15 LinkedIn Tips to Improve Your Job Search with An Bui

Candidates with the perfect mix of skills are hard to find. This is why a lot of hiring managers are making use of social networking sites like LinkedIn to hunt them. Strategic use of LinkedIn can help you get an advantage over your competitors and stay on top. So, how to optimize LinkedIn for job searching?

If you are active on LinkedIn, you can do things like boosting your visibility, improving your overall web presence, and reinforcing your personal brand for recruiters to spot you. 

To help you get started here’s a carefully researched list of tips from An Bui to help you get the most out of your LinkedIn experience. We guarantee you that these tips will help you get job opportunities.

1. Shut Off Activity Broadcasts Temporarily 

When updating your LinkedIn profile, like adding work history, LinkedIn will broadcast this activity to your connections’ streams. If you don’t want these people to get any notification from doing these updates, you need to temporarily shut off this feature. 

Here’s how you can do this:

• Click on Settings from the menu under your name in the upper right-hand corner. 
• Then, in the “Profile” tab, click “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts.” and
• Uncheck the box and click Save.

Note: Once you have fully updated your profile, don’t forget to go back to this setting and check the box.

2. Keywords

Keywords are important throughout your entire profile because they’re used by hiring managers, employers, and school admissions officers to target potential hires or students, especially in the experience section. 

Therefore, you should invest time in choosing keywords you want to be associated with. Prioritize those words that will potentially be used by your ideal employers. 

Using several keyword tools below will do the trick. Tip: use more than one tool.

• Google AdWords
• WordStream Keyword Tool
• KeywordEye
• KeywordSpy
• SEMRush

3. Update Your Profile Photo

Keep in mind that LinkedIn is where potential employers are and this is not a place for selfies you post on your Facebook and Instagram. Look for the most professional looking profile picture and crop a headshot. To upload a photo,

• Click on Profile 
• Edit Profile and then click on “Edit Photo” in the upper left hand corner of your page

4. Customize your Professional ‘Headline’

The headline is seen beneath your name and if you don’t pay attention to it, you make the wrong impression on anyone who might have visited your account. This section is set by default to populate your most recent job title. 

As always, first impressions are the most important part to land a job and you can only make one so make sure you customize this field. Be clear, significant and show people your professional brand. One or two top keywords should be included as well.

5. Let Your Personality Shine

Job seekers often misunderstand this as just copying your cover letter or their resume in this section. You may do so but a lot of candidates are already doing this. We are trying to give you an edge over your competition by making sure your personality is shown.

Your goal here is to attract your potential employers and convince them to want to know more about you. In this section, it’s best to include your accomplishments, experience, and skills. 

Learn more about what these 5 career advice tips you can start using today

6. Connect With Groups and Start Building Your Connections

Just because you connect with every person you find, that doesn’t mean you are doing it right. Aiming at the right people is the key to your success. Focus and build your professional network who are respected colleagues, and known in the industry, potential employers, and people they are connected with. 

To search for groups, 

• Click on Groups and then Groups Directory. 
• Use the filters in the left column to drill down to the groups you want to check

7. Get Recommendations

You would be surprised how commendations written by your former bosses, co-workers, and colleagues to recognize your work can go a long way. Recommendations in your profile can be as good as recommendation letters. Chances are you can have the same credentials against the other candidates and could potentially come down to who has better recommendations.

8. Set Your Profile to Public View

Remember that your potential client or employer is out there looking for you so your profile is set to public view is important. LinkedIn allows guest users to search and look into public profiles and you are on the path of job hunting, you will need them to see your profile in full view.

To set your profile, 

• Click on settings. 
• In the “Profile” tab click on the link entitled, “Edit your public profile”. 
• On the right portion, you will see the “Public Profile” settings.
• The portions you want to share will be automatically saved when you click them.

9. Update Your Contact Information

Let’s say an employer spotted your account, the next step for you is making sure you have updated contact information. 

Remember that the employers have only seen your potential at this point and so do other candidates. If your email address and phone number are not up to date, you may never get that chance. Use your personal email for easier access and password reset.

You may also want to add links to your personal site, as well as your social media links in the “Additional Information” section.

10. Customize Vanity URL

An URL composed of letters and numbers is okay but vanity URLs are much better. Customizing this with your first and last name can do wonders especially from an SEO perspective, plus it looks nice.

To customize your own vanity URL, 

• Click Profile from the top menu 
• Choose Edit Profile. 
• Then, click edit next to the URL below your image.

11. LinkedIn Badges

A LinkedIn badge is a tiny image associated with your LinkedIn profile. You can include it in your email signature, or have it somewhere visible on your website and other social networking sites. Creating backlinks to your profile page will improve your SEO rankings.

To get your badge,

• Click on Profile and then Edit Profile. 
• Go and click on Edit in the same place as you did for your vanity URL. 
• In the right hand navigation column, near the bottom, you’ll see Profile Badges. 
• Below click the link, and create a profile badge.

12. Include Relevant Past Work Experiences

Your past work experience is relevant to hiring managers and employers so take your time to update and provide details in this section. Adding layers demonstrating your job titles and dates, or highlighting your responsibilities and accomplishments should be relevant to the job you are looking for. 

13. Highlight Only Relevant Information

When doing a job search, it’s important to keep only the relevant information that may contribute to the role you are seeking. This doesn’t mean removing them completely in your profile but just simply limiting them to company and title. 

Read more about these Top 11 Do‘s and Don’ts for Job Searching from An Bui 

14. Education Portfolio

Your Education portfolio allows you to show your classes, boot camps, and seminars and all awards received or accommodations are given. This is located in the left column beneath the Skills and Specialties section. 

Inside the Additional Information section, you will see an area for your honors and awards. 

• Click the +Add link right next to it.
• Add your honors and awards. 
• When finished, click Save Changes.

15. Show Work Samples

If you are a writer, share your links to your articles. If you are a developer, share links to different tools you find helpful or tips. LinkedIn also allows you to share PowerPoint presentations, and you can also download a copy of your resume and more. 

Read more about skills to put on a resume in 2021

How Do You Create a Top-Notch LinkedIn Profile?

Having an excellent LinkedIn profile is just as important as having a good CV because hiring managers and recruiters are using LinkedIn to find the best candidates.

If you’re a job seeker and don’t already have an active LinkedIn profile page, you should do so as soon as you finish reading these guidelines.

And if looking for more job-search tips for 2021 or want to learn more about job applications and job interviews, check out Online Career Accelerator to experience the best training available to launch your career.

An Bui and his Digital Marketing team are always ready to help you boost your career. With them, you can start building your LinkedIn network and boosting your profile. Remember, small steps can make a big difference. 

If there is anything we can do to assist you, please let us know. You can join our Online Career Accelerator program and get an 80% OFF Deal today! 

Interested in learning more?