LinkedIn Profile Checklist: How to Optimize Your Profile in 9 Steps
You are going to ace this job search. You opened a LinkedIn account, cropped your husband out of your wedding photo, and added your current job title to the header.
That’s it, right? Task done. Now, let the recruiters come flooding in!
Crickets.
Um. Let the recruiters come flooding in, please?
Okay, so maybe there are a few more steps you could take to draw recruiters to your profile. Maybe you need a LinkedIn profile checklist.
To create a LinkedIn profile that attracts attention, keep in mind your two main audiences: human recruiters and The Robots. The Robots are the algorithms that automatically scan and evaluate your profile to determine its quality.
Let’s talk about these robots first.
How to Bewitch the LinkedIn Algorithms
The algorithms rank your LinkedIn profile on a scale from Beginner to All Star. But really, All-Star users are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.
In order to advance from Beginner to All Star, you need to post content in nine key sections on your LinkedIn profile checklist:
- Industry
- Location
- Headline
- About
- A Current Position and some content under at least three experiences
- At Least 1 Educational Experience
- At Least 5 Skills
- Profile Photo
- At Least 50 Connections
Posting some content, any content, in these blocks will position you higher on recruiter lists. Now it’s time to develop your material even further to appeal to those human readers.
How to Attract Human Recruiters on LinkedIn
Unlike robots feeding on keywords, humans enjoy content that tells a story and reflects the writer’s capacity to open a thesaurus.
Let’s return to the basic content blocks to delve deeper into how to leverage these sections to appeal to human viewers.
LinkedIn Profile Checklist
✔ Industry
Since recruiters sometimes search for job candidates based on industry, select the industry that best represents your present or desired placement.
✔ Location
Even if you are a remote worker, it’s vital to include your zip, city, and state because most recruiters search by geographical location and prefer local candidates, even for occasional sojourns into the office.
✔ Headline
The headline is the tag that appears under your image and name. As with other aspects of LinkedIn, making your headline pop is about balancing searchability with pizzazz.
- Searchability: Employers typically search for job titles, so it’s wise to use your current position as well as other aspirational job titles that match your skills. Including your current company can also be a great way to land in searches and signal that you’re employed (if that’s the case). An unfair bias against unemployed workers means you should emphasize any and all roles you currently have, including consulting, freelance, or volunteer positions if necessary.
- Pizzaz: Since the LinkedIn headline, along with your picture, is the first part of your profile that employers see when scrolling through a never-ending sea of candidates, craft the content to distinguish you from those with banal headlines. Elevate your headline by including your job title as well as the descriptors and actions that capture your elevator pitch.
- Pulling it All Together: An effective headline that is both searchable and original demonstrates the value you bring to an employer. Here’s an example of one such headline:
Global Brand Manager at Starflick | Transformational Leader | MBA in Marketing | Nurturing each team member’s strengths to inspire cascading customer conversions
✔ About
The About section can capture a summary of your professional journey and credentials but also forge a personal connection with your readers. While most LinkedIn users compile a list of skills and job titles in sentence fragments, humans simply do not enjoy reading this.
Brand manger with 10 years in project management, risk mitigation, product development, quality assurance, budget management, team leadership, cost controls…zzzzzzzzz
Human readers have a difficult time parsing piles of technical terms in one sentence. So it’s best to deposit jargon in the Skills section of your profile, which will make you more searchable to recruiters and robots alike who feed on keywords.
In contrast, the About section is a place where you can **SHOCK ALERT** use the first person (“I”) and write in complete sentences about your experiences. Writing in the first person gives your profile the warmth and personality that will separate you from the hives of buzz words.
The About section is a 2,000 character space to tell your story and express your utter devotion to your calling. As with any story, an effective About section can begin with a catchy opener, illustrate a unified theme, display your career journey, and conclude with a memorable call to action. Here’s how that looks:
1. Catchy opener: Opening lines tend to be most welcoming when they are brief and snappy.
Some people dread house hunts, but I adore them.
2. Establish your value proposition: who are now, your position, credentials, education, and value:
A devoted real estate consultant with 10 years of experience selling residential properties, I love taking clients on a journey from dream house to signing ceremony.
3. How did you get there? Your career journey – What distinguished you from the pack that caused you to rise?
I started out my career 16 years ago as an IT specialist before realizing that my true passion was home buying. From hearing each client’s heartfelt wishes to discussing the best practices in fireplace removal, I love how each house is a world reimagined that can be torn down and rebuilt to match each owner’s vision.
4. Your passion for the job. What is it you like most about your field/job?
I entered the field after my home-buying journey began with what I thought was a swift fix-up and turned into a 5-year labor of love to replenish a historical home in downtown Durham. Along the way, I gained a Real Estate License and poured myself into every facet of housing research, from attics to plumbing.
5. Call to action: You could invite people to connect with you, follow you, or send a DM.
Feel free to reach out if you are looking for a dream home in Durham or want to chat about window trimmings.
✔ A Current Position and Relevant Previous Positions with some content under at least three experiences
Many LinkedIn users describe their experiences in heavy blocks of text, which can be difficult and tedious to read. They may not realize that you can post the bullets from your resume, which is a great way to reach recruiters who are wary of downloading virus-ridden files. As you post bullets from your resume, be cautious about including proprietary information, or details that your company holds in secret. Also reflect on how you can use this space to highlight your career journey from assistant to VP.
✔ Education: At least one educational experience
If you did not complete college, you can still post the college or technical school you attended with beginning and end dates. Also be sure to post certifications, professional development courses, or any other coursework that will demonstrate your love for lifelong learning.
✔ Skills
Even though only five skills are required to reach All-Star fame, you may as well add the maximum of 50 skills to increase your searchability. Sadly, this is no place for creativity. Using the LinkedIn keywords in the search database will help others find you. If you call what you do “Change Leadership” and everyone else is using the term “Change Management,” they won’t find you in this LinkedIn search.
✔ Profile Photo
LinkedIn users with a profile picture receive 21x more views than those lacking pictures. Since you are trying to appeal to recruiters, a great LinkedIn profile photo demonstrates your positive, approachable, and friendly spirit. HR managers don’t simply want to know that you are good at your job, they also want to see if you will play nicely with your colleagues. It’s not always necessary to take a professional photo–simply walk outside into great natural lighting, position yourself in front of a neutral background, and smile!
Not sure what to wear for your photo? See some great examples below or check out our blog on interview attire!
LinkedIn Headshot Examples
✔ Connections
To forge new connections, you can begin with your friends, family, and coworkers, and then branch out to anyone who seems interesting to you. Some people send introductory messages asking to connect, but most people are happy to connect with anyone who sends an invite.
Want More Tips?
The nine sections in this LinkedIn profile checklist form the foundation of a solid profile that attracts robot and recruiter attention, but there is so much more you can do to highlight your achievements, maximize the algorithms, and distinguish your personal brand.
Don’t have the time or confidence to take on this project? Want someone to tackle this LinkedIn profile checklist for you? Red Pen Wench can optimize and customize your profile so that it dazzles the robots and recruiters alike. Red Pen Wench’s LinkedIn optimization service will ensure that your LinkedIn profile is giving employers a remarkable first impression.
-Dena Marks, PhD, CPRW, Resume Writer at Red Pen Wench