First you Must Set up your LinkedIn Profile
Picture
Picture from the front view with clear or solid background and a friendly smile is preferred. (yes, I didn’t smile very big, but I look good in a tie)
Headline
Utilize all 120 characters. Explain what you do and who you are looking for. Keep it succinct and jargon-free and don’t use symbols or smiley faces 🙂
Summary
Answer the question “why do you love doing what you do”. Write in first person. This part should be about YOU and why you are good at what you do.
Current position
Write about your position at the company you are currently with, then give an overview of the company as a whole.
Portfolio
Use the media section to add YouTube videos, PDFs or images which give more information about your products or services.
Skills and Expertise
Choose six or seven that best represent your skills
Past positions
Utilize the transferable skills you used in your previous roles, and make them relevant to your current position. Always write in first person and ignore anything which is not relevant or does not add interest.
Public Profile
Edit your public profile to only display your profile picture, basic info and summary.
Contact details
Provide a clear call to action for people to get in touch, and don’t forget to add your Twitter username.
Time to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Customize your Public Profile URL.
Make your profile look more professional (and easier to share) by claiming your LinkedIn vanity URL. Instead of a URL with a million confusing numbers at the end, it will look nice and clean like this: www.linkedin.com/in/jerrythrasher/. Customize your URL by going here and clicking Customize your public profile URL down on the right-hand side.
You Can Add, Remove, and Rearrange entire sections of your profile.
LinkedIn also enables users to reorder the sections of your profile in any way you prefer. When in edit mode, simply hover your mouse over the double-sided arrow next to the Edit link for each section. Your mouse will turn into a four-pointed icon, you can click, then drag and drop to another position on your profile.
Create a Profile Badge
If you have your own personal website or blog, you can promote your personal LinkedIn presence and help grow your professional network by adding a Profile Badge that links to your public LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has a few different badge designs to select from, and you can configure your own here.
Search Engine Optimize your Profile
You can also optimize your profile to get found by people searching LinkedIn for key terms you want to get found by. Add these keywords to various sections of your profile such as your headline or in your summary.
Use your LinkedIn Profile as your Resume
Job seeking is one of the most common — and beneficial — uses of LinkedIn. Were you aware that LinkedIn enables you to turn your profile into a resume-friendly format in seconds with its Resume Builder tool? Just choose a resume template, edit it, and export it as a PDF that you can print, email, and share.
Get Endorsed
Back in 2012, LinkedIn launched a feature called Endorsements, which enables users to endorse their connections for skills they have listed in the Skill & Expertise section of their profile — or recommend one they haven’t yet listed. These endorsements then show up on your profile within that same Skills & Expertise section, as you can see in the screenshot below.
Okay, so you can’t guarantee your connections will endorse you for those skills, but because it’s so easy for your LinkedIn contacts to do (all they have to do is click on the + sign next to a particular skill on your profile), you’ll find that many of them will do it anyway. Just make sure your profile is complete and you’ve listed the skills you want your contacts to endorse you for. It will definitely give your profile a bit of a credibility boost. You can also remove endorsements if you find people are endorsing you for skills that aren’t very applicable.
Finally, Keep your Profile Up to Date
Many of us have lots of responsibilities and if you have profiles on many different social sites it is hard to keep up. However, for many LinkedIn is an extension or online version of their resume. Just as you update your resume before you send it out – make sure your LinkedIn profile is current.
