What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile Section-by-Section - Career Sidekick

What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile Section-by-Section - Career Sidekick What to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile Section-by-Section LinkedIn / https://www.edenscott.com/blog If youre wondering what to put on your LinkedIn profile, you have come to the right place.A reader from theblog emailed me last week and asked, Biron, Im trying to write my LinkedIn profile, and am not sure what to put on it. Ive been told to just copy everything from my resume. Is that what you recommend?Short answer: No.I realized a lot of people out there probably have this question though, or other questions about what to put on their LinkedIn to have aprofile that stands out. So Ill explain everythingWhat to Put on Your LinkedIn Profile When Job Searching:Here are some key pieces to put on your LinkedIn profile:Your recent work experience, highlighting accomplishments and results, plus any promotions youve receivedA 2-3 sentence profile summaryRecommendations from colleagues on LinkedInIndividual skills (in the LinkedIn Skills section)Case studies/attachments/PDFs to draw attention to your work and highlight your accomplishments furtherA great hea dshot/photoEducation and certificationsCommunity involvement and volunteer workIll cover everything below. Here are my best tips for writing a great LinkedIn profilePart 1: Work Experience and LinkedIn Profile SummaryKeep the Main Sections Shorter Than Your ResumeWhen it comes to things like your work experience and bullets, your LinkedIn profile should be shorter than your resume. Assume people are reading it for a just a few seconds per job listing.So pick your top 3-4 bullets from your resume per job, and put those. But cut the rest out.Also consider including a one-sentence description of your work in each role too, just above the bullets. This is typically a bit longer on a resume, but if its already just one sentence on your resume, you can copy it over. If not, Id shorten it a bit.The only exception to this rule: The summary that appears below your name but above your work history on LinkedIn. Id recommend that be 2-3 sentences on your resume, and around the same length on Li nkedIn too.So thats something you CAN copy over. If youre not sure how to write a resume summary thatll stand out and impress employers, you can learn how here.Why Does My LinkedIn Need to Be Brief/Concise?It doesnt. Theres no golden rule here. Some people will read more content if you put it. But heres the thing the goal of your LinkedIn (or resume) isnt to get them to read every word. Its to make them reply and invite you to interview, right?They might still have some questions and want to know more after reading your LinkedIn, but theyll see enough that they want to talk. And thats the goal. Theyll find out the rest by asking you questions in the interview.And keeping things brief will force you to focus on narrowing down your bullets and accomplishments to just the most impressive.If I told you to include 10 bullets per job, you wouldnt be as selective and wouldnt write great bullet points. But if you limit it to 3-4 bullets per job like Im suggesting, your LinkedIn profile will have nothing but awesome bullets.Taking the time to trim the fat and put only your best highlights on LinkedIn is going to make you stand out while also making your profile more attractive to read/skim, which is what you want as a job seeker.Show Progress or Advancement Whenever You CanEmployers LOVE it when you advance within a company, get promoted, etc.So any time you can show that, do it.Heres a really simple example from the first recruiting job I ever had. I started as an Executive Recruiter and then got promoted to Senior Executive Recruiter. So I made sure to show this progression on my LinkedIn:Note that your profile should definitely have more detail than this.I edited this down because its very far in the past, Im not job searching, everyone knows what the job title Executive Recruiter means, and I mostly want to show the advancement I made and the leadership I started doing here.But in your 2-3 most recent jobs make sure to put more detail about what your job actually i nvolves.Aim for around 4 bullet points like I mentioned earlier. The #1 thing hiring managers and recruiters want to seeis what youve worked on and accomplished recently.One more note about showing advancement and progression: This doesnt always need to be an official change in job title or salary. If you had a change in responsibilities (like starting to mentor/train new team members), you can still mention it on your LinkedIn and show how you progressed (even if your pay and/or job title stayed the same).Focus Mostly on Your Recent WorkThis is one of the key strategies I recommend for what to put on your LinkedIn profileNow, if youre job searching with no experience, or right after college, this wont matter for you because you dont have a ton of jobs to list anyway but if you have many years of work experience and many past jobs spend more time (and space) on your LinkedIn profile on the 2-3 most recent jobs!So for example, the most recent job could have 4 bullet points and a 2-s entence description above it.The next job down would have 3-4 bullet points and a 1-sentence description.And so forthBy the time you get to the fourth or fifth job, it might just be a one-sentence description with 2 bullets, or just 2-3 bullets.Thats not some rule that you have to follow 100%, but its the general pattern you should follow use most of your time, and most of the space on your LinkedIn work history, for writing about your most recent work.You Dont Need to Put Every Past Job on Your LinkedIn ProfileJust like on your resume, considering removing a couple positions entirely if theyre far in your past and unrelated to the jobs youre applying for now.Theres no rule that says you need to list every previous job when writing your LinkedIn profile or resume.Formatting Your LinkedIn Work History Keep it SimpleYou can also see how I used very simple formatting to grab attention in the screenshot above. I just typed before the descriptions, and it stands out visually in the ex ample above.So you can consider doing something like this too but dont overboard. No recruiter or hiring manager likes a profile flooded with symbols, emojis and other graphics making it hard to read or focus.So find one or two small things to do thatll stand out, but then keep it very simple and focus on writing awesome content thatll make the reader want toset up a phone interviewor talk to you.Also, copy what looks good on other profiles. Borrow ideas. If you think the best writers out there dont take ideas from others, youre wrong. So you dont need to start with a blank page for any of this. Look around at other people in your industry, take an idea here or there, make note of what looks good and what definitely does *not* look good.Now, dont go copy one persons LinkedIn profile. Dont plagiarize. But do take inspiration.Part 2: Recommendations, Skills and Case StudiesAdd Some Sections Your Resume Doesnt HaveThis is another reason we cant just copy word-for-word from your resume when writing your LinkedIn profile because LinkedIn offers some sections/features that arent on a typical resume.So youd miss some of the best things you can put on your LinkedIn profile.Here are some great sections to add:Recommendations This is one of the most powerful ways to immediately signal to employers that youre great at what you do. If you dont have at least 3 recommendations on LinkedIn, heres how to ask for them and get them.Skills Make sure to fill out your Skills section with all 50 slots allowed. Why? These will help you appear in more searches that recruiters and employers run. So if you want to get hired, think about what skills you want people to see your name listed under, in a search. This is really the only way to cram your profile full of great keywords and search terms without looking spammy, so take advantage.Attachments/Case Studies You can attach all kinds of documents to your profile in various places, including under specific jobs youve held. Thats ano ther way to make your profile stand out. So think about if theres anything you can create, re-purpose, and attach to grab attention.Part 3: Your LinkedIn Profile Photo Heres a screenshot of a search I ran on LinkedIn (with names removed). Which profile would you be least likely to click? As a Recruiter Im probably not going to click the person with no profile image.Not having a LinkedIn profile photo is a big mistake if youre job searching. Employers and recruiters might suspect your account is fake, and even if not, theyll wonder why you dont have a photo when practically everyone else does. It just seems odd, and brings unnecessary concerns.And choosing the wrong photo can also hurt you in your job search.So choose a professional-looking headshot to put on your LinkedIn profile. It doesnt need to be perfect. But pick something where youre dressed pretty well and look like youre confident, smiling, happy, etc.LinkedIn offers these 5 tips for picking the right profile photo if you w ant more help with this.Part 4: What Else to Put in Your LinkedIn ProfileAfter this, you can put things like education, certifications, and even community service/volunteer work. LinkedIn offers sections for all of these. You can also add different languages you speak to your LinkedIn profile.However, just like on your resume, the first things you highlight should be your recent work experience, accomplishments, and proof of your skills (in this case, the best proof is LinkedIn recommendations, mentioned in the last section).So focus on those things first when deciding what to put on your LinkedIn profile. If you follow these steps youll have a strong profile that catches the attention of hiring managers and recruiters in any job search.