What is your strategy for being found?
I recruit for many different industries as well as for both blue-collar and white-collar positions. The candidates I source can be a Director level chip design executive whose salary requirements are around 250k, all the way to the manufacturing sector of simple machine operators for 12 dollars an hour. Every aspect of your online presence is important, and arguably one’s LinkedIn profile is paramount. Think of LinkedIn as your global business card; it is used to get a sense of you and your background.
I can tell you I spend hours on LinkedIn looking for that next great candidate that will bring value to my client’s organization. There are many ways you can make your profile stand out. Striking the balance between a social site and a professional recruitment platform can be difficult. Visualize the data with the graph below – yes….LinkedIn is that important.
Do you really want to be found for your dream job? Here are a few of my most important tips:
Say Cheese! Look approachable and choose the right expression
Did you know that those profiles with a headshot garner 14 times more visits & 36 times more chances to receive a message? Try looking approachable, and smile with your eyes. Although this is for business, there is no need to look overly serious. One of the main things I am looking for when I am recruiting for my own office is, “Would I want to spend 8-10 hours of my life with this person daily?” If your picture shows someone that is overly stuffy or rigid, you might get passed by. Great headshots make people want to meet you – do not underestimate the importance of the right picture. Showcase yourself as someone that others would really like to speak to.
Dress to match your message or profession
You’re free to not wear business attire if it suits who you are and what you do. If you’re the creative type, I’ve seen great photos of a warm smile with a casual looking button-down. However, this would be out of place for a C-Suite executive.
Pay attention to what’s behind you
The focus needs to be on your perfectly captured warm and friendly visage and not on a car or other people beside you or behind you. Your image should take up about 60% of the available frame. If you have a picture you love with some distracting things in the background, consider using a bokeh editor to blur those objects while keeping you the center of attention. Typically, a white or solid background works best.
Profile Background – do I have to?
Yes, it’s a good idea! Changing your background picture shows you have put some time into crafting your online image – that global business card I was writing about earlier. It is important to not be generic on LinkedIn; you want to strive to be unique, in a professional way. If you’re a real estate agent, perhaps putting a picture of a home you sold (professionally photographed of course!) or if you’re the creative type, perhaps something you created. I know others who are recent graduates have put a picture of their school. Make sure when you edit it, you make it the right size. The official size of the LinkedIn background photo is 1584×396 pixels. Here are some examples:
Penn State, FTW!
Or even a tranquil option:
Find more options here.
Details, details….
When you list your previous jobs, do list what you have done at those jobs just like you would on a resume. While LinkedIn allows you to upload your resume to the site so it is viewable through my recruiter desktop, not all recruiters pay for these extras. Moreover, not everyone who might be looking at your profile to bring you on board is a recruiter.
I like being able to get a clear view of someone’s duties and accomplishments on one scrollable page. Remember in a previous blog post when I told you that your resume gets 6 seconds of my time? Your LinkedIn page can sometimes get the same short scrutiny. Don’t make me guess at what you did, make it clear for me to scan and access easily without hunting for it.
I can edit what?!
Yes, you can edit the URL for your LinkedIn, found on the top right corner of your profile. Your LinkedIn URL is now often included on business cards and on the top of the resumes you send out. You can clean up your existing URL by making it your name. This makes you easier to find in search engines. For instance, I edited mine to clearly and professionally read: www.linkedin.com/in/tinarmalm.
The above tips are a great place to start! Really, your profile is so important for you to be found, and for you to present yourself in a way that gets noticed. Long gone are the days when you can walk into your target business, shake hands, give them your printed resume and sell yourself in person. Your LinkedIn profile and your social media presence in all of its forms and your resume that you post online are what is going to get you noticed by the first eyes that gets you that in to meet the hiring manager – the recruiter.
Next week – more about your facebook online presence and how it can affect your job search. You’d be suprised what one can see from pictures to memes. All of your accessible pictures for better or for worse paints a picture of you! Be sure that you portray the best version of you.
