LinkedIn Is Your Billboard: Optimizing Your Profile

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Your LinkedIn Profile: Purpose

While your resume is a concise 1-2 page marketing piece intended to showcase your skills as they apply to a specific job, LinkedIn is your professional billboard to the whole working world. 

When actively searching and applying for a job, you’ll include your LinkedIn profile on your resume. Hiring managers and recruiters will often view your profile to see which connections you might have in common and to learn more about you in general. Furthermore, recruiters may source you (invite you to apply or interview for an opportunity) based on the content of your profile.

Whether you are actively applying for a new job or simply building your professional network, it's a good idea to review your LinkedIn profile regularly and make updates to ensure your information is current and complete.

Your LinkedIn Profile: The Basics

Filling in these fields on your LinkedIn profile will make it an even more valuable tool as you build and grow your professional network:
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• Profile Photo: This is the primary image, displayed in a circular frame, that represents you on LinkedIn. It should be a headshot—a photo featuring a recent picture of you focused on your face. You don’t need to suit-up for this either. Make sure you’re pictured solo, and the photo has the look and feel that best represents you.

 

• Background Photo: When someone views your LinkedIn profile, they’ll see your profile photo, front and center, and your background photo along the top of your profile. Be sure to include a background photo aligned with your professional brand. You can even use a tool like Canva to personalize your background.  

 

• Headline: Your headline defaults to your current job title and company name. Since this is a high-value space, I suggest personalizing this text based on your LinkedIn goals. For example, if you're job searching, consider including your target job title and your most relevant skills. Keep in mind that when you comment on someone's post, they will see your name and the first part of your headline. Overall, the keywords in your headline impact your findability on LinkedIn.
     
• Experience: List your recent work experiences and share a few details on each role. For each job, fill in the required fields, including your dates of employment. For the description, include a sentence or two about what you did and keywords to highlight your skills further. Consider focusing on your last 10-15 years of work experience.

 

• ​Education: Include the schools attended and degrees earned. I suggest leaving off years since they may cause people to speculate on your age or form opinions on your experience level. Adding schools attended here is a great starting point for connecting with others who attended those institutions. 

​Your LinkedIn Profile: Next Level

Here are a few ways to make your LinkedIn profile even more impactful: 

• ​​About Section: The About section is at the top of your LinkedIn profile and gives you a chance to tell. If you're job searching, this is a great place to include details about who you are and what you are looking for in your next role. You also have room to add additional bullet points if you like. Write this in the first person (using “I” language) and further showcase who you are professionally. 

 

• Customize Your Profile URL: By default, your LinkedIn profile's URL (web address) will be long and not very meaningful. You can customize your URL to make it friendly. I suggest using some version of your name. This minor update will look more professional on your resume—and make your profile easier to find. 

 

• Emojis: While you don't want to add too many cutesy emojis, using these tiny graphics is a nice way to break up longer bodies of text. Using a unique graphic for a bulleted list, an envelope next to your email address, or a splash of color to divide up long bodies of text, you can leverage emojis to liven up your profile and posts. 

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• Skills: Within LinkedIn, you can select up to 50 skills that will be included on your profile. This is another great opportunity to look at keywords you commonly see in job listings for your target role. For added impact, you can indicate which skills you used in the experience section, too. 

What Do You Think?

What information do you include on your LinkedIn profile and why? What details do you skip and for what reason? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

Learn More

• ​How To Customize Your LinkedIn Profile URL
• How to Add and Remove Skills on Your LinkedIn Profile
• ​​How The LinkedIn Algorithm Works
• The Layoff Lady's Ultimate Guide To Answering The Question, "I Just Got Laid Off--Now What Do I Do?"​
• The Layoff Lady Book: Seven Lessons From Seven Layoffs: A Guide​