It’s time to join the IN Crowd – the LinkedIn crowd!

In case you haven’t heard of it, LinkedIn is a social network that focuses on professional networking and career development. It’s basically the grown-up version of Facebook and is a brilliant way to build your professional network, promote yourself to prospective employers and build your industry knowledge.

The mission of LinkedIn is simple: connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful and, if you’re a jobseeker, employee, or employer who doesn’t have a profile yet, you might be missing out!

A complete LinkedIn profile summarises and displays your professional experience to your network of connections, current and future employers and recruiters. Through your profile, you can showcase your professional life, milestones, skills and interests and make it evident to employers that you’re available and ready to work. A professionally written LinkedIn profile allows you to create an online brand which can help open doors to opportunities that you may not have been aware of, without the help of social media.

Having a LinkedIn profile matters because it can:

•  Help you find and be introduced to potential hiring managers, recruiters, clients, service providers and subject matter experts.

• Manage the information that’s publicly available about you as a professional.

• Discover inside connections that help unlock the hidden job market and land jobs.

• Be found for business opportunities and identify potential partners for entrepreneurial ventures.

• Gain insights from discussions with likeminded professionals in private group settings.

• Post and distribute job listings to find talent for your company.

If you’re thinking ‘Great! That’s just what I need’, then right now is the perfect time to build your profile, if you don’t already have one, and it’s a pretty simple process…

1.   First, you’ll need to choose the right profile picture. This is your advert – it’s how people are introduced to you and will play a huge role in creating a first impression. There are some great articles explaining how to pick the right profile picture but to get started: make sure the picture looks like you and is high res, make sure your face takes up around 60% of the picture, wear what you would like to wear to work and smile with your eyes!

2.   Add a background photo. This is the second most important visual element of your profile. It’s designed to grab attention, set the context and show more about what matters to you.

3.   Make your headline more than just a job title. Use the headline field to say a bit more about why you do what you do and what makes you tick, rather than just listing your job title.

4.   Make your summary a story. Firstly, make sure you actually have a summary! It’s your chance to tell your story, so don’t just use it to list your skills or the jobs you’ve had. This is your most individual piece of your personal branding – so make sure you put in the effort. CV’s should be written in third person and past tense (except for your current job) as they are a historical summary of your employment experience but your LinkedIn profile is about you and should be written in first person. Use your summary to highlight who you are and what you’re recognized for - remember, someone is reading because they are interested in you! Add quotes, reference core values, list achievements but stick to a maximum of 3 paragraphs.

5.   Avoid buzzwords. These are adjectives that are used super commonly in CVs and interviews when people describe themselves. Just saying important or great sounding words won’t actually convince anyone that you possess those qualities, you’ll also need to demonstrate them. Check out this list of the most over-used buzzwords, so you know which ones to avoid and can choose unique descriptors that will make you stand out from the crowd.

6.   One of the easiest and most relevant ways to grow your LinkedIn network is to sync your profile with your email address book. This enables LinkedIn to suggest people to connect with, who may also be able to recommend or connect you. Another top tip is to get into the habit of following up meetings and conversations with LinkedIn connection requests, as a great way of keeping your network up to date.

7.   Only list your relevant skills!  Don't be modest when listing your areas of expertise; they will help potential employers find you when they’re seeking talent (if you need some help coming up with them, LinkedIn has a great list you can scroll through and select ones which are relevant to you.) 

8.   If you offer a service make sure you showcase it by filling out the Services section of your profile, to help boost your visibility in search results.

9.   Request recommendations and endorsements. Endorsements from other members can back up the skills you’ve listed and increase your credibility. To build your endorsement list, identify connections in your network who you feel genuinely deserve an endorsement from you (employers, direct reports, peers, former managers) and it’ll often trigger them to return the favour, or send a polite message asking for one. You can manage your endorsement list by choosing which to display or hide. Recommendations take things a step further than endorsements and are personal written testimonials from your network and it's you should make an effort to obtain at least 3 - 5 recommendations.

10.  Follow, share and comment on relevant content. Not only will this demonstrate passion and commitment for your chosen industry, or career but will also enable you to learn and play an active role in your network, appearing in your connections’ LinkedIn feeds. Sharing is great – but it’s just the starting point! When you add comments to your shares, you’ll give yourself greater prominence within the feed, enables you to add value and the more relevant people and businesses you follow, will enable you to gain valuable knowledge.

11. Experience should be sorted in chronological order and in a bulleted format including; name of your employer, brief description of the company, your title, primary responsibilities and accomplishments and a short story about how you added value. Hiring managers are attracted to individuals whose past performance had a positive impact on the organization. Your current role should have the most information, with 2 lines for each of your previous roles. Don't just cut and paste from your CV though - people want to read something new! Company logos are great as they add visual interest to your profile.

12. Education and Significant Training should also be listed in chronological order with the name of the institution, its location, the qualification achieved and dates of study.

Ways to Maximize the value of LinkedIn

• Increase your visibility by having at least 75-100 connections. By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that your profile will be seen first when people are searching for talent.

• Enhance your connectability by listing your current or previous employers.

• Add your LinkedIn profile to your e-mail signature , so people have a quick way of learning more about you.

• LinkedIn profiles receive a high PageRank in Google, so it’s a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.

• Some of your connections may be linked to people either in companies or jobs that appeal to you; don't be afraid to ask for introductions.

• Be sure that your profile is always up to date and available for public viewing – especially if you’re looking for a new job.

Remember to invest time into building your profile. Your LinkedIn account will play a large role in your personal brand and when you neglect personal branding, you don’t just sell yourself short, you also miss out on awesome opportunities.