TIPS FOR USING LINKEDIN
There’s been some discussion lately about “the greatest new social media platform that already exists.” That platform is LinkedIn.
Now, there’s also been some really gross discussion that I’ve been hearing that’s all about “how to get noticed” with some really bad advice about just posting as much as possible, regardless of whether or not the content you’re posting is actually useful to anyone reading.
For now, we’re going to set aside that gross discussion and bad advice and focus instead on the ways that we can use LinkedIn in a conscious, intentional, and useful way - whether we are entrepreneurs, considering a career change, or just looking to build relationships with others in our communities.
WHY UPDATE YOUR PROFILE?
Having an updated LinkedIn profile is essential, I believe, if we are considering a career change or career pivot of some sort. Pulling up someone’s profile on LinkedIn is one of the easiest and quickest things that we can do in order to get a bit of background on someone who we are interacting with professionally. If you are submitting a resume or applying for a new job, I lovingly urge you to spend a bit of time updating your LinkedIn profile before you do. These updates do not need to take a long time or be complicated. Below, we’ll talk about where to start.
YOUR HEADLINE
This is a place to provide a little preview of who you are and what you’re looking for, in just a couple of lines. If you are considering a career change, you might include, for example, “open to new opportunities.” If you’re a project manager and an artist and also an entrepreneur, you might include each of these things. If you’re feeling stuck on the headline, save it until the end and fill it in after you’ve completed the rest of your profile.
SUMMARY
This is my favorite part of the LinkedIn profile. This is where you get to share who you are not only as a professional, but as a human. It’s a place to make an introduction, start a conversation, and share a bit of your story.
This is also a great place to provide context - about what you’re looking for in your next opportunity, about the skills and strengths that you provide, about the way that your experience all ties together under a few key themes, even though it’s been in a variety of industries.
Finally, in the summary, you can include a number of key words that represent your key skills, strengths, focus areas, or areas of expertise.
EXPERIENCE
This is the section of LinkedIn that is most similar to a traditional resume - your opportunity to share your experience and work history.
Here, I recommend not just listening out your employers and your roles with the dates, but also what you did throughout each of these experiences. What impact did you have? What were the notable accomplishments? What did you love about each role? What did you learn? LinkedIn doesn’t have the page restriction that a paper resume does, so it’s a great place to provide context and additional information about each role that you’ve had.
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS
In addition to the traditional education you’ve completed, what else would you like to share? Do you have your PMP? Are you certified in Lean Six Sigma? This is a great place to add this information.
SKILLS AND ENDORSEMENTS
I find this to be an often-abandoned section of LinkedIn, which is mildly tragic - since adding skills allows people to endorse you. Here, think about which skills you’d like to highlight, and intentionally add those. Note: if there are certain skills you wouldn’t like to highlight, I recommend manually removing those. For example, my background is in the Healthcare IT industry. While I have a number of skills related to this work, it’s no longer my focus, as my focus today is on people and leadership. Therefore, when adding skills, I have focused on these (people and leadership) rather than any skills from my time in Healthcare IT, since these are the things I’d like to highlight.
