Your online presence | LinkedIn

In today’s day and age, it is no longer only about what your CV has to say about you that counts, but your whole online presence.

LinkedInApproximately 77% of employers in 2014 are now ‘googling‘ their prospective employees to find out a little more about the real person and less about the person that the CV portrays.

Although you may love the photo you have just been tagged in from the party at the weekend, a photo of a drunk potential employee is not looked kindly upon to an employer. However, it is unusual to base a character soley on a couple of drunken photos, no-one is perfect, not even the employer. Therefore one of the more reliable ways to have a good online prescence is through your Linkedin profile.

A LinkedIn Profile is one of the best ways to back up your CV and show off your progressive career and skills…but only if you use it correctly.

 

When using google to find out more about a prospective employee, Linkedin is almost always the first result to pop up so you want to make sure it stands out, so here are our top tips for having a great Linkedin profile.

Not a great profile picture for Linkedin
Not a great profile picture for Linkedin © Sarah Van Quickelberge

1. Profile Picture

Leave the party pictures you have been tagged in for Facebook and get yourself a nice, professional looking profile picture for Linkedin. A

profile with no profile picture ultimately reduces the likelyhood of someone clicking your profile to find out more and will give the impression that the page is unused. As said, avoid cropping yourself out of a party picture, avoid a ‘selfie’ and try and get a high quality photo if possible. A high quality photo of you looking both happy and professional is a guaranteed winner with anyone looking at your profile. A happy picture = a happy employee = a happy workplace.

2. Your Headline

Between your profile picture and your headline, it is your chance to really shine and give off a great first impression. Ok, now you have a great profile picture, you need a sharp and intriguing headline to go alongside it. For example, if you are a student, you do not want your headline to simply state, ‘student’ or ‘part-time at …..’. This will instantly turn away an employer and they are unlikely to read the rest of your profile, no matter how great it is. If you are a student in design, for example, changing your headline from ‘Student’ to ‘Aspiring Graphic Designer’ is much more likely to grab the attention of an employer as it both shows you have alot of passion and determination with your career and shows a little more about you without reading further into your profile.

3. Be Relevant

Almost everyone looking for a job at the minute has had to take on a part-time job they haven’t enjoyed to pay the bills. As necessary as it is to take on this job, is it really necessary for your future employers to know about it to build your career? Probably not.

A common mistake is to either list ALL jobs you have ever had or to only list your current position. Take the middle ground when it comes to listing previous jobs and list and describe all relevant jobs. Also ensure and not limit these job descriptions to only your duties, describe how you have strived in this job position and how it has personally affected your career.

4. Out of Office

What you do out with the office can sometimes mean the difference between getting the job you are after, and not. Although LinkedIn might not want to know how much socialising you have done, it may want to know what charity events you have been involved in or what volunteer work you have done. Have you done some volunteer work recently? Then mention it!

It gives you a chance to show that you are passionate about what you believe in and it gives you a chance to highlight organisations you care about. A employee who is passionate about what they believe in will likely take this forward into their career.

Lady Gaga Endoresments on LinkedIn
Lady Gaga Endoresments on LinkedIn

5. Endorsements

An endorsement on Linkedin may seem a bit pointless to you, but ultimately it is a reference for your employer to see that your skills are backed up with references from several people. If a 1st degree connection endorses you then it is good practise to endorse their skills too. Not only will this build up your connections on Linkedin but it will provide you will a highly referenced skill set which will show your future employer that you are a worth while employee to have.

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