LinkedIn is one of the world’s leading networking platforms. Business professionals from a whole host of different industries use it. If it’s something you want to adopt into your daily life, now’s the time to as the platform has never been more popular. However, you need to make sure that you craft the perfect profile if you plan on using it to boost your career. This post plans to present a step-by-step guide that you can use to improve your profile and ensure that you make meaningful connections.
Taking Good Photographs of Yourself
The first thing that you need to do if you are interested in creating a profile for yourself on LinkedIn is to get proper headshots taken. Your profile photo can have a significant impact on the kind of positions you are offered on the platform. A lot of people are ignorant of the fact that you can find very good jobs on LinkedIn. If you do not have a professional photograph on your profile, nobody is going to take you seriously. That being said, certain industries are more accepting than others. For example, if you work in banking (or want to become a banker), you are going to need to make sure that you hire a professional LinkedIn headshot photographer for your profile picture, otherwise, you are going to struggle to find work. If you want to get a job in a more relaxed industry, such as technology, then you could potentially get away with a casual photograph of yourself out with your friends or family on a day out or even a selfie. In truth though, no matter what industry you are in, you can’t go wrong with a professional headshot.
If you are interested in hiring a professional photographer and paying them to take pictures of you, make sure that you hire one with good reviews and a solid online portfolio. Most photographers will openly publish their portfolios, showing customers what the quality of their work is like. You should never hire a photographer until you have seen their portfolio, as their portfolio gives you a clear idea of what to expect from working with them. Your chosen photographer should also have lots of good customer reviews on their Trustpilot or their Google Review page.
Elaborating Upon Your Accomplishments
When you are creating your page, you need to make sure that you include information about all of your accomplishments, qualifications, and previous jobs. Many people when they are creating LinkedIn pages for the first time do not elaborate upon their accomplishments, they simply list them. You need to make sure that you elaborate upon your accomplishments so that potential future employers and people that you are networking with get a clear idea of how experienced you are and how much you have to offer in any future job roles. LinkedIn makes elaborating upon accomplishments very easy, allowing you to add descriptions for every entry on your page.
Make sure that when you are adding entries to your LinkedIn page you are honest, accurate, and detailed. Many people lie about their experience just to make their page stand out when they are using LinkedIn. Under no circumstances should you do this. If you get into the habit of lying about how much experience you have, nobody is going to want to hire you. It is very easy to spot a liar on LinkedIn. Also, bear in mind companies are able to perform very sophisticated background checks nowadays. If you do lie and are caught out, you will probably be disqualified from the job and future offers from that particular employer.
Connecting with Your Colleagues
Once you have created your LinkedIn page, you can go ahead and try to connect with colleagues. All you have to do is find your company’s LinkedIn page and start sending requests out to the people who work there. Obviously, many of these people you will know. You should put your company’s name at the top of your profile (as in, make sure you state you are currently working there) so that your colleagues and other people you are unfamiliar with from your company know that you work at the same business as them and therefore have mutual interests.
If you do not put your company’s name at the top of your LinkedIn profile, people may not know that you work for them. If they do not know that you work for them, they might not accept your request to connect with them. It is not uncommon for hackers and criminals to use the LinkedIn platform to collect people’s personal information. Because of this, many people are very guarded when it comes to their profiles and do not like to accept requests from people that they are not familiar with.
Searching for Industry Experts
Once you have created your page, you need to make sure that you start looking for industry experts and people to connect with. If you do not find industry experts to connect with, you are going to have a very hard time finding work in the future. The main purpose of LinkedIn is for business professionals to learn more about their industries, find out about opportunities, and get insights into business from people who are experts in their niche. By searching for industry experts, you will find people to talk to about your industry and get information from.
When you are searching for industry experts, make sure that you find one prominent in your niche. Lots of people advertise themselves as industry experts, but they are actually not. Always research a person’s credentials on Google before you go ahead and follow them. In addition to researching their credentials on Google, you may also want to see if they have any experience giving talks or lectures on YouTube. Many business professionals do this. By checking out a person’s lectures or talks on YouTube you’ll be able to gauge and assess how qualified and knowledgeable they are about your niche.
LinkedIn is a great place to turn to if you want to learn more about a particular business subject. You can also use the platform to find jobs and learn about opportunities. Make sure your profile looks as professional as it possibly can, which you can do by hiring a photographer to take pictures of you.
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