In my role of a recruiter, I see literally hundreds of LinkedIn profiles every day and I speak to a lot of people that are not on LinkedIn or haven’t updated it for a while.  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 and where you have studied and the jobs you have held. Here are  some key points to look into when creating or updating your profile.

Your Profile Photo 

Think carefully about the 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 pets - as cute as all of these are, LinkedIn is about you. Keep it clean, keep it simple and keep it corporate. 

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 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 and 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 place holder.

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 by going into the Settings-Privacy-Job seeking preferences-Let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities and then hit Yes

Sharing your career interest with Recruiters

Once you have set the Open to Opportunities on, go back to your profile and click on View Profile, there should be a box with your Open to job opportunities and click on See all Details.  Here you will be able to add the Job Titles you are looking for, Job Locations and Job Types for example, full-time, contract etc etc.

My biggest top tip is Before you make any changes, if you don’t want your connections, to see you are making changes, set your privacy settings as follows Privacy - How others see your LinkedIn activity - Share job changes, education changes and work anniversaries from profile - click Change and then No

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

I hope this helps to clarify 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.