LinkedIn: Profiles
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking website with the
largest online professional network in the world!
Over 170 different industries and 187 million people
from more than 200 countries use LinkedIn. As
of 2012, approximately 1 in 6 Canadians are on
this social media platform. Students and recent
graduates from colleges and universities are the
fastest growing sector of users.
Will LinkedIn get you a job?
No.
Just having a LinkedIn account will not
guarantee you a job. However, it can
provide you with the resources to access
various professional networks, key
decision-makers, and opportunities that
will help your search for meaningful work.
There are many businesses, influencers, and key decision-makers on the website today, including
executives from every Fortune 500 company! Eighty-five of the Fortune 100 companies have been
known to use LinkedIn as a hiring resource.
How can you create an effective profile?
Your profile is the main way to connect yourself to LinkedIn’s world of opportunities. Members with a
100% complete and up-to-date profile are about 40x more likely to receive opportunities!
General tips:
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Your online profile should represent your “personal brand”- identify key skills and areas
of expertise that make you stand out
Use industry keywords and skills throughout your profile so that it is easily searchable
Reposition the different sections of your profile so that your most important information
hits the eye first
Change your privacy settins to accept InMail - a contact method often used by recruiters
Change your privacy settings to “Public” so that your profile shows up in search results
• LinkedIn profiles are often the first to appear for Google searches!
There are 8 components to a 100% profile:
1. The Photo
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Upload a professional-looking photo of yourself. A head shot is
recommended.
Having a photograph puts a “face” to your profile and makes your
profile 7x more likely to be viewed.
Use the same professional-looking photo on your Twitter account
- especially if you are using it to job search and you plan to link
relevant status updates to LinkedIn
Podium Building, POD60
Tel: 416.979.5177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career
E-Tutorials: www.ryerson.ca/ccetutor
2. Industry and Postal Code
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When editing your profile, indicate your industry and postal code under “Basic Information”.
LinkedIn can give you more relevant search results after you put these in.
3. Summary
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Provide an overview of who you are as a professional here. You can write this section in first person
if you’d like.
The summary is supposed to encourage others to continue reading your profile, so decide on an
industry and highlight your relevant experiences, interests, and goals/career aspirations.
Include keywords, skills, and qualifications related to your industry to make yourself more
searchable.
State your “Specialties” - indicate core skills and strengths that set you apart, and demonstrate your
potential value.
4. Current Position and Description
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In this section, you indicate your present position and
also highlight your demonstrated skills, experience
and accomplishments associated with this role.
If you don’t currently have a job, you can indicate
that you are “Open to opportunities”.
5. Two Previous Positions
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List at least two past positions and make your profile
12x more likely to be reviewed by hiring managers.
Ensure that the dates of employment, titles, and any
additional details match the ones on your resume.
Don’t forget to provide details on the skills,
experience, and accomplishments associated with
your roles as well.
Podium Building, POD60
Tel: 416.979.5177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career
E-Tutorials: www.ryerson.ca/ccetutor
6. Five or More Skills
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Use industry keywords and skills to increase
your likelihood of appearing in the search
results of recruiters.
Include both hard and soft skills that are
relevant to your industry.
You can add up to 50 skills.
7. Education
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List all of your post-secondary education here.
8. Fifty Connections
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LinkedIn requires you to have at least 50
connections for a complete profile; however, the
more connections you develop the better!
What can you do to further enhance your profile?
Customize additional sections of your profile to “spice it up” and reinforce your personal brand.
Your Headline:
Listing your current job title is a standard headline.
However, try to be creative and add industry keywords
to your headline to demonstrate your abilities and
create your “personal brand”.
Status Updates:
Updates can help support your personal brand and can indicate your availability, career goals, new
training/qualifications, etc. Apply the 80/20 rule when sharing information - 80% of your updates
should help others while 20% can be self-promotional. Keeping your network informed about your job
search is a good thing, but avoid over posting.
Podium Building, POD60
Tel: 416.979.5177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career
E-Tutorials: www.ryerson.ca/ccetutor
Website Link:
You can include links to your personal blog or website
that are related to your field of interest. Relevant
self-authored websites give potential employers and
other profile viewers more information about your
knowledge, skills, and accomplishments.
Twitter:
If you use Twitter to share professional interests, ideas, and topics, consider syncing your account to
your LinkedIn profile. To share updates from LinkedIn to Twitter, compse your update, tick the box with
the Twitter icon and hit “Share”. As of June 2012, you can no longer direct tweets to appear on LinkedIn.
Public Profile URL:
You can change the default profile URL to a customized URL that includes your first and last name, or
a close variant if the original is already taken. Share your URL through your email signature, resume,
business card, and Twitter account if you’re using Twitter for job search.
Add Sections:
If you have limited work experience in your
professional field, custom sections are a great
way to showcase your skills, experiences, and
accomplishments as a student. Think about the
things you’ve done as a student, and consider
adding the following sections:
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Projects
Honours and Awards
Organizations
Test Scores
Courses
Remember to highlight post-secondary
achievements that would be relevant to a
prospective employer!
Endorsements:
Get your 1st degree connections to endorse skills listed under your “Skills and Expertise” section (i.e.
contacts who agree that you have a certain skill). Each endorsement increases the number count listed
to the left-hand side of a skill and provides a quick snapshot of your recognized expertise.
Podium Building, POD60
Tel: 416.979.5177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career
E-Tutorials: www.ryerson.ca/ccetutor
Recommendations:
Recommendations emphasize your strengths and value, and allow potential employers to read
references in advance. Try to get at least one recommendations for each job listed on your LinkedIn
profile. You can get them from former employers, professors, colleagues, key classmates, subordinates,
and more! Did you know that people with recommendations are 3x more likely to be contacted?
Groups:
Join LinkedIn groups related to your target industry, become an active participant in discussions, and
stand out for your knowledge and expertise. A useful feature to keep in mind is that members in the
same group can message each other directly, without being connected.
Users can join a maximum of 50 groups. Consider joining the following types of groups:
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Alumni (post-secondary)
Companies
Professional disciplines
Industries
Large networking groups
Contact Preferences:
Adjust your settings to choose the types of messages that can be sent to you. Go to “Change Contact
Preferences” and select “I’ll accept introductions and InMail”. This setting is recommended as
recruiters often use InMail to contact potential job candidates.
Podium Building, POD60
Tel: 416.979.5177
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career
E-Tutorials: www.ryerson.ca/ccetutor