Advice presented by Loni Olazaba, director of inclusion recruiting at LinkedIn, during an Alumni Society event at LinkedIn’s San Francisco headquarters
If you’re interested in using LinkedIn to build your online presence and realize your potential, focus on these areas:
Ensure your profile picture shows your face. Those with profile pictures that show who they are (and not a scene from your favorite movie or sport) receive nine times more connection requests, twenty-one times more profile views, and thirty-six times more InMail messages.
Photo courtesy of LinkedIn
Write a powerful headline that is eye catching and makes a recruiter or potential connection want to learn more about you.
Make your niche area of expertise (ie, digital marketing, finance, cybersecurity) predominant on your profile page. Also, be sure to highlight the knowledge you have in that niche.
Detail your work experience. When a person’s position is up to date, they have five times more connection requests, eight times more profile views, and ten times more messages.
Identify your skill sets, and have your connections endorse you for those skills. Recruiters and hiring managers look at this to see the validity of your experience. You are twenty-seven times more likely to be found by recruiters via Boolean searches if you have endorsements for your skill sets.
Use LinkedIn as a platform to share your insights, your unique passions, and to have important conversations about your industry. This will help recruiters match your talent and passions to their opportunities, but it will also help others who share your beliefs gravitate towards you, in turn helping you build a community.
Build a powerful network. When your network is strong and full of people who really know you—your work ethic, the environment you’re comfortable in, what you can deliver, and how you show up every day— they will lead you to more opportunities. That’s really the substance of LinkedIn.
“When your network is strong and full of people who really know you—your work ethic, the environment you’re comfortable in, what you can deliver, and how you show up every day— they will lead you to more opportunities. That’s really the substance of LinkedIn.”
Use LinkedIn Learning (formerly known as Lynda.com) to take video courses and build your knowledge base and skill sets. Some courses offer certifications, increasing your qualifications for career advancement opportunities.
Use LinkedIn as a platform to uplift colleagues through endorsements, likes, messages, or by sharing opportunities.
Stay active on LinkedIn. When your personal brand is fluid, your presence and visibility grows. Demonstrate aptitude and passion for things that matter to you. Share learnings, your thoughts on timely topics, and unique insights and perspectives. Advocate for a course you just took or an event you just attended.
