How Important IS LinkedIn to My Career Growth, Really? Part 2

Tips for Creating/Updating Your LinkedIn Profile, Part 2

 (This article is the second in a 2-part series on creating a killer LinkedIn profile).

🔥The burning career question of the week:

My colleagues spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, but to be honest, it’s not really my jam. How important IS LinkedIn to growing my career…really?

As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, your LinkedIn profile page is the foundation for your personal branding. Period.

Building your personal brand contributes to:

• Visibility: Building your brand makes you stand out in a crowded marketplace. 🌟
• Credibility: A strong personal brain establishes you as a legitimate expert in your field. 📜
• Opportunity: Open doors to new opportunities like job offers, partnerships, or landing new clients. 📈
• Networking: Enhances your ability to connect with like-minded individuals and expand your professional community. 🤝
• Value: Clearly communicates what you bring to the table making it easier for people to realize your value. 💼

There is value in building a strong LinkedIn profile and maintaining an active presence on the social platform.

But it’s time consuming to do it RIGHT.

Before asking “Where do I begin?” check out Part 1 of this guide to get you started.   

Last week we discussed: Personalizing your URL, uploading an eye-catching profile picture, crafting a signature banner, customizing your authentic headline, why name pronunciation matters, one way to tackle the about section, and avoiding buzzwords.

This week we will tackle creating a featured section that represents your work, another take on the about section, populating your content and ‘optional sections (e.g., certificates, publications, patents, etc.). We will also discuss the importance of skills, ways to build your network, and recommendations.

LET’S BEGIN…

Featured Section: Create your FEATURED section to promote yourself. This is where you build

trust and gain real interest in your professional/creative endeavors. You don’t have to promote a service or resource to have a featured section. You might want to highlight a professional accomplishment, call out a key article in your industry, or connect to your employer website if you are involved in an ongoing project that is being highlighted.

Here are a couple of examples:

Experience Section: The experience content should closely match the resume because LinkedIn is your online resume. That said, it can be presented in a more casual, conversational tone, in paragraph format, supported by 1-2 key accomplishments. Your content under each position is comprehensive but not overwhelming.

Link to past projects, websites, etc. LinkedIn can act as your digital portfolio - a place to show off your abilities. Link samples of your work in relevant areas to corresponding sections of your profile. Show off your videos, websites, apps, etc. to enhance your narrative content.

Skills: The goal of the skills section is twofold: highlight your skills and get endorsed. When populating this section, list your skills and encourage endorsement from others. As of today, LinkedIn allows you to list 100 skills and categorize them. This does not mean you need to toggle 100 skills. I tell clients to have 30 core skills that transcend all their targeted professional development opportunities. As they search and apply for new opportunities, add and align skills with the opportunity specifications. Doing so will make you look more attractive to employers and will make your profile more likely to appear on searches.

Ensure you list the top 10 skills are attached to your experience. Having a sea of skills no one will sift through isn’t serving your purpose of getting noticed. You have a better chance of getting endorsed for these skills if they are assigned to specific positions because LI will prompt people to endorse you for those skills periodically via their algorithm.

Volunteer, Certifications,  or other sections: These optional sections should be added to your profile based on relevance to your life and your goals for LinkedIn. Try to include visuals ot tangible references to support your content.

Join groups LinkedIn has many groups connected to it. Search for and join groups related to your industry and education. You never know what connections you'll make. 

Recommendations: A LinkedIn recommendation is like a letter of reference. You can ask for and accept recommendations from anyone who can speak to your professional experience (boss, teacher, co-workers, clients). LinkedIn will send you a “review recommendations” notification so you can approve before it is live.

When targeting people for recommendations, offer a couple of talking points to highlight what you want from them. Doing so allows you to control the narrative and diversify your feedback. You're also more apt to receive a recommendation if you've done some of the leg work. It is helpful if the recommendation is specific and calls out your expertise. Target at least one recommendation (ideally more) for every job you list on your profile.

Remember, giving is receiving! If you want a recommendation from someone, start by offering them a recommendation. Your gesture Is more apt to be rewarded with a return recommendation.

Here is how to get started:

Open with a hook. Start with a statement about the person that might make someone want to read more. For example, “Heather was my favorite colleague because she always had a smile on her face and was willing to go the extra mile.”

Give details: “I worked with Heather for 2 months on a curriculum revision project at [company X]. She and I collaborated synergistically and got the final product out in record time.”

Call out something specific: “She has the ability to write inspiring curriculum that considers her audience first and foremost.”

Include something personal/funny (if applicable): “She’s also great at pickleball!”

Recommend: “Heather would be a great addition to any team.”

Here is your example:

“Heather was my favorite colleague because she always had a smile on her face and was willing to go the extra mile. I worked with Heather for 2 months on a curriculum revision project at [company X]. She and I collaborated synergistically and got the final product out in record time. Heather writes inspiring curriculum that considers her audience first and foremost. She is also great at pickleball, so if you’re looking to put together a work team, Heather is your person! It was my pleasure working with Heather, I learned a lot from her and you will too.”

Network/Target Audience: When your profile is up and running, begin regularly connecting with people! The more connections you have, the more visible you become.

Ask yourself:

• Who are the people you hang out with/gravitate towards?
• Who have you worked with in the past, that would be a good connecting point?
• Who do you currently work with that you admire or appreciate?
• Who are your friends and family members?
• Who are your neighbor’s and community affiliations?
• Who is sharing interesting content you want to share with your network?
• Who is posting answers to your pain points?
• Who is addressing the challenges you face with their thought leadership?

When you're ready, use the LinkedIn search function to expand your network. Here is how:

• Use keywords: Enter relevant keywords into the search bar to find people related to your industry.
• Narrow your search: Use filters to refine your search by job title, company, location.
• Save your search: Save your search criteria to get notified when new people (or content that match your criteria) are added.

When you find your people, reach out and say hello!

Posting: In a few weeks, I will craft an article specific to the ins and outs of posting because there are many ways to engage with the platform to maximize your goals. For now, I will just say that LinkedIn is a great way to share your insights, knowledge, and professional accomplishments, and everyone should be active on the platform in some way.

Here's how to do get started:

• First, Click the "Start a post" button on your LinkedIn homepage.
• Write your post: Focus on relevance and remaining professional.
• Add media: Make your post more engaging by adding images, videos, and documents.
• Engage with your audience: Build relationships responding to comments and engage with other people's posts.
• Share interesting content with your audience! You don’t have to be a LinkedIn content creator to gain maximum benefit from the platform. If you follow people who post interesting and educational content, share their work with your network. For example, share this newsletter! Drop a short comment into the share, letting your network know why you’re sharing and the gist of the post.

LinkedIn Blog Articles: Creating a newsletter or blog allows you to share longer-form content with your network. Share newsletters or blog articles from content creators in your network if creating one isn’t your jam. But if you have something to contribute, don’t hold back!

Here's how to get started:

• First: Click the "Write an article" button on your LinkedIn homepage.
• Pick a topic: Pick something to talk about that aligns with your professional brand and network.
• Write your article: Just like posting or sharing content in the feed, keep your message professional and engaging (adding images or videos can help!).
• Share your article: Share your article with your LinkedIn network and encourage them to read and respond.

Finally, don’t ghost your followers: Stay connected. Carve out 15 minutes a DAY to see what people are talking about, make comments on relevant stories, and answer any messages. Like any habit, schedule this time on your calendar and make it a reoccurring priority.

Homework: Like last week, your goal is to update the sections of your profile discussed in Part 2 (or go back to Part 1 of this guide).

🚀 Let me know in the comments section what progress you have made and share you newly updated profiles with the group!

Message me if you’re ready to take your LinkedIn Profile to the next level and !

Heather

Until next week, thanks for reading!

If you’re ready to work together to update your LinkedIn profile, target your job search, or explore your next career path, book a DISCOVERY CALL with me!

♻️ If you liked what you’ve read, please SHARE this newsletter with your network.

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💡 To learn more about me and what I do, visit my WEBSITE!

🔥 If you have a burning career question for me to address, submit HERE.