One way of attracting recruiters and navigating the job market is by developing a personal brand. Your personal brand comprises your skills and experiences gained during your educational and professional career. An effective personal brand can differentiate you from others and begin to develop trust with prospective employers, clients, and peers. Furthermore, building your brand can significantly impact and be the foundation of your professional career. According to ExecuNet, 90% of recruiters search online for prospective candidates; LinkedIn is one of the most used tools. This blog will provide valuable tips to improve your LinkedIn and start building your personal brand.
Populating your profile can define and develop how other professionals and recruiters view your professional and scholastic experience and qualifications. An updated profile can ensure that you can be found by a recruiter who might be looking for candidates for jobs that are not on the market. As discussed in our previous blog, using the correct keywords in your profile will enable the recruiter to source you for your target job.
A compelling LinkedIn profile should:
- Add a professional profile photo– Profiles with photos are 14 times more likely to be viewed. Hence, having a good profile picture will increase your credibility and make you stand out. You can use GW Career Center Headshot Photobooth.
- Add all your relevant workand education experiences – One of the most commonly looked at sections is the work experience. Expanding your work experience with a bullet point and accomplishing will provide readers with a clear scope of your role. As a recent graduate, you can further develop this section by adding projects, skills, volunteer experience, and more.
- Add relevant skills- You can add until 50 skills to your profile. You can list skills needed in your field or select one of the recommendations in the search section. Over time your connection can endorse them, increasing the likelihood of being discovered. You can also take assessmentsfor the skills listed and include your proficiency level.
Make your headline count.
Your headline is one of the most visible sections of your profile after your photo. You have 120 characters to tell a quick story about yourself. Using strategic keywords helps optimize your profile and provides opportunities for searchability. In this section, you can present your skills, job titles, or other keywords related to your target job. You can even demonstrate something unique about yourself, like an accomplishment or what motivate you in your field. But no matter what you decide to include, remember to be concise. If you want to get more information, we recommend you to watch Jobscan video that provides useful examples to improve your headline.
To decide what to upload in this section, you can ask questions such as: What are the industry keywords that I need to use? What professional attribute will help me stand out? What is my target or desired job? What relevant accomplishments do I have?
Tell a Story about yourself.
Think of your summary as an elevator pitch – you only have a few seconds to present yourself, so you need to make it count! Your LinkedIn summary is vital for another reason – it’s a great way to set yourself apart. You have a maximum of 2000 words; however, recruiters advise using about 500 words to keep the reader engaged. If you want to see some examples of successful summaries that boost candidates’ profiles, click here.
As the headline adding keywords (skills, job titles, industry keywords, etc.) will improve your searchability chances. However, in this section, you also have to be able to hook your reader so they will continue reading the rest of your profile. Some questions to ask yourselves when writing this section are: What motivates you? What are you passionate about? What sets you apart from everyone else? What outstanding accomplishments do you have?
If you want to make an appointment with one of our career counselors to discuss how to improve your resume, personal brand, or practice for your upcoming interview, Click here.
