How To: LinkedIn

Once upon a time, social media apps were just a way to pass the time or to stay in touch with family and friends, but through some creative thinking and years of development, they've seemingly been worked into all aspects of our lives. One such application is LinkedIn, as creating a LinkedIn profile has become the obligatory first step for anyone looking to call themselves a "young professional". While I wouldn't call myself a LinkedIn expert, I have logged a lot of hours on the platform over my last 7 years in recruiting, and I I have picked up quite a few tactics and tricks along the way. If you are on the hunt for a new job, or are simply looking to better utilize LinkedIn to your advantage, here are a few ways you can make sure your LinkedIn is working for you.

Your LinkedIn is NOT your resume.

Considered to be THE social app for professionals, LinkedIn's capabilities have come a long way since its launch, but at its core, it is still a tool intended to help job seekers connect with potential employers. From students to early professionals, and even seasoned executives, LinkedIn has helped, and continues to help, people at all levels to amalgamate their unique experiences into clean, application ready profiles, in hopes of landing their dream jobs. So to ensure that your foot is not met by a slamming door, it is important to remember that your LinkedIn, and your resume, should be different. Since your resume will undoubtedly have all the details about your previous roles and responsibilities, your LinkedIn should keep things at surface-level, at times even lacking in detail. You want the person reviewing your LinkedIn to be intrigued by your experience, and to want to know more, but if you've already given them all the details about you, what would be the point in interviewing?

Looks aren't everything, but they are important.

Just as you would wear something nice to a job interview, dressing up your LinkedIn profile is an important step when ramping up for your job hunt. And it's not just about the profile picture, if you really want your LinkedIn to stand out amongst the rest, it is crucial to make sure that your profile is complete, which means selecting a thoughtful background image as well as including your previous employers' logos in your work experience. They say "a picture is worth a thousand words", so be sure that the picture you choose says the right things about who you are, and who you will be as an employee. Here are a couple of tips for selecting the right images for your LinkedIn:

• Profile Pictures: many have started hiring professional photographers to make sure they look good, but as long as you have a clean background, good lighting, and a decent camera, or iPhone for that matter, you will be good to go!

• Background Picture: if you aren't sure what to pick for your background photo, cityscapes are a popular choice for a more generic image. Whether it's the city you're in, or possibly the city you'd like to go to, it will give the viewer a bit of familiarity with your profile and offer some context where you might be and the type of life you lead. Whatever you decide, just be certain that you have a reasoning for your choice, as the thought behind it is often what matters most.

• Employer Logos: with the logos on your profile it is likely out of your control as far as what they look like, so it's best to check that they are actually there, and that they are accurate. It may feel trivial, but if you work at a company like Google, wouldn't you want the unmistakeable "G" logo on your profile?

Know your audience.

Though your end goal is certainly to impress a hiring manager, it's important to know that they will not be the one that plucks your resume from the pile of mostly qualified applicants. More times than not, the person reviewing LinkedIns and resumes is a recruiter, or someone from HR, and their methods for evaluating talent are not what you would probably expect. Rather than reading through your profile and understanding your capabilities, recruiters are generally looking for things like keywords, hot skills, job history, and your attention to detail with basic spelling and grammar. It's important to remember that recruiters, and HR, cannot be experts in the skills of every job that they source for, and often rely on job descriptions to tell them what they need to find in qualified applicants. If you are looking to up your profiles likelihood of showing up in a recruiters search, try a few of the following:

1. Primary Skill = Keywords: recruiters use boolean search strings to find candidates, which means that your profile needs to include these keywords for you to show up in their search. For all your jobs, and most importantly those that are in line with what you want to do next, ensure that you are including some mention of your primary skills used, whether that be a coding language or just a primary responsibility of your role. The larger the presence of these keywords is in your profile, the higher up on the list you will be when they get their search results!

2. Keep Job Titles Generic: though you may be very proud to be your company's VP of Special Things and Blah Blah Blah Blah, no one is going to know what that means, and they may be deterred from reaching out if they think you could be overqualified. More times than not, you are better off keeping your LinkedIn job titles generic, like Manager or VP, since that is what they will search for anyway, and it will give the onlooker a general idea of your level. The interview will be your time to shine, where you can elaborate on all the unique aspects of your position, and avoid missing out on an opportunity because a recruiter didn't understand your job title.

3. Be Yourself: between your Headline and About section, you'll have a number of opportunities to express who you are to your network, and potential employers. Take these chances to talk about who you are as a person, as well as an employee, and this will help you to stand out with those who share your ideals. While it can be tempting to portray a superior version of yourself, it's important to be honest if you can hope to live up to your own expectations come week 1.

I hope this helps you if you are currently looking for a new role. As I said before, I'm not an expert in the art of LinkedIn, but I've certainly used it more than the average job seeker. Let your LinkedIn speak to who you are, but remember that you are a lot more than just your LinkedIn. If you have questions or need help in your job search feel free to reach, and be on the lookout for more stuff like this in the future!