Want to Grow in Your Career? Up Your LinkedIn Game

Are you a LinkedIn “All-Star” – or is your profile a little, shall we say, underwhelming?

LinkedIn is a critical career-building tool for professionals around the world for a reason:  you can put ridiculous amounts of information on your profile! And when you have the right kinds of information on your profile, you’re much more likely to make it onto a recruiter’s radar.

Here are a few simple ways to beef up your LinkedIn profile and take advantage of the many services it offers:

• Optimize your Title and Summary. Recruiters often use Linkedin’s advanced search features to identify potential candidates. If your profile is optimized with keywords that reflect your area of expertise, your industry and your experience, it will be much more likely to rank well in search results.
• Update your current job responsibilities. As you gain time on the job, you may also take on new responsibilities. Make a quarterly habit of reviewing and adding to your job responsibilities (it’s one of the first sections people scan on your profile).
• Complete your Education. LinkedIn allows you to add multiple educational institutions and upload everything from photos to presentations in order to showcase your academic achievements.
• Garner new recommendations. As your online professional network grows, seek opportunities to obtain recommendations from business associates.
• Include Honors & Awards. If you’ve been recognized on the job or within your industry, feature it on your profile.
• Add media. People process visual information much more quickly than we do text. To make your profile more visually arresting, consider:
• Uploading images of portfolio samples, as well as accomplishments that could be represented visually (e.g., graphs, spreadsheets).
• Adding short video clips of presentations or speeches you’ve given.
• Uploading slides to a compelling PowerPoint presentation you’ve created.

Once you have your “All-Star” profile built, use these tips to put it to work for you:

• Do your homework. Browse the LinkedIn profiles of employees who work for a target employer, as well as the employer’s Company Page. Then, brainstorm ways you could show a hiring manager that you know the company and can bring value to it.
• Leverage your network. Type the name of a target employer into the search field. It will bring up people in your network who know employees or have worked for that company in the past. You can then ask them to “Get Introduced.”
• Use the LinkedIn Alumni tool. When you’re looking to advance your career, sharing an alma mater creates an instant bond and gives you a valid reason to connect. To use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool, simply hover over My Network and select Find Alumni. From there, you can search for people who attended your school and apply filters to dial-in your search.

Another great way to grow your career?

Register with a national employment agency like PrideStaff. Over the years, we’ve developed strong relationships with leading employers in your market – and provide access to opportunities you won’t find elsewhere. Contact the PrideStaff office in your area to find out more about great local job opportunities.