As technology continues to advance, more and more everyday tasks are taking place remotely, and one of these tasks is job hunting. Through sites, such as LinkedIn, potential employees are able to connect with employers and illustrate why they should be hired. Because LinkedIn has the potential to help users find careers, it is important that all users present the best versions of themselves on their profiles. In this article, we will discuss four ways that you can improve your presence on LinkedIn.
Add a Background Picture to Your Profile
Though the majority of LinkedIn users have a profile photo on their page, significantly fewer have a background photo. As such, this photo gives you a chance to make your profile stand out to employers. The photo that you choose should be a photo that is pertinent to your professional life or one of your interests. Background photos help employers learn more about you just by looking at your LinkedIn profile, and they could even lead to a conversation in an interview!
Add a Summary
Summaries are another great way to personalize your LinkedIn page. In this section of your profile, you have the freedom to share your story – especially the parts of your story that aren’t apparent on your resume. In this section, you can highlight how your past experiences will make you a great employee in your target industry, the soft skills that you possess, and your career goals. Adding a summary to your profile can also help you rank higher in search results, which can increase your chances of being discovered by a job recruiter.
Utilize Skills Assessments
There are some skills that are required or highly desired in certain positions and the Skills Assessments on LinkedIn can help you to show employers that you possess these skills. This LinkedIn feature is helpful because it not only shows that you have a particular skill – it shows your skill level, as well. As such, if you are an expert on a particular topic, this will be apparent on your LinkedIn profile. Additionally, you do not need to worry about scoring poorly on a Skills Assessment, because you can take them as many times as you would like and you do not have to post the results on your profile upon completion, ensuring that you are only displaying the results of which you are proud. It has been proven that LinkedIn users who take Skills Assessments and display the results on their page are 30% more likely to be hired than users who do not do this.
Make Sure Your Profile is Complete
Though this suggestion may sound obvious, a great deal of LinkedIn users leave blank sections on their profile. All of the sections on LinkedIn were added for a particular reason, and it is in your best interest to take advantage of all of these sections. By filling in all of the information on your LinkedIn profile, you are giving employers a more complete sense of who you are and what you can bring to their company. Additionally, the LinkedIn algorithm places users with completed profiles near the top of search results, making it easier for those individuals to be discovered by job recruiters.
Improving Your LinkedIn Presence
Because so many companies are currently using LinkedIn to hire employees, it is extremely important to have a strong profile on this site. As there are over 756 million users on LinkedIn, it is vital to ensure that your profile stands out from the rest. Luckily, there are many simple, yet effective, ways that you can do this!
