Create a Compelling LinkedIn Profile

In yesterday's post, I discussed the importance of having a profile on LinkedIn. Today I'm going to talk about how to create one that best highlights your professional experience and expertise.

Note: I'm not going to provide instructions for signing up for a LinkedIn account if you don't have one yet, since it's pretty standard. If you run into any problems, however, let me know and I'll get back to you with an answer.

Important: The ONLY thing I'm going to say about signing up is that I recommend you don't use your work e-mail as your primary contact address (you can add it as a secondary one so people can find you using it). If you leave that job and don't change the address before it's deactivated, it can be difficult to change it after the fact. If you already have a profile set up and you are using your work address, you may also want to change it to a personal one in the Settings area.

It's been a while since I created my profile but, if I'm remembering correctly, when you first sign up you're immediately shown a link to take you to build one. If not, click Profile > Edit Profile.

Each element in your profile has a separate Edit button so simply click on the one beside the one you want to create/update. I'm not going to go through each and every element but will focus on ones that may not be as self-explanatory as you'd like.

Intro Section

Although each of the items at the top of the page—Name, Headline, etc.—have their own Edit links, they all take you to the same Basic Information page.

Name
This is actually pretty self-explanatory, but I do recommend you add your maiden name if you have one to make it as easy as possible for former friends and colleagues to find you (although a friend of mine recently told me that anyone she'd want to connect to would know what her married name is). The little lock icon beside the text box lets you restrict who sees the info.

Professional Headline
A lot of people put their current job title here. I think that's a missed opportunity. I recommend you use this spot to put something that creates a professional identity that isn't tied to any individual job. It's also a great way to help you reposition that identity if you're trying to move into another area. For example, in the past I've used both "Freelance Writer" and "Marketing Professional Specializing in Online Program Management and Strategic Content Development," and I've recently changed it again to "Social Media Strategy, Content, and Design." You want to be broad enough so you're not limiting your options but not so broad that nobody can figure out what it is you actually do. (Avoid cliches and fads, as well, like social media ninja, that can quickly become objects of ridicule.)

To pic or not to pic?
I was discussing this with some friends the other day and it turned out we had all resisted putting up profile pictures on LinkedIn long after we were happily using them on Facebook, Twitter, and other public sites, but we all have them now. The concern was that you don't want people making hiring decisions based on what you look like and I still think that's a valid concern. But there's no doubt that a photo helps grab people's attention and a good one can help create a positive impression.

So the question is what constitutes a "good" photo. I had a professional headshot taken a few years ago to use with a contributor's bio for an article I wrote for Real Simple magazine, and that's what I'm using it. I like it because it's not too formal looking (with the head tilted instead of straight on) and I think my smile looks friendly, but not fake. It doesn't actually look all that much like me anymore, mainly because my hair is a lot longer and blonder, but it's not so off that when people meet me they couldn't recognize me.

But I don't think you even need to have a standard headshot. Obviously (I hope) you're not going to post a photo of you doing belly shots at a friend's bachelor party, but a a nice vacation snapshot that shows you doing something active, like biking, or a picture of you helping out at a charity function can show an appealing side of your personality that doesn't conflict with a professional image.

Websites
(I'm skipping over the other sections at the top of the page because they get automatically populated by what you enter in the sections further down.)

You can add up to three different "websites" to your profile. These can include a personal website (or three), your company's website, a blog, Facebook Page, Twitter stream, bio page on a public forum, or any other online presence that offers information that could be useful to people viewing your profile. The dropdown list includes a number of predefined labels, like My Website and My Blog, but you can customize any of them by selecting Other and then entering your own text. For example, I wanted to be more specific than My Portfolio, so I created a label for My Writing Samples.

Note that this is also the same page where you enter information about your interests, honors, and awards.

Summary Area

This is also pretty self-explanatory but I just want to say it's probably the most important part of the entire profile. Some people will never make it past this section, so make sure you've got enough information in it to really let people know what you have to offer.

Some things you might want to include in your Summary section:

An expansion of your headline at the top of the page
Key achievements (if you can add numbers to them, all the better)
Number and name of business clients
List of specific skills
What type of position you're interested in if you're currently looking
Testimonials that appear outside of LinkedIn
Links to additional websites and blogs
Honors and awards you've received

Experience and Education

I don't think there's much I need to say about these sections. I would suggest having a fairly complete list of achievements/responsibilities for any current jobs you have and you can decide how many previous ones you want to go into that much detail for. (One of the really nice things about a LinkedIn profile is you're not limited to the "two-page maximum" rule like traditional resumes.)

One thing that I've seen happen a number of times is seeing the same position listed multiple times with slightly different dates or different titles, and I'm always confused by that (and it makes me question the person's ability to manage details). Once you've finished up with your profile, you should definitely click the View My Profile link at the top of the page to see how others will see the page, and make sure everything reads clearly. You might also want to ask a friend to proofread it because a person who makes a typo often won't ever catch it (trust me on this...) and, even in the online space, recruiters and hiring managers care about stuff like this.

Two More Things

Once you've got the basics of your profile done, there are two more things you need to do: Edit Contact Settings and Edit Public Profile Settings. The links are at the top right of the page.

Edit Contact Settings
This is where you indicate what kind of contacts you're willing to accept from other LinkedIn users. You can learn more about Introductions and InMails in my earlier post, The INs of LinkedIn. Some of the steps have changed since I wrote it, but the basic principles are still the same.

Edit Public Profile Settings
The profile you just created is what other other logged-in LinkedIn users will see. If you want your profile to also be found in web searches (which I recommend), you can choose which items appear in the results.