Job Seekers: Is Your LinkedIn Profile Working for You?

You have gone through great pains to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is 100% complete, but, how can you tell if it is effective?  Is anyone, other than yourself, viewing your profile? Is your profile coming up in searches? What is your ROI?  Ultimately, the only factor that determines your success is your bottom-line; for job seekers, your ‘bottom line’ is employment.

Luckily, there are ways to gauge short-term gains along the road to a boosted ROI, and to know you're making positive progress.

Here are three areas you need to address in order to achieve LinkedIn Search Optimization:

• Is your headline informative and searchable?  In order for it to be effective, you will need to add a short bio that sums up what you do
• Is your profile ‘salted’ with keywords and phrases that are directly related to your industry?
• Are you an active members in 40+ LinkedIn groups? 
• Are you ready and willing to share your expertise with others?
• Do you take the time to ask and/or answer questions?
• Are you open to networking with people who do not appear to be in your neighbourhood or industry?
• Do you have a good mix groups to which you belong? - Industry related, job search related and OPEN [LION - LinkedIn Open Networking] groups
• Have you built up your connections to 500+? - N.B. Once you hit the threshold of 500 connections, LinkedIn will not show anyone how many people you have connected with.
• Do you have any recommendations posted?
• Have you added a ‘professional’ [high quality headshot] looking photo?
• Is your profile available for public viewing?
• Do you have a vanity URL?  (http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname ) N.B. you should also add this information to your e-mail signature
• Do you have a strong summary statement?
• Do you use bullet points to populate the SUMMARY section of your profile?
• Is your LinkedIn profile linked to your personal website and/or blog? HINT: If you have a website, Use the “EDIT” button, click on “OTHER” and then add the name and address of the website
• Have you populated the section called “Skills and Expertise”?
• Do you include a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile on your résumé?
• Do you use the name you are known by on your LinkedIn profile rather than your given name? - Is your given name is Robert, but most people know you as Rob or Bob? Women, have you worked under a maiden name for years? Use the name that most people know you by professionally. Cover all your bases by using your main name in your basic information and mention any other names elsewhere.
• Have you added the following:
• Twitter ID?
• Facebook page?
• Personal YouTube link?
• Google Profile?

Once you have incorporated all of the above into your LinkedIn profile, it’s time to track your progress.  This is easily done by reviewing your ‘trends’ for the last 90 days.  Go to your PROFILE page and simply click the link called, “Who’s viewed your profile?”  You will be able to review both who has looked at your profile as well as the number of times your name has appeared in searches.

Do you have any other tips to share? 

Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca