Written by Jamie Presley 
How to Post your Profile on LinkedIn
How to Post your Profile on LinkedIn
By: Rebecca Couch, National Recruiter / Website Manager, Direct Sales Recruiting, LLC
Dec 10, 2014
LinkedIn can be your strongest tool when searching for a new position, but only if you can be easily found by potential employers and recruiters. Recruiters and employers search LinkedIn daily for top candidates in their fields. If your information is not displayed correctly, you will not be among those candidates found, no matter how qualified you are.
To ensure your profile gets their attention, follow these rules:
Use a professional looking headshot:
This does not mean that candidates need to have headshots taken, but a professional look is necessary for a LinkedIn profile picture.
Often times, candidates will use the same picture that they use on the rest of their social media sites. LinkedIn is not your average social media site. Your profile picture is your first impression on a potential employer.
Take a picture in a clean setting or with a plain background. Wear business or business casual attire for the picture. A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t wear it to an interview, don’t wear it for your profile picture.
Make sure your resume matches your profile:
Recruiters and employers find resumes or bios on various job boards, through referrals, and obviously from candidates’ applications. One of the first things most recruiters and employers will do is reference the candidate’s LinkedIn page. If your resume does not match your profile, you will most likely either not get a call or at the very least, they may think you intentionally left out certain positions.
To avoid this issue, candidates need to make sure that their profile includes their full work history and accurate dates of employment. If you only stayed at a position for a brief amount of time, still include it, as long gaps in your resume can sometimes be more damning than a 6 month stint that didn’t work out. However, it’s sometimes hard to write a professional-looking bio, let alone one that somehow explains the 6-month stint in a positive light! Luckily, there are people out there with some great advice and tips on how to write a great bio, such as Jill Townsend. This way, you’ll find the job search a whole lot easier!
Include thorough descriptions of your past and current positions:
Just as on a resume, a title is meaningless. If a recruiter or employer cannot tell what a candidate is doing in a position by looking at their profile, chances are they won’t be calling.
There is no such thing as too much detail in a LinkedIn profile. Candidates should include all of their day to day responsibilities as well as a brief description of what their company does under each position.
List any awards, achievements, past projects, and skills:
When recruiters and employers search on LinkedIn, they use keyword searches. This is standard practice across many industries now, as you can see here in the world of marketing. They are searching for specific skills and specific terms surrounding candidates’ work experience, projects, and skills.
Often times, recruiters and employers are looking for top performers in their field. Candidates should include any awards or recognition they have received at past positions in order to come up under those searches.
The skills section is also a great way for candidates to include keywords in their profiles. For instance, if a candidate has experience in HR Management, they should list that under the skills. Not only will this allow your profile to be easily searched, but your connections can endorse you for this skill, giving you even more credibility.
Connect with as many people as you can:
A candidate’s LinkedIn is only as good as it’s network of connections. Many recruiters and employers rely on their network of connections to find good candidates. When you create your LinkedIn page, the first thing you should do is connect with as many people as you can. The more talented professionals you are Linked with, the more likely you are to come up in a recruiter’s or employer’s search.
Connect with not just your employers and coworkers, also connect with their connections, local business owners, and regional recruiters in your area. The more connections a candidate’s connections have, the larger their network will be and the better their chances are of being found by the right people.
Please continue to check back with the Direct Your Success Blog for more resume, interview, and job hunt tips.