There are now 830 million LinkedIn members. The recruiting platform is intertwining features generally reserved only for social media to differentiate users on the saturated platform.
You can use the networking power of LinkedIn to land your dream job. The verdict lies in an attractive LinkedIn profile.
If you’re ready to get that job but have been hitting a wall recently, the first thing you should consider is updating your LinkedIn profile. This eight-step guide draws feedback from real recruiters to tell you how to craft the perfect LinkedIn profile in 2022.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social media platform designed for professionals. Instead of sharing pics of your iced oat latte, LinkedIn is the platform for post-graduate career updates, connecting with colleagues, cold messaging recruiters, and finding jobs. Creating a regular LinkedIn profile is free and easy.
If you haven’t made a LinkedIn yet, the time is now. It’s becoming a standard requirement in most job applications today to include a link to your LinkedIn profile. Recruiters use your profile to vet applicants and review past employers, education, and mutual connections.
How to Craft the Perfect LinkedIn Profile in 2022
LinkedIn has changed a lot since its beginnings in 2002. Whether you’re new or a longtime LinkedIn user, the platform has added many updates to advance recruiter and prospect matching. The problem is that most people aren’t as active on LinkedIn as they are on other apps like Instagram and TikTok, where users spend upwards of two hours a day.
The perfect profile will be relevant, targeted, and unique. Here we’ll discuss some simple and effective ways to get you noticed on LinkedIn.
1. Add a Professional Headshot and Banner Image
Your profile picture is the only visual aspect of your LinkedIn profile, so it stands out like a sore thumb. There is an ongoing meme about people’s pictures on LinkedIn vs. their pictures on other social apps like Instagram and Facebook. But that meme exists to reveal the stark contrast between the purpose of these apps!
Don’t just crop a photo off social media. Your photo should be a professional headshot; avoid long-distance shots.
Dress professionally in your photo too. For some, this may be a chef’s hat and for others, this may be a black suit.
Many offices and universities will offer free professional headshots, so check around your neighbourhood to learn what’s available.
2. Create an Eye-Catching Heading
Your headline is essentially your elevator pitch. It should be comprehensive yet concise. Use the headline to talk about your experience and not just your job title, because 100,000 other people on LinkedIn have the same job as you.
You only have 120 characters for your headline. It should be a snapshot of your professional brand or what you’re searching for. Recruiters also note that candidates with headlines appear more often in searches than those without headlines.
Below are a couple of good LinkedIn profile examples with strong headlines:
- SEO Marketing Manager at Company X | Helping SMB Businesses Optimize Their Websites for Lead Generation
- Growth Marketer @X (joined at $250k ARR, now $7M ARR) || ex-Head of Growth @Y (acquired) from $3k to $40k MRR in 7 months
3. List Your Certificates and Highlight Your Skills
Recruiters revealed they can search for profiles that match certain certifications and skills. You don’t want your skills to be a guessing game because chances are there’s another candidate who didn’t leave their skills off their LinkedIn profile.
If you’re a graphic designer, make sure to showcase your knowledge of InDesign, Adobe, and any other software you’re competent in. If you’re in the business realm, make sure to highlight your Excel and presentation skills.
Recruiters spend on average only six seconds garnering their first impression of your LinkedIn profile! Yes, just six seconds to grab their attention. Skills matching is a powerful way to form an instant connection.
4. Stay Active
An outdated LinkedIn profile suggests only one thing to recruiters: you’re not interested in anything new. It means one of two things to recruiters:
- You have a job that you are advancing in and are very satisfied with and therefore see no purpose in engaging on LinkedIn
- You don’t want to put in the effort
Both scenarios don’t attract recruiters to your profile. Stay active by commenting on relevant posts, making new connections online and offline, and updating your profile to match your current career and goals.
You’ll often see people write statuses like on Facebook circa 2010. While sometimes overwhelming, these status updates are useful to show recruiters what you’re doing next.
5. Turn on the “Open to Work” Filter
If you’re looking for a new job, let recruiters know. LinkedIn has a profile picture filter. It overlays a green #OPENTOWORK banner on your profile image. So long as you are job searching, keep this filter on.
It boosts your chances of getting matched with recruiters and motivates them to connect with you. If you don’t want all your contacts or even your current colleagues to know you’re looking for work, you have the option to set this filter to a recruiter view only.
This will showcase your regular profile picture to all of LinkedIn and the filtered version to recruiters only.
6. Update and Include Your Resume
As we mentioned, recruiters spend about six seconds on your LinkedIn profile. They’ll spend even less on your resume, about three to five seconds. Recruiters are busy people so the more time you can save them by anticipating their needs, the better.
Upload your most recent resume to your profile. This way an interested recruiter can easily view it and contact you if they’re interested.
7. Obtain References and Endorsements
A reference is a professional recommendation listed at the bottom of your LinkedIn profile. These are the modern-day versions of recommendation letters. Although many recruiters don’t ask for recommendation letters anymore, references can convince them to connect with you.
An endorsement is when a connection indicates that you excel in a particular skill. These boost professional morale.
8. Write a Compelling “About” Section
Your “about” section is where you sell your skills. In this summary section, you need to instantly hook the recruiter.
While you might just be discussing mundane career milestones and goals, you need to present them in an appetizing way that will have the recruiter eager for dessert.
How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Attractive to Recruiters in 2022
Harness the power of social media by using LinkedIn to expand your network and display your professional summary. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional social media, so make sure to put your best foot forward.
If you’re looking for work, don’t do it alone. WellsGray can help you find temporary work in Melbourne. Our recruiting agency will connect you with the best employers.
We also have a team dedicated to placing candidates in permanent roles. Check out this resource to find permanent work in Melbourne.
Make sure to revisit our blog as we are always adding resources to help you with the job search!
