Creating the perfect LinkedIn profile can be difficult especially when you don’t know where to start. Treat your LinkedIn profile like it’s your personal brand and you have to sell yourself to employers. This will help to capture and interest them. As someone who has just left their University course and begun a digital marketing apprenticeship I can write from a students perspective, however the tips in the following blog will still be helpful to everyone.

Starting off right with a creative headline

This can begin with writing a good headline which is creative, specific and speaks directly to the audience, it shouldn’t just include your job title. For example, rather than saying chef you could say culinary concocter to make it more interesting.

Ways to add a visual aesthetic to your profile

There are basic steps you can do to instantly improve your LinkedIn and make it more interesting for employers to look at. Adding a profile picture is a small yet important step in improving your LinkedIn account. However getting the correct picture is essential as you want it to be professional yet still showcase character as shown in the picture below. Another thing you can do is find an image to go in the banner as this gives your account a second visual element and is therefore more interesting to look at. Another great use for this is to utilise business branded banners as this can make you more recognisable as a team to potential customers.

Skills you can showcase on your profile

On the LinkedIn page there is an area where you can take skills tests and at the end you receive a badge which is appealing to employers as this shows on your profile. Listing the skills you have is another essential to include on your profile and this should include hard and soft skills. Hard skills are work related skills for example, technical skills, marketing skills, management skills. Soft skills are more related to the personal attributes you have for example, teamwork, interpersonal skills and communication skills. Including at least 5 skills is important as it will help your profile stand out.

Having skills shown on your LinkedIn profile will also be helpful for businesses to look at as this can highlight whether they would be interested in working with you.

How to end with a strong summary

Making a strong summary is key to a good profile and this should be information that can be skimmed over in 30 seconds or under. It should conclude with a headline preferably 120 characters or under, a list of career focuses, core skills, strengths, talents and interests. Writing a summary when you don’t have any experience, especially as a student, can be difficult. Therefore, including things such as academic achievements, examples of leadership, interests/talents and skills you plan to develop in the future.

Ensure to include all previous work experience/expertise you may have. This can include licences, certifications, volunteer experience, projects, accomplishments or languages. By adding all these features, it is another way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out to employers.

Next steps you can take

The tips above will show you how to build a basic yet good LinkedIn profile, however there are further actions you can take to really improve and step it up is by growing your network. Growing your network is something that must be done consistently to push it to its full potential. The more connections you have, the better your profile is going to be and the easier you will be to find for potential employers. The best way to start growing your network is by following friends, family and colleagues and then starting to reach out to people you have met in professional circumstances or who post content you are interested in.

Sharing relevant content on your LinkedIn feed is important as it is engaging for those who visit your profile, this can be anything from sharing a post or posting your own content. Make sure the information on your CV and LinkedIn match such as the places you have worked previously within the right time frame or ensuring the previous company’s name is correct. Lastly, you should always check that your profile is up to date and there is no critical information missing from it.

What not to do

There are a few things you should avoid when setting up your profile.

• Complaining about previous employers can appear unprofessional.
• Avoid spelling and punctuation errors. This issue can be avoided by getting someone to check over the profile for you or copy and paste the text into Word. There is a feature that will read your text back to you and can be found in the review tab in Microsoft Word. If you don’t have access to Word you can even copy and paste into google translate and get it to read it back to you.

Here is an example of the before and after of one of the team’s LinkedIn profile.

To find out more visit our website or get in touch with the team on 01604 419776.