10 steps to a great LinkedIn profile

For a strong personal profile, tick off the below. Google further guidance where needed. These things are easy (even to an over-50 like me), so give it a go and use my LinkedIn profile if helpful!

1. Photos - Upload a

   1. headshot photo, and

   2. background picture. It’s not important what it is, as long as you have one. Something that is important to you eg a view you enjoy, an image that represents your industry/organisation or a personal passion. Ensure any key words in your background picture are visible

2. If you're job-hunting, under your picture click the button: “Open to/ Show recruiters you're open to work”. Fill in your preferred location and job type. Click the “choose who sees that you're open” to keep this visible only to recruiters, or to add a green badge that everyone can see.

3. Write an engaging Headline within 120 characters, which highlights your skills and expertise and which uses keywords* that will be searchable by potential employers/recruiters. Divide it into three parts, each separated by a vertical line |

   1. One part - How would you describe yourself in terms of your preferred next role (eg Finance Director)

   2. List one or two projects or successes that you enjoyed and represent you at work (eg Manage Large Transformation Programmes; or, Lead Teams Through Change)

   3. Mention your industry if this is a specialism that you want to pursue (eg Pharmaceutical Industry Expertise)

4. Enter a postcode or region for your work Location. NB Location refers to the geographical area you are considering for work – so if you work remotely, widen it as much as possible

5. Write an engaging About section within 2,000 characters, again including important keywords* so you will come up in job searches. When others are viewing your profile, they will only see the first two lines initially. So make those first lines count!

   1. Use the summary in your cv

   2. Follow on from what you have written in your LinkedIn headline (Step 3 above)

   3. Write it in the first person (“I”)

   4. Highlight 2 or 3 of your most important achievements

   5. If you seek a particular role, organisation size or activity, outline that here

6. How many Connections do you have? Aim for 50 connections to start with, then build from there to get to 500+ in the long term. Build your network to include former colleagues, clients, service providers, alumni and friends

7. Experience section - paste in a summarised version of your cv

   1. Include a minimum of 3 positions (current and two previous). If you have more than 3 positions, group any interim/short term roles together into one

   2. If you don’t have a current position, use this area creatively to highlight your skills and impact to an organisation. Tip - use wording from a well-written job advert.

8. Add all your Education achievements and Accomplishments, including university, professional qualifications, and courses you have done at work or privately. If you don’t have a university education, what’s significant to put instead?

9. Request three Recommendations, preferably one from your most recent position. Google how to word a good LinkedIn recommendation, and offer to draft it for them or provide them with a template

10. Customise LinkedIn URL (if you have a common name) - and include it in your email signature so people can find your LinkedIn profile easily.

*: How to identify which keywords to include

● Visit your favourite jobs board eg www.indeed.com, and find 5-10 job descriptions that fit your interests and experience.

● Copy them all into a document and remove headers and company information

● Paste all those 5-10 job descriptions into a word cloud site such as www.Tagcrowd.com

● Identify the 1-5 keywords that appear the largest on the word cloud, and integrate those into the Headline, Experience, Skills and Endorsements sections of your LinkedIn profile.

● Test it. Do an advanced people search in LinkedIn to see where you show up. Search people using the keywords that you have just included. On the results page, filter by ‘Relationships...All’. Check your profile appears on page 1 or 2 of the search results.

How helpful is this? Like it or email me on nicki.deeson@gmail.com with comments or questions!