If you are happily employed and simply want to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, you may not want to go into as much detail. If you want to be successful in achieving your objective, there is a minimum of work history and schools attended that you will need to enter in order to search for and be found by former acquaintances. To develop and strengthen your own LinkedIn Brand, the more data you enter to back it up, the stronger your brand will be.
Don’t be shy here. Yes, this will be a publicly accessible resume for you or your product. But if you don’t put enough information on your profile, you simply will not be found in competition with 40 million other profiles. I used to think you should not have too much in your profile, as it is best not to reveal more than you need to. The thought process behind this? The more you reveal, the higher the chance that certain aspects of your profile may not be agreeable for whatever reason. I still feel this way to some extent. But the fact of the matter is, if you don’t have enough information in your profile, you might as well not even be on LinkedIn. If you are not branding yourself enough, you are not taking full advantage of what LinkedIn can offer.
With that in mind, let’s examine each part that makes up your User Profile for additional advice on how much you really need to include. If you have already filled out an initial profile, simply go to the “Edit My Profile” tab under the “Profile” section to make any adjustments. You can see how others view your profile by selecting “View My Profile” under the “Profile” selection on the left-hand menu bar.
One last note: LinkedIn conveniently will display your “degree of profile completeness” in terms of a percentage as you add to your profile. If you enter all of the information that I suggest, you should earn a relatively high score. You will probably not reach 100%, as you may be asked to recommend three people. Regardless, do not sweat the details, as you should hit 100% if you heed both my and LinkedIn’s advice.
“Basic Information”
This is the information that will first appear with your name. It is the bare minimum necessary to start making connections on LinkedIn.
Your Name
LinkedIn is strict when asking you to include your name, and only your name, where they specify. Do not put a company name or add something to the end of your name to advertise something; there are plenty of other places where you can do this. You will see many people who continue to do this, but here’s the scoop: should you need to contact LinkedIn Customer Service for something, they will not help you if you do not show your proper name. You do have the option to show only the first initial of your last name, but unless you have something to hide, you should join the other 99% of members who list their name in its entirety. Finally, if you are a business and plan to put a business name as your name, don’t join LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social network for professionals and people, not companies. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to brand your company within your profile!
Headline
You will definitely want to customize your headline to align with your LinkedIn Objective, as this headline appears next to your name within search results. In fact, your Headline should include your key branding statement. It is the area, next to your name, that will get the most visibility, so think carefully as to how you want to brand yourself here. You can add more information about your profession and indicate your objective for being on LinkedIn. Enter searchable keywords to increase your visibility. Remember, you are limited to 120 characters, which makes customizing this section very challenging! LinkedIn does include some examples which should give you some specific ideas. Another idea: Search for someone who may have a similar objective or professional background to see what their headline displays to help you brainstorm ideas.
Country/Zip Code
There is no need to deceive anyone here. In order to be correctly found, it is in your best interest to enter your actual country and zip code. Worried about privacy? So is LinkedIn! The actual city name of where you live, based on your zip code, is not displayed—only your closest major metropolitan area appears. So no privacy worries here. The zip code you enter is merely used in searches when trying to locate someone x number of miles away from your address.
Industry
This is a tricky one—you are being asked to compartmentalize yourself into a silo called an “industry.” Many of us have worked in multiple industries, or for whatever reason, don’t want to be associated with the industry in which we currently work. There are also many companies where the industry is not clear. I looked at several profiles of employees from my previous company; interestingly enough, people’s choices regarding the industry they selected varied. Whichever industry you choose, it is very important to pick one that you want to be associated with, as this will be a key field upon which searches will be based. On the other hand, if your objective is to move into a new industry, why not select that industry for your profile? Once again, it all comes down to your objective. Even if your brand is not necessarily tied to a particular industry, pick the one with which you want to be associated.
Your Photo
It is highly recommended that you post a photo to your profile. It will add a personal touch to your profile and will encourage people to reach out to you because you will literally be seen as a “real” entity. There is a debate, since LinkedIn is a site for professionals, about what type of photo you should post. One thing for sure is that you don’t want to post a potentially embarrassing Facebook type of photo. I have seen some people post the types of photos you would see on corporate website bios as well as the more personal types of photos that may also include pictures with children. This is really a personal choice; it comes down to how you want to portray yourself to the outside world according to your own LinkedIn Objective. Selecting a photo plays an important role in how people will ultimately visualize your brand.
The “What Are You Working On Now?” Bar
I don’t know what the official name of this bar is, but it appears just below your city/industry. I will often refer to this as the “Status Update” text box. If you are familiar with Twitter, it follows the same concept; it broadcasts what you are currently “working on” to the world. You can decide, in the Accounts & Settings section, to who you want to display this information on your profile and whether or not you want to “broadcast” it to the LinkedIn Home Page of your connections. This bar also plays an important role in achieving your objective. Looking for a job? Trying to find a candidate? Looking for help or for particular information? Or do you prefer to just say something to the world? Broadcast it—people are watching! Just make sure you are not broadcasting things that would be more appropriate for your Facebook friends. LinkedIn, after all, is a site for professionals. There is a section in Chapter 10 (Customizing Your LinkedIn Experience), which is devoted solely to what you should enter here; at this point, there is no need to enter anything here. LinkedIn is critical real estate upon which you can differentiate yourself and thus strengthen your brand in. Broadcast wisely!
“Profile Synopsis”
This is the resume section of your LinkedIn profile, where the more you contribute, the more likely you will be able to find and be found. The reason being that for each company or school that you enter in your profile, you will enable both present and ex-colleagues and classmates to find you. Keep this in mind when deciding which work experience and schools you want to include in your profile. The details you enter here will be displayed further below in your profile, but the synopsis of titles, companies, and schools will all be collected from the profile information that you input.
Current (Position)
As you start adding your work experience, your Current Position
