The 6 steps to the perfect LinkedIn profile

Language

Nederlands

With 7 million users in the Netherlands, and half a billion worldwide, LinkedIn is by far the most important online career platform. This makes it all too easy to be overlooked by recruiters. In this article, we’ll show you how to enhance your LinkedIn profile in just 6 steps.

1. Choose your profile picture

These days, everyone is a photographer, but it’s worth going to a professional to ensure your photo is top quality. Update it every 5 years, or invest in a refresh when you are actively job-hunting:

Dress professionally and look tidy. Don’t wear extreme colors such as black, white and red, or hot collars such as hot pink, green, yellow and orange and avoid patterns.
Put your face in the center of the frame. Crop the picture from the top of your shoulder to just above your head.
Practice your facial expression.You want to appear warm and friendly. Don’t forget to smile with your eyes.
Avoid including bright windows in your shots when shooting indoors.
Make the picture horizontally and preferably in portrait mode

2. Write your profile slogan

LinkedIn automatically fills the profile slogan with your current job position and employer – which already shows you how important this is, not only for your contacts in general, but also for recruiters and employers.

To stand out, use this field as it’s meant to be used – as a slogan. To give you an example: “Marketing Manager connected to Content Strategy, SEO and Social Media.” A developer might add specialties such as Java, Mobile and UX/UI.

Focus on your career goals, because you can build on these keywords once you get to the LinkedIn description.

Also read: Why you need to think about your online reputation

3. Craft your LinkedIn description

After your profile picture and slogan, the description is the first thing recruiters see of you, and will influence their first impressions. Choose 3 key words – for example, ones from your profile slogan – and build your text around these blocks. Describe your career goals and how you plan to achieve them

In a similar way to Google, LinkedIn uses SEO keywords to connect professionals with one another, which is, after all, the ultimate goal of this network.

4. Present your skills on LinkedIn

Let’s take as an example LinkedIn skills. For an SEO Manager, ‘SEO’ is not a special skill but a minimum requirement for the job.

If, however, a web designer or marketer adds SEO to his or her skillset, the candidate’s value for the employer rises. Thanks to smart technology, LinkedIn offers suggestions for popular skills as soon as you start typing. Moreover, it will ensure you are writing your profile using the most searched-for terms.

Also read: How to use social media to improve your job hunt

5. Give and get recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations are vital to add credibility to your profile. Quality not quantity is important here.

We are not talking only about recommendations you receive. Your shared recommendations assure an improved LinkedIn profile as well. How? This way, the recruiter or employer can see your personal relation to your former or current workplace from your point of view.

Turn it around: ask a former boss for a LinkedIn recommendation and offer one as a thank-you in return.

6. Join groups

Active membership of several LinkedIn interest groups further emphasises your expertise and passion for your profession. Depending on your sector, it can be of real interest to hiring managers to know that you are actively networking and could bring your contacts along with you.

What’s more, relevant contacts can be your entry ticket to a job interview. By joining conversations, you can share your knowledge with a group and learn new things, maybe even participate in creating new trends in your sector.

Follow these tips in order to appear more often in LinkedIn search results and catch the attention of recruiters as well as hiring companies. New job opportunities will arise and you will be closer to your dream job.