Gordon S. Worth - The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile: How to Create Your Personal Brand, Get Noticed by Recruiters, and Find That Job

The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile

How to Create Your Personal Brand, Get Noticed by Recruiters, and Find That Job

By Gordon S. Worth

Copyright 2017 by Gordon S. Worth
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

What Exactly Is LinkedIn?

Completing Your Profile

How to Network

Conclusion

Checklist

The Simple Guide to a Winning LinkedIn Profile

Introduction

From a career development perspective, LinkedIn is by far your most important social media platform (at least in terms of conventional career avenues). Because of that, its essential you put the time and effort into shaping it.

The contents of this book are broadly based on conversations I have within my career coaching sessions, on the LinkedIn work I do for a UK CV writing company (and based on their guidelines), and on additional observations. This is also a follow-up to my book Craft a Winning Resume, which is an essential stepping stone to presenting yourself in the most impactful way in resume form.

This book is intended to give you a solid grounding to help you set up or develop a profile that gets you noticed. Dont get sucked into thinking you need to know every single bell and whistle on the site to improve how youre perceived. You dont. Keep it simple.

Bear in mind that all forms of social media continue to evolve. What worked on Facebook five years ago may not be the same now. There are different algorithms, different tastes, different ways in which information is presented.

And thats the same for LinkedIn. A few years ago, writing your profile in the third person was commonplace. Now, the norm is to write it in the first person. Weve also seen LinkedIn completely revamp its interface a few times. So, if you are going to keep your LinkedIn relevant, make sure you base your approach on the more up-to-date practices.

If you already have a profile, before you get moving on your LinkedIn edits, make sure you turn your activity broadcasts off at least temporarily. This will prevent your whole network from being advised of every single simple change you make.

To do this, click on the tiny avatar of yourself in the top right of the screen. From the dropdown menu, choose Setting & Privacy , then Privacy , then Profile Privacy and then Sharing Profile Edits before turning off your activity broadcasts.

If youre starting this from scratch, welcome to the journey.

Lets begin on creating a LinkedIn profile that works.

What Exactly Is LinkedIn?

In very simple terms, its THE social media platform for professionals. Yes, that is an incredibly simplified way of describing it, as anyone can tell you that Facebook, Twitter et al. all have a role in a business context.

But if youre looking to connect with people in your industry, get yourself known to recruiters or search for job opportunities, LinkedIn serves multiple roles. You cant expect the job hunting approach from 7 10 years ago to be as successful in the digital world.

Times have changed, and thats why you must become conversant with the platform.

LinkedIn is there for online networking. And thats the charm and curse of it. Its great that youve got a one-stop shop for getting yourself out there in a professional manner. But it also means that youve got to be a bit more measured on how you project yourself when compared with Facebook, for example.

This is not the place to post pictures of your bachelor party. Nor is it the place to post comments that can easily offend. What people may accept in your close Facebook network may be career suicide if you post the same item on LinkedIn.

The power of LinkedIn really comes with its reach. Its not just about your direct connections. Its also about your connections connections. And your connections connections connections, and so on. In other words, you can get to engage with individuals in a manner that couldnt happen in any other way.

LinkedIns been around since 2002, and its exponential growth in recent years simply shows how the digital world has evolved to its fundamental role nowadays. In several careers, if youre not on the platform, you dont exist!

I often hear friends say theyve signed up to LinkedIn but havent done anything with it. Think about a time youve gone to a networking event and have stood in the corner, hoping that someone would come up to you for a chat.

If you remain on the edges of the room, dont make yourself known and dont engage in any conversation, you may as well be a wall plant. Yes, someone might come up to you by chance, but you shouldnt expect it. Its the same on LinkedIn.

You cant expect to be found by recruiters if they dont know you exist. And a lot of this book is all about making sure people know what youre about and notice you, rather than simply being a fly on the wall.

This might feel odd and uncomfortable, but its the world we live in. Youve got to establish a presence so as to be seen in the first place.

Youve also got to look at LinkedIn as a search engine. You may be the best chef known to man, but if your profile is pretty thin on information (relevant or otherwise), you cant expect anyone to know about your talents. This is about marketing yourself, and that takes a different set of skills and awareness than simply being able to do your job well.

This book is about helping you to improve how you optimize your profile, whether thats for personal branding, making new connections or being discovered by recruiters.

How should your LinkedIn compare with your resume?

A great metaphor I once heard suggested that LinkedIn is the equivalent of smart casual, while your resume is formal wear. LinkedIn gives you scope to show a bit of personality and a bit of charm. You still have to present yourself in the right way, but its not as strict as your resume.

As I will keep reinforcing throughout this book, your LinkedIn is also a living, breathing document that is there to be viewed by anyone all the time, and as a result, it should/can be amended by you regularly to stay relevant. You cant just write it and leave (as you would more likely do with a resume). Youve got to view it as an ongoing narrative with a wide global online audience, rather than something you simply set and forget.

Completing Your Profile

If you already have a profile, great. This book should help you improve what you already have. Before diving into any changes, make sure you adjust your privacy settings. This is so you do not tell the whole world what you are doing .

Click on Settings & Privacy from the menu. Select Privacy. Scroll to Sharing Profile Edits and switch to No . This prevents others from seeing you are updating your profile. This is especially important if you dont want your boss to become aware of the updates.

Select Who Can See Your Connections , then select Only You . This protects you from others viewing your connections. Change this setting to this if you are using LinkedIn for job-hunting purposes.

Next, its important to personalize your public profile. You want to make sure what people see is what you want to represent.