Building a LinkedIn profile

- A LinkedIn profile is your competitive advantage in a crowded job market. Candidates who have it are easy to find in Google search results, easy to connect to for an interview, and easy to screen and hire around their job skills. If you don't have a profile, now is the time to make one. I have five tips for making a profile stand out, but if you're brand new to LinkedIn, you may want to pause and check out the course Learning LinkedIn right here on the site. For starters, you want to write a compelling headline, one that both intrigues people's interest in you and also explains who you are and what you do. There are many ways to do a headline right, focusing on either the value you add or the role you have. Here are four ways a content marketer at LinkedIn could spin their headline: Creative Wrangler of Content and People, Data and Story-Driven Content Marketer, Content Marketer, LinkedIn, Telling Stories That Help You Navigate the Job Market. There's no right or wrong, but try several choices and get feedback from industry colleagues or peers before you decide. Then test and tweak over time. Notice how many people are viewing your profile as you test headlines. You'll find a clear winner. Next, upload professional photos. Most importantly, a recent enough headshot of just you so that if we meet in person for coffee, I can easily find you in a crowd. You're 11 times more likely to be viewed if you have a profile photo than not. You also want to select a background image that reinforces who or where you are, perhaps one of your city or industry or maybe even an appropriate hobby. Your photos can set you apart quite quickly. You also want to claim your unique LinkedIn URL. Mine is /joliemiller. This makes it easy to include your LinkedIn profile in your resume and for people to find you, much friendlier than a URL with random characters. It's also key to list out each job you've had, along with a description of the wins you had in that job, not just the stuff you did. No one cares that you were responsible for ordering the office supplies, but they would take notice if you saved the company 15% year over year on purchasing as a result of building better supplier relationships. You see the difference between listing what you did and listing the impact it had, so tell us about your impact. Finally, the most important thing you want to get right on your profile is a compelling summary. Your summary makes you 10 times as likely to be viewed. Use keywords in your summary so people can locate you. And take this opportunity to brand yourself as a unique candidate. Don't tell me what you do. Tell me why I should care, what's special about you. Summaries can be done well in first person or third, but I'm a sucker for first person as it's more conversational and approachable on LinkedIn. These tips will have you well on your way to a LinkedIn profile that stands out.