Someone out there with half your talent, skill and ambition is doing work you want to do in the industry you want to break into…what got them there? An understanding of the communities, networks and the professional platforms to showcase their best selves.
It’s scary putting yourself out there, but plenty of people are doing it successfully so I’m here to help you do it too.
Building and personalising your profile for work, content and news
Here are some key elements to focus on:
Profile photo: while evidence suggests that a professional-looking photo draws attention, recent evidence also shows that AI generated or cartoon–like headshots are also performing well. Think what would attract the industry you want to break through to.
Headline: is one of the first things people will see on your profile. Make it engaging and reflect your professional identity. e.g. “Aspiring Marketing Specialist | Passionate about Digital Media.”
Summary: write an interesting summary highlighting your skills, experiences, and career aspirations. Make it about what makes you unique.
Work experience: add responsibilities AND what most people forget: achievements! Especially any wins. E.g., did you save the company money over a period of time? Did you grow their social media following by a particular amount?
Skills and endorsements: add skills and your connections can endorse you for them. Recruiters are searching for skills more, whilst there is a limit of 50 skills you can select, add the ones that are most relevant to your profile.
Recommendations: request recommendations from colleagues, supervisors, or clients who can vouch for your skills and work ethic. These testimonials matter, don’t be shy to ask, people want to say great things about you!
If you want to build your confidence and start posting, there are levels to this.
- Sharing content. Go to the search in LinkedIn. Search for #(Topic of your choice) like #softwaredevelopment. Look at the content that is being posted and the groups you can join. On any post you can share to your profile by hitting ‘repost to your profile’ There we go, you are sharing content on your profile that is relevant to the industry you want to attract, winning!
- Sharing content with your thoughts. Repost with your comments is a great way of building community and drawing attention to you and your community.
- Self-written content: You can link to any content or work you are creating that you want to draw attention too, more and more video content is driving engagement and genuine connection with community too.
- A great example of someone rolemodelling this process, is my colleague Alicia Teltz. I would recommend looking at her recent content to see the care she has put into building her brand and presence.
- I also recommend following Priscillia for one of my favourite ‘About’ sections, Miriam who pulls together market insight expertly and Jamilla Campbell-Allen whose video content is second to none.
Creating a LinkedIn profile is an important step in building your professional online presence. Whatever your goal, be it to learn, make connection with community or network to new career opportunities. Remember, every journey starts with one simple step. So, take the plunge and start building your LinkedIn profile today!
