Do you seek a highly successful professional career? Having a powerful presence on LinkedIn is a gateway to many opportunities. But how to make the Best LinkedIn profiles?
LinkedIn is regarded as the Facebook of professionals. That’s because of the number of professionals on it. So if you want to stand out from the crowd, then you need a profile that sets you apart from the competition.
So what does it take to create a LinkedIn profile that is well organized, comprehensive, and optimized to capture the attention of potential employers? Let’s talk about it.
Here, we will look into ways to create one of the best LinkedIn profiles.
What do the best LinkedIn profiles look like?
Having a LinkedIn profile is not the only thing you need. You need a great profile that is optimized to draw the attention of potential employers. Depending on the skills, expertise qualification you have, you need to portray your best image. Here are a few main things found in top LinkedIn profiles.
- One thing common in all top LinkedIn profiles is a professional profile photo. It might seem like an overwhelming task, but wearing a formal suit and capturing a perfect headshot with a brief smile on your face goes a long way.
- The next common thing in the best LinkedIn profiles is the eye-catching headline.
- Professional and interesting summary explaining your experience, benefits delivered to previous employers, and creative placing of keywords.
- Each of the top LinkedIn profiles has comprehensive details about the experience.
If you want your profile to get noticed by organizations, then you need these elements in your profile.
How to make a LinkedIn profile that stands out?
Profile picture matters the most — Add your headshot
When people visit your LinkedIn profile, they view your profile photo. It’s your chance to make a strong first impression. They say you can’t perfect your first impression, so get it right the first time.
You should put a face to your name. The best way is to dress up in professional attire, put on a smile, and get a high-quality headshot.
If you don’t put a professional photograph on your profile, you can be pushed aside easily. That’s because LinkedIn is crowded with professionals and people don’t explore your profile if it doesn’t have an attractive profile.
Write an eye-catching headline
Whether you are a financial analyst or an IT professional, there are always a few words to describe yourself in an eye-catching headline. When someone visits your profile, the headline is among the first few things they will see. It appears just below your name. By default, LinkedIn sets your current designation as your headline. It’s okay, but you can change it to whatever you want. So why not write something that stands out? LinkedIn lets you give yourself an eye-catching headline within 120 characters. Think of this as a billboard advertisement for who you are and what you do. You have 120 characters to describe and sell yourself in the best way. Instead of just writing your profession, mention your top skill and how you benefit your employer/organization.
Write an interesting summary explaining your highlights concisely
This is one part most people neglect by writing just a few casual sentences. In actuality, you need to focus on it hugely. Therefore, give due importance to this section.
Those who find your profile picture and headline interesting they go over to your summary. Once you have given your first impression, let them consider you for the job with your well-written summary. Make sure you present interesting insights about you in your summary.
Use this section to tell your story, skills, achievements, and experience. LinkedIn allows you to write a summary of up to 2,000 characters.
When writing your summary, don’t just focus on your experience but explain a few instances where you did an excellent job. Also, explain all the benefits you have provided to your previous organizations. Describe your specialties interestingly.
Don’t shy to brag about your experience and achievements
Your experience and achievements are your marketing assets. It is something you should be proud of. Therefore, never shy to list your professional experience and achievements you hold.
The perfect way to talk about your experience is to create a well-structured list of your experience. You can do better than just copy and pasting your professional experience from your resume. You should enlist any job you have done previously and are relevant to the career you’re aiming at. The audience on the internet has short attention spans. Therefore, be sure to keep that in mind while enlisting your professional experience.
The key to winning the trust of potential employers is to demonstrate the difference you could make while at previous key positions. Explain the initiatives you took or led and change you enacted.
Incorporate high-quality visuals
Another common thing in all of the best LinkedIn profiles is high-quality visuals. LinkedIn lets you add a background photo as well. Unlike Facebook, where you casually put any good-looking picture as your cover photo — Add a picture that speaks to your profession. It’s an excellent way to attract people to your profile.
LinkedIn allows you to link your YouTube videos, infographics, and other forms of visual media. So, why not use this as an opportunity to make yourself look a highly professional and credible candidate for a key post in your industry? You can create a few high-quality visuals and link them to your profile. It can make your profile jump off the crowd and attract your targets.
Increase your connections in your industry
One outstanding feature of LinkedIn is that you can build connections with people involved in your relevant industry. It seems obvious, but it’s easy to avoid capitalizing on this feature. The more people you add to your connections network, the more visible you become. The LinkedIn system categorizes your connections as first, second, and third-degree connections.
Many people with a limited understanding of LinkedIn tend to add more and more people regardless of if they know them personally. Preferably, connect with people you know or have worked with. If you want to add someone to your network whom you don’t know personally, send him/her a note with your request. Explain your reason to add them and who you are. It shows that you’re a highly professional person.
Ask for recommendations
If you come across a profile with all the features listed above, then you’ll also see a lot of recommendations on such a profile. It’s an excellent feature on LinkedIn. LinkedIn lets you invite your connections to recommend you for work you’re well versed with. If you have your previous employers in your connections, ask for recommendations from them. Having approved of your work from your past employers shows that you are excellent at what you do. It creates potential opportunities for you and helps your profile stand out from the crowd.
Manage your endorsements
Endorsements are great to show off your skills in your LinkedIn profile. However, your profile shouldn’t be overloaded with endorsements. Otherwise, it might make them look too good to be true. The key to managing your endorsements is to keep updating your skills. Remove outdated skills from your profile and replace them with the skills you’ve developed currently.
Check your profile strength
If you look at your profile, you’ll see “Profile Strength” on the right hand. It’s a gauge that helps you determine if your profile is sound enough. Essentially, it gives you several tips to improve your Profile strength. The best practice is to keep following the tips until your Profile Strength is “All-Star.”
Be sure that all the details provided in your profile are 100% correct, the profile is 100% complete, and there are no potential pitfalls.
Stay active
LinkedIn doesn’t offer the entertainment you get on other social media platforms, it’s easy to neglect it after some time. However, the key to making your profile stand out is to remain active. It’s a social media site for professionals. Therefore, publish engaging content related to your industry, read what other people post, and share your opinions. It shows that you’re a credible, socially active, and resourceful person with a great interest in your profession.
Look for groups
Definitely underestimated but a tactic that can give you more attention on LinkedIn and let your profile shine. You should do research and find the best niche groups which are related to your expertise and your content. Having the best LinkedIn profile is not important alone. After your profile is optimized you need visitors and traffic.
Wrap up
If you’re on the lookout for advanced-level professional opportunities, then LinkedIn is a reliable platform for you. Whether you’re an expert or beginner, you need to be on LinkedIn. However, your profile should be interesting, appealing, and sound enough to get noticed. While creating your LinkedIn profile, use the above guide as the checklist to make your profile on the best LinkedIn profiles. You can get the most out of LinkedIn, but all you need is a sound profile. Be sure it’s 100% complete, the information is correct, skills & experience are enlisted, and the profile picture is fresh & appealing.
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