Are you looking for some LinkedIn profile advice to help you stand out from the crowd, earn more job offers, and beat out the competition?
You’ve arrived at the right place! Here at the Campus Crop we collected five important tips on how to make your profile not only stand out, but also show up on recruiters’ search results, leading them to take a further glance at your page.
- Use a new profile picture every year
Image Via Inc Magazine
We’ve all heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and that is completely true. Your profile picture is one of, if not the, first thing people (especially recruiters) see when clicking on your profile. It’s your first impression to them, so it’s highly important that it reflects how you currently are. You wouldn’t want them to see a photo from two years ago and be surprised when they finally meet you in person only to see you look completely different.
Taking a photo for LinkedIn doesn’t require a fancy camera or studio. All you need is your phone, a plain background, and a tripod (or a friend if you don’t have a tripod). With that, you’re ready to take some stellar photos.
- Banners matter
Second to your profile picture, your banner is the next visual people see when visiting your profile. Banners grab the attention of visitors, establish context, and reveals a little more about your interests. The perfect banner makes your page stand out, engage attention, and remain memorable.
What type of imagery should you put as your banner? You can find beautiful, free images at unsplash.com or create your own banner using a template on Canva! This is the perfect spot on your profile to let your creativity show.
- Update your resume
Image Via Forbes
Updating your resume is super important, as it shows what your current skill set, and responsibilities are. Ideally, updating your resume at the start and end of each semester is best. When doing so, you want to make sure every important and relevant piece of information is up to date on your resume. Remove any old information that is no longer needed and be sure to check that the information on your resume is the same as the information on your LinkedIn profile. The last thing you want to do is confusing recruiters who have taken interest in you.
- List relevant skills
A great feature that LinkedIn has is providing a list of skills you can add to your profile. Look through the list of skills and select those that are most relevant to you. This helps to support the description in your headline and summary. The key is to keep it relevant. A list of skills that aren’t vital to who you are and what you do might become confusing. It’s best to tidy up your list of skills every now and then.
- Expand network
Image Via Medium
LinkedIn is all about making connections and creating relationships. While on most social networking sites the goal is to have as many followers or connections as possible, that is not the case for LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, it’s best to have a quality over quantity mindset when choosing who to connect with.
Now, why should you expand your network on LinkedIn? First and foremost, it opens the door for job opportunities! Reaching out to recruiters and showing your interest in what their profession is or the company they work for can lead to the experience you’ve been waiting for. It may not even be that direct connection, but through building a relationship and displaying interest, they can direct you to the right person.
Overall, it’s crucial to remember that you should connect with the right people in the right way. Don’t expect your connection request to be accepted if you don’t know them personally. To ensure that your invite doesn’t get rejected right away, you should send them a brief message that shares who you are, why you wish to connect with them, and how that connection can aid you in your career.
Those are the top five tips we must share! Which tip will you be using? Let us know what other tips we should include or if we should provide more LinkedIn tips. Be sure to tag us @asicpp on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
