We all know that careers can be detoured with a simple caustic remark or new boss. But don’t wait until that happens. LinkedIn is one of the best ways to improve your business contacts. Focus on improving your LinkedIn connections with the following helpful hints.
A gentle reminder before you begin: go to your LinkedIn settings to turn off the notifications while you are working on the improvements. Be sure to notify everyone once you complete your improved profile.
Quick Tips
1. Monitor who visits your profile. Ask the individual(s) to connect.
2. Customize your invitations. Wouldn’t you prefer to connect with a real person, who invited you to connect for a reason?
3. Use the endorsements wisely. Although you may have a few unknown people endorsing you, use www.LinkedIn.com/skills for additional understanding.
4. Make sure your summary contains enough information to entice people to want to read more about you. Remember: it’s a profile, not your entire resume.
5. If you are in job search, add your email to the profile. You may want to add a phone number, too, depending on your circumstances. This is your advertisement of YOU. You want people to find and contact you.
6. The power in LinkedIn is through adding meaningful connections. Do you understand that? You are building relationships, not just bragging rites for a huge number of contacts. You don’t need to actually know everyone in your connections but invite people in your industry, especially ones you see in your professional meetings. You may want to contact people for bench marking, for advice about their hiring practices, or to learn about their corporate culture.
7. Friends in other companies in your industry are your “A-Team.” They will be your “first responders” to help you find another job, when you decide you’ve had enough fun where you currently work. People like to help each other. If you stay in touch with these contacts over the years, they will undoubtedly to be willing to help, when contacted. If they haven’t heard from you in a long time, you renew the relationship, filling the gap with what you’ve accomplished. Otherwise, they may be reticent to promote your background, as their reputations are at stake.
8. You need a professional looking picture, even if you work in flops and cutoffs. You may resist this but the vast majority prefer hiring someone who looks sharp, not slovenly.
9. If you are actively seeking a job but you could go three different ways, such as Project Manager, Program Manager or Product Line Manager, generate a generic profile, carefully crafting brief accomplishments in each area with a summary that shows versatility in your work. When you apply, you need to be customize the resume for each one of the paths you could take. Your LinkedIn profile should attract traffic. The resume moves the process to the next step, the interview.
10. Do not try for the perfect LinkedIn profile, as it needs to be updated periodically anyhow.
Bonus:
Funny story…last week I tried to get a new picture for my LinkedIn profile. The photographer found it impossible to take any worthwhile photos. I hate to get my picture taken and it showed. Your photograph needs to show you looking very professional, not stiff as a board or in beach attire. I’ll try again soon. So don’t do as I do and procrastinate. Do as I say. We all need to improve our LinkedIn profiles regularly!