In our digitally enhanced world, platforms such as LinkedIn are increasingly prominent in the recruitment process. As we move away from office centricity and face-to-face networking, we are becoming more dependent on these professional technologies which enable job seekers and organisations to connect.

A LinkedIn profile is your digital CV. It helps you to be discovered by headhunters and employers, and can cut down on the conventional CV and often long-winded application process. In this guide I’m going to show you how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile, to increase the chances of you getting approached for the job you want.

There are 6 important areas to consider when curating your profile: Photo; Industry; Summary; Experience; Rich media; and Volunteer Experience.

1.Photo

According to LinkedIn research, including a photo of yourself will get you 9x more connection requests, 21x more profile views and 36x more messages. Make sure it’s a work appropriate shot, not a holiday or casual snap, your face should ideally take up at least 60% of the frame. Using a picture of yourself standing atop a mountain peak works well for some social media platforms, but it’s not ideal for LinkedIn.

The background photo is screen real estate that many people have yet to take advantage of. The first step is to choose an image other than the stock image from LinkedIn, ideally create your own image using a photo that is relevant or important to you and add some key words or a short sentence to explain what you do, the benefit you bring to an organisation. Imagery is powerful so choose wisely. For this article I used a picture of my dog to help gain attention but I wouldn’t use him as my background photo – no matter how much I love him! Be aware that the image will render differently depending on the device, I suggest keeping your wording to the right. Click the image below for LinkedIn’s guide on how to add or change the background photo on your profile.

2. Industry

Did you know that more than 1.2m people search by industry on LinkedIn every month! therefore a profile with industry information will receive 9x more profile views, so it’s wise to check you have filled this in. Here’s how:

1. From your profile click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage
2. Click View profile
3. Click the Edit icon in your introduction card
4. Select an option from the Industry drop-down
5. Click Save

A full set of instructions from LinkedIn.

3. Summary

Be specific about what you can offer including: skills, experience, and knowledge. Think of drafting the conclusion you would like the reader to draw after carefully studying your profile. This can also be used as the opening paragraph on more a conventional CV. I suggest a simple four sentence structure:

‘A *which industry* expert with *number of years* experience, gained from *describe organisations*. Skilled in *examples*. Experience of *examples*. Excellent knowledge of *examples*.’

Remember, if you can’t easily articulate your summary then don’t expect the reader to work it out for you. A well written concise summary will quickly help the reader understand your professional value.

4. Experience

Always detail your work experience. Completing this part in full will get you 5x more connection requests, 8x more profile views, and 10x more messages.

This is essentially a full CV, unless you have information on your CV which isn’t for the public domain then you’ve likely already prepared this content ready to cut and paste.

Check that you’re linking each role with the correct organisation. A change I’ve noticed is that more and more organisations have a LinkedIn page and therefore a brand to include in your timeline. It’s worth going back to the start of your career and include all the roles you’ve had.

5. Skills

To put it bluntly, you can easily gain 17x more profile views by simply adding 5 or more skills. Show your most relevant skills and abilities and remember to include both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills. Employers are now valuing emotional skills as highly as the core/hard skills required to get the job done. You may have read about the difference and importance of EQ as well as IQ, but now there’s a third to consider. Adversity Quotient (AQ). AQ refers to a person’s resilience, the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity. With today’s volatile world AQ is rising up the ranks, and in a post COVID world of work I predict its value will only grow.

6. Volunteer Experience

There are so many benefits from volunteering your professional skills . It will widen your network and keep you professionally active, especially during periods in between paid roles. As we move towards a more activist future, I believe an employers interest in your volunteering activities will increase. There are many ways to volunteer so find a route that works for you and include the results in your LinkedIn profile.

If you’re in Comms/Public Affairs there’s an easy way to do this. At the start of the COVID Pandemic the Ellwood Atfield team wanted to help in some way so we launched CommsVolunteers. Everyone behind it is donating their time, energy, and expertise to help organisations who need support with their communications and lobbying.

Write About Yourself and Your Experience Effectively

Speak to your experience

• Mention key responsibilities
• Initiatives you’ve led or when you performed a key role
• Reference your impact, the difference you made
• Whenever possible include data to support your facts

Be concise

• Use short sentences and bulleted lists so your profile can be easily scanned
• BUT you can elaborate on areas that wouldn’t fit on a hard copy CV

Write in the first person

• Your profile is your story so the reader should hear it directly from you

Additional information to include…

Location – get discovered for local jobs, engagements or business opportunities

Education – important to add this. You can choose where in your profile it gets displayed

Industry – help AI to connect you to relevant opportunities

Publications – feature any of your published work

Honours & Awards – the accomplishments section can feature any prizes or accolades

Content you can create and add, showing off your expertise…

Posts – short block of text to capture your followers’ attention

• Offer any insight based on your expertise
• Discuss current and trending topics

Articles – longer pieces to discuss a trending topic, event or something around your area of expertise (500 -1000 words)

• Include current affairs and trending topics
• Add images, formatting and links

If you are updating your LinkedIn profile with a view to exploring further career opportunities please get in contact with us at hello@ellwoodatfield.com. Also, take a look at the roles we are currently working on. If you found this article useful, please like and share.

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