During the Pandemic, we’re working hard to provide you with relevant content considering the circumstances. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, it’s okay to take a step back during this time and relax. But if you’re itching to market yourself, one easy thing to do while quarantined is improve your LinkedIn Profile.

If you’re not already on LinkedIn, it’s a great tool for your professional development. First, it helps you maintain connections with colleagues, classmates and other individuals that can support you as you move through your career. While it’s really awkward to friend your boss on Facebook, it’s totally acceptable to connect with him or her on LinkedIn. In fact, it’s a great way to get inspired. Looking at other people’s career trajectories might help you realize new possibilities you had not before considered.

LinkedIn also houses groups that you can join. If you graduated college, there’s a good chance that you can become part of your university’s alumni group. This will help you to reach out to people from your alma mater. Don’t hesitate! Generally, people love to engage with others from their university. If you have a question about their job or company, shoot them a message on LinkedIn.

Lastly, you can stay up to date on the latest business trends, company news and updates, and can access some of LinkedIn’s free learning tools to acquire new skills. See LinkedIn Learning for more on that. All that is to say, LinkedIn is a really powerful platform and we recommend that you sign up if you haven’t already. For those of you that have a profile, here are our tips to make it even more effective.

 

• Connect!

  • If you’re a big business person, it’s ideal to have 500+ connections but we don’t expect you to have that many. Aim for about 100 at first. The point is, don’t be shy. There are few people on LinkedIn that are off limits. So make those connections, they might come in handy later.

• Personalize

  • There are a few opportunities to make your LinkedIn profile more “you.” First, your headline. We recommend going beyond your job description to really make yourself stand out. Don’t make your headline too long but if you can get a little more specific, you should. Instead of “Content Strategist for Company X” maybe write “Content Strategist at Company X expanding into the global market with new language campaigns.”
  • You can also personalize your profile with your summary. Your summary tells your story. If you don’t know where to start, think about some of your key skills and how you acquired them. What do you want potential employers to know about you? Who are you beyond your job title? You can include your passions and your beliefs in this section, but don’t go overboard.

• Show it off

  • The body of your LinkedIn profile details your experience. It looks like a resume but can be even more detailed. No one wants to read the nitty gritty of every job you’ve ever done but include some of your big accomplishments from recent positions. Have an online portfolio? This is the place to share it. Start with your resume and then think about what you want to highlight.

• Skills and endorsements

  • Think about your skills and add them to the bottom of your profile. You can add between five and ten that you think really describe you. Then endorse others’ skills. Usually, this will lead them to endorse yours as well. Having endorsement gives you some credibility. Take it!

 

There are multiple ways to make your LinkedIn Profile but we recommend that you develop yours with one big idea in mind: Who am I? Who am I as a person? Who am I as a professional? Once you have that defined, make sure your LinkedIn Profile reflects it.