How To Up Your LinkedIn Game

We’ll write a dozen versions to get the perfect tweet. We’ll make fifty attempts to get the right angle for the Snapchat selfie. We won’t touch our plate of alfredo pasta before we get the perfect top shot for our Insta story

Yes, we all do this. And there’s no shame in that. But what we don’t do is put the same effort into polishing our LinkedIn profile.

Isn’t that odd? We love social media but ignore the one social networking platform that can make or break our careers.

You should make your LinkedIn profile stand out. It should be one in a million. Because, quite frankly, it is competing for attention with a million other profiles.

Here are a few tips.

1. The profile picture

No pouting is required. No graffiti is needed in the background. No special filter is necessary. Getting a good profile pic for LinkedIn is much simpler than for other networking sites. You just need to stand in front of an uncluttered backdrop, wearing a plain shirt and smile confidently at the camera (remember to brush your hair though).

2. Your summary is your unique story

Look. Everybody’s “looking for exciting opportunities”. There are tons of people with “extensive experience”. Everyone is “passionate”. These are all cliches people never tire of writing, but recruiters are definitely tired of reading. Make your summary worth their time.

3. Detail your professional experience

Your LinkedIn profile is not an A4 sheet resume. You don’t have to give a brief overview of the organizations you’ve worked for. Give details of the kind of work you did, and how you grew in the company. Also, include links to any personal projects like portfolios and case studies. Without those, your profile will be like a bag of chips. Looks full at first glance, but when you open it… well, you know what we mean.

4. Get (the right) endorsements

Suppose you’re a print journalist. And your childhood bestie endorses your writing skills. It’s good to have supportive friends, but the problem is – your friend is a software engineer, has never worked in a news organization, hasn’t even read a newspaper in years. But an endorsement from an ex-boss, with whom you had a long stint, who mentions key assignments in which you excelled? Now that’s an endorsement that matters.

5. Kill it with the skills

No need to be humble. If you’re confident about your coding skills, potential recruiters should know about it. If project management is your forte, don’t be shy in saying it. Of course, those skills have to be relevant. If you’ve decided that you want a job in marketing, a skill related to business development will only turn off a future employer. 

6. Learning never stops

You might have attended the last college lecture of your life, but as any seasoned professional will tell you, there’s a difference between education and learning. And the latter can continue way into your career. A great way to learn new skills is through the courses of LinkedIn Learning. Firstly because they are really good. But secondly, because you can showcase the courses you complete on your profile. 

Hope these tips will get you motivated to log on to LinkedIn and kickstart the process of polishing your profile and network. It might not get you like, reactions, retweets, and shares, but it will get you a leg up in your career.

And we trust you to know what really matters.