Is Your LinkedIn Attracting the Role That You Want Next?
LinkedIn is valuable and continuously growing. It is great for networking and making professional connections, learning about companies and has become a vital tool with a career focus. Creating a profile could lead to your next opportunity or even a career advancement down the road. Why should you create a LinkedIn profile? As of December 31st, 2020, there were over 760 million users on LinkedIn. On top of that, 87% of recruiters rely on LinkedIn to find candidates and 122 million people have gotten an interview through LinkedIn. With those odds, LinkedIn is one of the easiest tools you can add to your box to raise your chances in exceeding your career development goals.
Profile Optimization
Increase the chances of your profile being found by a recruiter or hiring manager by optimizing the space provided. Having a completely filled out profile is what will increase your chances of catching a recruiter’s eye while they are searching for candidates. This is the space to brag on your strengths. Fill out these sections to make sure your profile is being found by recruiters:
Header
This area should explain who you are and what you would like to be doing in your career next.
Profile Photo
Pages with profile pictures get 21 times more views and 36 times more messages. Make your photo professional by including only face and shoulders with professional dress and nothing unrelated to your career in the picture.
Summary
Explain who you are and what you offer. This is your space to tell your professional story to a public audience. This is a great place to brag on yourself a little; don’t be afraid to include professional accomplishments.
Professional Experience
Think about the information that you listed in your resume. Make these sections keyword heavy- this will be key to appearing in recruiter searches. Be specific with keywords. Be detailed in what the specifics of your roles were.
As chemical recruiters, we find ourselves going through many LinkedIn profiles each day. Those that are filled out and fully optimized are the profiles that come up more frequently in our searches. Once you have recruiters reaching out to you, that is when you know your profile is successful. Keep your profile up to date and use this tool as an easy way to increase your chances of getting that next big career move.
Written by Sylvia Moreira: Specialty Chemical Recruiter and Supply Chain Recruiter & Practice Lead