Want to optimize your LinkedIn profile and boost your chance of being contacted by recruiters?
Here are some super effective but still relatively easy to implement tips for you.
Optimize Your Headline
Recruiters search for keywords. These do not only apply to your skills but also to your headline. If you want that new job, add there what you want to do, not what you currently are.
Here is an example:
"Frontend Engineer / 5 years of (professional) experience / TypeScript, React, Next.js, Serverless"
This gives recruiters everything they'd want at first sight. What you are (or want to be), your experience, and some key skills.
Use Your About Summary Wisely
The summary in your About section is also used for keyword search. Try to write a real text and don't stupidly list some skills. Try to include your key skills there as well, this can improve your rank in search results.
Here is another (short) example:
"Frontend Engineer with 5 years of professional experience. I love creating beautiful Websites using JavaScript and Next.js together with React and specialize in interactive components. I value quality high and..."
You can write this to your liking, but try to imagine how it looks to others. Does it hook them? Does it make them interested in you? Use your network to get feedback and improve iteratively on it. This way you ensure to get a good end result!
Narrow Down Your Skills Section
The smaller your skills section is, the better for you. If you want to be a frontend engineer working with the stack from the examples above, why would you want to list Java and Python and Cassandra and so on and so on? You see where this is going. Sometimes less is more. Even if you end up with a list of only 10 skills, this section is super focussed and also prevents some false positives. Sometimes recruiters jump on individual skills and you'll end up getting more Java requests than what you really aim for.
Use Your Network To Get Skill Endorsements
Skill endorsements give some credibility to you. The more you have, the better. It doesn't state anything about your capabilities but it symbolizes a slight chance that you are really capable of a skill. You can either explicitly ask for them or you could also start posting content on a certain topic to LinkedIn. People will want to connect with you and many will happily give you an endorsement but don't forget to return the favor!
Get Skill Badges
Before you jump on me, listen. Skill badges on LinkedIn are pretty easy to get. The questions aren't usually pretty difficult. They don't show that you are a real expert, BUT they show that you took some time to get them. Only some recruiters pay attention to them, but it could give you an edge over another candidate. So simply go, sit down for 20 minutes and do one or two of the assessments available, for skills or techs important to your future job.
Use Your Featured Section
Highlight some of your work in your featured section. Be it a project, a blog post, or something else. You want to showcase yourself, so use the showcase LinkedIn provides to you. Once again, try to include what's interesting for a future role. Only adding a blog post that got 20k likes which has nothing to do with where you want to get to won't get you far.
Get Recommendations
Recommendations are a truly great way to showcase what others think about you. Once again, make use of your network or your current job. Ask your manager or colleagues if they could give you a recommendation on LinkedIn. And if you're afraid they might find out that you plan to leave, ask your network. Perhaps you have collaborated with someone in the past. This is a great chance to get a recommendation yourself and give them one in return but ask for honest feedback.
Conclusion
All of the tips above only take a little time but their effect can be huge. This investment is well worth your time and recruiters will soon start to notice you, even when you only implemented a portion of the above. You shouldn't, however, expect your dream job to immediately become available for you because what you do is only increasing your visibility which might be something that leads to your dream job in the end.
Before You Leave
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