Over 90 per cent of employers say they check the social media profiles of candidates they are interviewing.
With LinkedIn being the social network most commonly used for professional purposes, it is vital that you are getting the most out of your profile if you are on the lookout for a new role.
Here are some key areas to consider for using your LinkedIn profile to your advantage:
Make yourself easy to find
Check that your profile is not set to private. Your LinkedIn profile should only say good things about you, so it is a good idea to make sure your profile is fully visible at all times.
Change your full settings so that your profile can be viewed by anyone who wants to see it – this way employers and recruiters will be able to find you easily.
Use a professional profile picture
LinkedIn statistics show that having a profile photo makes your profile 7 times more likely to be viewed in search results.
Choose a profile picture that shows you in a professional light Avoid using photographs from social events or holidays as this may be deemed unprofessional & give a potential employer a negative first impression.
Make your profile searchable
To increase your chances of appearing in LinkedIn search results, you should try to create a profile that is content rich.
This means completing all sections and including a full summary that gives an overview of your professional abilities. It is advised to populate your profile with accurate ‘keywords’ relating to your experience and skills.
Try to think about the kind of words that you want your profile to be searchable by – these may relate to your previous or current role, or the role that you are looking to secure.
Be positive
As with writing your CV you should always use positive language and try to represent all of your skills and professional experience to date. Focus on your achievements and the skills you have that are most relevant to the kind of role you are looking for.
Potential employers often look for LinkedIn profiles that mirror the CV’s of candidates they are interviewing. If there is something on your CV that is not on your profile or vice versa, an employer may start to wonder why.
Utilise LinkedIn Recommendations
Recommendations are essentially references or testimonials from your connections. These are a great way of backing up the highlights on your profile.
Recommending and endorsing contacts in your network is a good way to encourage them to reciprocate and to do the same for you.
Consider who in your network might be well placed to give you a recommendation; a former manager, a colleague, a client or a supplier.
The recommendations of your fellow professionals can be integral in telling an employer that all of the information on your profile is true and correct.
Review your profile
It is always wise to regularly review the content on your profile to keep it up to date with all of your skills and experience; if you haven’t updated your profile in the last year then the chances are you will have gained new experience that should be included in your profile.
LinkedIn profiles are ultimately a great selling tool; they can be instrumental in networking with contacts or potential employers; while job searching it certainly does pay to have a profile that is 100 per cent professional.
If you are starting your job hunt and do not have a LinkedIn profile, or have one you have not updated in a while, then I would strongly recommend considering how to get the most out of LinkedIn as a first step.
See my previous blogs on job searching, psychometric testing, video interviews and phone interviews for more help on the next step towards successful employment.
Mark Braund is the Chief Executive Officer of the InterQuest Group, one of the UK’s leading recruitment agencies specialising in the IT and Analytics sectors.
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