Increase Your Professional Exposure on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become a widely-used platform for representing your professional experiences and a way to network within your respective field. It is important to note that of the various sections of your LinkedIn profile that are part of the platform’s search algorithm, there are four that you should put most consideration into, for a professional advantage.

Paying extra attention to the following four sections of your LinkedIn profile can help you increase your professional exposure and be seen by the right people:

1. Your Headline – the description located under your name:

• Consider it as a way of branding yourself professionally.
• The default headline includes your most recent job position, however what you currently work in might not reflect what you want to someday work in. Your headline should include key search terms of hard and soft skills that you believe the people you would want to look at your profile might be searching for.
• Remember to update your headline every few months, with your changing interests.

2. Your Summary – the description of who you are, what you can do, and what you’re looking for:

• This section should include a point about you, how you can make a difference, your career objective, and examples of your experience in the field or support for your interests.
• It can be lengthy and should include your contact information with a call to action.
• Add attachments to your summary that showcase your experiences, things that reinforce your professional selling points.
• Write it as a general cover letter, discussing your career goals and ambitions.

3. Your Experience – do not only include professional (paid) experiences, you may include volunteer experiences related to your career path as well:

• You should include any and all experiences relevant to your career objectives.
• You do not need to tailor your experiences for a specific job posing like you would with a cv.
• Describe what you did for each experience with bullet points, but also include what you gained out of it.
• Don’t be task focused, include the outcomes of an experience, as well as the objectives.
• Be sure to start your descriptive bullet points with action verbs and to place the most relevant task bullets first. 

4. Your Top Skills – searchable skills (key words) by employers:

• The top three skills on your profile hold more weight in the search algorithm and you can select which skills are your top skills... they are not based on endorsements.
• Recruiters may not take your endorsements too seriously, as there is no way to validate them as official. However, the top skills you select to show on your profile help recruiters find your profile more easily.
• Make sure your top skills are the key skills that the employers you want to find you would search for. You can find examples of suitable skills in the responsibilities description from the job postings you would want to apply to.
• For an added bonus, you can also reach into your LinkedIn network to ask professionals in your field to endorse you.

If you want to learn more about optimizing your LinkedIn workshop, register for an upcoming LinkedIn workshop.