In my role I see hundreds of LinkedIn profiles every day and I speak to a lot to people that are not on LinkedIn or haven’t updated it for a while … and we are talking years. Or I can’t find them on LinkedIn at all.  Once I ask them why, the answers vary from “no one really looks at it” to “but I have a cv so I don’t think it’s necessary” and my personal favourite “I don’t do social media”.

So how important is your LinkedIn profile?  My answer is always the same, it’s SUPER important and this is not a social media site, it is a business media site.

Your profile needs to be kept updated to show where you have worked, what/where you have studied and the jobs you have held.  Her some key points/areas to look into when creating or updating your profile.

Your Profile Photo

Think carefully about your photo you upload - again this is not social media - it’s business media.  In my opinion photos should not show anyone drinking or out partying, with your partner, with your kids or with your pet, as cute as all of these are, LinkedIn is about you.  Keep it clean, keep it simple and keep to corporate. It’s about business and it needs to be kept professional.

Experience/Companies 

When listing the companies that you have worked for, most companies have a LinkedIn profile and will have a logo that you can use on your own profile. This is visually a much faster way for people who are viewing you, to see where you have worked.

Experience/Description

It is good to keep the description short and sharp on LinkedIn, your CV can go into in more detail.  If you have worked in advertising is it also great to list the clients you have worked on, this gives a great overview of what type of work you can manage/create/produce.

Experience/Media 

If you are in the creative industry it is an idea to add in a media link to either the company that you worked for or any work that is online.  If showcasing TVC’s for instance, only show your top 2, as this is what will come up in the placeholder.

Open to Opportunities

This is really key for anyone looking for a change.  Only Recruiters can see that you are open to opportunities. You can activate this as follows: Me/Privacy & Settings/Privacy/Job seeking preferences/Let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities/Yes

Then make sure you Update your career interests.

Top Tip 

Before you make any changes, if you don’t want your connections e.g. colleagues or bosses, to see you are making changes, set your privacy settings as follows: Me/ Privacy & Settings/Privacy/Sharing profile edits/ No

All of these tips will place you at the top of recruiters and HR Managers looking for someone with your credentials to fill a role.  

I hope this helps to clarify with you just how important LinkedIn is, whether you are on the market looking for new opportunities or just wanting to be the professional that you are.