Build an Eye-catching LinkedIn Profile & Get Noticed by Recruiters

Every minute 8 people are hired on LinkedIn. Which makes sense considering that 61 million people use LinkedIn to search jobs each week!

Creating an eye catching LinkedIn profile is key to using the platform to it’s fullest potential. Whether you’re creating a new profile for the first time or revamping your profile for a new job search, these insider tips will help you stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.

Upload a clear LinkedIn profile photo

Your LinkedIn profile photo will be an important first impression for anyone who engages with your profile. 

When picking a photo make sure that it is:

• A recent photo of you and only you
  Your photo should represent who you are so choose a photo that is representative and recognizable. Leave out the photos with groups and friends, you want the reader to be clear on who you are.

• Professional
  Be mindful of the context of the photo. Is there a glass of wine in your hand? While every industry is different, you want to make sure that your photo is applicable and professional for many industries, contexts, and international audiences.

• Clear and Clean
  Try to use natural lighting and avoid photos with a distracting background. Canva has a free and easy to use tool that eliminates photo backgrounds and allows you to replace it with a solid background color. Finally, the focus should be on you, so photos of your face or top of half of your body is ideal.
  

Create a strategic headline

Your LinkedIn headline is the second thing more visitors will see. The headline sits right on top of your profile and you have 200 characters to express who you are. This headline also appears in search results (when recruiters are looking for candidates). 

Stand out from the crowd and include one or a few of these details: your job title, industry keywords, or jobs that you want to apply for.

Make your LinkedIn summary shine

Your LinkedIn profile summary is prime real estate on your page and it can also serve as an elevator pitch to your experience. Your summary should be concise and to the point. To effectively tell your own story: 

• Concisely summarize your experience, focusing on major accomplishments and results.

• Be metrics driven when discussing achievements that you’re proud of. This “shows”, rather than “tells” your expertise.

• Mention industry keywords that are relevant to your future role.

• Show passion for your industry and focus on why you’re uniquely qualified.
  

Build out your skills

Developing your Skills section allows you to highlight any technical programs or skills you are an expert in. Make sure the top 3 skills are the most relevant for the job you want as recruiters search “keywords” to find these skills. 

This is also a great opportunity to lean on endorsements which show you’ve demonstrate these skills and impacted your network. 

Add your resume

You might be wondering, why add your resume to LinkedIn if LinkedIn is supposed to already showcase your qualifications? Adding your resume as visible to recruiters is a helpful hack that allows all of the content from your resume to be searchable by recruiters. This way, recruiters can learn more about you without you crowding your profile with additional information.

To add your resume follow these steps:

• Click on the “Me” icon to the upper right of your screen.

• Navigate to “Settings & Privacy” > “Data Privacy” > “Job Application Settings”

• Toggle on “Save uploaded resumes and answers to application questions” and “Share your resume data with recruiters”

The resumes that you have saved in this section will be searchable and viewable by recruiters when they view profiles.

Make the most out of LinkedIn Features

LinkedIn makes it easy to showcase your talents and accomplishments. Use their features to maximize your profile content and get seen by hiring teams.

• Add featured content or examples of your work
  You can add more content on your “Featured” section like articles you’ve written, websites or presentations. In your “Experience” section you can also add videos, projects and more to show what you’ve created for a specific company.

• Make your profile photo and profile sections visible

  You can edit your visibility settings so that people can see more about you. It’s best to open your profile to people outside of your network who might assess you for a job. 

• Set your “Open to work” feature.
  Be specific with the job titles that you are looking for as these are searchable by recruiters and will help you show up in their search results. LinkedIn Recruiter also allows recruiters to see those “more open to work” and prioritize candidates Open to Work if their profiles are a match for the role.

• Follow the company before you apply.

  Following the company allows you to see posts by the company and employees and can be an easy way to network or share your resume directly with a future colleague.

LinkedIn is the World’s largest professional network and getting your profile noticed is essential to your job hunt. Now that your profile is updated and perfected check out these LinkedIn Job Search Hacks to make the most out of job searching on the platform.