How To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search…

November 6 2013 by Editorial - admin

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1. Consider your job seeking objectives 2. No typos, spelling or grammatical errors please 3. Who do you want to be seen as? 4. Write your elevator pitch 5. Public Profile and URLs 6. Connect up your social networking presence 7. Recommendations 8. Make it consistent 9. Keywords 10. Update your status regularly 11. Add more content 12. Make sure you are open for business

Top 4 Tips to Take Your LinkedIn Profile from Good to Great

1) Select “edit profile” and click on “website.” LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to enter up to three websites. Many people overlook the possibilities within this area, however, this can provide you the opportunity to give your top three results of what you want a potential person to know about you.

2) When editing the website information, select “Other.” This allows you to actually give a name to the link you are providing in this area. I’ve labelled mine, “Career Design Coach,” “I’m in a Job Search-Now What???,” and “Facebook Fan Page.” Think outside the box and take advantage of using all three of these links. You could point to your Visual CV, a blog, an article you’ve written, or anything else that establishes your thought leadership in this area.

3) In your profile area, you also can enter names of associations to which you belong. Remember, keywords are important to your profile and I recommend that not only do you spell it out, but also include the abbreviation. You never know how someone may run a keyword search to find potential contacts. For example, if you are a member of the American Marketing Association, spell it out and include the abbreviation “A.M.A.”

4) Include any honors or awards in the Honors/Awards section. I’d also recommend, though, that you include it as an achievement in the employment section under the position/company where it occurred. People like seeing where honors and awards were received in context, too because it provides a frame of reference.

Again, think strategically about your LinkedIn objective and only place information that supports your objective. Keywords are very important in LinkedIn profile to facilitate connections with like-minded industry professionals. In the upcoming articles, we’ll be exploring other LinkedIn tools to build your networking group and keep in the process of continual networking to breed your ultimate career success!

Original text by: Kristen Jacoway is the founder of Career Design Coach, providing professional speaking, training, and one-on-one consultation focused on next-generation career marketing services. She wrote the book, “I’m in a Job Search-Now What???” and the book has frequently ranked in the Top 100 in its’ category on Amazon.