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Over 75 LinkedIn Tips for Everyone and for Job Seekers

By March 8, 2017March 5th, 2021No Comments
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Here’s a total revision to of one of our more popular posts published a few years back (67 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Help You Find the Job You Want). I categorized the tips, added several, and removed the outdated ones. Suggestions, feedback, your favorite tips (contact me)?

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If you were not aware, LinkedIn is the number one business social media site in the world. Today, there are over 350,000,000 members with an average of 5,000,000 joining every month. Some interesting statistics:

  • Officially launched on May 5, 2003
  • 4,500 members as of May 2003
  • Available in 24 languages
  • > 8,700 full-time employees with offices in 30 cities
  • Members come from > 200 countries and territories
  • Top Countries: USA 118M+; India 31M+; UK 19M+; Canada 11M+; France 10M+; China 10M+; Italy 8M+; Australia 7M+; Mexico 7M+; Spain 7M+

The tips are designed to improve your profile and for you job seekers, to help you find a job. These are the top ones that colleagues, clients, and friends have found most helpful. There are a lot more!

Suggest you identify the best tips for you. Then prioritize what you will do in what time frame. I did include a 30 Day Must Do, To Do list. Also, based on several suggestions from folks, each tip is on a separate line to facilitate a check-list approach.

Whatever you need from LinkedIn, be deliberate with your time and how you interact with the LI network.

30-DAY MUST DO, TO-DO LIST

  1. Customize your professional headline (it is critical to have a compelling and engaging headline…this is what people who search see first adjacent to your picture)
  2. Check and correct grammar (copy/paste into your favorite word processing software – I have never seen anyone’s profile with no grammar errors)
  3. Check and correct spelling (copy/paste into your favorite word processing software – you might be surprised at finding a spelling error)
  4. Check and correct readability (use Microsoft Word’s Readability Tools). Generally, you should write at or below the 10th grade level. Most USA magazines write between the 6th and 8th grade levels
  5. For comparison, The New York Times writes to the 10th grade level. For Readability, your goal should be greater than 50
  6. Omit your personal information that may lead to identity theft (e.g., birthday, marital status, and address…While its fun to get happy birthday notes. Today’s hyper fraud and attack world, I’d suggest you omit it)
  7. Spend time (a lot) on your summary. After your professional headline, it is the important section. It is what people read first (unless you changed the order of the sections)
  8. Spend time (a lot) on your Skills. This is an important section as people can search on your skills
  9. Put your value proposition/elevator pitch in your summary
  10. Use action verbs and active voice. If you live and work in the USA, suggest you use first person voice. If you work a lot with people in the USA, also recommend first person voice
  11. Use a professional looking photograph. No cut-outs/cut-offs, boats, children, spouses, etc. There are exceptions to this rule of course (only a few). LinkedIn statistics show that profiles with pictures perform substantially better than those profiles without pictures
  12. Use your personal email address for your account. This ensures you will always have access to your account

NEW TO LINKEDIN

  1. Complete your profile (LinkedIn research shows members with complete profiles are more successful in securing employment and complete profiles show up higher in search results)
  2. Invite people to join your network with a personalized/customized note…EVERY time
  3. Expand your network by adding people you know (Consider allowing LinkedIn to access your Outlook, Gmail, etc.)
  4. Consider including your maiden name (women) in your profile name. This ensures people who knew you before you got married can still find you
  5. Fill out your educational history (many people skip this. And join your alumni group)
  6. Fill out your employment history, from right after college to present (many people skip this. And join your alumni groups if your organizations have them
  7. Take advantage of the New User Guide from LinkedIn

ADVANCED LINKEDIN – CONTENT, POSITIONING, & MESSAGING

  1. Change the website link for your blog from “My Blog” to a proper name such as “The Chief Storyteller® Blog”
  2. Change the website link for your company/personal site from “My Company” to a proper name such as “The Chief Storyteller® Website”
  3. Change the website link for your LinkedIn public profile to a proper name/organization name such as “http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/TheChiefStoryteller”
  4. Change the website link for your Twitter account to “Twitter” or your Twitter name such as “chiefstoryteller”
  5. Add into your profile articles and publications you wrote
  6. Add into your profile presentations you gave via SlideShare.net
  7. Ask for recommendations (helpful article Every Accomplishment Should Be Great: 5 Steps to Compelling Resume Accomplishments)
  8. Consider including your LinkedIn address in your email signature
  9. Consider upgrading your account to LI Premium
  10. Expand your network by adding people that are like-minded (use groups, keywords, 2nd degree connections, and suggestions from LinkedIn)
  11. Seek out advice from some of the smartest people in the world (any member can answer your questions – LinkedIn Inmail is a good way)
  12. Help write your recommendations to ensure it is on-message – the message you want to communicate
  13. Identify and include keywords relevant to audiences that will search for you
  14. Join alumni groups to ensure you stay connected with high school, college, and graduate friends and colleagues
  15. Join groups for personal development
  16. Join professional groups important to your career success
  17. Consider re-ordering your Skills. There are two approaches: Listing your top rated skills and listing the skills you want more “clicks” on
  18. Track statistics for Who’s viewed your profile. Identify trends
  19. Look closely at Who’s viewed your profile. Consider reaching out via LinkedIn InMail or connecting directly
    Track statistics for Who’s viewed your posts
  20. For those that viewed your post, consider reaching out via LinkedIn InMail or connecting directly
  21. Track statistics for your Actions Taken. Examine what activities you have completed and what ones you should be working on. Don’t get caught up in the “gamification” aspect. Do what is right for you
  22. Visit the LinkedIn blog to gain insights and to learn more about changes coming
  23. Use the “Follow Company” feature to stay current with organizations you have an interest in joining or learning more about
  24. Use the “Saved searches” option to save your favorite search queries
  25. Turn off your update notification in your settings when you are revising your profile for content changes, then turn it back on. Leave it on if you want people to know about job changes and other significant changes to your profile
  26. Consider turning your profile summary into one that is story-based
  27. Add the appropriate key words to your profile. Add the words your prospective audiences are searching for and the words you want to be known for – emphasize what your audience’s point of view

BUILD AND NURTURE YOUR NETWORK

Ensure what you do share is very interesting and very relevant to your network and prospective network connections. LinkedIn is still a “noisy” social media community with articles, updates, announcements, sales solicitations, LinkedIn InMails, Pulse, etc.

  1. Send articles of interest you come across from your favorite websites
  2. Send articles of interest you come across from your favorite bloggers
  3. Answer interesting questions in your groups thoughtful, education-focused responses
  4. Share content from your blogs in your updates
  5. Share content from your blogs in your Company page
  6. Share content from your blogs in your Showcase pages
  7. Share content from your articles in your updates
  8. Share content from your articles in your Company page
  9. Share content from your articles in your Showcase pages
  10. Share content from your newsletters in your updates
  11. Share content from your newsletters in your Company page
  12. Share content from your newsletters in your Showcase pages
  13. Share content from your favorite groups (not private)
  14. Connect strategically with selected LiONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers) matching your interests to expand your network
  15. Leverage advanced search functionality to locate/connect with people with experiences and education like yours to see where they work and where they worked
  16. Look through your connections’ connections for good-fit additions for your network
  17. Send notes to people in your network when you see status updates or changes to his/her network
  18. Share news with appropriate Groups
  19. Write recommendations for people in your network. Suggest you ask the person first for keywords and preferred concepts/ideas to write about

CAREER – JOB SEEKERS & JOB HUNTERS

There may be some duplicate tips here. I wanted to ensure the tips specific to career were in this list.

  1. Download Box.Net and then include your cover letter and resume
  2. Help write your recommendations to ensure it is on-message – the message you want to communicate
  3. Join professional groups important to your career success
  4. Perform competitive intelligence research on the target organizations before applying for a position
  5. Perform competitive intelligence research on the target organization’s competitors before applying for a position
  6. Perform competitive intelligence research on people (e.g., hiring managers) before applying for a position
  7. Perform competitive intelligence research on interviewers before your phone screen or in-person interview (e.g., read profiles, do Internet searches, read articles, and read blogs they wrote)
  8. Perform competitive intelligence research using the LinkedIn reference check tool on interviewers before your phone screen or in-person interview
  9. Perform competitive intelligence research use advanced search to find current employees. Send a personalized request for a telephone call to discover more information about the prospective organization
  10. Perform competitive intelligence research use advanced search to find former employees. Send a personalized request for a telephone call to discover more information about the prospective organization
  11. Spend time (a lot) on your Skills. This is an important section as people can search on your skills
  12. Search frequently the LinkedIn job opportunities
  13. Use the “Follow Company” feature to stay current with organizations you have an interest in joining or learning more about
  14. Turn off your update notification in your settings when you are revising your profile then turn it back on.

Photography Source:  LinkedIn
#linkedin #career #storytelling #chiefstoryteller

Ira Koretsky

Ira Koretsky has built The Chief Storyteller® into one of the most recognized names in communication, especially business storytelling. He has delivered over 500 keynote presentations and workshops in nearly a dozen countries, in more than one hundred cities, across 30 plus industries. His specialties are simplifying the complex and communicating when the stakes are high. He is also an adjunct professor in public speaking and storytelling at the University of Maryland's Business School. With over 25 years of experience, he is a sought-after storytelling coach, global speaker, trainer, consultant, communication coach, and public speaking coach.