The Ultimate Guide to Linkedin

This guide was produced by Conquer Career Course and is not affiliated with Linkedin ®

Why is Linkedin Important?

• 94% of recruiters are active on LinkedIn

• Social professional networks are the fastest

growing source of hires for key positions

• 89% of all recruiters report having hired

someone through LinkedIn

Setting Up Your Profile

Headline

• Should be professional, straight to the point and exhibit value and expertise„

• Should highlight industry-specific keywords

• Should highlight career accomplishments

• Avoid buzzwords, jargon and hyperbole. ie: “Guru”, “Master”, “Ninja”

• Avoid using the default “most recent job title” as your headline. This is not search-engine friendly and it‟s poorly

optimized for recruiters searching for candidates in your field

Photo

• Should be a recent professional headshot

• Avoid headshots with excessive “noisy” backgrounds

• A solid color background works best

Summary

• Should express who you are, tell a story,

explain why people should connect with

you, and/or explain the value you bring to

projects and positions

• Tonality may be 1st person or 3rd person

• You may also embed video media. This is

ideal if you have a video of a project or

work-related material that you‟re featured in

Experience

• Complete form fields as they pertain to your experience

• If applicable, include external media sources that highlights projects you‟ve completed or were apart of

Skills & Endorsements

• Add up to 50 work-related skills

• Be sure to keep the boxes shown in the example

checked, as well as the “I want to be endorsed”

radio button.

• Keeping these boxes checked allows you and the

people you are connected to, see each other‟s

skillsets and endorse one another

• Since this information is public, employers will have

insight into your core skillset with 3rd party validation

Public Profile Settings

• Here you can create a unique profile URL

• You can also make adjustments to the information

on your profile that you allow to be seen by the

general public

• Make adjustments to these privacy settings as you

see fit

Privacy Settings

• Here you can manage your privacy settings

• Determine who can see your activity feed, connections, updates, block users and more

Recommendations

• “When your peers recognize your great work, it helps you get noticed by recruiters and build a more credible

profile.” - Linkedin

• Navigate to the “Recommendations” section of your profile to ask for recommendations from your connections.

Your message should be personalized and should ask the requestor to highlight a key area of your core

competencies: ie sales, marketing, project management, business development, etc.

• It is wise to first reciprocate by giving your connections recommendations prior to asking for one from them.

This will increase the likelihood that they will provide you with a recommendation

Additional Considerations

• In addition to the core components of your profile previously mentioned, you should also consider adding

additional sections

• Additional sections provide a full scope of who you are personally and professionally

• Additional sections are particularly important for individuals who are just getting started in their career or who

may be in high school or college, as these additional sections allow you to highlight attributes that are important

to companies looking to hire younger employees. ie: test scores, courses

• Additional sections are also great for giving you ideas of additional tasks you can work towards as you move

forward throughout your career. The more additional sections you have completed, the more attractive you will

be to future connections and employers

• Additional sections include: education, volunteer experience, organizations, awards, test scores, courses,

causes, projects, certifications, interests and much more

Networking

Connections

• The true power of Linkedin is connections. Connections allow you to establish a network that you can

rely on for business and job opportunities

• Ideally, you should connect with people whom you can both provide a reciprocal benefit for.

In other words, do not connect with people that are in unrelated fields whom you can‟t benefit from or

provide a benefit for

There are 5 types of people to connect with on

Linkedin:

1. Strangers (not ideal)

2. Acquaintances

3. Colleagues

4. Friends & family

5. School alumni

How to connect:

1. Linkedin search

2. Email contacts

3. School alumni

Connections: Search

• Use the search form to search for people by name, keyword, location, etc.

Connections: Email

• Find connections by importing your email contacts

Connections: Alumni

• Find connections by filtering through your university

Interests

Connections: Companies

• Companies allows you to stay up to date with the latest news and insights of

companies you follow

• Companies may be followed based on the recommendations provided by Linkedin

• In this section, you may also create a company page for a business you represent

Connections: Groups

• Groups allow you to establish new connections within your industry and carry on

conversations about related topics

• You can join an existing group or create a new one

• Groups can be filtered based on a keyword search

Pulse

• Pulse allows you to stay on top of industry news

• Content is delivered from posts written by people you‟re connected with as well as

Linkedin‟s signature group of hand-selected “Influencers”. These people have been

deemed experts in their field by Linkedin

• You can also browse various signature content creators to add content to your Pulse

feed. Signature content creators include: The Harvard Business Review, TED, The

Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg and much more

Education

• Education allows you to research universities with a variety of filters

Job Hunting

Job Search

• Click the “Jobs” tab and “Advanced search” link to search for jobs

• More options available with a Job Seeker Premium account

Job Seeker Premium Account

• No long-term commitment - cancel anytime. First month free, then $29.99/month

• See how you compare to other applicants by seniority level, education and skills

• Job applications are sent to the top of the companies‟ inbox you apply to

• See everyone who‟s viewed your profile in the last 90 days

• Contact anyone directly using inMail, including recruiters who may have viewed your profile or

a hiring manager at a company you recently applied to

How to Get Found by Employers & Recruiters

1. Add industry-specific keywords to your headline

2. Add industry-specific keywords to your summary

3. Add industry-specific keywords in your experiences

4. Select the industry most closely related to your field

when setting up your profile

5. Include industry-specific keywords in your

recommendations by asking your connections to focus

on specific areas of your work experience

Did you notice the redundancy in “adding industry-specific keywords” to various sections of your profile? This is

known as optimization. It‟s the most important element in increasing your odds of being discovered by employers

and recruiters. When employers and recruiters are looking for job candidates, they use keyword based search

filters to conduct their search. The more often industry-specific keywords appear on your profile, the more likely it

is that your profile will show up at the top of their search results. Industry-specific keywords are typically job-

title/function related. TIP: avoid buzzwords, jargon and hyperbole. ie: “Guru”, “Master”, “Ninja”

What Next?

Conquer Career Course

This guide has been brought to you by Conquer Career Course.

For a full in-depth course on career development, check this out.

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Course Catalog:

• Personal branding

• Networking

• Job search

• Resume‟ building

• Interview skills

training

• Salary negotiation

• Work life balance

• Raises & promotions

• Career change

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