Why do you need LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is used by 830 million people and 58 million companies, with five job postings every second and six people hired through LinkedIn every minute , according to the social network .
LinkedIn is a social network focused on job search, networking and career growth.
“It is communication with people online and receiving recommendations from current employees in different companies that helps about 70% of clients at EP Advisory find work abroad,” says Samoylova.
The service is also developing its own educational platform. For example, if you lack a specific skill for your resume, look for it in the selection of courses on the platform itself.
What Affects LinkedIn Profile Performance
To rank better in LinkedIn search, you need:
— A fully completed profile. This affects search ranking. Your goal is to have your profile appear in the first ten pages of results when recruiters search for you. This is affected by the status that LinkedIn itself assigns to your account: beginner, intermediate, advanced, or all star. Aim for all star.
— Keyword in the work experience columns, in Headline, About and Skills. Use the names of skills, programs, projects that recruiters mention in vacancies that are relevant to you. For example, the query “iOS Developer AND testing AND Russian” returns 844 results, from which a company can select an iOS developer with experience as a tester and knowledge of Russian.
— A large number of contacts and communication with people you are interested in - online networking, communication with companies, recruiters and hiring managers directly.
— It is advisable to participate in discussions , posts on topics that concern you - this makes you more visible and helps to understand what concerns you.
How to fill out your LinkedIn profile correctly
Before making changes:
Turn off notifications about your edits in your privacy settings. Otherwise, all your subscribers will see every change to your profile in their feed.
- If you want to find a job abroad, change the language of the site to English and make sure that all the names of cities, educational institutions, and companies are in English. Be sure to put "Russian" in the list of your languages or skills, but remove Russian words from all sections of the profile description so that it is easier for English-speaking recruiters to read about you. If you want to find a job in a Russian-speaking company, you don't have to do this.
Profile photo and logo
It is essential to put a profile photo in a business style, advises the IT consultant. Do not use photos from weddings or in cafes, do not cut yourself out of group photos. Ask friends to take a photo of you in a shirt on a light background or in the office. Do not put photos of low resolution, as well as staged photos and photos from parties.
You can put the logo of the company you work for. If you are a freelancer, you can choose one of your major clients or indicate the freelance company you work for. If you have worked with unknown clients, do not put the logo.
For a banner, some professionals use a solid color and keywords on it, such as SEO, digital analytics. More often, this is done by freelancers or small business owners who offer it as a service. In this case, if you are looking for a job, you may be misunderstood. If you want to change the default (and not very attractive) LinkedIn banner, then the most professional option is to simply put a picture of a solid color. This can be done in a couple of minutes - for example, in the free service Canva .
First and last name
Your name does not have to be exactly the same as it is written in your passport. The main thing is that your first and last name on your LinkedIn profile match your resume in case an employer reads it and wants to find you on LinkedIn. If you have a name that is difficult to transcribe, simplify it. For example, the variant Anastassiya complicates perception for foreign professionals - you can write Anastasia. You can also abbreviate: Andrey - Andy, this is a more familiar form for Europeans.
Headline
Headline is located right under your name. It should clearly explain who you are and what you do — this is the line that appears in search results along with your photo and name. Be as concise as possible and use keywords: job titles, skills, programs, qualifications that are in demand in your field.
Structure option
SKILLS (just skills, technical skills, programs)/PLACE OF STUDY (if you are a recent graduate)/PLACE OF WORK (POSITION at COMPANY)
Solution Architect @ COMPANY | Mobile App Enthusiast | Working on Alexa Smart Home
Recent MSc in Business Management graduate seeking entry level position in IT Project Management in London
The desired position can be written in the title. Do some research in advance to write correctly about your direction. For example, Looking for a new challenge | DevOps | Automation | Cloud. It is important that these are the words that recruiters will search for candidates.
Example of a good description
Tech savvy, analytical and ambitious young professional with experience of working for tech startups in New York and Moscow. Interested in developing a career within the digital field either in-house or as a consultant in the UK. Ready to relocate on a short notice.
Specialties: Data Mining, Blockchain, Stakeholder Management, Investor Relations, Communications, Analytics.
Markets: UK, USA
Achievements: HULT Scholarship Holder
Feel free to get in touch by sending a message or via email at name.surname@gmail.com .
Avoid fluff: Don't drag out your introduction, don't use standard adjectives like hardworking and don't list all the stages of your career over the past 20 years.
Experience
Work experience - list the companies that are listed in your resume. Again, use the keywords described above. For the most relevant places of work (your last position or the second to last in the same direction you are trying to get into now), list not only your responsibilities, but also your achievements.
You can add media files, presentations and other relevant documents to each work location.
Don't include only job titles in your work experience. Firstly, it reduces the completeness of your profile and lowers your ranking, and secondly, you lose the opportunity to include keywords that employers will use to search for candidates.
If you had a break in your job, remember what you were doing during that period. It would be appropriate to list projects you participated in, volunteer experience, consulting services, and anything that can be attributed to professional activity. Recruiters are always wary of breaks in work, so you can also include short-term work experience (less than six months). If you have unofficial work experience, you can list it as volunteer.
If you have only worked for small companies, then job titles can and should be listed when your responsibilities or achievements are relevant to the position you are currently seeking. If you created an app for a small business from scratch, this will be an important factor regardless of how well-known your former employer is. Another scenario: you worked for a small business, but did projects for large and recognizable companies. Then you definitely need to list and write out well-known brands in the first line. Finally, if you have worked for a small company for a long period of time, then removing this position from your profile will mean that you will have a long break in your career in your profile. This is also best avoided.
Work in small companies can be omitted if it was not a very long period of time and the position was not very relevant. For example, if you worked as a developer for many years and are now applying for the position of Senior iOS Developer, but for six months you tried yourself in project management, there is no point in focusing on this.
Skills and achievements
LinkedIn uses information about your skills to suggest suitable candidates to recruiters. The social network's system divides all skills into three categories: industry knowledge (professional skills), interpersonal skills (interpersonal skills) and languages (languages).
“You can get an All Star for five skills, but we recommend completing the maximum possible number – 50 skills – and ‘pumping up’ your profile by confirming them with your contacts,” says Samoylova.
To verify a skill, someone in your network must go to your profile and click “Verify” under any skill. You can also open the list of verifications and see who clicked the button before you. It’s like likes on social media — the more of them, the higher your profile rises in search results, says the expert. If there are no verified skills, this is bad for LinkedIn’s algorithms. Your profile will appear in search results a little lower than it otherwise would.
Include only those skills that are relevant to your job. For example: Data Analysis, Photoshop, Java.
Recommendations
Recommendations are one of the main differences between a LinkedIn profile and a resume. With their help, you can not only show your work experience, but also your strengths. Ask for recommendations from former bosses, colleagues. To leave or request a recommendation, you need to click the "More" button - it is under the title. If you do not like someone's recommendation, you can reject it and then it will not appear in your profile.
Achievements
This section is for publications, certificates, courses taken, projects. You can indicate in it what organizations you are a member of. The languages you speak must be written in English (not "Russian", but "russian").
It’s best to avoid mentioning school achievements – start with college, university or first job. Exceptions: events from school life that have had a significant impact on your life. For example, you received a scholarship to complete Foundation and funding for your undergraduate studies.
What to do when LinkedIn is full
Add your colleagues, friends from social networks, people from different countries.
"Don't limit yourself to contacts from your industry only — look for people from related or interesting fields. You can subscribe to these people's publications. In late February — early March, many users posted ads about relocation work," says Samoylova.
You can start a correspondence with any person from your network of contacts - just to get acquainted or to ask about the specifics of the job. If your goal is to find a job, follow the rules of correspondence:
- be brief;
- please address by name;
- describe the purpose of the letter;
- Please allow 2-3 days for feedback.
There is no need to add all suggested profiles as friends, it is better to look for specific companies that interest you and send invitations to people from the industry, advises Samoylova. Start gradually filling out and adding to the profile, then gain 500+ contacts - after this bar, your profile will have the mark "500+" and it does not matter whether you have confirmed 501 or 20,000 contacts.
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