points.
In this chapter, I walk you through all the different sections of your profile and explain how to update them and add the right information in a concise and appealing manner. I take you through adding information at each stage so you can update your profile now or down the road (say, when you finish that amazing project or get that spiffy promotion you’ve been working toward).
www.linkedin.com, click the Me icon in the top navigation bar, and then click the View Profile link.
Adding a Summary and Basic Information
Your LinkedIn profile Summary section, which appears in the top third of your profile, should give any reader a quick idea of who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and most importantly, what you’re looking for on LinkedIn. Some people think of their summary as their elevator pitch, a 30-second introduction of themselves that they tell to any new contact. Other people think of their summary as simply their resume summary, a high-level overview of their experience and job goals.
Each summary is as individual as the person writing it, but there are right ways and wrong ways to prepare and update your summary. Always keep in mind your professional or career goals, and what kind of image, or brand, you want to portray in support of those goals. Those goals should give you direction on how to write your summary.
To keep your summary easy to read so it can be digested quickly, you could divide the Summary section into two distinct parts:
Your professional experience and goals: This part contains a one-paragraph summary of your current and past accomplishments and future goals. See the later section, “Writing your summary first,” for more on how to construct the right paragraph for this part.
Your specialties in your industry of expertise: This part is a list of specific skills and talents. Include specific job skills (for example, contract negotiation or writing HTML software code) as opposed to your daily responsibilities or accomplishments, which you list in the professional experience and goals paragraph. This part not only gives readers a precise understanding of your skill set but also gives search engines a keyword-rich list to associate with you, and it’s at the top of your profile.
Other core elements of your LinkedIn profile are stored in the Basic Information section. Be sure to polish these elements so they reflect well on you:
Your name: Believe it or not, defining your name properly can positively or negatively affect your LinkedIn activity. Because people are searching for you to connect to you, it’s important that LinkedIn knows variations, nicknames, maiden names, or former names that you may have held, so be sure you correctly fill in your First, Last, and Former/Maiden name fields. Also, LinkedIn allows you to choose a display name of your first name and last initial, in case you want to keep your name private from the larger LinkedIn community outside of your connections. (For details on limiting the display of your name, see Chapter 11.) You can also include your middle name in the First Name field. I highly recommended you do so if you have a common name (for example, John Smith); in this way, people can find the “right you” when searching.
Your professional headline: Think of this as your value proposition, or “why am I different from other job seekers?” You are limited to 120 characters. The headline is displayed below your name on LinkedIn, in search results, in connections lists, and in your profile, so you want a headline that grabs people’s attention. Some people put their job titles; other people add some colorful adjectives and include two or three different professions. For example, I useAuthor, LinkedIn For Dummies; Owner/Founder, Real Method Consultingindicating two of my main professions. Meanwhile, my entrepreneur friend Liz Goodgold currently has her headline asMaximizing Brand Results * Boosting Lifetime Value of Customer * Creating Unforgettable Experiences * Keynote Speaking * Virtual PresenterYour headline changes only when you update the headline field, so if you add a new position to your profile, your headline doesn’t update to show that addition. You have to decide what changes are worth reflecting in your headline. Don’t overload your headline with too many titles, keywords, or unrelated job skills. Although the headline does not have to be a complete sentence, it should read well and make sense. You’re not scoring points with a Google search here — that’s the purpose of your entire profile.
Your primary location and industry of experience: As location becomes a more important element when networking online, LinkedIn wants to know your main location (in other words, where you hang your hat … if you wear a hat) so it can help identify connections close to you. Then LinkedIn provides a list of industries you can choose from to indicate your main industry affiliation.
Updating the basic information sections
When people meet you, the most common questions they'll probably ask are, “So, what do you do?” and “Where did you go to school?” However, there’s more to you than your jobs and education. LinkedIn includes the Intro and Contact Info section to tie your LinkedIn profile to your real-life identity. This section enables you to provide lots of information in the following areas:
First, Last, and Former Name(s): Your current and former names are important for other people on LinkedIn to reach out and connect with you, as well as stay connected.
Current Position and Education Level: Although I discuss how to add positions and education to your profile in later sections in this chapter, it’s important to include your current employer and most recent education in your LinkedIn profile, because these will have prominence for people reading your profile.
Location and Industry: The Internet helps us live with a global network of contacts, but you should still identify your current location, so LinkedIn can help connect you with nearby connections, and your industry, so it can match you with like-minded LinkedIn members to create future connections.
Websites: You can add to your profile up to three website links, such as your personal website, your company website, a blog, an RSS feed, or any other promotional mechanisms you use online. Adding a link from your LinkedIn profile to your other websites boosts search engine rankings for those pages. Those rankings are partially determined by the quantity and quality of web pages that link to them, and LinkedIn is a high-quality site as far as search engines are concerned.
Instant Messenger: As LinkedIn increases its global membership, it has added integration with WeChat, the world’s fastest-growing social app, which integrates various messaging, gaming, and social features. When you link your WeChat account with LinkedIn, you’ll be able to see which of your LinkedIn connections are currently on WeChat. (You can also specify Skype, ICQ, Google Hangouts, and QQ instant messenger account names.) You must make your profile public to allow other LinkedIn members to view this additional information about you. You can find
