10 simple fixes that turn your profile from zero to hero

Remember the saying “you can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps”? Well the same applies to LinkedIn, and the quality of connections that you have. We all get invitations to connect from time to time, so it’s really important to assess the quality of the profile of the person who sent the request, to make sure that there is a benefit to connecting with them. Now, think of this in terms of your own profile. As you seek to build up a network of connections, is your profile letting you down? Here are my 10 simple fixes that will make a big difference to your profile, and will also mean that more people will click on [Accept] when you send out invitations to connect. Just remember to personalise your message or this whole exercise will have been pointless!

1.  Update your photoA picture paints a thousand words, and without realising it, your choice of photo says an awful lot about you. From your choice of background, clothes, general grooming and body language, anyone can see in seconds whether you see LinkedIn as a site for professionals or as an extension of your other social media accounts. For advice on choosing a photo, see my previous post on the subject. Also, check your settings to ensure that people can actually see it.2. Ensure that your name is grammatically correct

Good grammar is expected in business and nothing let’s you down more than using incorrect grammar on your name. Again, I have a post on this to help you out.

3. Make the most of your headline

When LinkedIn creates your profile, it uses your last known job title as your headline. However, did you know that LinkedIn provides you with 120 characters to tell people what it is you do? Most professionals understand that LinkedIn is about marketing yourself, and your headline is your first opportunity to do this. For help, read my 3 tips to developing an awesome headline here.

Note: Your photo, name and headline are what people see when they find you in search results, so getting this wrong also affects whether people choose to view your profile, or not.

4. Personalise your URL

When you created your LinkedIn account, LinkedIn gave you a URL for your profile, but it also gave you the ability to personalise it. The great thing about a personalised URL is that is shows up quite high in Google search results, you can add it to your business card and you can create a QR code for it! For instructions on how to do personalise your URL, click here.

5. Add a summary

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: without a summary, you’re just the sum of the jobs you’ve worked at. You are so,so much more than this, and your summary should reflect it. For advice on how to craft an outstanding summary, click here.

6. Make sure that you include job descriptions

You may not realise it, but having a job title and dates isn’t enough for LinkedIn. To qualify for a complete profile, you need to include a some sort of job description. In addition, people with incomplete profiles are shown lower down in search results, meaning that without job descriptions, the person searching for someone with your skills won’t even get to see you in the search results.

7. Include some achievements

When your job description is just that, then the person reading your profile knows what the role involved, but not how you contributed to the business. In her book “Resume Magic”, Susan Britton Whitcomb points out that in each job an employer is looking for someone who will do one or more of the following:

• make or save money
• save time and/or make work easier
• solve a specific problem
• make the business more competitive
• expand the business
• attract and/or retain customers
• build relationships and create a positive image for the business

Which of these have you done in the jobs that you worked in? Let people know this and include your top achievements in your summary.

8. Review your skills

You can include up to 50 skills, but make sure that they are relevant to the job that you do. You can now also select the order that they appear in, so if you want to flag up certain skills, then move them around so that they are displayed in your top 10. Also, do show your endorsements. It looks like you don’t have any when you switch off this feature.

9. Review the sections that you didn’t use

The 3 main sections that are relevant for employers are your experience, skills and education, however, LinkedIn has many more sections that allow you to highlight particular achievements in your career for example certifications, courses, publications, patents and volunteering experience. Some sections were specifically added for students, to allow them to showcase their skills and achievements to date.

10. Ask for recommendations

Recommendation on LinkedIn are like references in advance, and they are much more powerful than endorsements of your skills, because someone took the time to write about how good you are at your job. Contact previous managers, clients and colleagues to see if they would be willing to recommend you. Be careful though of offering to do the same in return, and never ask a family member to give a recommendation unless they truly have been in the position to do so.

These 10 fixes are really easy to make, but can make a big impact on your profile. No-one will connect to someone with a poor profile, unless perhaps they actually know them, so if you want to build up a network of connections, you need a profile that stands out for the right reasons.

If you found this blog post helpful, then please let me know, and if you feel you would benefit from some help with your LinkedIn profile, then consider getting a full, systematic review of your profile or some one to one training and support.