LinkedIn is a great tool. Yet, if you are making some of the most common mistakes, your profile may by hurting you more than helping you.
Recruiters search LinkedIn for candidates. Hiring managers use LinkedIn to prep for interviews and decide who lands on the short list. Your friends and network contacts (new and established) access and use your LinkedIn profile to share information about you, connect with you and decide if they would like to do business with you.
What message are you sending?
Here are 4 common mistakes to avoid if you want to be in the running for the ‘right’ position:
- Pasting your résumé into your profile. LinkedIn is not a job board, rather it is a gateway to your online presence. With its volume and traffic, your LinkedIn profile will show up in most searches for you and for the job you do. Create a compelling summary that gains you favorable attention. Ensure your prose encourages people to read your summary, click your links and learn more about you. People hire people they know, like and trust. Use your profile to become trusted and to build relationships. Job opportunities will follow.
- Ignoring the details. Your LinkedIn profile is a 24-7 marketing site for you. Be sure you optimize your profile, so it will be found in a search. List, at minimum, your past three job titles and link to your past employer(s) Company LinkedIn page’s (if they have one). Focus on your key skills, the benefits you offer and problems you solve. Be selective and highlight the talents for which you want to be known. Manage your endorsements — looking like a ‘Jack or Jill of All Trades’ does not enhance your value.
- Being generic. Your profile needs to pop and paint a picture of you. If it reads like a dry job description, it may be promptly discarded. People hire people, not lists of skills. Include your personality. Create an emotional connection. Use facts to tell your story and demonstrate your experience and value.
- Dropping in only occasionally. Create a plan to regularly engage in the community and update your LinkedIn profile. Just as not returning a phone call reflects your lack of interest, so does not responding on LinkedIn. A slow response reveals much to those who use LinkedIn as a recruiting or sourcing tool. If you are shopping for a home and pass a house with neglected gardens, what is your first thought? Do you perceive it to have a lower value or be a bargain due to its need of repair? The same principal applies to LinkedIn.
Do you think your schedule is too busy for a great well managed LinkedIn profile? You can have a great LinkedIn profile and manage it in just minutes a week.
Email me to learn more about effectively managing your LinkedIn profile. I will send you a video link and a fun tip sheet.
Although I am not searching for a job, I wanted to thank you for these tips.
Great tips. Especially that one about only popping in occasionally. Since I’m not looking for a job, I don’t engage on LinkedIn very much, but I’ve heard from those who do… and they get great results.
I have not really used LinkedIn much, but this is great to know for when I get started, which will be soon!
Tiffany, glad this will help you. Let me know if you need help when you do decide to get started with LinkedIn.
Thanks Nancy for your comment. Engagement is critical for executives and business owners in today’s world not just when there is a need – engagement is how you build relationships, teams and how others learn about you and your products or services. Happy Engaging!
Lilia, glad the tips helped – like you comment. I share with the executives I coach that you should always be looking for your next opportunity. Why – well it is simple if you are looking you might miss a great opportunity.