Career TOOLBOX #22: 5 Quick Ways to Strengthen Your LinkedIn Profile

…Boost Your Professional Presence

As a Career Coach, my job is to make sure that I’m aware of the changing trends within the global workplace. It’s no secret that after a decade in the game, LinkedIn has evolved as the dominant professional networking site, platform to the careers of over 200 million job seekers, hiring managers, entrepreneurs and recruiters.

What does this mean for you? For one thing, it means you have a very powerful tool at your disposal to ensure that you are shining your accomplishments in their best light. And, like all relationships, it also demands responsibility and commitment.

When I work with my clients, my goal is to guide them towards putting their best foot forward — with their resumes, job interviews and LinkedIn profiles. So I spend a lot of time on the ever-evolving site and have listened in and read their presentations and seminars. There’s tremendous information available, but it can also be overwhelming.

Here’s 5 simple steps you can take this week and give yourself the necessary boost for your career.

1. Update Your Photo – Your LinkedIn profile photo should reflect what you look like at your day at work. If you’re a C-level executive, this means you in a suit, well groomed and smiling. If you’re a filmmaker, then have someone snap a sharp image of you with your camera in hand. Regardless of what you do you for a living, don’t include a spouse, a dog or a baby in your headshot. None of these is professional. Save the personal for Facebook.

2. Update Your Headline – You are more than your job title. But your Headline currently automatically reverts to it. That does not have to be the case. Customize it to reflect a bigger and more focused picture of who you are and what you bring to an organization.

3. Update Your Current Position – Have you been promoted? Have you changed jobs? Do you have new responsibilities? Did you execute a long and successful project? Update this on a monthly basis while the changes are still fresh in your mind.

4. Update Your Publications – Depending on where you are in your career, there’s a pretty good chance that the bigger you are an expert, the more publications want to know what you think about certain topics. LinkedIn now has a section for that and you can even include the URL of the media link as well as add co-authors.

5. Update Your Company Links – Most established firms now have a dedicated LinkedIn page. If your company thread currently shows corporate logos, you are in a good place. If not, edit the company and see if it pops up, image in hand. These logos make for a more vibrant LinkedIn resume and can often capture someone’s attention quicker than reading a company name.

First published July, 2013.

Reprinted with permission and gratitude from CoolCleveland.com.