A recent article from SocialMediaToday.com shows that many of us aren’t getting the most from our LinkedIn profiles. Why? Most people aren’t comfortable marketing themselves. 52% of us would rather congratulate someone else on a promotion than talk about our own. When you’re in the midst of a job search, that kind of modesty is counterproductive. You are trying to catch the attention of recruiters and other hiring influencers.
To take some of the discomfort out of singing your own praises, here are 4 simple, nearly painless tips suggested by both LinkedIn and many other hiring influencers to increase your visibility to hiring influencers searching for candidates. So spend a few minutes using these 4 easy tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn:
- Offer relevant information. Make sure your position and work experience are current AND MATCH YOUR RESUME. It’s smart to update your social media and your resume when you re-enter the job market.
- Update regularly. Not only does your job change, your skills change, but your visibility on platforms such as LinkedIn can also change. Plus, LinkedIn has stated that complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities. Why? Profiles that are rarely updated will be counted as less active and fall farther down on the search results. You want to be updated, active, and on the top of those search results!
- Location, location, location. You are 23 times more likely to show up in search results when you add your current city or nearby major metropolitan area to your LinkedIn. For the same reason, make sure your address is on your resume. If hiring influencers do a search based on location, you do not want to be left out.
- Fill in the blanks. Fill out your profile as completely as possible with the information you want hiring influencers to have about you. For instance, make sure your Summary and your Skills & Expertise sections are filled with the buzzwords recruiters need to make a match between you and the job you want. If you’re in IT and would rather have a root canal than program in COBOL ever again, then take it off your skills list and summary. Interesting note here: LinkedIn ranks your profile higher if your summary includes at least 40 characters, so getting more descriptive really does pay off.
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