LinkedIn is a widely used professional platform to build a network and search for jobs. When used effectively, LinkedIn can provide numerous employment opportunities.
Your LinkedIn profile is like your online gazette and can help you create a personal brand. LinkedIn helps you to grow in your personal as well as professional life.
Your LinkedIn profile speaks many things about you. It shows who you are, what are your skills, abilities, interests, and achievements.
Did you know?
1 out of every 3 professionals on the planet is on LinkedIn!
You can post your content, can comment on others' posts, or like them just like other social media platforms.
The only thing to keep in mind while posting on LinkedIn is to make sure that whatever you are posting must be relevant and professional. Anything relevant to your field if you post or mention it on LinkedIn will make your profile stronger and impressive.
Once you create and update each section of your profile, share your profile with your network to make new and beneficial connections.
However, while creating a profile you need to avoid common mistakes that might hamper your credibility.
Listed below are some of the mistakes to avoid while creating your profile on LinkedIn.
Read to find out and you can go correct them right away!
Here a few common mistakes that you do while creating a Linkedin profile:
1. Not Using a Professional Image:
LinkedIn is a widely used tool by professionals for network growth and recruitment, so try to avoid profile picture which is not professional.
A good profile photo helps you stand out from the crowd and increases credibility.
The research shows that just having a picture makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others.
Avoid adding profile pictures with your children, family members, friends, or pets, photos from functions, and travel pictures. Don't add cropped photos.
While selecting a profile picture make sure you choose the right dress code and a decent background. Use a recent photo and it should be a headshot.
2. Not Using the Summary Area Properly:
The summary section on LinkedIn tells a little more about you. It is similar to your resume.
You need to add the skills you endorsed and the abilities you have in this section. It will create a good impression on the people who come to view your profile.
Make sure you use punctuations, symbols appropriately, and try to avoid grammatical mistakes. Use the summary area properly to explain what you do and your goals.
Two or three lines summary is too small. You get a limit of 2000 characters to write a summary. Make sure you take complete advantage of those 2000 characters.
3. Not Using the Headline Area Correctly:
Don't include your job title or company name in your headline section, especially if you’re looking for jobs.
Use this area to showcase your key strengths, specialties if any, and core competencies.
It is better if you specifically mention what differentiates you from others.
To separate the words and phrases in the headline, use the pipe symbol "|".
4. Not Asking for Recommendations:
In recommendations, other people describe you, your work, your nature, and how they feel about you while working together.
It’s great to have recommendations on your profile, but connecting to everyone and asking for recommendations can hinder your image.
Carefully ask for recommendations from people you have worked with. These recommendations show what skills you have and what you did together.
Recommendation from your colleagues and friends carries high weightage. For example, the recommendation can be from your manager, colleague, customer, professor, friend, business partner, etc will weigh more than that from your new connection.
5. Not Looking for Grammar and Typo Errors:
Grammatical mistakes also erode the credibility of your profile. Misspelled words and lack of punctuation marks shows your impatience and unprofessionalism. Use correct grammar and spellings when writing each section of your profile.
6. Not Creating a Personalized URL:
LinkedIn provides a personal URL to each user. It is a web address with few combinations of letters, numbers, and you can customize your URL.
Customize it with your first name or last name, if your name is not available then check for the variations.
You can customize it by adding the middle name or initials of your name so that people can recognize you easily through the URL.
7. Not Using Advanced Search or Company Pages:
One big mistake many job seekers do is not using the Advanced Search function. With the 'Job' links, go for 'Advance search' to explore more information about job positions.
You can go to a particular company’s page to check their job listings. You can find who posted the position and whether you have common connections on the company’s LinkedIn page.
Many companies primarily use LinkedIn ahead of other career sites to list their job opportunities so take advantage of these options.
Now that you have seen some of the common mistakes that might hamper your LinkedIn profile visibility, you can go check your LinkedIn profile and look if you find any of these mistakes you have made unconsciously.
Millions of companies have their page on LinkedIn and about 660 million professionals in the world use LinkedIn as a personal branding tool. So there are higher chances of getting a job or reference for a job in your dream company through LinkedIn. Use your LinkedIn profile to grow connections, get job opportunities, or expand your business. Update your profile timely and make sure it is completely filled. Up to date and completely filled profile has more chances of grabbing the attention of recruiters and professionals.
Follow the tips given in this article and get started!
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