Is your LinkedIn profile appraisal ready?

It’s that time of the year again where we hone our negotiation skills, toot our own horn and present our yearly achievements for review.  Yet how many of you will ensure that your LinkedIn profile is fit for purpose?

Your LinkedIn profile is the perfect partner to accompany your resume and is a great professional resource for both you and your career.  LinkedIn is currently one of the best social networking tools available with almost 350 million registered users around the world, 11 million of which are in the UK.

So how do you get that LinkedIn profile working for you?

Firstly, put up a suitable head shot photo – people will respond quicker and trust an actual face.  It also shows that you are taking this seriously and are willing to invest in your personal brand.

Secondly, customise your public profile URL – you can do this by selecting ‘Edit’, on the right hand side of the screen you will see ‘Your public profile URL’ select the customize option and once happy  ‘Set Custom URL’.

By doing this you can choose an URL as close as possible to your name and delete off the generic coding.

You can then include your new LinkedIn URL on your CV.

Thirdly, adjust your privacy controls for activity broadcasts.

Select ‘Edit’ once again on your profile and to the right of the screen you will note the question:

Notify your Network?  Underneath select ‘No, do not publish an update to my network about my profile changes’.  Congratulations you are already looking a lot more credible – how many annoying posts have you viewed when people have amended their profile or connected to others?  You won’t be doing that again.

Your headline appears at the top of the screen and does not need to be limited to your current position – you are allowed up to 120 characters to play with.    You can list your current title but also what you want to be known for thus further promoting your personal brand.  Similarly your personal profile needs to make a statement as it is the section which will encourage others to learn more about you. It is your elevator pitch.

Make sure to list your skills at the top of your profile – once you click on ‘Edit’ you will be able to drag this entire section to the top where it will stand out more.  You are allowed to enter up to 50 skills.

Now that your profile is up to par get networking and clicking on colleagues past and present – don’t be shy to extend invitations to respected peers outside your circle – I am personally honoured to have the amazing Vanessa Vallely, Bonnie Low-Kramen and Sue France as connections.  By connecting and following people you will get access to all of their posts and become aware of industry updates which can be invaluable.

Join groups – there are so many amazing forums on LinkedIn and you are allowed to join up to a maximum of 50 groups.  They are a great way of exchanging best practice and information and connecting with people all around the globe of interest to you both professionally and personally.  If a group is not working for you can leave it at any time by highlighting and clicking ‘Leave Group’.

I would encourage you to seek out endorsements and/or recommendations from previous bosses, colleagues and clients.  If you want to give an endorsement yourself it is very easy – just type your connections name in the search field at the top of the screen – their profile should pop up and about 5 seconds later a box will appear above their head with some endorsement options.  These feed generically from the respective contacts profile.  You can endorse up to five skills as are at a go or you can delete by clicking on each one and manually type in what you would like to endorse.  If you click on the ‘send a message’ drop down box on their profile you can select the option of a recommendation.

So there you have it – get polishing that profile and wishing you all continued business success and the ability to communicate and influence with confidence, style and ease.  Time to start tooting…..

uk.linkedin.com/in/jennifercorcoran1/

Author: Jennifer Corcoran