Transcription
Wondering how to properly build out your LinkedIn profile, or how to capture and convey your skills professionally on the platform? What about developing stronger relationships with others in your field? Or better yet, becoming a thought leader, sharing your knowledge and experience with the world? Well, in this LinkedIn tutorial, I'm guiding you step-by-step through the nine things you need to do on LinkedIn right now to skyrocket from beginner to thought leader in a matter of minutes. I'm also sharing a simple formula for writing one of the hardest sections on LinkedIn: the About section. And I'm giving my all-time favorite LinkedIn networking tip. So tap the like button if you're excited about this video, and subscribe if you're new here.
Now, before we jump into the exact steps to stand out and get noticed on LinkedIn, if you don't already have a LinkedIn account, go to linkedin.com and click on the "Join now" link at the top of the page. This will walk you through a series of questions to help you get started. Now, with that out of the way, let's dive in.
The very first thing you need to do on LinkedIn is add a professional headshot. So, according to LinkedIn, profiles with professional photos receive up to 21 times more views and nine times more connection requests. This shows the importance of making a strong, lasting first impression, especially in this digital age and on LinkedIn. Now, a good professional headshot will be clear; it's going to be well-lit and in high resolution. With most smartphones today, there's no excuse for a blurry or pixelated photo. Now, what you're wearing in a photo also speaks volumes, so it's important to dress appropriately for your industry. For some, this might mean a tailored suit, while for others it could be something more casual. Also, make sure you're smiling in your photo and that it is up-to-date. You don't want to use a photo that is 10 years old.
Now I want to jump over to the computer so I can show you how to add your headshot. So navigate to your LinkedIn profile, click on your photo at the top of the page, and then select "View or edit photo." From here, you can edit your photo, you can add a new photo, or you can add frames. Let's take a second and look at each of these options. Inside of the "Edit photo" option, you can crop the photo, you can add filters, and you can even adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation. So once we have it edited, we're great; we can move on from there. We can also add a photo; this is going to allow us to either use our camera or we can upload a photo from our computer. The other thing you can do is add frames. Now you can add just the original frame; you can add the "Hiring" frame if you're hiring, or if you're open to work, you can add that frame. Now, if you've ever seen a video of mine or attended a live stream of mine, you know that I'm not a huge fan of the "Open to work" feature. I don't actually want you to include that on your profile photo. There's another way to let recruiters and hiring managers know on the back end of LinkedIn that you're open to work. I would just love to see you keep it at the original photo.
Now, the next thing you need to do on LinkedIn is to customize your LinkedIn headline. So the headline on your LinkedIn profile should be a brief but impactful description of who you are as a professional. I want you to think of this as a tagline for your brand, where it can instantly tell viewers what you bring to the table. Now, a powerful headline can be a magnet for profile visits and, of course, professional opportunities. Here are just a few guidelines to follow when you're crafting your own compelling headline: Incorporate industry-specific keywords and phrases that are commonly used in your field and are likely to be searched by others. Showcase your value proposition by answering the question, "What can you do for me?" For example, are you a digital marketing expert increasing ROI by 100%, or a software developer specializing in AI and machine learning? If so, then include that in your headline. You also want to be concise yet comprehensive. Even though you have 120 characters available for your headline, you may not need to use all of them. Just make sure you effectively communicate your primary roles or strengths.
Now let me show you how you would customize your LinkedIn headline on LinkedIn. So navigate to your profile again, and right beneath your profile photo, you'll see your current headline. You want to click on the pencil or edit icon to enter a new headline. So once I do that, I can actually see that my headline is right here, so I'm going to change that accordingly. Once you change your headline and you're satisfied with the results, you can go ahead and click on "Save."
Now let's move on to one of my favorite sections on LinkedIn, and probably one that's the most overlooked, and that is the About section. This section was previously known as the "Summary" on LinkedIn. This is your opportunity to introduce yourself in a narrative form. I want you to think of it as more than just a list of your skills or experience; it's really a space for you to showcase your story, your journey, and what makes you, well, you. The idea is to open a chapter to your professional story that encourages viewers to read on.
Now here's a formula to follow to make a killer About section: Start with a strong opening sentence about your professional character or notable achievement. Share your "Why" by talking about what drives you in your profession. Why did you choose your field? What are you passionate about? This connects with the reader on an emotional level. Next, highlight your key accomplishments without turning it into a resume. Pinpoint a few career highlights or accomplishments that you're especially proud of. Also, keep it reader-friendly; use short paragraphs, bullet points, or even a mix of both. This ensures that your content is digestible and not just a huge block of text. And then finally, you always want to end with a call to action. This could be an invitation to connect, a nudge to check out a recent project, or even a link to your portfolio.
Now let me show you how to edit your About section on LinkedIn. So here we are back on LinkedIn. You're going to scroll all the way down to after the Activity section, if you have activity on the platform, and you'll notice the About section is after that. To edit your About section, you're going to click on the pencil or the edit icon, and you'll notice that LinkedIn gives a dialogue box and you can add your summary. Now, once you've drafted your content, you can click on "Save." You'll also notice that LinkedIn is now allowing you to enter skills. Now, in my version of the About section, I actually like to include an expertise section at the bottom, which acts very, very similar to skills. You can add some skills to your profile if you would like. I wouldn't recommend adding a lot; I would keep it to maybe 5 to 10 skills if you are not including an expertise section at the end. So once you're satisfied, you can go ahead and click on "Save," and there you have it.
Now, real quick, inside of our Career Advancement Toolkit, we have ready-to-use templates and examples that show you exactly how to create an About section that captivates and connects. The toolkit is also packed with in-depth video lessons, polished templates, and a wealth of examples, instructions, and guides for every part of your job search. If you don't already have your copy, I'll include a link in the description below.
All right, diving into the fourth section that you need to optimize on LinkedIn, and that is your Experience section. So this is where the majority of LinkedIn users spend their time when checking out your profile. It gives potential employers or even clients a clear view of your professional journey. It's essential to ensure that this section is not only informative but that it also reflects your contributions and your accomplishments. So here's how to make the most of your Experience section: Begin each position with the most significant achievement and quantify the results when possible. For example, did you increase sales by a certain percentage, or maybe you managed a team of 20-plus? Those details matter. The other thing you want to do is use action verbs like "led," "managed," "designed," or "implemented" to convey a proactive stance in your roles. Along those same lines, include relevant keywords to increase the chance of your profile appearing in searches by recruiters or potential employers. And finally, add media like presentations; you can even add videos or even web links to showcase your experience, especially if you're in a creative field.
Now the fun part: Let's walk through updating the Experience section on LinkedIn. So as you navigate down your LinkedIn profile, you'll come across the Experience section. The Experience section falls right below your About section. To add a position, you'll click on the plus sign. You can also even add a career break; this is a new feature that LinkedIn has provided. So LinkedIn allows you to edit each section individually. So if I click on my first pencil icon, I can go in and I can change my title if I need to; I can change my employment type; I can give my company name; I can give the location if I wanted to; I can also give the dates that I've been employed in the position; I can list the industry, which is really amazing; and then I'm going to give a description. So you're going to want to follow those steps that I mentioned earlier when it comes to updating your description, and then you can even add a profile headline based on your current work position. I don't recommend doing that; I actually recommend that you use the headline section and add a really tailored, keyword-optimized headline. You can add skills to the position as well if you want; this is a newer feature again from LinkedIn. I don't have those listed on my profile. Again, if you decide to add skills, I would only maybe add three to five skills here, and then you can also scroll down and add media like I mentioned earlier. So once you're satisfied with all of the results here, you're going to go ahead and click on "Save."
Let's jump into the next section on LinkedIn, and that is the Education section. Now, this area on LinkedIn isn't just about stating where you went to school and what degree you obtained; it's really an opportunity for you to display the depth of your academic achievements, the extracurricular activities you were involved in, and of course, any accolades you received. So to make the most out of your Education section, start with the most recent degree, mentioning your major or your minor. If you had a specific thesis or a project, you can briefly highlight it in this area as well. You want to mention extracurricular activities such as clubs or organizations that you were a part of. These can demonstrate skills like leadership, teamwork, and initiative. Now, these soft skills are things employers are really looking for. If you studied abroad, it's worth mentioning that as well.
So let's look at how to edit your Education section on LinkedIn. So on your LinkedIn page, as you scroll, you'll find the Education section located directly after your work experience. So to edit or add a new degree, you'll click on the plus icon to enter the information there. If you want to edit your current degrees or degree, you'll click on the edit icon. You can edit each degree individually, and once you go in, you'll be able to see you can enter the school, you can enter the degree, your field of study, the dates that you've attended. Notice that I've actually recently removed my dates; maybe that could be something about age discrimination. So if you feel like your degrees were a long time ago, then feel free to remove the dates from there. You can add grade or GPA if you're more of a recent graduate; you can add your activities and societies; and then you could even give each section a description. Now, when it comes to skills, again, you can add skills here. I don't have those added to my profile. If you decide to do that again, only list three to five skills, and then, of course, media is a great option to add here as well. Once you're satisfied with this section, you'll go ahead and click on the "Save" button.
Now, if you want your resume to be just as impactful as your LinkedIn profile, make sure you take a look at the video right here. You'll learn how to write your resume in seconds with ChatGPT, including seven proven AI prompts. I'll also link the video down below.
Let's look at the next section on your LinkedIn profile, and that is your Skills and Endorsements. So this area on LinkedIn can actually be a powerhouse if you use it correctly. It not only emphasizes your professional abilities, but when you're endorsed with that specific skill, it offers social proof of your competencies. So here's how to leverage this section: First, list only the most relevant and important skills. Now, LinkedIn allows you to add up to 50 skills, but doing that will water down your profile. You're going to reorder your skills so that the most marketable ones are at the top. I'll show you exactly how to do this in just a second. You want to keep your skills list updated; so as you progress in your career, some skills might become obsolete, so make sure this section reflects your current strengths and industry relevance. You also want to seek those endorsements. It might be tempting to get as many endorsements as possible, but remember, quality matters. Ask colleagues, supervisors, or peers who've directly observed or benefited from your experience. Now, a genuine endorsement carries much more weight than a random one.
So let's look at how you can effectively add skills and manage endorsements on your LinkedIn profile. So head over to your LinkedIn page, and you'll scroll all the way down to the Skills and Endorsements section. So Skills will come right below your work experience, or if you have a volunteer section, it will come right below that. So you can actually go through and edit your current skills list by clicking on the edit icon. If you needed to add new skills, you can click on the plus icon. LinkedIn gives you some suggested skills based on your profile, or you can even start typing a skill and it will pop it up for you, so you can actually add that skill to your profile after you tell LinkedIn where you have learned that skill. I'm just going to close out of this because I want to go back to the original Skills section so that you can see what that really looks like. So if I want to add a new skill again, I could do it directly from this page; that's going to take me right here rather than having to click on the edit icon. If I want to see all my skills, I can click on "Show all skills." Notice that I only have 30 skills, and then if you click up here on the three dots, again, let's go back up here, and you can see that it says "Reorder." So this is where I really want you to think about, of the skills that you have listed, what are the top three that you want at the top of your profile, because that's what users are going to see when they first visit your profile. And to reorder them, you're just going to click and drag around on the page, and of course, keep your most important skill at the top and then following after that the other skills. So let's click out of that and let's look at the "Demonstrate skills" section. So this is a newer section on LinkedIn. So this actually allows you to demonstrate transferable skills. Notice that this is in the beta version. So allows you to pick from a set of transferable skills if you are thinking about a new field. So you can go through these areas if you want; you could even take a skill assessment. I'm not going to go through that right now; that would be a training for another day, but just so you know that that option is possible. To seek endorsements, consider sending personalized messages to individuals asking if they'd feel comfortable vouching for a specific skill based on their experience with you. Remember, authenticity is vital, so never push anyone to endorse a skill that they aren't familiar with.
So after showcasing your skills, there's another powerful way to amplify your credibility on LinkedIn, and that is through recommendations. So I want you to think of recommendations as those precious words of praise, or reference letters, but they're openly displayed on your profile for everyone to see. When someone publicly vouches for your abilities, it paints a clearer picture and more trustworthy image of who you are as a professional. So here are a couple tips to follow to really make the most of the Recommendations section on LinkedIn: First, don't be afraid to ask for recommendations. Ask former bosses, managers, co-workers, clients, and even friends to write a nice, thoughtful message about your amazingness. Provide a prompt for them when you request a recommendation; give them a brief reminder of the projects that you've worked on together or the skills you've demonstrated. This not only makes it easier for them, but it can also lead to a more detailed and powerful recommendation. And then reciprocate the gesture; offering to write a recommendation in return isn't just courteous; it's also a great way to build and strengthen your professional relationships.
Now here's the cool thing: Inside of the Career Advancement Toolkit, we have over 60 tried-and-true career expert templates, and among those templates you'll find a template for requesting a recommendation, as well as writing a recommendation for someone else. So let me quickly show you how to use the Recommendations section on LinkedIn. So you'll navigate to your LinkedIn profile, and at the very bottom of your profile will be your Recommendations. So you can either look at pending recommendations; these are recommendations that others have written for you. Clicking on the plus icon will allow you to ask for a recommendation or give a recommendation, or you can go in and click on the pencil or the edit icon. This will allow you to either turn on or off a recommendation; it will also allow you to go further into the editing process, and it will allow you to ask the person who wrote the recommendation for a revision, which is amazing. So let me go back really quickly here because I want to show you if you were going to request a recommendation; if you click on the plus icon and you click on "Ask for a recommendation," this is where you can go in and you're going to type in a specific person's name. So if I just type in a colleague's name and see if I can get her profile up here, I can go on and continue with this process, and this is where it's going to send her a personalized message that says, "Hey, can you please recommend me for this project we worked on or this skill set that I have?" Of course, it wants you to know how do you know the person; it wants to know the position at the time; and then, of course, it wants you to include a message to that person. This is where you would include the skills you want them to endorse you for; in fact, even just give them that prompt or write the recommendation for them and have them edit it. Now, once you're done with that, you can go ahead and click on "Send," and it's going to send that person an individualized message.
Next, we need to move on to customizing your LinkedIn URL. This is an important detail that is so often overlooked. By default, LinkedIn assigns you a URL that's a mix of your name and some random numbers and letters, but why would you settle for that, especially when you're placing your LinkedIn URL on your resume? Some of the benefits of a custom LinkedIn URL include branding and memorability, SEO benefits, and of course, professionalism. So here's a quick demonstration on how to get your URL tailored to you. So at the very top of your LinkedIn page, you're going to click on the "Public profile & URL" section, and you can click on the edit or pencil icon. Inside here, you'll notice at the very top it says "Edit your custom URL," so click on the edit icon, and you can actually change whatever is in there at any moment. Now the key is you want to use a variation of your name. I was lucky enough to get my first and my last name; that might already be taken for you, but consider using variations of your name, or you can even place a middle name in there. The key is we don't want random numbers or letters in this section. When you're satisfied with that, you'll go ahead and click on the "Save" icon. Pretty simple, right?
Now, finally, we have to discuss your background photo. Behind every professional LinkedIn photo is a background or a cover image that sets the tone and complements the profile. So when you use this space efficiently, you offer more insight into your professional identity, which actually amplifies your branding. So let me…
Show you exactly how to add your background photo. So, at the very top of your LinkedIn profile, you'll click on the pencil icon or the edit icon right on top of your background photo. This gives you a lot of the same options that you had with your profile photo, where you can crop, you can adjust the filters, you can even adjust the brightness and the contrast.
If you wanted to change your photo, you would click on change photo. It's going to ask you if you want to upload a photo, or you can use a custom image that LinkedIn provides for you. If you're uploading your own photo, make sure that you're using the recommended size of 1584 by 396 for best results.
After you're done with your background photo, just click on save to finalize your changes.
Now remember, if you want to land your ideal job offer quickly, it's time to grab the career advancement toolkit. The toolkit is an exclusive collection of detailed video lessons, polished templates, expert guides, examples, and instructions. I'll place a special link for you in the description below. And click or tap the video right here to learn how to properly connect with recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn.
And if you like this video, be sure to tap the thumbs up button down below. Be sure to subscribe to this channel for more videos just like this. And I'll see you in the next [Music] [Music] one