5 Tips on How to Write a Great LinkedIn Profile

nkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 400 million users. What’s even more fascinating is that the number continues to grow by 2 members every second. Some say it rivals Facebook though they have different objectives.

Anyone can have a LinkedIn account but the key to standing out and attracting the jobs that you may want is to complete your profile. It's important to understand that LinkedIn is the go-to place in the professional world. Its reach doesn’t stop with individuals but also stretches out to businesses; in this era of digital media everyone's presence can be found online.

Today's deals are made online, it is how business relationships are built and LinkedIn is a great tool to achieve this, but how do you create a profile that harnesses the power of LinkedIn?

1. Use a Photo

For anyone to take you seriously on any social media platform, you need to have a profile photo. This is not for you exactly but just for others to be able to put a face to the name.

Make sure that you upload a decent high quality photo. The photo should portray you as someone friendly so that potential clients can gravitate towards you easily. Your photo cannot only help you get recognized but also assist in making those much need connections.

Once you have your profile photo set, then it’s time that you move on to the cover photo. The cover photo should be something related to your business. You may see this as killing two birds with one stone. Your profile photos gets you in their feed and once someone clicks on your photo, they can see what exactly it is that you do.

2. Add Your Work Experience

The first thing that most employers look for is work experience. Remember that this is your online resume so make sure that you include this part. This has to be the most important part of your profile; headhunters will first look at this before they approach you.

The best way to go about this would be to write down all the information that you want to have on your profile, review it so that you can add or remove sections as you see fit, then post it on LinkedIn. Feel free to add to the companies that you may have worked for in the past and what position you held. Do not forget to mention the current position you’re in.

You can also add achievements that you may have had and anything that contributed to your personal growth. Organize all this information in a way that’s easy to read.

3. Summary

This part has a lot of space for you to play around with.

The first step before you begin writing is to understand whom you are targeting. Most of the users on LinkedIn are HR managers and HR professionals. This is the time that you really bring out your brand. You do this by going deeper on your experience, success and professional goals. Use the relevant keywords in this section, place them accordingly in the text.

Proofread your summary so as to weed out any grammatical errors. You can also add videos and pictures if you feel like they'll be of any use. Also, remember to keep it short, you don’t have to use the whole 2000 characters. This is because people have short attention spans,.

4. Recommendations

Recommendations have to be the golden goose of LinkedIn, they are better than experience. Recommendations are the reason why some people get promoted much faster than others and just as you may imagine, they are hard to come by.

Reach out to your connections and personally and ask for them to write you a recommendation. As well as helping to make you visible in searches, recommendations also help to create trust as other people have shown that you are a trustworthy individual and can vouch for your experience and skills. Try not to leave your recommendation part blank as it goes a long way in building your professional reputation. When you do decide to ask for one, make sure that it's from those who know you best such as your previous clients or employers.

5. Education

This section can help get the much-needed attention from your future employer so do not be modest when it comes to your education. All your relevant certifications should go here.

87% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates and over 60% of social media referrals are from LinkedIn, which shows how much of a powerful tool it is. So feel free to write down all the details of your education and honors that you may have received and since LinkedIn has the option of attaching photos to your profile, feel free to add photos of your certifications as evidence.

Author: Kevin is a professional educator and a private tutor with over 8 years of experience. He is also a content writer for various blogs about higher education, entertainment, social media & blogging.  Currently, Kevin works as a part-time writer for eliteessaywriters.com. During his off time, Kevin enjoys traveling and cooking. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn & Google+.