CONTENTS€¦ · Professional Social Networking ... Pros of Being an Open Networker on LinkedIn ... In order to make your profile stand out, follow the simple and strategic steps

1

CONTENTS Disclaimer .................................................................................................................. 4

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 5

WHY SHOULD YOU USE LINKEDIN? ...................................................................... 7

Professional Social Networking ............................................................................... 8

How Can You Stand Out With Your LinkedIn Profile? .......................................... 10

THE BASICS ............................................................................................................ 11

Choose Your Account Plan ................................................................................... 12

You Can Start With A Free Account .................................................................. 12

Make Your Account Private................................................................................... 13

How To Turn Off Activity Broadcasts ................................................................. 13

Define Your Starting Point..................................................................................... 15

To Check Your Profile Views ............................................................................. 15

To Check Your Search Results.......................................................................... 15

To Check Your Network Stats ........................................................................... 16

Keep A Record ...................................................................................................... 17

LINKEDIN STARTING POINT ........................................................................... 18

STEP 1 - START NETWORKING ............................................................................ 19

Following News, Influencers & Companies ........................................................... 20

Making Connections ............................................................................................. 25

LinkedIn Connections Explained........................................................................ 25

Why You Need To Grow Your Network ............................................................. 26

The LinkedIn Invite Etiquette................................................................................. 27

Pros of Being an Open Networker on LinkedIn .................................................. 28

Cons of Being an Open Networker on LinkedIn ................................................. 28

How To Prevent Your Account From Being Restricted As A LION .................... 29

Should You Accept Everyone’s Invite? .............................................................. 29

Don’t Forget About Invitation Limits On LinkedIn ............................................... 30

Joining Groups ...................................................................................................... 30

How To Join A LinkedIn Group .......................................................................... 31

STEP 2 - COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE .................................................................. 32

2

Name & Headline .................................................................................................. 33

Location & Industry ............................................................................................... 36

Profile Photo ......................................................................................................... 38

LinkedIn Summary ................................................................................................ 40

Relevant Summary ............................................................................................ 40

Tips For A Professional Summary ..................................................................... 41

Summary Case Study ........................................................................................ 42

Experience ............................................................................................................ 44

What Is Your LinkedIn Goal? ............................................................................. 44

What Do You Want Your Reader To Think About Your Experience? ................ 45

EXPERIENCE WORKSHEET............................................................................ 46

Experience Exercise .......................................................................................... 55

The Magic Is In The Details ............................................................................... 60

SEO Friendly Title .............................................................................................. 60

Keep It Brief ....................................................................................................... 61

Adding A Current Position ................................................................................. 62

Add Experience To Your LinkedIn Profile .......................................................... 64

Check Your Competition .................................................................................... 65

Education .............................................................................................................. 66

Should I Add Exact Dates For My Education? ................................................... 66

Should I Add Activities And Societies To My Education? .................................. 67

What Should I Write In The Description Of My Course? .................................... 68

What Do I Do If I Don’t Have A Graduate Degree? ............................................ 69

Skills & Endorsements .......................................................................................... 73

Keyword Exercise .............................................................................................. 73

Keyword Ideas & Strategies .............................................................................. 74

Endorsements.................................................................................................... 79

How to Get Endorsed? ...................................................................................... 80

How To Endorse Your Connections? ................................................................. 81

Should You Endorse Everyone? ........................................................................ 82

What Happens If You Got An Endorsement You Don’t Like? ............................ 82

Recommendations ................................................................................................ 84

3

Are All Recommendations Equal? ..................................................................... 84

Who Should I Ask For Recommendations? ....................................................... 85

How Should I Ask For A Recommendation? ...................................................... 86

How To Accept A Recommendation .................................................................. 87

How To Send A Recommendation ..................................................................... 87

Why It’s Important To Give Recommendations.................................................. 89

Additional Sections ............................................................................................... 90

What Extra Sections Should I Add To My Profile? ............................................. 91

Courses ............................................................................................................. 92

Languages ......................................................................................................... 95

Certifications ...................................................................................................... 96

Honours & Awards ............................................................................................. 97

Publications ....................................................................................................... 98

Projects .............................................................................................................. 99

Personal Information And Contact Details ....................................................... 101

Contact Details Visible To Your Connections .................................................. 102

Contact Details Visible To Everyone On LinkedIn ........................................... 102

Adding Personal Details To Your LinkedIn Account ........................................ 104

Additional Information ...................................................................................... 104

The Perfect Profile .............................................................................................. 108

A Personalised LinkedIn URL ............................................................................. 109

Customise Your Public Profile ............................................................................. 111

Which Sections Should I Hide From The Public? ............................................ 111

SEO .................................................................................................................... 113

Keywords ......................................................................................................... 113

Group Discussions ........................................................................................... 114

Discussion Ideas For LinkedIn Groups ............................................................ 115

Final Edits ........................................................................................................... 116

To Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade .......................................................................... 117

Track Your Progress ........................................................................................... 120

Your activities .................................................................................................. 120

Your results ..................................................................................................... 120

4

FAQ ........................................................................................................................ 122

Thank You! ............................................................................................................. 124

Copyright © 2015 Jon Simmons

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for

the inclusion of brief quotations in review and on blogs with attribution, without

permission, in writing form from author/publisher.

LinkedIn is a registered trademark of LinkedIn Ltd. All other trademarks are the

property at their respective owners.

Cover Image by Jon Simmons ©iStockphoto.com

DISCLAIMER

Although all efforts were made to ensure that the information in this book is correct,

the author makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy,

applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents herein. The author disclaims any

warranties (expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular

purpose. The author shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages.

The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation.

The author is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional

services. As always, the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other

professional should be sought.

This book contains material protected under Federal and International Copyright

Laws. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

5

INTRODUCTION

6

From my time as a successful careers and employment advisor at Ingeus Deloitte, I

get a real sense of satisfaction from helping people achieve their career goals. I

coached a large number of clients from a variety of career backgrounds, from entry

level to senior managers and directors, helping them to get the job they wanted.

I planned and delivered one-to-one coaching, as well as workshops, which were

praised by my colleagues and clients for packing my valuable experience within two

hours. Often those that I have coached have had considerable financial commitments

which they needed to maintain, such as a mortgage or rent and debt repayments. Time

was a crucial factor when delivering coaching and I aimed to get the right clients into

career benefiting employment as soon as possible.

Consistent high performance within my role as a career coach was great, but I wanted

to do more to really help those professionals and semi-professionals out there to

advance rapidly through their careers. The encouraging feedback that I received from

my time as a careers coach inspired me to further develop in the field of advice and

guidance. In 2010 I started my own career coaching company, CVLondon, with my

business partner. With the recession increasing its grip on the jobs market as a whole,

we were well aware of the need to support capable people to advance their careers.

CVLondon allows us to build closer working relationships with our clients and deliver

a unique and tailored individual service. It has been a privilege to help gifted people

get the job they want. I want to thank you for investing in yourself, by allowing me to

share with you what you need to do to give you the edge in getting the job you want.

Since I started www.howtogetthatjob.net, I have written hundreds of LinkedIn profiles.

This book is born from my original research and from the knowledge and skills I

developed writing LinkedIn profiles for executives, entrepreneurs, sales professionals,

consultants, graduates, job seekers, and thousands of other professionals from all

over the world.

With this book I want to show you how to master what is known as the most powerful

platform online for business networking. As a successful professional you probably

already know how important it is to use technology to define your own digital identity

and position yourself as an authority in your industry. This is why I want to show you

how to create an amazing LinkedIn profile, which will complement and further define

your professional brand, help you attract the right employers and get the job you really

want.

http://www.howtogetthatjob.net/

7

WHY SHOULD YOU USE

LINKEDIN?

8

PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL NETWORKING

With a global audience of more than 360 million people, LinkedIn is the professional

version of Facebook, where people go to network and showcase their skills. If you are

a job hunter, head hunter or entrepreneur, this is the landscape where you can make

valuable business connections. LinkedIn is the ultimate social network platform for

professionals around the world.

LinkedIn is used across all business levels and creates unique opportunities for

businesses and professionals to connect and build relationships. Companies have the

opportunity to post jobs and reach out to a targeted pool of talent. LinkedIn is at the

heart of any headhunting activity, for both companies and recruitment agencies.

Businesses and professionals are also using LinkedIn to find potential partners and

clients and promote their products and services. In the professional world, LinkedIn is

like being at the right networking event, with the right people, any time of the day.

Whether you want to find your dream job, a business alliance or simply position

yourself as an industry leader in the online landscape, a powerful LinkedIn profile and

a purposeful presence on the networking site is a must.

If you are already using LinkedIn, which is very likely, considering the popularity of the

platform, I want to ask you one question:

Are you portraying yourself the right away on LinkedIn?

The irony is that LinkedIn is more of a necessity than you would think. A LinkedIn

profile will allow you to reach out to your ideal employer, business partner or client.

You will also make yourself available for other people to contact you (head hunters will

9

be looking for you on LinkedIn). However, by not being active, or purposeful, on the

professional networking platform, you could potentially damage your business image.

For instance, one of the first things any employer, business partner or client will do,

before stepping into a business relationship with you, is to search for your LinkedIn

profile. If you have an amateur profile, or none at all, it will affect their perception of

your position and authority in your industry.

Also, LinkedIn seems to be on Google’s good books, meaning that with a professional

profile and lots of activity, when someone searches your name they are very likely to

get your professional LinkedIn profile rather than your Facebook profile. This is

particularly beneficial for your professional presence online, as it’s better for business

partners, future employers or customers to see your LinkedIn profile rather than you

Facebook profile, where you share details about your personal life.

What appears in Google when someone searches your name defines your personal

brand. It’s within your responsibility and means to control that brand by carefully

crafting your image in the online space. On LinkedIn you can create a live CV and

portfolio, where you don’t only showcase your accomplishments but also have the

opportunity to receive recommendations and endorsements. Just like in a CV, or

interview, LinkedIn is not the place to be shy and humble, but rather the platform where

you should present all your skills and experience with confidence and authority. This

will help you to be perceived as an industry leader in your field.

10

HOW CAN YOU STAND OUT WITH YOUR

LINKEDIN PROFILE?

Unless you already have an account, start by signing up to LinkedIn. It’s free to

register, by accessing www.LinkedIn.com.

In order to make your profile stand out, follow the simple and strategic steps in this

book, which will set you on the right path to building a powerful presence on LinkedIn.

I will share with you secrets and strategies that are quintessential to building a

professional personal brand online that helps you attract the right employers and get

the job you really want.

http://www.linkedin.com/

11

THE BASICS

12

CHOOSE YOUR ACCOUNT PLAN

When you sign up to LinkedIn you can either register for free and get access to the

Basic account, or choose between the several premium accounts available.

YOU CAN START WITH A FREE ACCOUNT

You can get almost all the benefits of LinkedIn with a free account and I personally

recommend this option for when you are starting out. However, once you crafted your

profile and gained a strategic understanding of this powerful platform, then you will

highly benefit from a premium profile which is in line with your LinkedIn goals.

After you’ve covered basics, it’s time to start creating and amazing LinkedIn account

in a few easy steps. Read on to find out the steps and follow through with action.

13

MAKE YOUR ACCOUNT PRIVATE

The first step for building and amazing LinkedIn profile is getting your behind-the-

scenes set-up right. In this book I’ll show you the tips and tricks to fine-tuning your

profile, but when you make this changes, it is best if your connections are not instantly

notified about it.

Usually all activity on LinkedIn is shared with your connections and they are

immediately notified of any changes you made. That’s a great feature, as your

connections can find out about your new job, a skill you acquired or a qualification you

achieved. However, some of the changes you are making are better kept private,

especially if you already have a network on LinkedIn. Making your account private is

very simple, all you need to do is turn off your activity broadcasts.

HOW TO TURN OFF ACTIVITY BROADCASTS

Regardless of the benefits that LinkedIn notifications bring, there are times when you

don’t want people to know you are making changes. Perhaps you are updating your

LinkedIn profile in the quest to find a new job, which surely you want your current

employer to be notified about. Luckily, LinkedIn provides the ability to turn off your

Activity broadcasts so you can make changes to your profile without alerting your

connections.

Here is how to do it:

● Go to LinkedIn

● Hover your mouse over your image in the upper right hand corner of

your screen, until a drop-down menu appears

● Click Privacy & Settings

● Under Privacy Controls within the Account section, click Turn On/Off

14

Your Activity Broadcasts.

● Remove the checkmark from ‘Let people know when you change your

profile, make recommendations, or follow companies’

After your account is fully set up, you can turn your activity broadcasts back on by

following the same steps above.

15

DEFINE YOUR STARTING POINT

In order to create an amazing LinkedIn profile that helps you to build business

relationships, you need purpose and strategy. However, in order to implement any of

that you should first define your starting point as a benchmark. This is particularly

important if you already have a LinkedIn profile. Here are a few things to look for when

you define your benchmark on LinkedIn:

● Profile views

● Search results

● Network stats

TO CHECK YOUR PROFILE VIEWS

● Go to Home on the top navigation

bar.

● On the right hand side of the screen,

check ’Who’s Viewed My Profile’

TO CHECK YOUR SEARCH

RESULTS

To see how many times your profile appeared in search results, repeat the steps to

check your profile views and click the ‘See More’ option.

16

TO CHECK YOUR NETWORK STATS

The network stats refer to the number of people you have in your LinkedIn network.

To check that follow these steps:

Go to Home on the menu bar

On the right hand side of the screen, click ‘Your LinkedIn Network’

This will show you the total number of 1st degree connections.

17

KEEP A RECORD

After you fine-tune your profile, you will want to track your progress and see how

your position on the networking platform evolves. In order to do that you need to

keep a record of your starting point. You can do so by creating an excel spreadsheet

or a benchmarking sheet, whichever works best for you will do the job, as long as

you can keep track of your progress. You will revisit these statistics at the end of

the book. In order to know the optimization is working, you must know exactly how

well your profile was performing before you started.

Here is an idea on how to keep your starting point on record and use it as a benchmark:

18

LINKEDIN STARTING POINT

Profile Views

Your profile has been viewed by:

________ people in the past ________ day(s).

Search Results

Your profile has shown up in search results

________ times in the past ________ day(s).

Network Stats

______ Connections link you to ________ professionals.

______ New people in your network since ________.

19

STEP 1 - START NETWORKING

20

FOLLOWING NEWS, INFLUENCERS &

COMPANIES

When you make the decision to create a successful LinkedIn profile, start being

purposeful from the beginning and focus on success-driven activities. That’s why the

first step I recommend you to start with is ‘networking’, which is the reason why you

are on LinkedIn in the first place.

On LinkedIn, networking is divided into three categories:

● Who You Follow

● Groups You Are Part Of

● Your Personal Connections (1st, 2nd & 3rd connections)

This is the first part we are going to focus on in order to help you build a strong and

purposeful networking profile. Here is how to find this information on your LinkedIn:

Log into LinkedIn

Go to the menu bar and click on Connections

Then click on your profile

Go to Profile and choose Edit Profile on the top navigation bar.

Scroll to the bottom of the page

Let’s start with the very end - Following News, Influencers & Companies

There are many benefits to following news, influencers and companies on LinkedIn,

and the first one is that it shows you are an active professional on the networking

platform. As soon as you follow someone, they are automatically adding to the bottom

of your profile, under Following (the section I’ve just showed you how to access).

21

However, following others will also help you get value from your LinkedIn profile. When

you log in you will be automatically directed to the homepage, where the news feed is

(just like Facebook). Here you can see the content that you network is publishing, job

offers, company updates, what your connections are up to (in the professional

landscape) and so on. By following companies and influencers, you are showing your

interest in them and increase the chances of having influencers part of your network.

LinkedIn is filled with incredible content shared by companies, publishers and

influencers. You can choose what content you want on your homepage and who you

want to keep up to date with.

To follow news and influencers on LinkedIn, follow these simple steps:

Go to Interests on the menu bar

Click on the 3 lines on the left hand-side of Pulse

22

Click discover more, and it will take you to this screen:

23

Scroll down and choose the Influencers, Channels and Publishers

Press the ‘+’ button to follow them

LinkedIn has a section called ‘Recommended For You’, which you can also have a

look at. From this section you can also unfollow news.

To unfollow someone press the ‘+’ button, which will now be a check mark ‘✓’ and it

will give you the option to unfollow. You can also manage this directly from your profile

by going to:

Go to Edit Profile

Scroll down to Following

Click on the blank space at the top right and a menu with two tabs will appear

Click on Customise News or Customise Companies

It will take you to the Pulse page

24

After you’ve followed everyone that you are interested in, you can move on to the most

important part of LinkedIn - your connections.

25

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Although LinkedIn is very similar to other social media platforms, Facebook at most, it

does have one feature that sets it apart - the connections. The main purpose to have

a LinkedIn profile is to create relevant business connections.

LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS EXPLAINED

On LinkedIn connections are split into 3 categories, as we’ve already mentioned, such

as 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections. Let’s look at each category:

1st Degree Connections - These are connections that you’ve directly made on the

networking site. It could be someone you personally reached out to and invited to join

your LinkedIn network, or someone who invited you to connect and you accepted. With

your 1st connections you can exchange messages, leave endorsements and

recommendations on each other’s profiles and comment on status updates (e.g.

congratulations on a new job).

2nd Degree Connections - A 2nd degree connection is a person connected to your

1st degree connection.

3rd Degree Connections - A 3rd degree connection is someone connected to your

2nd degree connections.

Therefore, by increasing your immediate network of 1st connections, you are not only

building direct relationships, but you are opening up a vast network of 2nd and 3rd

26

degree connection with whom you can connect and keep in touch in the future. As

soon as you make an influencer your 1st connection, you have directly become a 2nd

connection to their entire network of 1st connections. That is very powerful, whether

you are a business or professional. Here’s a visual representation of your LinkedIn

network.

WHY YOU NEED TO GROW YOUR NETWORK

Your success on LinkedIn is defined by how many people you know within 3 degrees

of you. This influences how many LinkedIn users you can search for and how many

people can search for you. The larger your network is (of 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree

connections) the higher you rank on LinkedIn and the more often your profile gets

showed on search results. If a head hunter, company or potential customer searches

for someone like you (your skills, job experience, etc.), they will only find you if you are

within 3 degree of connection with them.

Your LinkedIn® Profile

1st

2nd 2nd

3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd

27

THE LINKEDIN INVITE ETIQUETTE

Now that you understand the power of a large LinkedIn network, you probably want to

go ahead and connect with everyone, to maximise your popularity on the platform and

your chances of making valuable connections. However, LinkedIn advises to only

connect with users you know well. Here is what a request to connect looks like:

However, some LinkedIn users will actively reach out to as many people as they can

and connect with them, and they are often known as LinkedIn Open Networkers.

Connecting with strangers is still a bit of a dilemma on LinkedIn and I will provide you

with the pros and cons of being an open networker, in order to support you in making

an informed decision that best suits your needs and goals.

28

PROS OF BEING AN OPEN NETWORKER ON LINKEDIN

As an open networker, your focus is to leverage this platform and build a large and

powerful network. Your purpose is to reach out to as many people as you can and

build 1st, 2nd and 3rd connections, regardless of whether you personally know your

connections or not. Here are the benefits of being an open networker on LinkedIn:

● opportunity to reach out to a larger network (outside your inner circle)

● opportunity to make new professional acquaintances (through every 1st, 2nd

and 3rd connection you make on LinkedIn)

● higher LinkedIn search rankings and profile views

● increased opportunity to be contacted by influencers which will could lead to

great business opportunities (jobs, partnerships, customers)

CONS OF BEING AN OPEN NETWORKER ON LINKEDIN

If your goal on LinkedIn is to build a strong and large network which could lead to great

professional opportunities, there are very few cons to being an open networker - also

known as LION (LinkedIn Open Networker). However, since LinkedIn does state in

their user agreement that you should only connect with people you know well, they do

create some hurdles for LIONs. Hence, here are the cons of being an open networker,

or LION:

● LinkedIn can restrict your account if a few users report you as spam or someone

they don’t know and even terminate it if you abuse their terms

● Your information will be visible to a large network, including people you don’t

know

● You might receive spam email since your account is ranking high in search

results

Since you only share professional information on LinkedIn, the only two cons that you

should carefully consider is the LinkedIn restriction and the spam mail. You can easily

ignore the latter, but you do need to be cautious with LinkedIn regulations when you

are a LION.

29

HOW TO PREVENT YOUR ACCOUNT FROM BEING

RESTRICTED AS A LION

Keep in mind that every time you send someone a connect invitation they have 2

options:

● To accept your invite

● To ignore your invite and report you as someone they don’t know by choosing

the ‘I Don’t Know’ option or SPAM

Here is a photo of what a user gets when they click ‘x’ on your invitation to connect:

So, how can you openly connect with LinkedIn users but avoid being reported as

spam? Firstly, try to only connect with other open networkers. You will easily identify

them by their large networks, marked as 500+ connections on their profile pages. Also,

you can add a message to the connection invite, letting the LinkedIn user know why

you are interested in connecting, which will significantly lower the chances of getting

marked as spam. You can create a few general messages and paste them onto each

invite, to save time.

SHOULD YOU ACCEPT EVERYONE’S INVITE?

This is entirely your choice, but most LIONs will accept most invites, since it gives

them the opportunity to reach out to a larger network. On LinkedIn it’s not all about

who you personally know, but mostly about who you are connected with and who you

connections know. It’s almost like a circle of influence, and more connections enhance

your rankings on the networking platform.

30

Should you also accept to connect with potential competitors? Here you can consider

that they will instantly get 2nd degree connections with your immediate network, but

the same will happen to you. Additionally, your competition research will become

straightforward, as you will have direct notifications of the status updates your

competitors publish on LinkedIn.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT INVITATION LIMITS ON

LINKEDIN

The other challenge that LIONs face on LinkedIn is the invitation limits. To start with,

LinkedIn allows users to send up to 5000 invitations. As soon as you reach that limit

you will need to contact the Customer Service and request for that limit to be raised.

Therefore, although you will benefit from being an open networker, use your invitations

wisely, and try to make the most out of your 5000 limit. Remember that you will also

get invited, so you can grow your network without using up all of your invites.

JOINING GROUPS

The third way to grow a network on LinkedIn is by joining groups. This gives you the

opportunity to get involved in you industry, showcase your skills and connect with

likeminded professionals. You can actively participate in groups, respond to

comments, create events and start discussions. Also, group members become part of

your network, even if they are not a 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree connection. This means

that you can directly contact group members and connect with them.

In other words, groups offer you the opportunity to reach out to fellow professionals

beyond your 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree connections. Also, since you are in the same

group, you will definitely have some business interests in common, which increases

your chances of building successful relationships.

Lastly, the groups you are part of are publicly displayed at the bottom of your profile,

which shows visitors your involvement in your industry. This further enhances your

brand and authority in your field.

31

HOW TO JOIN A LINKEDIN GROUP

To join a LinkedIn group, follow these simple steps:

Go to Interests on the menu bar

From the drop-down menu choose Groups

There you will see a list of your current groups and on the right hand side there is an

option saying: ‘Don’t See What You’re Looking For?’ with two buttons for ‘Find a group’

and ‘Create a group’. If you click on ‘Find a group’ you can search by keyword or topic

and look for a group in your industry.

Once you find the groups that you like you can simply click ‘Join’. Some will be open

groups and some will require that your request is approved by the group administrator.

LinkedIn advises that the maximum groups you can be a member of as ‘50’, but you

can always unjoin a group and join another.

In order to get the maximum benefits from your groups try to:

● join large groups (which will give you access to a larger network)

● joining targeted groups (if you are a business avoid competitor groups and join

groups within your target market)

After you’ve joined all the groups relevant to your professional goals, your initial

networking step is completed. After you’ve completed your profile, continue to actively

network with professionals in order to achieve your goals on LinkedIn.

32

STEP 2 - COMPLETE YOUR

PROFILE

33

NAME & HEADLINE

Although you’ve already initiated your networking activities, it’s important that you

return to your profile and complete it, in order to best represent your professional

brand. So let’s take your profile step by step.

The first section on your profile is your name and headline. Although this looks self-

explanatory, I have a few secrets for you to ensure that your profile stands out even in

the most basic details.

To edit this section, go to Profile on the menu bar and click ‘Edit Profile’, then simply

hover over the section you want to fill in/change and start typing.

To start with, if possible, use your full name, as this will help your profile to appear in

search results. If you are job-seeker, I recommend you always use your full name - or

the one in your CV. However, if you are a personal brand or business owner, use the

name on your business cards, even if it’s an abbreviation of your full name.

34

If you prefer an anonymous profile, you can abbreviate your surname by using the first

initial. In most cases this is not recommended, but this option is strictly down to your

preference and discretion, as it has to suit your personal circumstances.

Now move to the second part, which is the one of the most important parts of your

profile - the professional headline. This is a snapshot of your profile and who you are

in the professional world. It’s as important as the initial 3 seconds of a first-impression,

since it defines what your readers think about you. Therefore, make the headline stand

out.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating a LinkedIn headline:

● make it representative of your profession and expertise

● avoid typical headlines (job title only)

● avoid abbreviated headlines (CPA instead of accountant)

● make your headline SEO friendly

● define your brand for your ideal customer, business partner or employer

So, your headline has to represent your professional standing, since it’s named that

way - a professional headline. However, if you can, add more to it than a job title. Make

it both keyword-rich and purposeful. Here is an example of a good headline:

“Copywriter - Business Consultant - Social Media Expert - Helping Businesses Create

Strategic & Engaging Content”

To start with, the headline is keyword-packed and enhances the chances of ranking in

search results. If someone searches for ‘copywriter’ or ‘business consultant’ or ‘social

media’, this LinkedIn profile is very likely to appear in the search results.

Also, the statement in the headline clearly defines the purpose of the business or

professional using the profile. It adds value and compels the visitor to check out your

profile and see how you go about delivering what you state in your professional

headline.

35

You can also choose to have a keyword-packed only headline, and that can involve

more than your profession. For instance, your headline could be:

“Digital Marketing Executive - Social Media Guru - World Traveller - Marathon Runner”

This type of keyword-packed headline is a creative mix of professional and personal

attributes, making a statement about the interesting and skilled individual you are.

You can mix and match your headline according to your preference, but do ensure

that it has the following attributes:

● it stands out

● is keyword-packed and search-friendly

● clearly defines your position in your industry

When you fill in your professional headline, LinkedIn gives you the option to read some

examples and research the headlines of other professionals in your industry.

The options appear on the right-hand side of your headline, and to access them you

need to simply click ‘Show examples’ or ‘See what other users in your industry are

using’.

36

LOCATION & INDUSTRY

The next details that you need to complete are your location and industry. This is very

important to help you show up in relevant LinkedIn searches.

The location should simply be your home address or office.

In terms of industry, it’s particularly important that you get this field right. As you click

on the fields for location and industry, you will get a large drop-down menu, where you

can choose the industry most relevant to your professional field.

37

The reason why this section is so important is that it directly feeds into the Advanced

Search option on LinkedIn. If a head hunter, customer or potential business partner

searchers for someone like you, they have the option to sort by location and industry.

By getting these 2 fields right on your profile, you maximise the chances of appearing

in relevant search results.

38

PROFILE PHOTO

Before you move on to the next section, you have to choose a photo to display on your

profile. Although you can create a profile and start networking without a photo,

LinkedIn research shows that a profile with a photo is 7 times more likely to be viewed

than one without a photo.

Considering that LinkedIn is a social networking site, the importance of a photo is

almost implied. Most of your connections will only communicate with you via email and

sometimes maybe as little as status comments or group responses. The only real

opportunity they get to meet you is by looking at your photo. With your profile photo

and professional information, you can resemble traditional networking on LinkedIn.

Also, having a photo next to your name will catch the eyes of readers and increase the

chances of them clicking on your profile to find out more about you and even connect.

However, you do need to have the right photo.

Here are a few tips for choosing the right LinkedIn profile photo:

● ensure the photo portrays you as a professional (avoid cluttered backgrounds

or inappropriate shots)

● if possible, use a professional headshot

● smile

● get the visuals right (contrast, dimensions)

● upload a recent photo (not one of you 10 years ago)

39

Your photo has to be the right mix of your professional standing and personal

attributes. Whilst you want to portray a business professional, you should also be

friendly and approachable.

To add or change your profile photo, simply hover over the profile photo box and click

upload or change photo. A window will pop up with options to upload and edit your

photo.

40

LINKEDIN SUMMARY

This is undoubtedly the core of your LinkedIn profile. In your summary you have the

opportunity to introduce yourself to your network, tell them who you are, what value

you bring to the industry and what you are passionate about. This is not the place to

be shy - make your summary engaging, interesting, representative of your success

and relevant.

RELEVANT SUMMARY

Before you consider any other attribute of your summary, first ensure that it’s relevant

to your goals. By that I mean the purpose of your LinkedIn profile. What is it that you

are trying to achieve on LinkedIn? You most likely fall into one of the 4 categories:

● Job Seeker

● Employer or Head hunter

● Business Seeker (promoting services of products, or seeking business

alliances)

● Personal Brand (building an online reputation and an audience)

When you craft your summary, keep in mind your goal and the category you fall into,

and use that to strategically define yourself in a way that will best suit your purpose.

Do also keep in mind your target market and their decision-making process when they

read your summary. What would your ideal employer or client be looking for?

41

TIPS FOR A PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

● write your summary in the exact words that you would like your future

recruiter/employer/client/business partner/follow to describe you

● aim to create a Know-Like-Trust factor (be personal & professional)

● speak directly to your reader

● show your reader how you can bring value to them

● stand out (feel free to start with a question or engaging quote, be different, but

remain professional and relevant to your goal)

● write in plain English

● highlight your achievements and expertise (to show your reader why you are

credible)

● include a Call To Action

Here is an example of my LinkedIn summary:

Your summary should clearly define your profession, some personality traits relevant

to your field and a great understanding of the value and intention of your LinkedIn

profile. In my summary I specifically use words such as ‘engaged’, ‘disciplined’ and

‘flexible’ to characterize my professional approach. These are subliminal answers to

my target market’s questions.

42

I also clearly define what my purpose is - “target and performance driven, capable of

making a significant contribution to your in house marketing or fundraising team”

My link is a call to action, inviting the reader to find out more about me and directing

them to my portfolio website.

You can also use more direct calls to action such as ‘contact me on this email or at

this number ...’, ‘send me an InMail or ‘visit my website at ...’.

To edit your summary all you need to do is hover over the summary text, the section

will turn blue and show you a pen on the right hand side. When you click on it, the text

will be editable and you can make as many changes as you need and click save when

you are done.

More tips for a great summary:

● start with an attention grabbing statement, whether it’s a question, a quality of

your services or a qualification

● use more ‘you’ than ‘I’

● speak in 1st person

● keep it short

● always keep your reader in mind

SUMMARY CASE STUDY

Let me show you the difference from a bad summary and a good summary:

VERSION 1

“Georgiana is a writer & business coach, with a diverse skill-set and passion to learn.

Corporate and entrepreneurial experience in HR, small business management,

43

internet marketing, business development, copywriting and recruitment advisory

services. Georgiana is the founder, writer and coach at Company A, a self-published

author and prolific copywriter at Company B”.

VERSION 2

“Hi, I'm Georgiana, a passionate writer & business coach that can't wait to help you

turn your content into profit. I've created Company A to help you create engaging and

relevant content, that serves your business. Whether you need a blog to market your

products or services, or you're a freelance writer looking to get clients through the

door, you've come to the right place. To find out more about me and how I could help

you, visit my website at ….or contact me directly via email at ….”

Why is Version 1 much better than Version 2?

Version 1 has a corporate/CV feel to it, written in 3rd person and very impersonal. As

a reader, I don’t really know what’s in it for me. I just get a snapshot of Georgiana’s

background. Whilst the summary appears to be written from a job seeker purpose, it

doesn’t fully meet that target’s needs and it also shows that Georgiana is an

entrepreneur, creating further confusion.

Version 2 is very personal and catchy. As a reader I understand that Georgiana is a

passion writer and business, not only because she states so, but she reinforces it with

this phrase – ‘I can’t wait to help you turn your content into profit’. She tells me what

her company is about and why it will help me. She also clearly states the needs that

she can meet with this sentence - “Whether you need a blog to market your products

or services, or you're a freelance writer looking to get clients through the door, you've

come to the right place.” Lastly, she gives clear instructions on how to contact her

directly or find out more info about her services on her website.

Try to replicate this case study exercise on your own summary. Play around with

different versions and really put yourself into the shoes of your target audience. What

value can they get from your summary? What will catch their interest? If possible, try

to get feedback.

44

EXPERIENCE

Your LinkedIn account is an extended version of your CV, and although it has much

more engagement and content, it should showcase a list of your professional

experience. Here you have the opportunity to include your job history and career

trajectory. The best part is that you can make it unique and engaging by adding

concrete projects and skills, links to your portfolio and published work, samples of your

work and so much more.

However, before you just add every job you’ve ever done, let’s strategize a little bit. In

order to do this, we need to go back to your goals. Here are 3 questions to help you

align your experience with your strategic goals when using LinkedIn:

● What is your aim for using LinkedIn?

● What do you want the reader to think about your professional experience?

WHAT IS YOUR LINKEDIN GOAL?

Go back to the basics and remember why you created a LinkedIn profile. Are you a

job seeker looking for a career opportunity, a business looking for clients and alliances

or an entrepreneur looking to build a personal brand? What is your purpose?

Referring back to this purpose will help you to align your experience with your current

goals. Although you cannot change your past experience, you can choose how you

present it. I will tell you more about it when we start writing your work experience.

45

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR READER TO THINK ABOUT

YOUR EXPERIENCE?

Here I encourage you to summarise this in 3 short phrases. Here’s an example:

● experienced sales person

● transferable skills in project management and customer service

● risk taker

Use those 3 words to define how you present your experience on LinkedIn. To do this

you might want to carefully pick the roles that best represent your current professional

position (avoiding employment gaps of course) or highlight how you proven your skills

and abilities in your past roles.

If you are applying for your dream job, or looking to apply to different companies for a

particular role, I advise you align your LinkedIn profile with the job description. Find

out what employers are looking for and ensure that your skills and experience show

that on LinkedIn. It has to align with your CV and your actual work experience, so do

take your time in order to get this part right.

Before you start adding your work history and other experience on your LinkedIn

profile, let’s work on an exercise. On the next pages you will find a worksheet designed

to help answer the 2 questions we’ve just discussed and brainstorm your professional

background. By adding the answers and all of your experience in one place you will

be able to step back, analyse what you have in front of you and choose the parts of

your experience which best serve your goal on LinkedIn. If you have a CV (or several

versions of your CV) get that ready as it will come in handy.

46

EXPERIENCE WORKSHEET

STRATEGIC QUESTIONS

What is your aim for using LinkedIn?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

What do you want the reader to think about your professional experience?

Describe this in 3 short phrases:

1.__________________________________________________________________

2.__________________________________________________________________

3.__________________________________________________________________

47

JOB HISTORY

(start with most recent)

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period: ________________________________________________________

Brief Summary (skills, projects)__________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Company Name:_____________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period: ________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

48

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period: ________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

49

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

50

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

51

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Company Name______________________________________________________

Job Title____________________________________________________________

Location____________________________________________________________

Time Period_________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

52

EMPLOYMENT GAPS

If you took any time out from work, before or after you started your professional career,

list it here.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

With the answers to the strategic questions and an overarching view of your

employment history, you can now make an informed decision about the experience

that you show on your LinkedIn profile.

Now that you know exactly what you want your readers to think when they look at your

experience on LinkedIn, you can handpick the jobs which are relevant. However, do

ensure that you don’t leave employment gaps.

Here is what you should include in your LinkedIn experience:

● jobs with relevant experience for your profession or transferable skills

● interesting experience that is in line with your LinkedIn brand/goal

If you want to portray stability, avoid showing too many jobs. If you had more than one

role in a company, don’t list them all, just list your latest position and mention more in

the description.

If you didn’t have many jobs that are in line with your goals, then it might be beneficial

to list multiple positions at the same company.

53

If you took a sabbatical or an employment gap for any other reason, mention that

rather that living a gap in your employment. You can talk about extracurricular activities

or other experience you gained during that period which is in line with your goals.

It’s important to remember that professional experience is based on skills and

competencies. You might have gained direct skills (e.g. using a particular software

relevant to your job) or you might have learnt how to troubleshoot at a job, which now

you can bring into your new job and apply it to learn quickly how to use a new software

and fix problems.

You will also gain competencies. A gap year travelling the world could have helped

you develop self-sufficiency and great interpersonal skills, which you can bring into

your new corporate role. That will make you a better team member, yet a self-

motivated team leader.

Here’s an example how to include a gap year into your experience history:

Company Name: Gap Year In Asia

Title: Photographer & Blogger

Description: After completing my contract with company A, I decided to take a gap

year and travel around Asia. During this period I stepped out of my comfort zone and

took on 2 unique projects - to work as a photographer and blogger for mywebsite.com.

In order to make my blog posts and photography engaging and interesting, I created

an interview series with locals, where I uncovered the best places to travel like a local

in China, Japan and India. You can see my photography and writing at

mywebsite.com.

Presented this way, your gap year shows the great array of skills you built and portrays

you as an interesting and creative individual, who is motivated to learn and try new

things.

54

Go through the questions and list of companies and activities taken during

employment gaps, and carefully choose that will best serve your aim for your LinkedIn

profile.

To help you create the best descriptions for your jobs and gap years, here is a quick

exercise for you to fill in. After you fill in all the fields, summarise the information in a

short paragraph and add it to your LinkedIn.

55

EXPERIENCE EXERCISE

JOB TITLE

___________________________________________________________________

Write a short company description

Summarise your role at the company

Outline your main responsibilities

Mention specific achievements

Define how this position prepared you for future positions

56

JOB TITLE

___________________________________________________________________






57

JOB TITLE

___________________________________________________________________






58

JOB TITLE

___________________________________________________________________






59

JOB TITLE

___________________________________________________________________






60

THE MAGIC IS IN THE DETAILS

Once you choose the parts of your professional experience that you want to add to

your LinkedIn profile, it’s very important to present each job in the best possible way.

The magic is in the details, and for LinkedIn that is especially important. Here are a

few things to consider:

● write a SEO friendly job title - not necessarily your exact job title

● emphasise the title to make it stand out by using symbols (arrows, asterisks or

similar signs)

● use years instead of months to hide gaps in your employment history

● describe the company you worked for (unless it’s a world-known brand)

● write unique accomplishments and projects without duplicating your CV

● write about skills you acquired and any unique things you learned/achieved at

the company

SEO FRIENDLY TITLE

If you want a successful LinkedIn profile you need to consider both readers and the

search engines when creating it. Therefore, you need to optimize it with the right

keywords for the search engines. When you add your skills and job titles, always

consider how a future employer, client or business partner might search for you. Use

‘accountant’ instead of CPA, as that is likely to be a more common search term, but

you can still include CPA in the job description. If you have more than one job title

separate it into different keywords such as ‘HR Partner - Learning and Development

Lead - Team Leader’.

If you are not working for a well known company, ensure to always add a description

to inform your reader about it. If it’s your own business, write an engaging and

explanatory description, and if it’s an employer, simply search them on Google and

add their official information.

As soon as you’ve added the brief company description, write what your role was in

the company. Avoid big words and too much jargon. Put yourself in your reader’s

shoes and write a clear and SEO friendly description, that presents your role with the

61

company in the best light. Don’t be humble, clearly state your role and responsibilities

in the company.

Instead of adding all your projects and achievements (or all the ones added to your

CV) focus on the main achievements and the most outstanding ones. Remember to

stick with your LinkedIn goals, and write everything in line with your purpose. Don’t

focus on irrelevant projects and skills, but always think of either direct experience or

transferable skills which represent the brand and professional expertise you want to

portray on LinkedIn.

KEEP IT BRIEF

In order to avoid writing too much in your job descriptions, add the most important

accomplishments and then direct the reader to your resume. You can add something

along the lines of:

“For more details about my work at Company A, please request my CV’

Or

“For a detailed list of accomplishments, please request my CV”.

Here are some ideas of how to present your past jobs on LinkedIn:

As a sales executive for Company A, I specialised in business development across

domestic and international markets. Through my networking skills, I partnered with key

decision makers in Europe and opened the business-to-business markets in France

and Spain.

What your reader understands:

You have a strategic understanding of domestic and international markets for the

product you’ve worked with you. You are also self-motivated and willing to step out of

62

your comfort zone, with a proven ability to network, connect with decision-makers and

close contracts. If your reader is a future employer, they will see this as a proven result

that you can help to grow the company and generate profits.

Here is another spin on the same description, with a different aim:

As a sales executive on Company A, I specialised in business development across

domestic and international markets. This gave me an incredible opportunity to

understand the needs of our domestic and international clients and help them see how

our products can bring value to their businesses. Through my client-orientated

approach and personal networking efforts, I built mutually beneficial relationships with

decision makers in Europe, and opened business-to-business markets in France and

Spain. In France I was helped one of our clients increase productivity by 50% through

the tailored product training I set up for them, and post-purchase support.

What your reader understands:

You are an expert in your field and have a client-focused approach. You are able to

understand what businesses need and cater to their needs, and you have proven

experience that your approach brings results. You have shown to have a proactive

attitude towards ensuring your clients are fully satisfied and get the best support.

If you are a business owner and are using LinkedIn to find new clients, this description

will act as a sales funnel, reassuring them about the extra support and customer

service you will offer them if they buy from your company.

ADDING A CURRENT POSITION

You LinkedIn profile will notify you to add a current position, and that will also show at

the top of your profile, under your name.

63

If you have a current position, you will need to simply add it as a position and choose

the ‘I currently work here’ option under the timeline settings.

When you opt for ‘I currently work here’ the time period automatically changes from

your starting point to ‘present’.

What do you do if you don’t have a current position? What happens if you are

unemployed or taking a year out? Should you leave the current position empty?

No, don’t leave the current position empty. It will affect your profile completeness and

impact your LinkedIn rankings. In this case, you can add something like ‘Seeking New

Opportunity’ as your current position. You could write:

64

Company Name: Seeking New Opportunity

Title: Marketing Executive - Social Media Campaign Manager

Time Period - January 2015 - Present

Description: After taking a gap year to travel the world and gain first-hand experience

on social media management and business impact through running and promoting my

own travel blog, I am now seeking a new opportunity to apply my new acquired skills

and expertise. I am looking to join a marketing agency in London where I can make a

positive change through my strategic and results-driven marketing strategies.

However, if you are not comfortable with adding this, you can leave it out, and add

‘Seeking New Opportunity’ in your summary. If you are currently running a blog, you

could add that as your current description.

ADD EXPERIENCE TO YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE

To add you experience to LinkedIn, follow the simple steps below:

● Go to your profile

● Scroll down to experience

● Hover your mouse to the right hand side and a few options will appear in blue

● Click on ‘+ Add position’

● Complete fields and click save

● Repeat step to add more positions

65

If you want to change any information either hover over it and edit text, or go to the

bottom and click ‘Remove position’.

CHECK YOUR COMPETITION

If you want further inspiration on how complete your experience on your LinkedIn

profile and present it in the best light, check your competition. Type your profession in

the LinkedIn search and look at how influencers are presenting their experience.

Try to analyse their approach against what you’ve learned in this chapter, and avoid

copying anything. Simply analyse and choose the best option for you, but always keep

your end goal in mind. Just like any business, have a target market in mind, who may

be your next employer, a business partner or a client. Think about the message you

want to convey to them through your experience.

66

EDUCATION

This is the section on LinkedIn where you can list your official education, from A-levels

to university degrees. This is a great section as you have a drop-down list where you

tag in the school name and create an association with them on LinkedIn. Before I show

you how easy it is to add you education to your profile, I’ll answer some frequently

asked questions about this section.

SHOULD I ADD EXACT DATES FOR MY EDUCATION?

The only reason why you wouldn’t add the years for your education is if you are

purposely trying to hide your age, gaps in your education, or maybe you want to

disguise that you took longer than usual to complete your education.

Is that something to worry about? Not really, and only you have the answer to this

question. My advice is to be transparent and not worry much about these little details.

However, if you feel that listing your exact education years will interfere with your

LinkedIn goals, then by all means avoid adding them. It’s entirely your decision.

However, when you don’t add your education years, LinkedIn won’t be able to connect

you with users that have graduated in the same year with you. Connecting with fellow

graduates can be a great way to build your LinkedIn network, so do consider it carefully

before you omit your education years. You never know how a business partnership or

new job opportunity can come up when you make the right connections.

67

Another option is to only show the year or graduation, rather than the entire duration

of the course. This will still allow LinkedIn to connect you with fellow graduates, but it

won’t tell your readers how long it took you to complete the course.

SHOULD I ADD ACTIVITIES AND SOCIETIES TO MY

EDUCATION?

Most people ignore this part on LinkedIn, and that’s why you shouldn’t, because it will

make your profile stand out and rank better. You don’t have to go into much detail, but

do remember to keep your LinkedIn goal in mind. What are you trying to communicate

to your reader? What skills and competencies are you trying to build?

If you are a business owner or personal brand, you might want to add interesting

activities that make you stand out yet relatable at the same time. If your goal for

LinkedIn is to find your next career opportunity, think carefully about what your

employer will think when they read this. Do you want to show initiative and creativity?

Passion to learn? Ability to work in teams? Then maybe you should add your projects

with the arts society or the time you coached football at the local schools.

Here are some ideas on how to briefly complete your Activities & Societies Field:

“International Society, Student Ambassador, Theatre, Debate Team”

Or

“Event planner for the UCL International Society, Certified Student Ambassador,

Theatre Actor, Debate Team Member”

Be as brief or as detailed as you want to be, but do try to add some interesting and

representative activities during your education.

68

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE IN THE DESCRIPTION OF MY

COURSE?

This section gives you the opportunity to tell the reader more about your course and

any specific accomplishments. Here you could mention your grade, what subjects you

focused on, your dissertation subject, or anything else worthy of mentioning and in line

with your LinkedIn goals.

You might choose to use similar statements to the ones below, which show you that

you can be as brief or as explanatory as you wish.

“Earned my Masters whilst working full time”

Or

“My dissertation analysed the effectiveness of relationship marketing techniques used

by supermarkets vs retail banks and how supermarket achievements in RM can be

utilised to gain competitive advantage in their expansion into the personal financial

services.”

Or

“Studies focused on Human Resources, Managing talent and organisational change,

Marketing strategies and understanding how both management and marketing

strategies influence the marketplace.

Dissertation: Mobile Marketing - How consumers respond to marketing via mobile

applications

Extracurricular activities:

Spanish Language ambassador involved in online tutoring programs, working with

young students in the local schools and helping to delivery annual language events in

the University

Editor for the Business School Magazine”

69

WHAT DO I DO IF I DON’T HAVE A GRADUATE

DEGREE?

Don’t skip the education section, because it will affect your profile ranking. You can

choose to add your latest education, whether that’s your A-level or colleague

qualifications or a diploma course you’ve completed. Here are a few examples of how

your education list might look:

70

Here’s another example of a longer education section on LinkedIn:

Whilst your education section is not the most important part of your LinkedIn profile, it

does matter for your rankings and enhances your professional authority (especially if

you have education that is relevant to your current profession).

How to add education to your LinkedIn profile:

Go to your LinkedIn profile

Scroll down to Education

Hover over the page and click ‘+Add Education’

71

Complete the fields listed

Click save and repeat

When you add a name in the ‘School’ field it will bring up a drop-down list. It’s very

important to find your institution there, because that is how LinkedIn will be able to link

you with other graduates from the same institution.

72

73

SKILLS & ENDORSEMENTS

This is the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. Here is your opportunity to

impress your readers and optimise your profile for the search engines.

KEYWORD EXERCISE

This exercise will help you identify a set of keywords that represent your profession

and your goal for LinkedIn. The keywords will also serve as SEO, so that you can

appear in advanced LinkedIn searches and other search engins. The keywords will be

your skills on LinkedIn.

Here are 3 questions to help you find your keywords:

What do you want your LinkedIn profile to be known for (in terms of skills)

What words would visitors search for to find people with your profession?

What skills do you want to show on LinkedIn?

Now use the space below to add 10-20 keywords that answer all 3 questions:

1._____________________________

2._____________________________

3._____________________________

4._____________________________

5._____________________________

4._____________________________

74

5._____________________________

6._____________________________

7._____________________________

8._____________________________

9._____________________________

10.____________________________

11.____________________________

12.____________________________

13.____________________________

14.____________________________

15.____________________________

16.____________________________

17.____________________________

18.____________________________

19.____________________________

20.____________________________

After you’ve completed the exercise spend 10 minutes on LinkedIn and search for

those keywords. See what comes up. Do people with your profession come up when

you use your keywords? If yes, you are on the right track.

KEYWORD IDEAS & STRATEGIES

If you are a CPA use keywords such as: accountant, tax returns, self-assessments,

company incorporation, corporate tax, financial audits etc. etc.

If you are a sales executive you might want to use keywords such as: sales executive,

sales, customer service, marketing, promotion, business development etc. etc.

75

Here I also want you to remember your target market. If you are an accountant, an

employer or head hunter might search for CPA, but a potential client will probably

search for accountant and tax returns.

Now that you know your keywords, let’s go ahead and complete the Skills &

Endorsements section of your LinkedIn profile.

In order to add skills to LinkedIn, follow these simple steps:

Go to your profile

Scroll down to Skills & Endorsements

Hover over the right hand side of the name

Click ‘+Add skill’

A search box will open where you can enter your keyword and search for your skill

from a drop-down menu

76

At the top you will have a few options regarding your endorsements - ensure to say

yes to ‘I want to be endorsed’ and to select ‘Include me in endorsement suggestions

to my connections’.

If you’re adding skills for the first time, LinkedIn will provide you with a list of related

skills. Look over it and choose the ones that match your keywords. You can add up to

50 skills to your LinkedIn profile.

Should you add 50? Only if they are in line with the keywords you chose and your

LinkedIn strategy. You can add 50 or you can add 20, as long as they describe your

profession and help your target market find your profile.

77

When you add skills to your LinkedIn profile, they will be split into ‘Top skills’ and

‘’*Your name* also knows about...’

If you want to rearrange your skills, to ensure specific ones show at the top, here is

how you do it:

Go to your profile

Hover the mouse over one of the skills

Click the pencil to edit

78

Once you click edit you will get the initial box where you added your skills, with all your

current skills listed at the bottom

To rearrange them, simply drag and reorder

It’s important to get your skills in the right order, and tell the readers what you are most

expert at first.

79

ENDORSEMENTS

Endorsements is one of the most interactive part of LinkedIn and a very unique way

to give and receive professional recommendations. LinkedIn particularly encourages

this option by constantly asking LinkedIn users if they want to endorse their

connections for skills and make it easy to do so with a few clicks. When you visit

someone’s profile (that is a 1st connection) here’s how simple LinkedIn makes it for

you to endorse them:

Only 1st connections can endorse you (which is another extra reason to build your

network),

Here is how an endorsements look on the profile:

80

The numbers in the blue box represent the how many endorsements you received for

that particular skill.

HOW TO GET ENDORSED?

You don’t need to do anything in order to get endorsed. You connections will get

notifications from LinkedIn and most users will already know that endorsing you is a

great way to show great respect and appreciation for your skills.

However, if you are not getting any endorsements, you can send a message to some

of your close connections and ask them for a kind endorsement. The message can be

as formal or informal as you want, depending on the relationship you have with that

person.

If it’s a previous employer, you might want to ask something like:

Hi *Name*,

I hope you are well. If you were happy with my work for Company A, would you be so

kind to endorse me for the skills that you feel I proved most expertise in?

You can do so with a few clicks, by going to my profile and scrolling down to the skills

section. I’ve listed my expert skills there, and you can add a ‘+’ sign to the ones you

are happy with.

Thank you in advance for your kind endorsements.

Regards,

*Your Name*

81

If it’s someone you barely know, but you’ve endorsed and you think they would be

happy to return the favour, here is another idea:

Hi *Name*,

It was great finding out more about your skills from your website. I’ve endorsed you

for Networking and Brand Management on your LinkedIn profile.

Would you be happy to return the favour and endorse me for marketing

communications and SEO?

Thank you in advance. Have a great day ahead.

Regards,

*Your Name*

HOW TO ENDORSE YOUR CONNECTIONS?

Endorsements are a very important part of interacting with your LinkedIn network.

When you endorse someone, you are showing respect and appreciation for their skills

and area of expertise. It’s very easy to endorse your connections, particularly because

LinkedIn keeps notifying you about it.

As shown before, you will get an option to endorse your connections when you visit a

connection’s profile.

However, in order to actively endorse someone yourself, here are the easy steps to

follow:

● Go to a connection’s profile

82

● Scroll down to their Skills section

● You will see the skill names with blue boxes on the left hand side (the number

of endorsements) and a ‘+’ sign on the right hand side

● Click ‘+’ and a blue text will appear saying ‘Endorse’

● Once you endorse someone, when you repeat this process you will get a ‘-’ sign

followed by ‘Remove Endorsement’

SHOULD YOU ENDORSE EVERYONE?

My advice is to only endorse people you appreciate and honestly feel that have the

skills you are endorsing them for. However, you will receive endorsements from

connections that don’t know you and you can certainly return the favour and endorse

them back. It’s really up to you how you manage this feature.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GOT AN ENDORSEMENT YOU

DON’T LIKE?

If you received an endorsement from someone that you don’t like or you have any

particular reason to remove that endorsement, here is how you do it:

83

Go to your profile

Scroll down to Skills

Hover over one of your endorsements and click the pencil

You will get a box with ‘Add & Remove’ and ‘Manage Endorsements’

Click on ‘Manage Endorsements’

Untick the endorsements you want to hide

Click Save

84

RECOMMENDATIONS

The most common question I get asked is - Are recommendations the same as

endorsements? No, endorsements refer to your skills, and only need a click of a

button. However, recommendations are more like testimonials or formal employment

references on LinkedIn. This is a very important part of your LinkedIn profile and what

can truly set you apart.

In order to get recommendations, you will either have to wait for your connections to

write one for you, out of their good will, or you might need to reach out to them and

ask for one. Here is a list of reasons why you want those recommendations on your

LinkedIn profile, and why the trouble of getting them is all worth it:

Recommendations will:

● enhance your reputation as an expert in your field

● make you more trustworthy in front of future employers, business partners and

customers (as long as you have relevant recommendations)

● serve as evidence for your professional background

ARE ALL RECOMMENDATIONS EQUAL?

No. In a perfect world, all recommendations will be equal, which means that you could

get friends, colleagues and family to help you out. However, recommendations are as

powerful as the person who wrote them.

However, remember that it all depends on the goal for your LinkedIn profile. Here is

what I mean in terms of who’s recommending you:

85

Job seekers should try to get recommended by:

● Employers (CEO’s, line mangers, project managers)

● Colleagues

● Academic tutors

Business owners (looking to find customers on LinkedIn) should get recommended by:

customers (testimonials/product reviews)

Business owners (looking to find business partners on LinkedIn) should get

recommended by:

current/previous business partners

customers

Entrepreneurs/individuals looking to build personal brands on LinkedIn should get

recommended by:

● VIPs (in their field)

● Business partners (if you have any)

● Customers (if you have any)

● Previous employers (ideally recommend relevant skills or relevant

competencies)

● Friends & family members (ideally recommend competencies/personality_

WHO SHOULD I ASK FOR RECOMMENDATIONS?

First of all, use one of the lists above, or make your own list, for relevant

recommendations. After that, make a list of names for people that fall into those

categories. They could be tutors, past employers, colleagues, people you worked on

a voluntary project with, blog followers (that you have some sort of networking

relationship with), customers, etc. etc.

86

Add all of those people to this list, ideally ranked in terms of importance (for your

recommendations):

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

HOW SHOULD I ASK FOR A RECOMMENDATION?

I think that the best way to ask for a recommendation is to write a draft/template for

one yourself. It’s not pushy, it’s actually showing respect for the other person and their

time. You can write something basic and send a message such as:

Dear *Name*,

I hope you are well. If you enjoyed my work at Company A, would you be so kind to

leave me a recommendation on LinkedIn? This will be very helpful to show my

experience and expertise to future employers.

It’s very easy to send me a recommendation, simply click on the arrow next to the blue

‘Send a message’ button on my side and choose the ‘Recommendation option’.

In order to make this easy for you, I’ve copied below a pre-written recommendation

with the skills that I believe I’ve shown during our work together. Please feel free to

make any edits you deem suitable.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

*Your Name*

87

HOW TO ACCEPT A RECOMMENDATION

When someone sends you a recommendation, you need to accept it in order for it to

show on your profile, and the same happens when you send a recommendation to one

of your connections.

LinkedIn will send you an email with a preview of the recommendation and an option

to ‘Accept’ the recommendation to show on your profile. If you need any changes you

can ask for a replacement of the recommendation. This could be if you see any typos

or maybe you feel something has not been mentioned etc.

If you are not happy with the recommendation you can choose to archive it, which will

simply ignore it and not publish it on your profile. This could be a good option if you

receive a recommendation from someone who has a bad reputation. It’s also the best

course of action if you receive a recommendation that does not align with your LinkedIn

goals or portray your professional skills in the best light.

HOW TO SEND A RECOMMENDATION

It’s very easy to send a recommendation. Follow these simple steps:

Go to your connection’s profile

Go to the blue button saying ‘Send a message’ and click on the small arrow

Click on ‘Recommend’

Fill in the fields for the recommendation and click Send

88

89

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO GIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

On LinkedIn, being as much of a giver as a receiver is fundamental to building strong

and relevant networks. It’s how much you interact with your connections that could be

the key to getting that new job, a business partnership or client contract. When you

send or accept a recommendation, you are increasing your visibility in your network.

90

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS

The best part of LinkedIn is that you can customise it to your own professional

background and purpose. After you’ve completed all the standard fields, you are given

the option to add any extra fields that you consider relevant. To do so, simply click

‘View More’ on the bar underneath your profile photo and headline.

You will be given a variety of options, including:

● Volunteering Experience

● Cases you care about

● Honours & Awards

● Certifications

● Publications

● Advice for contacting

● Personal details

● Courses

● Languages

91

You can add as many sections as you want, edit them and drag them into the order

that you feel best suits your LinkedIn goals.

WHAT EXTRA SECTIONS SHOULD I ADD TO MY

PROFILE?

Add whichever section reinforces your goal on LinkedIn. If you are a job seeker you

might want to add some volunteering experience, certifications and some honours and

awards. However, try to keep the information relevant to your career path and your

professional skills.

92

To add a new section, simply click on the relevant box and you will get a pop-up box

with fields to complete.

COURSES

One of the additional fields you can add to your LinkedIn profile is called ‘Courses’ and

refers to any certifications or professionals courses you have completed, or are

currently undertaking. This is not your Education history, where you fill in your graduate

qualifications. This section is created with professional training in mind, and here you

have the opportunity to add courses that you’ve undertaken during employment,

education, gap years etc.

To add courses, simply go to View More and choose the Courses box. Once you

added it, click ‘Add course’ to start including your professional education.

You will be given 3 fields to complete:

● Course Name

● Number

● Associated with

After you’ve added the course name and number of courses you have done, you can

link it to either a part of your experience or education.

93

If your course was part of job training you can add it and relate it to your experience.

If some of your courses are related to education, you can choose the institution that

the course is associated with (e.g. your university). As soon as you filled that section

in, you will get a complete drop down list under the ‘Associated with’ section, and you

will be able to link your courses with the right experience/education.

As soon as you’ve added the courses and associated them with the right fields in your

profile, they will also show under your employment or education, such as:

94

In the screenshot above you can see how the courses you associated with a job will

show in your experience section. When you click on the text that says ‘3 courses’ it

will open a detailed description of the courses that you undertook as part of your job,

business or other professional experience.

95

LANGUAGES

The next section in your LinkedIn profile is called ‘Languages’. Here you can add all

the languages you speak, at different levels, especially if this reinforces your

professional ability and is in alignment with your LinkedIn goals. For each language

you add you will have a drop down menu with 5 proficiency levels:

● Elementary proficiency

● Limited working proficiency

● Professional working proficiency

● Full professional proficiency

● Native or bilingual proficiency

After you choose your proficiency you can add more languages by clicking the blue

text that says ‘Add another language’. Once you finish, click Save.

96

CERTIFICATIONS

To add certifications to your profile, you will need to fill in:

● certification name

● certification authority

● license number

● certification URL

● dates

● choose whether the certification has an expiration date or not

After you fill in the fields, click save, and the section will be automatically added to your

profile. If you don’t have a licence number or you are missing any of the fields, don’t

worry much about it. As long as it is clear what you have been certified about and you

have some sort of proof about it, it will be enough. This is the section where you can

add whether you are a CPA, Microsoft Certified or any other type of professional

certification.

97

HONOURS & AWARDS

It’s important to add as many relevant sections to your profile. If you have professional

certifications or honours and awards that will complement your experience and skills,

don’t be shy, and add them to your profile. However, remember that only professional

awards might be relevant to your career. Something that represents the competencies

you want to portray might also help such as being a risk taker, a team player or

honourable citizen. Think about every award that you’ve received and choose at least

one or two for your LinkedIn profile.

Here is the information you will need to fill in for Honours & Awards:

98

PUBLICATIONS

If you are a writer, share your published work under publications, as part of your

professional portfolio. Here you can list published and self-published books, blogs,

guest blogs, magazine articles and any other type of publication that shows your skills

and is in line with your LinkedIn goals.

99

PROJECTS

This is a great feature to add to your LinkedIn profile, which allows you to list projects

and assign them to the right experience.

When you add a new project, you will get a series of fields to complete and one of the

options, titled ‘Choose’ gives you a drop-down of your education and professional

experience.

100

Once you assigned the project, it will show under the right experience or education,

such as:

This unique feature makes your profile an interactive version of a CV + portfolio, and

is definitely worth adding to your LinkedIn.

101

PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CONTACT DETAILS

Yes, you definitely should add contact details to your profiles and at least some

personal information. The best way to approach your LinkedIn information is to think

about as if it is a business card. You want to offer your visitors an easy way to contact

you. That’s how business opportunities will come your way.

To edit your contact information, go to your profile, and after your photo and summary

of information, you will see a box called ‘Contact Info’.

Your contact information is divided into ‘Visible to your connections’ and ‘Visible to

everyone on LinkedIn’.

102

CONTACT DETAILS VISIBLE TO YOUR CONNECTIONS

Here you can add email, IM, phone and address. Add your best email address,

preferably your work email, if you are a business, or some type of email you use for

professional conversations.

For IM, Skype is one of the best choices. Most companies use it for international calls

and video calling. For phone, add either your business phone number or your direct

mobile number. For a company, it’s best to add a business landline, but for a personal

brand or job seeker it might be better to offer a direct mobile number.

For an address, introduce either your work address or you home address. If you are

not comfortable with providing your full home address, you can just introduce the city

you live in.

CONTACT DETAILS VISIBLE TO EVERYONE ON

LINKEDIN

Here you can add more details that will be visible to everyone who sees your LinkedIn

page. You can add your Twitter address and your personal or business website.

I do encourage you to add your website to your LinkedIn account, especially if you are

a business or personal brand. This will offer you important backlinks, as LinkedIn is an

authority website on the web. It will enhance your SEO and help you rank high in

search engines.

You can also link Twitter with your LinkedIn account which has 3 benefits:

● you automatically send your status LinkedIn updates to Twitter

● you encourage new visitors and connections to follow you on Twitter

● you encourage your Twitter followers to connect with you on LinkedIn

103

How to link Twitter with your LinkedIn profile:

Go to your profile

Click on Contact Info

Go to the section ‘Visible to everyone on LinkedIn’

Hover over the pencil next to Twitter and once it turns blue click on it

A window will pop up asking you to add Twitter to your LinkedIn account

Click on the green ‘+’ button to add your Twitter account

You will need to authorise LinkedIn for your Twitter account:

Even if you are not active on Twitter, choosing this simple cross-posting option will

help you to share the word about your professional updates both on LinkedIn and

Twitter. It’s a great benefit, and you only need to do it once. If you don’t have a Twitter

account you can sign up for free at Twitter.com.

104

ADDING PERSONAL DETAILS TO YOUR LINKEDIN

ACCOUNT

You can add more personal details to your website by adding the ‘Personal Details

section’. You access it by clicking on your profile and clicking ‘View More’.

For your personal details, you can choose to add your birthday and marital status.

Whether you add these details or not it’s your choice. However, do ensure that every

detail and information you provide is aligned with your LinkedIn goals and it helps to

enhance your professional image.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Another section to add to your profile is titled ‘Additional information’ and refers to your

interests. This is similar to your hobbies section on your CV. To add interests to your

profile, follow these simple steps:

Go to your profile

Scroll down to Additional Information

Introduce interests in the text box

Click save

105

This is a very important section for your LinkedIn profile because it allows your readers

to connect with you on a personal level. Don’t ignore it and do remember that it’s meant

to be in alignment with your LinkedIn goals.

Interests tell your future employer if you will fit into their team, help business partners

and customers relate to you and enhance your personal brand online. In spite of the

business goals that you have for using LinkedIn, you are still a human behind that

screen, so don’t be afraid to show it. Infuse your personality and uniqueness into your

profile. If you want a helping hand with picking your interests here are some ideas,

categorised by traits (these are examples only and can vary from person to person)

Leader: entrepreneurship, coaching, football captain, personal development

Healthy: swimming, jogging, Pilates, gym, marathon runner

Tech Savvy: web design, gadgets, social media, blogging

Focused: collector (coins, airplanes), stock investor

Giver: volunteering, charity work

Intelligent: reading, writing, chess player

The list can continue, but hopefully these examples give you an idea of what you are

looking for. Whether your passion is travel, languages, collecting airplanes,

volunteering at a food bank or investing in stocks, they all tell a story about who you

are. Share wisely, but don’t be afraid to add personality to your LinkedIn profile through

this section.

106

As soon as you add your interests (separated by commas) and click save, they will get

automatically hyperlinked. When you go back to see your profile, click on one of the

interests and it will show you professionals that share the same interests with you.

107

STEP 3 – FINISH A PERFECT

PROFILE

108

THE PERFECT PROFILE

After you’ve completed all the steps in this book, it’s time to fine-tune your account in

order to create that perfect LinkedIn profile. Remember that perfect means in

alignment with your goals for this social networking site.

In this section we will go through a few details that will enhance your LinkedIn profile

such as:

● a personalised LinkedIn URL

● a customised public profile

● SEO

● Final Edits

● Upgrades

109

A PERSONALISED LINKEDIN URL

LinkedIn gives you access to customise how visitors view your public profile and allows

to get a personalised LinkedIn public URL.

To edit your public profile, go to your Profile, and just after your photo and headline

you will see profile URL followed by a settings sign. Click on it.

You will get a Public version of your profile, and on the right hand side you have options

to customise your profile and create your own personal URL.

110

To create your own LinkedIn URL, just click on the right hand side option in blue that

says ‘+ Create your custom URL’. There you will be given an option to add your own

personal text after the LinkedIn URL.

LinkedIn gives you clear instructions for creating your custom URL.

111

CUSTOMISE YOUR PUBLIC PROFILE

On the right hand side of your profile you also have a section called ‘Customise your

Public Profile’. There you can choose which options you want to keep public from your

profile and which options you want to keep private.

If your full name is not available on LinkedIn, use initials and variations of your name.

If you are a business you can do the same with your brand name.

Here are a few reasons why you want to have a custom public URL on LinkedIn:

● you can add it to business cards, email signatures & resumes

● your target market can search for you by your name/business name

● the URL is professional and suitable for brochures, sales literatures and

websites

WHICH SECTIONS SHOULD I HIDE FROM THE PUBLIC?

LinkedIn also allows you to choose which sections of your profile you show to the

public. So what should you hide and what should you keep private?

It depends on what your LinkedIn goals are. Maybe you already had some profile

sections before you starting reading this book, and now some of them don’t seem to

align with your strategy for LinkedIn. If that is the case, take those sections out.

If you are a job seeker, it’s likely that most of your sections are relevant, as you will

have direct skills and transferable skills from all your jobs. However, you might not

112

need to include a part-time job you worked on 10 years ago, if it doesn’t reinforce your

professional ability today.

As a business owner, you can also choose what you want to display publicly on your

profile, based on your branding. If you are an experienced network marketer, your

previous experience as a steward at a football arena might not be relevant on your

profile.

113

SEO

Throughout this book we’ve briefly mentioned the importance of optimising your profile

for SEO. In order to create a complete LinkedIn profile that ranks high in search results

and is even indexed by Google (allowing visitors to find your profile by simply

searching on Google) you need to optimise it with the right keywords.

Let’s look at the must-dos for LinkedIn SEO:

● use keywords relevant to your industry (you already looked for those for the

skills & endorsements section)

● be consistent with those keywords in your headline, summary, experience (job

titles and job descriptions) and skills

KEYWORDS

You might have quite a few keywords that describe your profession, however, I advise

you to focus on 3-5 main keywords.

Remember to get the density right for keywords. Apart from including your main

keywords in the 4 most important sections - headline, summary, experience and skills

- you also need to include them enough. The rule of thumb is to mention each keyword

every 100 words, but do remember to keep the text clear and reader-friendly.

114

GROUP DISCUSSIONS

LinkedIn SEO goes beyond keyword optimisation. You also need to keep your account

engaged, by participating in LinkedIn group discussions. Every time you write an

answer or ask a question in a group, LinkedIn creates a backlink to your profile. The

more backlinks you have, the more visible you are to the search engines. If the search

engines record you as an expert for the keywords you’ve mentioned, they will

automatically show your profile when someone else searches for those keywords.

Therefore, keep engaging, it will pay off.

Here’s how you can start a discussion in a LinkedIn group:

● go to your Profile

● click Interests on the menu bar

● choose ‘Groups’ from the drop-down menu

● click on the text field for ‘Start a discussion with your group’

● fill it in with the relevant information

● click ‘Share’

115

DISCUSSION IDEAS FOR LINKEDIN GROUPS

You can start any discussion on LinkedIn that is relevant to your profession and your

goals. If you are a personal brand or business, you could be sharing tips, blogs, and

useful information that serves your target market. This doesn’t mean promoting your

services and products all the time, but actually starting discussions that will get people

interested. Give value, for free, and you will start building a following and as mentioned

before, you will get backlinks to your profile page and improve your SEO.

If you are worried about the time it will take you to participate in group discussions, the

good news is that you don’t need to do it all the time. Consistency is more important

than volume. You can just choose one or two groups that are relevant to your target

market and either start discussions or participate in discussions once a week. This will

be enough to keep your LinkedIn account engaged, improve your SEO and get you in

front of your target market.

116

FINAL EDITS

Before you finish your LinkedIn profile, here are some final edits to keep in mind:

● proofread, proofread, proofread

● rearrange your profile sections to suit your LinkedIn goals (although the default

layout is one of the best)

● add work samples (through the projects and publications section)

● check that your dates are correct

● keep the profile up to date

● use a recent photo

● remember to turn your activity broadcasts back on (you turned them off at the

beginning to make the editions)

117

TO UPGRADE OR NOT TO UPGRADE

Should you or should you not upgrade your LinkedIn profile? I advise you to start with

a free version, analyse your performance and become a pro at using LinkedIn. After a

month or two, use a free trial (usually runs for 30 days) for one of the upgrades

LinkedIn offers and then start your billing cycle.

You will definitely benefit from a premium LinkedIn account, customised to your

business needs, but you need to complement the premium membership with strategic

activity on LinkedIn.

At the top of your LinkedIn, on the right hand side, you will see an option that says ‘Try

LinkedIn for free’.

There you will get the various premium accounts that you can trial, free of charge.

118

Here are some reasons why a premium LinkedIn profile will benefit you:

● you will unlock unique features for your LinkedIn goal

● your profile will look more professional (you get a premium logo on the side of

your profile)

● you are likely to take your account much more seriously, as you paid for it

119

STEP 5 – PERFORMANCE

MANAGEMENT

120

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Now that you created an amazing LinkedIn profile, it’s time to track your progress. Do

you remember the record you kept for your profile at the beginning of this book? You

too note of:

● profile views

● times your profile has shown up in search results

● LinkedIn network stats

Keep updating that information every month. If you can, add a small note to each time

you record the information about your activities. Here are a few things worth writing

about:

YOUR ACTIVITIES

● Are you keeping your profile engaging with status updates and group

participation?

● Are you updating your projects, skills and experience?

● Are you sending invitations, endorsing and recommending other LinkedIn

users?

YOUR RESULTS

● Are you getting invitations from your target market?

● Are you getting any business opportunities from your LinkedIn profile?

● Have you made any ground-breaking connections?

● Are your stats improving?

121

Remember that LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals, so now that you

have your profile fine-tuned, go ahead and network with professionals in your field.

Don’t forget to always keep your LinkedIn goal in mind.

122

FAQ

123

What is InMail?

These are private messages that you can send on LinkedIn to people outside of your

network. You can only send InMail if you have a premium account.

What type of premium account should I choose?

To benefit from a premium LinkedIn account, only chose the one that is in line with

your goal for using this social networking site.

How much does a premium account cost?

Check the latest prices at https://premium.linkedin.com.

How long should I spend on LinkedIn?

It depends on your goal. If you are looking to build a large network, spend 1 hour a

week or 1 hour a day. As a job seeker, you might only need to keep your LinkedIn

updated, interact from time to time on groups for SEO and use it when you are looking

for a new job opportunity. However, remember that head hunters and top employers

are spending time on this professional social networking platform, so don’t ignore it.

How many connections should I make?

As many relevant connections as possible, but remember that your initial invitation

allowance is capped at 5000. Your connections will only show exact numbers up to

500, and then your profile will be showing 500+ connections.

How can I become an influencer on LinkedIn?

Use the steps in this book, have a goal and strategy, keep active, share value and

connect with other influencers.

https://premium.linkedin.com/

124

THANK YOU!

Thank you for reading this book. To find out more about me and how I help career-

driven professionals get their dream jobs, visit:

http://howtogetthatjob.net

http://howtogetthatjob.net/

Documents

CONTENTS€¦ · Professional Social Networking ... Pros of Being an Open Networker on LinkedIn ... In order to make your profile stand out, follow the simple and strategic steps