Profile 🪞 Day 16 - Networking Advent Calendar
The Networking Advent Calendar is a 24-day long training program to build your networking muscles (and your network)! Not sure why you should do this? Missed Day 1? Read more here.
Day 16: Fill your LinkedIn profile
No matter how much bad rep LinkedIn is getting these days, it is still the main professional networking platform for most in Europe. When we meet someone new, we still rely on LinkedIn to get to know their professional background.
Yet so many candidates I interview and jobseekers I coach don’t have much written on their LinkedIn. This not only confuses future employers who want to know more about you, but in general it limits the opportunities of other people finding common ground or points to be curious about.
Today’s task — make sure your LinkedIn profile doesn’t look like a blank slate or update it. If you’re not comfortable sharing personal details with a corporation that sells your data for $8,999 a year, it’s up to you. What I would recommend is to have at least a few sentences in each section on your profile.
Jobseeker-specific LinkedIn tips
If you’re actively looking for a job, you might want to put a bit more effort into polishing your professional profile. Teal has written a great blogpost with 9 tips based on reviewing 600+ LinkedIn profiles.
One tip from me would be to cater your profile to your ideal role. Imagine that you want to become a Product Manager. The recruiters hiring Product Managers will go onto LinkedIn, and search for keywords that describe an experienced Product Manager that has a few desired traits and skills. Does your profile describe you as someone like that? If not, there’s probably some work to be done.
Are these networking exercises helpful? Any feedback for me? Looking forward to hearing from you!