Your 5-Minute LinkedIn Checklist
LinkedIn is likely your most promising digital way into a new job, a new hire or new contacts for your network. And, like all social media channels, keeping your profile up to date and engaging can be incredibly time-consuming. Until you come across that day in your week when you have a chunk of time to dedicate to profile updates, here is a five-minute checklist to make sure you have covered off on the basics of looking good.
Make sure your Summary section states exactly what you are looking to gain from LinkedIn.
Are you seeking a new professional opportunity? Looking to recruit some new talent? Wishing to build your network of potential partners, vendors or influential industry colleagues? Do a quick edit of the Summary section at top of your Profile to clearly state why you are on LinkedIn. Everyone who comes across your page should understand what your call to action is.
Review your Privacy Settings.
In the Privacy Settings, you can:
- Turn on/off your activity broadcasts
- Select who can see your activity feed
- Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile
- Select who can see your connections
- Change your profile photo and visibility
- Show/hide “Viewers of this profile also viewed” box
- Manage who you’re blocking
Check for any content or connections better suited for other social media channels.
Your kids are adorable, we are glad you belong to the National Knitters Association and that’s fantastic you checked in at that new hot restaurant last night. However, if none of this information furthers your LinkedIn objectives, delete it or move it elsewhere in your digital ecosystem.
Good grammar is good manners in the world of writing.
Do a quick read of your profile in search of two things: 1) that your writing is on in the same person, e.g. in first person “I manage a team of 12…” or third person “Rhonda manages a team of 12…”, and 2) that all verbs are in the appropriate tense – past tense for all past jobs and current for anything your doing now.
Put your best self out there.
LinkedIn profiles with photos garner 5-10 times the number of views of profiles without a photo. So if you don’t have a profile pic, definitely add one. And if you do have one, double-check its resolution – blurry or pixelated photos are possibly worse than not having one at all.