Looking to improve your LinkedIn presence? Check out my guide to optimizing your LinkedIn profile for your dream career.
At a “Recruiters, LinkedIn, and the Successful Job Search” event organized by the Barnard Professional Learning & Development Committee and hosted at the New York offices of LinkedIn, LinkedIn senior software engineer Michelle Ling shared four ways to increase profile views of your LinkedIn profile:
- Add a photo and get 21 times more clicks to your profile;
- Select an industry — 30 times more clicks;
- Select at least five skills – 17 times more clicks; and
- Include volunteer work – 6 times more clicks.
Ling also recommended adding a summary to your profile. The best summaries are at least 40 words, are written in paragraph form (not bullets), and include examples. For searchability, Ling recommended populating the location, education, publications and accomplishments fields.
Recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates
I also spoke at the event, and as a recruiter for over 20 years, I can attest to the value of maximizing your LinkedIn profile. Even companies with extensive internal candidate databases use LinkedIn to find candidates. I have used LinkedIn for searches at a range of levels and a variety of industries, including financial services, consulting, media, technology and nonprofit.
When I did candidate research, I searched using the fields Ling emphasized – location, education and skills. I also searched for specific keywords and combinations of keywords, which would pick up matches in all sections of the profiles. Therefore, you want to make sure your profile has enough detail that keywords relevant to your career target can be found. Including a summary, as Ling suggested, is a great way to include those keywords.
Another recruiter at the event, Paramita Roy of tech start-up Vettery, advised including variations of similar skills or titles to maximize your chance of being found in a search. For example, if you have coding skills, you should include the words, “coding, coder, programming” and other variations of that same phrase or idea. This way, if one recruiter searches under “coding” but another recruiter searches under “programming,” they will both still find you.
Another speaker, Julie Melwani, an HR Business Partner at Bank Leumi, shared that companies recruit in a variety of ways – using both internal HR resources and sometimes hiring outside agencies. Therefore, job seekers who want to tap into the most opportunities should be prepared to work with both types of recruiters. Having been both an internal and external recruiter, I can confirm that both types of recruiters tap LinkedIn to source candidates.
Looking to improve your LinkedIn presence? Check out my guide to optimizing your LinkedIn profile for your dream career.
In addition to maximizing your profile, take advantage of job search-specific LinkedIn features
Another LinkedIn insider at the event, Principal Product Manager Keren Baruch reminded the audience that LinkedIn is not just a repository of profiles, but an active tool. She recommended making and accepting invitations in order to increase your network. Given the importance of networking in the job search, I would err on the side of being more open than cautious, when deciding what LinkedIn invitations to accept.
Senior software engineer Michelle Ling highlighted several of LinkedIn’s active tools for job seekers, such as:
- following companies and influencers;
- creating job alerts;
- joining groups to expand your network; and
- using the alumni mapping tool.
Don’t forget to keep your profile updated and active
All these tips will still be for naught if you don’t maintain your profile by updating your details and staying active. When I recruit, I frequently cold contact prospective candidates via their LinkedIn profile, and multiple times I have heard from candidates long after my initial outreach. Some don’t have notifications set up to be alerted when they get a message. Some haven’t updated their email information attached to their profile, and therefore don’t get the notification. You can’t just set up your profile one time and neglect to maintain it!
You should also maintain your profile because you want your profile to represent your current level and interests. If you get contacted about jobs that don’t match your background, then your profile could be misrepresenting you . If you are contacted about jobs that don’t interest you, then you may need to highlight the specific responsibilities or projects that you like to do, not the entirety of your experience.
Yes, incorporating all of these tips takes work in an already hectic job search. However, recruiters are called headhunters for a reason – we like to find our candidates. I never assume that the ideal candidate will magically find my job posting. I always search for ideal candidates. Maximize and maintain your LinkedIn profile, and help recruiters find you.
A version of this post originally appeared in my column for Forbes.com.
