LinkedIn is a fantastic way to showcase your skills and employability, network, make connections, get noticed by employers, and stay informed about news and information relevant to companies and fields you are interested in.
I would recommend LinkedIn for anyone interested in career development, personal development, or entrepreneurship. As of last year, about 45% of the UK population was on LinkedIn, so why not create your own account now and get started in 5 mins?
Enter All Your Relevant Experiences
After the basics of setting up your account (which LinkedIn guides you through) you need to optimise your profile so that it gets noticed by employers and potentially important connections. Add a professional profile picture, and fill in all of your previous and current work experiences and qualifications. Go through all the sections and fill in as much as you can, such as projects you may have collaborated on, awards and licences you may have, and volunteer roles you have worked on in the past.
Add Media and Links
Now that you have an essay of information and text filled out, find relevant certificates, photos of events and celebrations, and links to projects you worked on and include these under each relevant experience. This will break up the text on your profile and make it more appealing for connections and employers to explore. Ensure you are only adding relevant media, however. You can also create a post for each significant event, such as graduation, or your experience of a role, or even showcasing an old project you completed- it’s not too late to share it!
The Devil is in the Details
Go through each qualification, work experience, volunteer experience, and project that you have listed on your profile and add some bullet points about the most significant responsibilities you had in the role, or things you have accomplished (like you would in a CV). Using quantifiable numbers and figures is best, if possible. Yes, I know it’s a tedious job, but it’s worth it. All that detail will not only highlight your personal qualities and skills gained in the role, it will also add credibility and evidence- which comes in handy during interviews!
(Make sure to proofread and check what you have written with fresh eyes in order to spot spelling and grammatical errors- it’s not a good look!).
Ask for Endorsements / Recommendations
Once you have connected with former and current colleagues on LinkedIn, go ahead and request endorsements/ recommendations from people who are aware of the quality of your work (especially from colleagues of more senior positions, or who have managed you). This will similarly add credibility to your profile, and show employers that you are well-liked and adept at networking and communicating- an essential skill in the current time.
Engage
I know it can be intimidating posting about yourself and engaging with other people’s content and posts, but you just have to get the ball rolling! Why not make an introductory post, briefly introducing yourself, your interests, and your experiences? Try to post regularly, if you can. You can find a topic you are interested in and re-share posts too! Be genuinely yourself with it but maintain a level of professionalism, as this is ultimately what employers will see.
And that is it! 5 tips for improving and developing your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by employers and build a personal brand.
If you are interested in tech and HTML, why not leverage your LinkedIn profile and take a free HTML course?, or see what local/ online volunteer opportunities you could contribute to in your spare time, such as the PODTech internship pathway?
You could even send us an article related to one of our topics to be featured in the online/print magazine and have your name published, which you can add to your portfolio/ projects page!
If you would like to contribute, you can email your proposition to ‘hello@reachlocal.org.uk‘. Every role and course you do is an investment in developing your skills and your future, so go ahead and see what stands out to you!
