How do you write your LinkedIn profile? With focus on highlighting what you have done/achieved or with intent of looking ahead in the future?
A profile that looks back summarizes your past achievements, experience & skill set & job title. Not only this sounds boring, but also it fails to create visibility & interest.
A credible strategy is to gear LinkedIn profile towards the future so that new connections/networks can find/locate you for new opportunities rather that connecting with people who already know you.
For instance- if you are a treasury manager with a medium sized FMCG company, looking for leadership opportunities in treasury, then you should create/modify the top content of your profile by integrating relevant keywords & phrases that talks about desired requirements.
Future focused LinkedIn profile helps you achieve the following:
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- It helps you raise your visibility & create interest by ensuring that appropriate keywords & SEO are formulated so that right audience( employers/headhunters/potential networkers/influencers) can find you and locate your profile.
- It enables readers/audience to look at your profile & evaluate the value & ROI that they can generate in case they decide to hire you.
Below-mentioned are the suggestive ways to create an effective LinkedIn profile:
- Optimize your Headline: Writing your current designation/title on headline is worthless. You should strive to include what kind of roles you are scouting, key & interesting statistics & competencies that makes a strong case in support of your skill set. For instance, you can write 15% YOY interest cost savings, managed a team size of 20%, Leading revenue growth in a volatile real estate market etc.. Writing a headline focused on future job role speaks about your skill set & ability. In case you do not have such attractive statistics, you should include relevant keyword focused at your target roles
- Leverage summary section : Use summary section to showcase your entire career story how your learning, skill set, expertise & competencies are a perfect match for the job/role you are aiming. Make first three lines of your profile summary strong as these along with the headline would be first visible to the audience. However, do not stop here. Utilize entire 2000 words to depict your story mentioning how your profile is best suited for your future role.
- Complete entire profile: Including only job title, experience, employer name, summary will not do any good. Complete all sections of your profile so as to create value in front of reader/audience. For instance, you should also include any social welfare project/association with NGO if that resonates with your target role/industry. If you have any media mentions such as those in newspaper or articles that speaks about your commendable work on a particular project you handled, please include link to media post in your profile. If you have received any awards, honors, or positive feedback ,you can add these in the Honors & Awards section. You can ask people to provide Recommendations on your leadership style & skills and abilities.
- Populate with industry specific keywords: You should know what kind of audience you should cater & know their requirements. Integrate their language & address their specific requirements through your profile. Again do a thorough analysis of job posting you wish to apply to identify desired skills & requirements.
- Make your LinkedIn profile public: If you want prospective employers to find you, make your profile visibility public- if not all , majority of section of your profile.
- Engage regularly: Build an authentic presence, be part of industry & function related groups, share knowledge, write articles, engage with relevant connections & participate regularly.
In case, you wish to get your LinkedIn profile recreated, do get in touch with our career coach.
