What’s Wrong With Your LinkedIn Profile
Toward the end of 2014, I decided to spend less time on some other social media sites and more time on LinkedIn. It is the number 1 professional network with over 230 million users. I’ve learned a lot and there is some really good content being shared on LinkedIn. That’s the good news, but here’s the bad news, the skills gap and talent gap is alive on LinkedIn as well. What I mean is, there are terrible profiles on LinkedIn with no pictures, summaries or job history – just names. Then there are faces and names but no titles, no summary, nothing that helps an employer understand who they are and what they want. People just don’t get it. Well, here’s some help, folks.
Here are 5 things that’s wrong with your profile:
- Your picture.
This madness must stop. Car selfies, glamour shots, mug shots…stop it please. Folks, it’s simple. Find a clean dress shirt or blouse. Next find a clean wall. Stand in front of it and take a picture. Your Iphone has pretty good resolution so that’s fine. Or if you can afford it, hire a photographer but for the love of all that’s decent get those photos together. I’ve also seen upside down and sideways pictures…ri-dic-u-lous! Your picture should be a headshot, nice and clean with a nice background.
- Your name and title lines.
Please don’t go overboard with branding, for example, Chris “Mr. Do It All” Jones or Ms. Barbara “Blessed and Highly Favored” Smith. Cut it out. Just put in your current title or titles, e.g. (name) Chris Fields, MLHR (title) HR Consultant, Resume Writer, Social Media Advocate. I do all those things. You want to stand out? You want to be different? Well just be careful you don’t want to considered a joke.
- Your Summary.
Most of you don’t have a summary at all and others are very generic. You only get so many characters in the summary section so don’t try to write a book, just write 3 paragraphs; 1 introductory paragraph which basically states who you are. The next paragraph should be about what you do or want to do. The 3rd paragraph should be a nice quick wrap up and invitation to connect. (this is just a simple suggestion).
- Your Activity.
You don’t log in enough. It’s not enough to be on LinkedIn, you have to be active. So connect with people, build your network, share professional articles, and join professional development associations and groups. And update your tagline from time to time.
- Your shares.
LinkedIn is not FACEBOOK, sharing memes, church functions, jokes, and other inappropriate items can hurt your chances of getting a job. If you are social worker, then share things related to social work, children and families. Same goes for whatever profession you are in, share content which is important to your profession. I like fun, inspirational quotes and hilarious pictures too but save them for Twitter, text messages, Facebook and Instagram.
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