Improve your LinkedIn profile with these 11 quick tips! Set your timer for 15 minutes, and make these changes to maximize your job search potential on LinkedIn.

Quickly Improve Your LinkedIn Profile with These 11 Tips

By A Portland Career, and edited by Suzie Sherman

Overwhelmed with your job search? We can help you break it down into manageable steps

Is your LinkedIn profile collecting dust? Maybe you have good intentions to update it, but you still haven’t made the time. You’re not alone! Move past the procrastination and get more out of LinkedIn with these 11 quick tips. Take a deep breath, focus on what you offer as a job seeker, and how you can be genuinely helpful to your professional contacts. Set a timer, and let’s go!

Optimize your LinkedIn profile one step at a time, in manageable 15-minute bites! Start with any of our 11 tips below, set your timer for 15 minutes, and dig in! Repeat the process whenever you have a few minutes to spare. Whether you’re looking for a new job, career advice, or want to network with potential colleagues, keeping your LinkedIn profile updated and active is crucial for algorithm visibility.

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Quickly improve your LinkedIn profile with these 11 tips:

Contacts: Look at the profiles of two people you’re connected to on LinkedIn that you haven’t checked in on in a while. Send a LinkedIn message asking them about something they recently posted, or how it’s going at their current job. Share an update about yourself. Reconnect with your LinkedIn network to share resources and reinvigorate your profile views.
Custom URL: If you want a professional-looking LinkedIn profile, you’ll want your LinkedIn URL (the web address for your LinkedIn page) to show your name instead of a randomly-assigned number. Just log into your account, and go to https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings to change your URL suffix. Recruiters and colleagues will be able to find you more easily, and your LinkedIn profile link will look more polished in your contact information on your resume and cover letters.
Recommendations: Request a recommendation from a boss, colleague, or client from a recent position. LinkedIn recommendations make a big impact: they have largely replaced written letters of reference. Offer to write a recommendation, too.
LinkedIn Headline: The space right under your name on LinkedIn creates a strong first impression for recruiters, hiring managers, and potential colleagues. Include your current job title and employer. If you’re not employed, list your profession and industry. For example; “Environmental Marketing Strategist” or “Copywriter / Proofreader / Editor.” Use these 120 characters (about 50 words) to make a splash, define your personal brand, and emphasize the job title you’re looking for. Remember, your job title is a keyword that’ll help reel in recruiters.
Experience Section: List your paid positions as well as relevant volunteer activities. Bullet points or very short paragraphs divided by blank space make your profile more reader-friendly. Your LinkedIn experience is the most accessible online resume you’ve got for potential employers to check out, so pack it with accomplishments from your most relevant jobs.
Profile Picture: Select a recent headshot photo with a nice smile. People often remember a face before a name, and your profile is much more likely to get views with a LinkedIn profile photo. The recommended size for a profile photo is 400 x 400 pixels.
Background Photo: We recommend adding a simple background image to make your profile pop. A solid color or a local landscape work well. Make sure your banner is 1584 x 386 pixels for best resolution. Choose from the LinkedIn options or create your own.
Your Credentials: If you have an advanced degree or certification, include the initials after your last name. For example, use “Jenna Marsh, JD” even if you’re looking for policy jobs and not practicing law anymore, because the “JD” quickly connotes a sharp analytical ability.
About Section: Add your strengths, accomplishments, and passion to your About Section (also called the LinkedIn Summary) so people can get a sense of what you bring to the table. Write in the first person, and keep it to three or four short paragraphs, with bullet points and space between lines. The summary is vital, particularly if your recent employment does not represent your career direction, and you want to emphasize your relevant skills.
Skills Section: There are a couple ways to enter keywords to boost the visibility of your most important skills that match the kinds of job descriptions you’re searching for:
1. Click the edit icon in your About section to enter your Top 5 Skills, and make sure these are your hottest technical or “hard” skills desired for the job you’re seeking.
2. Add additional skills when you edit each individual work experience, or add them directly to the Skills Section at the bottom of your profile.
  
  If you’re not familiar with your industry buzzwords, get ideas from the LinkedIn profiles of people who have the type of job you’re looking for. Recruiters search for keywords, so make sure your most relevant skills are in there. Also, take a moment to delete any outdated skills, or skills you no longer want to highlight or develop.
Endorse Others and Get Endorsements: Go to the profiles of five of your contacts and endorse them for skillsets or knowledge you can vouch for. It’s akin to sharing a “high five,” and encourages your contacts to engage with your profile, too! Now, ask five of your contacts to endorse your skills!

Final Thoughts on quickly improving your LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile is a work in progress, just like you. You will change, gain experience, and get clearer about the competitive strengths that you want to bring forward to potential employers, so make a point to keep it updated. Set aside 15 minutes on a weekly basis, and you’ll start to get a lot more out of LinkedIn.

If social media still overwhelms you, and you want some in-person guidance to write your LinkedIn profile, schedule an Exploratory Call with Joanie, and find out what we can do to strengthen your LinkedIn profile and help you find a job you’ll love.