Setup a Perfect Linkedin Profile

If you have ignored your Linkedin profile recently, think twice. Linkedin is highly ranked within the search engines and trusted by many industry leaders and recruiters, so if someone or a company is looking you up, your Linkedin profile will be most likely one of the top results on the search engines.

You have to make sure that your profile is spot on and that your professional image online is not a factor in you loosing a potential job opportunity.

Here are some of the tweaks you can do to your linkedin profile to ensure your online visibility is an attraction and not a scare:

- Make sure you have a professional headshot taken, if you cannot afford one, take it yourself at home over a white background. Make sure you are well dressed and groomed.

- Choose a catchy, non-boring profile title, for ex mine is: Startup Expert | Web Design Addict | Social Media Fanatic | Product Development Geek.

- Make sure you link back to your personal business website and or your companies website.

- Your profile summary is very important, I recommend you write it, have someone else review it and read it back to you. If the profile does not sound convincing or descriptive enough about who you are, to you, it won’t be to others who are browsing your profile.

- Fill out all your employment history with the things that matters to the industry you are trying to get into. For ex, if you are applying for an IT administrator, your job as dishwasher when you were 18 won’t do you good!

- Complete your profile and fill out your expertise. Linkedin has a very good recommendation engine based on your profile information. They will push your expertise on the people in your network so they can endorse you. You will also see the completeness of your profile on the right column of your linkedin home page

- Grow your network, either by doing 1 on 1 with people that you exchange synergy with or even people you met at events you attended. You never know where a connection might take you in the professional word. You can also label your profile, next to your last name field, as [OPEN NETWORKER] this will let other people who wants to grow their network to add you to their profile.

- Ask for recommendations from people you know or worked with. Make sure you reciprocate as well.

- Try to publish some interesting news on your linked page to external websites. You can use tools like Vbout.com or Hootsuite.com to achieve that

- Last but not least. Insert a link to your linked profile in your email signature, this will definitely drive people to your profile