in your profile’s appearance and the likelihood that you show up in search results. Make sentence one who you are (I am a marketing professional who brings creative and strategic thinking together) and sentence two of your skills/experience (Working with primarily small businesses, I have experience in B2B, B2C, traditional, and digital marketing). There is always more to say, but adding a summary is a fast and easy way to improve your profile.
Want to write a full About section? Read - Writing a LinkedIn “About” section
4. Add All Your Experience
Most people already have their current position listed on their profile, but it’s important to remember that your jobs are for more than just making your profile look complete. It’s how LinkedIn finding people for you to connect with. Make sure to add all relevant experience to your profile. Having your jobs listed can increase connections by 5X. You can skip the fast-food job you had in high school but include any job that has a company on LinkedIn that could help you grow your professional network.
5. Add skills
The skills section on LinkedIn is easy to overlook, but they are a crucial part of making your profile easier to find. It is one of the key filtering options used by recruiters and effects search. Adding skills will help people find you when they search for someone in your with those skills. It will also give your network a chance to endorse you.
Looking to make a more substantial improvement to your LinkedIn profile and strategy? Learn more about how a One-on-One Coaching Call could help you.
