Imagine walking into a room filled with hiring managers, industry leaders, and career coaches who all know what you have accomplished in your industry. This is what LinkedIn does for people. To put it simply, a well-connected and optimised LinkedIn profile is equivalent to today’s Instagram influencer.
LinkedIn is the perfect platform for personal branding. It showcases who you are, what you have achieved, and what you are aiming for. This platform helps you build your network and maintain a professional image in front of 900 million users worldwide. LinkedIn is the go-to place for recruiters to search for talent.
However, there is a catch: your LinkedIn needs to be perfectly constructed to capture the recruiters’ attention. Otherwise, your profile will be ignored.
This is where a LinkedIn profile writing service comes in handy, as it allows you to attract recruiters. This guide explores step-by-step ways to craft your LinkedIn profile and land better opportunities perfectly.
Guide On How To Craft A Perfect Professional LinkedIn Account
As a professional, you would always aim to move up and get better opportunities for your career. To achieve that, you need to stand out from the competition, and for that, you need to optimise your LinkedIn account.
Here is a complete guide on how you can do that.
Choose the Right Profile Picture and Background
Your profile picture is quite important. Think of it as your calling card on LinkedIn. Your photo and the background are the first things someone notices when they visit your profile.
This sets the tone of professional identity before recruiters even read your headlines.
- Profile Picture: Make sure to use a high-quality headshot with a clean background. Remember to dress in suitable attire for your industry and maintain a professional demeanour.
- Banner Image: Don’t leave your background blank. You can either make a banner using free tools such as Canva or find a template online according to your career, industry, and corporate theme. This helps reinforce your personal brand and create an even more polished look.
You need to maintain consistency across all your professional platforms. For instance, your LinkedIn photo should align with the image you are using in your CV, website, or other professional directories.
Write A Headline That Sells You
Your headlines do not need to be just your job title. Use the headline in the field that says a bit about the role, such as why you do and what you do.
The headline is the first thing a recruiter sees when they visit your professional LinkedIn profile. Think of it as your professional slogan. Make sure it is concise, impactful, and tailored to your industry, bringing more recruiters to your profile.
Here are some examples of strong headlines:
“Expert in Digital Marketing | Driving growth through SEO, content, and paid media campaigns”
“Experience Project Manager | Expertise in Agile, Stakeholder Engagement, and Risk Mitigation”
Optimise Your “About” Section
The “About” summary is like an elevator pitch where you have extra space to highlight your offerings. In this section, you give the reader a detailed insight into who you are and everything about you.
A compelling “About” section would include:
- A compelling hook: Open with a powerful statement about your professional philosophy, key achievements, or your passion for the field.
- Key skills and expertise: Mention the areas of your specialisation and the relevant skills you possess.
- Previous achievements: Talk about some notable achievements in your career, such as “increased client retention by 25%” or “led & handled a project of 15 million dollars.”
- Career goals: Mention your professional goals, ambitions, and what you want to achieve in the future.
- Personal touch: Recruiters are looking for what kind of human is behind those skills. Share what motivates you and what you are aiming for.
- A call to action: Add an invitation for the onlookers to engage and connect with you. For example, “Always open to communicate with like-minded professionals and exploring opportunities to drive meaningful change”
Mention Relevant Experiences
When it comes to LinkedIn profile writing, the experience part is often used completely wrong by most people. This section is meant to be more than just the jobs or responsibilities you did. Avoid copying and pasting your CV in this section.
In this section, make sure that you use clear action verbs, quantify your accomplishments, and highlight transferable skills that demonstrate versatility.
However, maintain consistency in formatting to make sure that your profile is easily readable and helps recruiters to understand what you bring to the table. This method turns your experience into a dynamic display of accomplishments that make you stand out.
Showcase Skills And Endorsements
LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skill sets, but remember that recruiters typically only look for the top three. Choose carefully.
- Try to prioritise industry-relevant skills. Choose the one recruiters in your field are actively searching for.
- A key point to keep in mind is that you must place the most in-demand skills at the top.
- Politely ask colleagues and former managers to endorse you. These endorsements act as social proof of your abilities.
- Ensure that you update your account regularly. Whenever you gain new expertise or learn a new skill, update it on your profile. This helps to reflect your strengths.
Properly showcasing your skill set and being validated by others helps you to stand out in front of recruiters and is one of the best practices for LinkedIn optimisation.
Ask for Recommendations
LinkedIn recommendations serve as an effective third-party endorsement, as recruiters can understand your professional influence and trustworthiness. They feature personalised testimonials of colleagues, clients, or managers, unlike endorsements, which give credibility to your profile.
Set a goal of asking people who know you and can predict your strengths and accomplishments. This helps to provide a more personal response. Aim for diversity among peers, subordinates, and senior leaders, as this creates a balanced profile.
Add Your Education and Certifications
Recruiters frequently sort applicants based on their training or credentials. It provides you with a competitive advantage to list your professional credentials, training, and academic background.
- Include degrees, diplomas, and certificates relevant to your industry.
- Utilize online learning platforms, such as Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning, to enhance your professional profile.
- Add honours, awards, or societies to showcase excellence or leadership.
Utilise the Featured Section
The underutilised but highly effective tool of LinkedIn is the “Featured Section”, where you are allowed to highlight your most significant accomplishments. It is one of LinkedIn’s best practices that you can use to attract recruiters. It features portfolio samples, published articles, media coverage, and notable projects. It provides the recruiter with quick visual evidence of your skills and expertise.
It features portfolio samples, published articles, media coverage, and notable projects. It provides the recruiter with quick visual evidence of your skills and expertise.
Through the strategic utilisation of this section, you could introduce your work more interestingly, build up your own professional brand, and stand out among other applicants in your professional sphere.
Leverage from Keywords for Visibility
The ability to leverage LinkedIn with targeted keywords is a critical tool for gaining visibility and attracting the attention of recruiters. You can enhance your probability of being ranked in search results by incorporating industry-specific words in your headline, summary, and experience segments.
Moreover, search the job descriptions to find typical keywords, but do not go overboard. This should make your profile sound like a natural one and at the same time optimised to be searched by the recruiter.
Networking and Engagement
Having a profile alone won’t attract new opportunities. Engagement is the key to making all of this happen.
- Post Regularly: Share industry insights, updates, and achievements.
- Comment Thoughtfully: Engage with posts in your field to boost visibility.
- Join Groups: Participate in group discussions in the relevant industry.
- Connect Strategically: Make customised connection requests to peers, recruiters, and business leaders.
Staying active increases your chance of getting attention from a recruiter.
Bonus Tip: Mistakes to Avoid
Even top-level professionals are bound to make some mistakes. Here are some of the common mistakes people make. Try to avoid them.
- Using blurry or unprofessional pictures.
- Briefly summarising without providing specific examples of accomplishments.
- Overloading with irrelevant skills.
- Leaving sections blank or outdated.
- Copying and pasting job descriptions instead of showing impact.
Making Your LinkedIn Profile a Magnet for Recruiters
Your LinkedIn profile is an online resume as well as your personal brand, career, and the portal to new experiences. Recruiters only have a few seconds to scan profiles; therefore, each section should be optimized to reflect your value. It is essential to include a professional photo with a keyword-based headline, achievements, abilities, and testimonials.
A combination of visual appeal and more authentic, results-driven content and active engagement will make you stand out.
You can capture the attention of recruiters by spending time using the right techniques to create a profile. A profile that is friendly to recruiters will be able to get the right opportunities to develop and advance your career.
Ready to elevate your career? At CV Auckland, our team of professional CV writers in New Zealand and LinkedIn makeover specialists creates profiles that get noticed. Let’s help you stand out and secure the opportunities you deserve!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Should I connect people on LinkedIn I don’t personally know?
You can if they are relevant to your industry. You can send them a personalised request to explain your interest.
2. Are LinkedIn’s premium features worth it?
If you are actively looking for a job, they can be helpful because they offer insights, enhanced search, and access to InMail.
3. How many connections should I aim for?
Quality is more important than quantity. Reaching 500+ connections boosts exposure and networking prospects.