If you have a LinkedIn profile, you have got a treasure. Apart from job-seeking purposes, LinkedIn is the perfect showcase to improve your personal branding, since it is not a copy-paste of your resume, but a powerful tool that goes beyond that. More and more recruiters use this social network to locate the candidates they are looking for. The question is: do you have an optimized profile that helps people be able to find you or you have just filled-in some fields of it? We present you today the best tips for you to be seen by recruiters:
1. Fill your profile in with keywords
What is a keyword? This is a leading word that the human resources professional uses in order to find candidates, to find you. For example, we could try to search someone holding a ‘Degree in Journalism’ but it is more likely to write just a ‘journalist’. If you have only written in the education field that you hold a degree in this area, it will be way more difficult for you to appear in the first results page. Journalist and other synonyms such as informer or communicator, or any related terms should appear in your CV in case the recruiter would use them. You should, of course, repeat many times your most valuable keyword.
2. Use your summary to make the difference
The LinkedIn summary is a brief presentation that describes who you are and which are your best skills. Loads of candidates skip this part, but it is, in fact, your only opportunity to highlight yourself by saying something distinctive to the recruiter. How many Law Graduates from Complutense University in Madrid are there in Spain? Tons of them. But what if I told you that I have spent the last two years working at the best Law Company in Rio de Janeiro, leading a team of professionals, and that I am able to speak three languages since I have lived in France and Brazil? Would you keep on reading? For sure! If you lack experience or you are thinking of switching sectors, remember to explain at this point which are your professional goals (for example: ‘Willing to work at the best Law Company in Barcelona’).
3. Pay attention to the storytelling
B
oth in your summary and in the job interview, you should adapt your speech to your story. Which one should it be? The one that has brought you to choose your occupation and to pursue a career, spreading confidence in what you do and maintaining it interesting, since we all like to be told something special instead of just receiving the information as if a robot was talking. It is really a pity that candidates tending to be too formal, maximize their rigidity in both their CV and interviews.
4. Your skills are important
When including a list of skills in your profile, you can highlight which ones are you fittest in. This way you are assuring that they can be endorsed by your LinkedIn connections. Here comes the most important part: you are not saying you master a skill, but your contacts are assuring it (your managers, colleagues, professors). Endorsements can be a plus for you.
5. Take part in groups
There are specific job groups from a concrete working sector where consultancies and companies publish their job opportunities to be able to reach the best candidates. Join them as a member and take part of it. This would help you gain visibility by explaining your point of view in debates and staying tuned to any news in your sector. By doing this, people can check if you are up to date.
6. Your LinkedIn profile picture cannot be your Facebook’s
It seems obvious but we still step on so many profiles where their LinkedIn picture it is not suitable for this social network. You look damn pretty, but it is not the best choice here. Best advice is to visit a professional photographer that would know how to get the best out of your image. If you are loyal to the DIY, ask somebody to take a picture of you in front of a white, beige or gray wall, close to a window and be sure to adequate your dress code to your occupational field.
7. Make your profile visible
The last but not the least : verify your profile settings and set them so that it can be seen by anybody. You can be reachable by any other LinkedIn profile and you will also appear in the Google search results.
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