Introduction

You’re 22. You’ve started a new job and you're ambitious. Or you’ve just left university and are struggling to find a job. Unfortunately, this is becoming a more common situation for many of us. There are not enough job opportunities to go around, particularly for the young with no experience, and in the post-COVID era, where students postponed uni, there is now excess demand from a record number of graduates graduating at once, and seeking jobs. As a result, having your social profiles optimised is crucial in standing out from the crowd - particularly your Linkedin profile. LinkedIn is something that any HR employee will be looking at, as well as your potential manager. If you’re already in a job, maximising your LinkedIn is crucial to attract recruiters and therefore potential opportunities to develop your career. So lets get into the most important tips that we have to maximise your profile.

No. 1: The Profile Picture

A basic tip, but one that so many people mess up. It is crucial to leave a positive first impression, and an optimised profile picture is key here. In fact, some people go to the extent of hiring a professional photographer to take a good headshot. If you have the time and money, this could be the root to go down.

Some basic tips however, be the only person in the photo, a solid background, make the majority of the photo your face, and play around with facial expressions. The choice between a smile and a more serious expression is dependent on the job you are trying to get, and the image you want to portray. As a professional male myself in the finance industry, I prefer a more serious, neutral expression. Make sure to have formal attire on as well. A recruiter will find any reason not to spend time on your profile, and we want to minimise the chance of this. Oh, and please do not use the 'Open to Work’ banner, this looks unprofessional.

No. 2: Write an SEO optimised profile headline.

Arguably more important than your profile picture is your headline. You must be precise, whilst intriguing, and demonstrating your skills and experience. Avoid long-winded sentences, think more bullet-point, straight to the point credentials. Include your degree, your current job position (or university), and a quantitative skill/achievement that you have. Break these up with the following: ‘|’. This will look cleaner than commas, dashes, or fullstops.

For instance, a good profile headline. may look like this:

Investment Analyst at JP Morgan | BSc Economics | CFA

Three key points, a strong brand name, strong degree, strong additional qualification, and strong job role. Save the adjectives that describe how great you are for your profile summary (and even here you must be careful - read on to see how to do this best).

No. 3: Write a strong profile summary

There is a fine line between appropriately describing yourself, being too cocky and generic, or just sounding ill-informed and clueless. Depending on how you have structured your experience, you may be able to skip a profile summary, however it can be useful in terms of SEO and providing recruiters with a bit of background on who you are (most useful if you are a graduate with no experience yet). Give an overview of:

• Your education

• Your grade (if good)

• Any areas you specialised in

• Relevant work experience / current role

• Any quantitative achievements

• What you want from your profile (i.e. are you looking for a particular role)

The above is all you need. Please do not tell the recruiter you are into sports and travelling with friends. Keep it short, again, not giving a recruiter any reason to give up and leave your profile.

No. 4: Complete your skills section

This is important for SEO. Make sure to add skills that are useful and relevant to your role. Just because you can use 25, doesn’t mean you should use all of them. Add key skills, for instance any analytical skills you know (think coding, programs, any industry specific processes). Yes, having lots of skills will serve you well in SEO, but from a professionalism point of view, no one cares about a skill such as ‘creative’. Anyone can say they are creative. Use skills that are rare, are provable, and applicable to your role. Once you have done this, get people to endorse you.

No. 5: Pay for Premium

If you really are clutching at straws, premium will be particularly useful if you are looking for a role. It allows you to use advanced search filters to refine your job searches. It allows you to send private messages to people you aren’t even connected with (think recruiters, mentors, experts), and increases visibility across LinkedIn. Furthermore, LinkedIn provides premium insights, for instance, who its visiting your profile. You’re also able to access salary insights, and learning opportunities (which is a key reason to try it even if you are employed currently).

Conclusion

Hopefully these ‘straight to the point’ LinkedIn tips help. It’s important to establish a balance between professionalism, keenness and experience, whilst not sounding like you’re trying too hard, or irritating. In such a tough job market, it is crucial to figure this out, and of course you must tailor this for the type of job you want. We hope this brief guide helps, and if you’d like us to talk about anything more specific, let us know.