LinkedIN Profile

LinkedIn Profile Checklist

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How Good is Your LinkedIn Profile? If you are a do-it-yourself-er, you may want to see how your LinkedIn Profile stacks up. Check out this self-assessment worksheet for LinkedIn:

Profiles that are considered “complete” by LinkedIn’s standards receive 40 times more “opportunities” (contacts from prospective hiring managers and recruiters) than incomplete profiles, according to LinkedIn’s research. LinkedIn has its own criteria for “profile completeness.”

These are the items you need to have on your LinkedIn account in order to have a “complete” profile, according to LinkedIn:
• Your industry and location
• Up-to-date current position (with description)
• Two past positions (under “Experience”)
• Your education
• Skills (minimum of three)
• Profile photo
• A minimum of 50 Connections

A picture is worth 1,000 words. Is your LinkedIn profile photo giving the right impression?
• You have a photo on your LinkedIn profile
• The photo is appropriate for a business profile (not a glamour shot)
• Face is clearly recognizable (in focus, close up, looking at camera)
• Photo is high resolution (sharp, clear)

For your LinkedIn profile to help you reach your personal and professional goals, you must be able to communicate what makes you exceptional and compelling — this is your personal positioning, or “brand.”

Ensure that:
• Information in your LinkedIn profile is concise yet comprehensive and provides a good representation of your career and qualifications
• Keywords relevant to your job target are woven throughout your LinkedIn profile (helping increase your ability to be found online)
• This profile answers this question: “Would I want to hire someone with this profile?”
• The profile is attention-getting and persuasive

Do you make these mistakes with your LinkedIn profile?
• Profile is focused on a single job target. 
(Mistake: An unfocused profile tries to be “all things to all people”)

• Profile is written from the correct point of view. 
(Mistake: An informal profile written in third-person, or a formal profile written from the first person point of view – most LinkedIn profiles should be written in first person.)

• You use all the content sections available to you 
(Mistake: Not including information in all relevant sections 
— i.e., Honors & Awards, Languages, Certifications, Courses, Patents, Projects, Publications, etc.)

• Your Profile includes several positive Recommendations 
(Mistake: Not asking for Recommendations; not having enough Recommendations on your profile)

12 Easy Things to do to Get Your LinkedIn Ready for the New Year

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While things are slowing down at work, you can use your time to get your LinkedIn Profile ready for 2018! Here are 12 simple ideas you can use to freshen up your LinkedIn profile, and to take advantage of LinkedIn’s latest changes.

  1. Profile images are now displayed in a circle. Check that yours looks good and adjust it, if necessary. Use the LinkedIn Photo Editor function to zoom, crop, and/or straighten — and, if desired, apply filters.
  2. Create a new background image for your profile page. The size should be 1536 x 768 pixels – Canva.com has templates that you can use.
  3. Double-check your privacy settings. Go to “Privacy & Settings,” then click on “Privacy” and check each setting.
  4. Re-populate any information that may have been removed with the change to the “new look” — for example, putting your contact information at the bottom of the Summary section, or adding information to the “Volunteer Experience” section.
  5. Check the first 2-3 sentences of your Summary. Are they attention-getting? Would they entice someone to read further?
  6. Review your Work Experience section. Do you want to re-arrange what is showing up as your current position?
  7. Get familiar with where you can find your “Groups” now — either bookmark http://www.linkedin.com/Groups or explore the “Work” tab on the main navigation menu.
  8. Try the “new look” LinkedIn search function on the main navigation menu. Type in a person’s name, company, or Group and explore the filter functions.
  9. Visit the Notification area and update your connections. It’s much easier to manage now.
  10. Familiarize yourself with the Messaging function. Respond to messages with a personal response, instead of a “canned” reply.
  11. Proofread your entire LinkedIn profile carefully!!
  12. Make a point of visiting LinkedIn and using your account on a regular basis.

BONUS: Take a minute right now and backup your LinkedIn Profile (both “Save to PDF” and creating a full data archive). You want to make sure you have a copy of all your hard work!

Still Think You Don’t Need LinkedIn?

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Lots of people are not on LinkedIn and when I ask them about it, they “pooh-pooh” me. Be that as it may, LinkedIn has more than 300 million members and two-thirds of them live outside the United States. Although the federal government is not a heavy user of LinkedIn recruitment tools (which is ultimately where LinkedIn makes its money), the Department of the Army has the third largest number of employees of any organization on LinkedIn, after IBM and Hewlett-Packard, according to an August 2014 (more than a year ago!!) report. (see http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedins-plan-for-the-future-2014-8).

Even if your agency is not using LinkedIn for filling positions (which they probably are not), it is still a valuable tool; a way for you to learn what your former colleagues and friends are doing, keep up with trends and learn about different organizations by “following” them, and establish a positive online presence and increase your professional credibility by using some of LinkedIn’s features such as publishing. If you have an interview scheduled, LinkedIn can be a great way to familiarize yourself with panel members. And, of course, if you are meeting with individuals from another agency, or even talking to them over the phone, a quick look at LinkedIn allows you to put a face with a name (assuming they have a picture posted), learn a little more about who you are working with, and ease those sometimes awkward transactions. Finally, even if you are not looking up your colleagues, they may well be looking for you.

So, if you are one of those people who does not “do” social media, you may want to rethink your approach. Look at the site. See who you know who is on it and how they are using it. You do not want to be left behind.

Do I Really Need a LinkedIn Profile?

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As many of you know, LinkedIn is a social networking site targeted toward professionals. In just over 10 years, LinkedIn has grown to more than 300 million members in 200 countries; LinkedIn is available in 20 languages!

If you are searching for a position in the private sector, you definitely need a strong LinkedIn Profile. Recruiters use LinkedIn to search for potential applicants—thousands of recruiters from thousands of companies use LinkedIn as their ONLY source for candidates so as a job seeker, you are missing potential opportunities if you do not have a good profile. Even if you are targeting organizations who do not use LinkedIn to recruit, many hiring managers are looking at your LinkedIn Profile before deciding whether to interview you.

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