Hi, everyone! My name is Vita. I am the resume writer with Resume Lust.
Today, we would like to talk about your perfect LinkedIn profile.
I will be talking about eight steps to go ahead and implement on your LinkedIn profile to get the job you love.
Let's start with step one. Step one is creating a professional headshot.
Make sure that the picture that you're using for your profile is done by a professional photographer.
You can also view some YouTube videos online with some great tips and advice on doing that.
Please do not use any pictures with your friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, or family member.
Make sure that it is a professionally done picture, and you are smiling.
You need to look approachable. People don't like looking at sad people, and they're not welcoming.
So it would be great to make sure to take a well done professional headshot for your LinkedIn profile.
Do not take selfies. I've seen a lot of selfies from the car, from the garden, from the park.
It is visible, you can totally tell that it is a selfie.
Please make sure that your headshot looks professional. You're dressed up for the occasion.
You have a nice solid background so that nothing sticks out, and you're the main focus on that LinkedIn profile.
Make sure that your headshot is very approachable.
You're smiling, it's well done, has a solid background, and you look professional and dressed up for the occasion.
Step two. Make sure that you are using all the features of LinkedIn.
One of the cool features that you can market yourself even better is a cover page on your LinkedIn profile.
For that page, for instance, if you're in marketing and you have your own consulting, or you have your own website where you provide certain services.
It would be great to have that picture on your cover page of the LinkedIn profile.
That would really promote you even more.
That will catch more attention, and that's an additional space that you can use for people to get to know you.
Step three.
Make sure that your LinkedIn profile headline has all the information you want somebody who only has two seconds to look at your LinkedIn profile to read.
You probably want to make sure that it is the exact keywords that your position or your background is searchable for.
For instance, if you are an HR manager, just like me, you want to make sure that you include HR.
You want to put a director title, or you want to say HR leader in the industry, and whatever industry you work in.
Make sure your headline is eyecatching. It's very straight to the point.
Just because sometimes on the phone, it is really hard to read certain words.
You really want to make sure that the right keywords are showing up, and you're found as soon as possible.
Step four. You want to write your summary section as much as you can.
Use a lot of buzzwords, use a lot of professional jargon, the keywords that the recruiter might be using to look for you and your profile.
I'm sure that being a software engineer,
you use certain words, keywords, and phrases commonly used on the job descriptions given to the recruiters by the hiring manager
so that you are making sure to beef up your LinkedIn summary as much as possible.
This way, you will be more searchable.
Of course, everything you put online is searchable, so keep that in mind, and utilize that space to your advantage as much as you can.
Step five. You want to make sure that your contact information is on there.
If you have a phone number -- obviously, all of us, we all have cell phone numbers, so make sure it's on there.
If you're looking for opportunities and want to be reachable as soon as possible, you can include your phone number and email address.
Sometimes it's just easier to email a job description directly to your email inbox.
This way, you don't have to waste your precious time talking to the recruiter back and forth.
The recruiter can just email what they're looking for directly to your inbox.
If you have your professional website or GitHub, for instance,
or any other links that can showcase your abilities and projects you've worked on, please include that.
I think it's a really great part of your marketing material.
It definitely shows what you do, what you're capable of, and it looks great, and it looks really professional.
Step six. Very short step. I really like it.
You can actually add it and customize your LinkedIn profile link to your first and last name.
Hopefully, your name is a little bit unusual.
If you're Mark Johnson, it's probably really hard to get exactly your first and last name together as part of your URL.
Because my name is quite unusual, especially among the English speaking community, I secured my full name, vitaliia-vasylenko, for the URL.
It looks cleaner. It looks more professional.
Of course, if you have a more commonly used name, you can play around with it and see how you can shorten your LinkedIn URL.
But that's number six, it's always good to shorten your URLs, so it looks better.
Step seven. You want to really use current and past experiences.
Make sure that the past tense is there for all the jobs you've had in the past.
And the present tense is in all the current positions that you hold right now.
For instance, I'm a recruiter, and I come to your profile, I want to make sure that you're describing your current experience as if you're still working there.
I want to see what you're doing there.
Of course, in the past, make sure that the formatting is all in the past tense, and it's all consistent.
I don't want to see jumping things -- "I worked," and then "I work," and you're talking about your previous experience.
Just watch out for that formatting -- clean and nice. Formatting is always good for the recruiter's eye, and you look more professional.
Step eight. The final step and I think it's really important. It talks about skills and endorsements.
You might notice that if you scroll down to your LinkedIn profile, you will see a lot of different options, up to 50 skills, I believe right now.
You can add to your profile where people can endorse you.
You can request those endorsements from people who worked with you.
They can receive that message through their LinkedIn inbox, and they can click on it, "Yes, endorse."
"John can do verbal communication really well," and they can say, "Yes, I know that because we worked together," and that would show up on your profile.
That would also be searchable and would look really professional on your profile, which would help you be more searchable and seen by the recruiters.
So that was eight steps to your perfect LinkedIn profile.
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