It may be a tough market out there, but there are ways to get noticed even when it seems opportunities are scarce or nobody is hiring. Here are a few tips to ensure your LinkedIn profile gets noticed by recruiters.

Say ‘No’ to selfies

Make sure your profile photo is professional and exudes an aura of confidence and approachability. It’s worthwhile to invest time and effort to click a professional photo rather than a selfie.

Headline matters

Recruiters are looking for the right fit for the organisation and may not be minutely screening each profile. To make it easy for recruiters to understand what you offer and what you currently do, it is important that you change the default headline which is your currently job title and company name.

Instead work backwards and include the most searched keywords relevant to your current role and if applicable and true, add the keywords that bridge or connect to your aspirational role as well. In other words, a powerful LinkedIn headline uses the right keywords so that it can show up in recruiter searches and it sells your value and your services.

Therefore, instead of saying ‘Principal Correspondent at XYZ News’, write ‘Experienced media professional | Reputed political journalist | ME Digital Award recipient | Tedx Dubai speaker’, to create more impact. You can go a bit slow on the adjectives as per the nature of your specific profile.

Similarly, if you are job hunting, flaunt your skills instead of writing ‘Seeking Opportunities’, or ‘Currently Unemployed’. LinkedIn gives you 120 characters for the headline, make the most of it.

Keywords are the key

To reiterate, recruiters are likely to search for specific skills with certain keywords. For example, if they are looking for a digital marketing manager’s profile fit, keywords like “Social media marketing, SEO expert, content marketing, B2B industries, digital marketing, communications expert, customer conversion, managing teams etc.” might be worth considering to highlight your core skills as keywords in both your profile headline and summary.

Articulate your role fit

If you wish to stand out, you have to cut the cliché’ and communicate differently. Go through your profile and different stages of your career journey, and extract special themes from your experience which will make you stand out. For example, you may be a problem solver or an efficient collaborator who brings in cross-functional teams together on projects. Use this theme throughout your Summary and Experience to tell your story in a compelling way, in a way that only you can tell

At all costs, resist the temptation to copy paste from your resume and listing out your responsibilities in your previous roles. Be different; tell your professional journey in your own voice.

Show you can roll with the punches

Make sure that you pick out specific examples from your experience to show how you found solutions to unexpected problems under difficult circumstances. Focus on a metric enriched Experience section embellished by a few key themes as mentioned above.

Upskill, upskill, upskill

Employers today have choices to recruit the best talent in the market. So, scale your knowledge- learn the latest software or stay informed on the latest trends in your industry that will keep you relevant. In other words, update your skills to the role you wish to land and keep updating the Skills section of your profile. This is a sure way to demonstrate that you are a continuous learner, looking for innovative ways to contribute to your organisation.

Connect more, Expand your network

Networking is one of the non-negotiable skills to get you hired. Be intentional about deepening and enhancing relationships within your network. Your common contacts with the recruiter can get you recommended or open doors for transparent conversations. As your connections grow, you learn about more job vacancy listings and receive better insights into advertised roles as there are individuals now to clarify your queries. So, make new connections, join groups, and interact more.

Aim for an all-star profile and avoid inconsistencies

Incomplete profiles make it difficult to determine whether you’re the best fit for the role, because recruiters are unable to access the right information. Moreover, ensure that there are no inconsistencies in information as it leaves a bad impression. A most common over sight is where you start adding new positions without an end date and it appears as if you are working four simultaneous roles!

Up your engagement quotient

Some members regularly but silently observe what others are posting but hardly engage in a conversation. Maintaining an active profile by sharing content and exchanging comments is a sure way of showing a certain level of professional engagement. This also gives a peek into your work personality and approach, and also helps your profile reach a wider audience.

Post Articles regularly

LinkedIn articles are a great way to demonstrate your thought leadership. Pick out trending topics of the week and build an article around it to generate engagement. Articles offer strong social proof which leaves a strong impression on recruiters. They also help to expand your network, thereby increasing your reach and authority on the platform.

Recommendations

Good word spreads around. So, if your profile includes a couple of genuine recommendations by people at the senior management level, it can go a long way in helping you attract opportunities.

Your LinkedIn profile is your single most important introduction to the world’s professional community. Therefore, make sure that you have a powerful profile that reflects a strong personal brand and connects positively to potential employers, hiring managers, business associates and professionals.

Need a hand to optimise your LinkedIn profile?

We help with LinkedIn profile optimisation for personal and business pages to ensure your profile stands out and reflects brand YOU. If you need a hand at LinkedIn Profile optimisation, please reach out to:

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