Overhauling your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn is now the go to place for employers when they are looking for potential candidates to serve their company. You will also find that a lot of job openings ask for your LinkedIn profile in addition to your resume. Keeping all that in mind, you should consider giving your existing LinkedIn account a makeover before you go out looking for new opportunities.
Updating your profile and background picture: Go for a professional look while selecting a profile picture. You don’t need to use the picture on your passport or driving license, but you do need to use one which clearly shows your face and doesn’t make you look like you run a meme page for a hobby. A background or cover picture is not compulsory, but if you are a freelancer or you have your own business, you should use one that highlights your work or organisation.
Detailed overview of your work experience: Update your work experience as you would do in your CV, and list out the responsibilities you were tasked with. You should also mention the accomplishments or impact you had during your tenure at the respective company. Add two or three lines about the companies you have worked with and also mention the company websites, because it is highly possible that your visitors have never heard about the start-up you have worked with during your summer internship. Avoid mentioning your role as deputy sub-executive vice-president of your university club in the experience section.
Listing relevant skills, accomplishments, and voluntary activities: Add skills that showcase your area of expertise. Ask your personal contacts on LinkedIn to endorse your skills. You can also take skill tests and receive badges upon the successful completion of those tests. This makes your skillset more reliable. You can also add different university clubs or other organisations you have worked with. Make sure that you are adding voluntary activities (if applicable) you have done as this is something that appeals to many employers, especially foreigners. Besides this, you should also add the different kinds of certifications you have received. While adding your language skills, mention how fluent you are in each of the languages you know or use.
Keeping your posts relevant: LinkedIn should only be used to serve your professional purposes. Avoid sharing memes or irrelevant posts via your LinkedIn account. Although everyone appreciates a good meme every now and then, not everyone will be pleased to see them. LinkedIn is the last place they expect to find such unnecessary posts. Instead, share things which bear relevance to your line of profession or interest. For instance, if you are into tech or programming, share posts or news that talk about these fields. Remember to use hashtags.
Write articles if you can: Another way to grab interest from your visitors is by writing articles on LinkedIn, preferably on topics that reflect your interests and your knowledge in those fields. You will definitely find people who will eagerly read through your article. Keep the writing interesting and to the point. Make it worth the readers’ time.
These are the very basics that you should focus on while you are revamping your LinkedIn account. Get started as soon as you can, because you never know when you can expect your future employer to visit your profile.
Reach out to Faisal at abir.afc@gmail.com
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