How to improve your LinkedIn profile in 2024: tips
Personal branding is one of the most powerful methods to show your professional skills, expertise, motivation, and achievements. It is no secret that many headhunters go through your LinkedIn page before hiring you. One of the best ways to find the job of your dreams is to have a strong LinkedIn profile. In this article, you will learn tips on how to rearrange your LinkedIn profile in order to get attention and make the best impression.
Clean your old info
One of the key features of a successful LinkedIn profile is that it is always up to date. Try to keep only essential job positions and do annual cleaning to eliminate outdated information that might deter future employers. Also, when you update your profile regularly it is easy to remember, which goals you achieved in what position and what professional milestones you passed through.
Choose the right profile picture
Despite all the seriousness of your LinkedIn profile, don’t forget about the importance of the profile picture. Make sure your profile picture is recent and looks like you do now. Choose a portrait picture, where your face takes up not less than 60% of the photo, this way it will be easier for people to recognize you. Don’t choose long-distance photos or artistic captures where you can not see the face clearly.
Update your headline
The headline doesn’t automatically have to be your job title, you can use it as a motto, or the main paragraph that explains why you love doing what you do, what drives you, or what your professional goals and aspirations are. Be free and creative!
Create a story out of your summary
The summary, as well as the headline, don’t necessarily have to be formal and impersonal. Use this field to tell your story, your career aspirations, and not only the list of jobs and skills you’ve got. These lines will be the first ones that your future employer will see, so make sure you’ve included the most important things about yourself in a non-trivial way.
Place important information at the top of each section
Many people, including your potential employers, spend no more than 2-3 minutes looking at your profile. Therefore, as we have already mentioned, it is important to try to place at the top of your profile the most important information that you think can highlight your strengths and skills and improve your career opportunities.
Previously, LinkedIn used to allow users to rearrange the order of the main sections of their profile, but now it has become impossible to change their order. However, you can still change the order of the information within the sections Education, Experience, Skills, Volunteer Experience. You can rearrange positions in the experience section only in relation to the professional activity, in which you are currently engaged in. This means that it is not possible to rearrange completed work experiences, which in principle is quite logical since your track record must be organized in a temporary order.
So, to change the order of items within a Section, do the following:
- Open your profile.
- Find the section whose content you want to reorder.
- In a section, click on the pencil icon to start editing it.
- Next to the "+" icon, you will see up and down arrows. Click on them.
- Now in the window that opened, press and hold on the three lines in front of the reordering part and move them up or down.
When editing the Skills section, you will see three dots instead of arrows. Click on them and then click on "Reorder".
Avoid using buzzwords
Buzzwords are words that are so popular on LinkedIn that sometimes you don’t even notice them because they are so abundant. Moreover, algorithms often filter these parasitic words. Try to avoid generalizations and buzzwords such as, «passionate leader», «creative», «innovative», «revolutionary» etc. Words like that don’t have as much sense and weight as they did before and sometimes it can be hard to understand if the person referring to them, actually has all these qualities and skills.
Expand your network
A quantity of professional connections shows how successful you are in your field, how your coworkers and colleagues communicate with you, and what your role is in the professional community. Don’t hesitate to add people you know using email addresses, searches, and mutual connections. Make sure to accept connection requests to build a bigger network.
Spotlight your skills
Your skills are very important for any future employer because he or she also has a list of requirements with which your profile will be eventually compared. List your professional and soft skills, but always be true and stay relevant. Place your key skills at the beginning of the list finalizing it with less important competencies.
Use endorsements
Endorsements are the key to increasing your credibility meaning that your colleagues or partners appreciate your professional skills. Don’t hesitate to ask your community for a relevant endorsement and do the same for others: confirm the skills of your colleagues that you value the most.
Join groups
LinkedIn groups are an important part of professional networking, where you can meet an expert that you were looking for and make a connection for future projects. Also, through the groups, you can be notified about any important meetings and conferences happening soon that you might have missed.
Share your success and achievements
LinkedIn is a social network, so try to be socially active there. Share your latest achievements and react to other people’s success. This will not only create a warm atmosphere and a good vibe but will also show your future employers or partners your professional life, the challenges you accepted and overcame as well as your engagement in the work.