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Nederlands: Linked In icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Over the years, LinkedIn has gotten quite the reputation as
the social network for job searchers. It’s
not all about status updates and sharing pictures of yourself. It is a
professional network that is well worth learning how to use if you want to find
a job or if you want to establish a reputation for yourself. I’ve blogged about LinkedIn in the past and
it is time to re-visit this site.
There have been a lot of changes in the past year that are
worth considering. They are not scary
changes.
They are changes that can
benefit you but that you may not be aware of.
Make Sure All of Your Contact Info is Available.
Your contact info might not be as easily seen when it
switched over to the new fancy layout.
If it isn’t seen easily you should fix that. You can’t change where it shows up but you
can make sure that all your info is there.
You can also add the most important info into the Summary and the Advice
for Contacting area.
Profile Picture is Still Important
Having a profile picture is important still but in the old
profile you might have used a smaller picture.
If you did, it will look strange on the new profile layout. It might also make you seem unprofessional
because you have not been paying attention to your LinkedIn profile! Add a new picture if you picture is too small
now.
Testimonials were a good thing before LinkedIn made
changes. They still are but not everyone
will take the time to write one.
LinkedIn introduced “endorsements”, which can help with search engine
optimization and can help you build your brand.
Endorse others if you want them to endorse you.
Headlines
Create a killer headline. In one sentence, let people know
why you are special and why they should continue reading your profile to see
more about you. It’s like an elevator speech.
It has to be short and sweet and to the point. You need to draw them in with as few words as
possible.