How to optimise your LinkedIn profile to attract recruiters

How to optimise your LinkedIn profile to attract recruiters

Job seekers use LinkedIn to network connections, search job opportunities and to have a profile to maintain a personal brand.

The platform hosts thousands of professional profiles and allows recruiters a field of opportunity to headhunt talent for job vacancies. 

There are many reasons why optimising your LinkedIn will benefit you.

Firstly, employers may want to research more about the candidates applying for their roles, and LinkedIn is usually the first place they will check.

Secondly, with the large amount of talent available comes a large amount of competition.

This article will discuss what we look for in a LinkedIn profile as recruiters.

 

Professional photo

A professional and current profile photo can be an easy way to stand out to recruiters. Selfies, group photos, or bad quality images could deter recruiters from visiting your profile.

Aim for a non-distracting background, adequate lighting, an outfit you would wear to work and a relaxed but friendly smile. This can make your profile feel more inviting. Essentially, your photo should give a good idea of what you currently look like as well as an insight into your personality as being friendly and professional – attributes that are well regarded in the recruitment process.

Clear employment and education history

Writing your employment and education history is very similar to writing a CV. Your LI profile is your online resume where recruiters can access adequate information on your work experience, skills and education. Having this information will improve your chances of recruiters coming to you with job opportunities that are relevant.

Your employment background is often the key section a recruiter will look at.

To keep your employment position descriptions succinct, try using dot points using the STAR method for a detailed yet easy to read description.

Using the STAR Method

Situation, Task, Action, Result: Let’s say leadership skills were a main skill utilised in your previous role. Through using the STAR method you can demonstrate your leadership experience as follows:

Situation: Previous company hired five new staff members 

Task: Mentored and trained new staff members

Action: Facilitated regular training sessions with new members, daily check ins and guidance on tasks until they felt confident in the role 

Result: All five staff successfully completed their training and were able to complete daily tasks without micromanagement 

Final STAR bullet point: 

Mentored and trained new staff members by facilitating regular training sessions, check-ins and guidance. All new staff were able to successfully move into their roles with confidence and autonomy.

Role titles can morph throughout time or in different locations. Ensure your role titles are intuitive to the current market to improve the chances of your profile being found.

Lastly, your education history may also be relevant to recruiters so ensure this is also kept up to date. Any accomplishments in career or education should also be listed, but don’t feel that you need to attach specific dates – we’ll be providing more information on how to avoid traps such as unconscious bias in a further article.

Well-crafted summary

The summary section is a maximum of 2,000 characters and appears under your name and headline on your profile. An impressive summary gives the readers an overview of your skills and convinces them to continue reading through your profile.

It’s an opportunity to provide a more well-rounded picture of who you are and what you’re interested in; your professional experience, personal passions, skills and career goals.

Including industry relevant keywords – this might be words such as education, administration, training – in your summary will help you rank higher in LinkedIn’s algorithm, essentially giving you more chance for your profile to be seen by recruiters. 

If you are not sure where to start, consider following a format similar to this:

Hook: The first three lines of the summary are visible to the reader when they first enter your profile, so you want the first sentence to make the reader want to click ‘See more’. For example, ‘My passion for education comes from my experience as a student when I had to confront my own learning differences’ 

Purpose: Tell the reader why you do what you do. Understand what has attracted you to your profession and what your goals are. ‘This journey has led me to appreciate the complexities and nuances of learning, and to pursue a career supporting students.’ 

Skills and experience: What are you good at? Explain the industry-relevant skills you have acquired through your previous career and/or study experiences. ‘After five years of teaching K-12, I have developed a multitude of skills in the industry including XYZ.’ 

Accomplishments: Demonstrate to the reader how your acquired skills have delivered results. ‘I have leveraged technology and innovative methods of teaching to improve literacy in K-12 education.’ 

Call to Action: Tell the reader what you want them to do after reading your summary. ‘I look forward to connecting with you through LinkedIn or email to discuss potential work opportunities xyz@gmail.com 

Skills list and endorsed skills 

This section should include all your acquired skills that you would like an employer to know about. Search through the list and add skills that you have acquired, these can be both soft skills (personal qualities that help an employee thrive in a workplace) and hard skills (job-related skills and experience gained through previous work and education).

Example of soft and hard skills list: 

Adaptability, Creativity, Collaboration, Training, Project Management, Data Analysis and Statistics

This section can set you apart from the rest if done correctly, especially if you have listed a skill that another potential candidate doesn’t have.

Endorsed skills are skills that have been further validated by your fellow LinkedIn connections; this might include past employers, colleagues, lecturers or other professional contacts.

Endorsed skills are far more likely to seem valid to a recruiter and so it’s important to keep that in mind. Ask around your networks to endorse your skills and build a habit of endorsing others.

Build your network

Once you have set up your profile it is​​ time to start networking. The best place to start is to add contacts of people you know. This could be past colleagues, friends, family, lecturers and acquaintances. Use the ‘People you may know’ feature in the ‘My Network’ tab on LinkedIn. 

Then it’s time to connect and follow individuals who are working in your desired field of work. This could be done by crafting up an invitation message – the more personal the better.

Do a bit of research on the person before connecting to make sure they are someone you want to connect with. Consider the value and opportunities you could possibly provide each other. 

Follow companies and organisation pages that interest you and start connecting with their employees. Lastly, start following recruitment companies, jobs boards and recruiters in your area or that specialise in your field of work.

Actively engage with your networks

The more active you are on LinkedIn the higher chance your profile will be seen by potential employers and recruiters. Sharing your experiences and ideas to your network can spark new conversations, connections and opportunities.

Actively engaging with your network including liking, commenting and resharing posts that align with you can also do the same. Adding relevant hashtags to your posts will extend reach beyond your first-degree connections and will naturally attract like-minded individuals to your network. 

Reach out to your network for assistance

Once you have built a strong network of individuals and professionals you will not only see more relevant conversations in your feed, but you will have access to the professional networks of your first-degree connections.

Your professional community is there to support you. Reach out to your network and ask for introductions to people in your desired field of work. You never know who might be connected to the HR manager of your dream company! 

 

References:

1:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/revealed-7-things-recruiters-look-linkedin-profile-cherono-cpa-k-/

2:https://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/careers-advice/9-things-employers-look-linkedin-profile

3:https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/tips-for-picking-the-right-linkedin-profile-picture

4:https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/linkedin-summary-examples