Friday, August 17, 2007

Build a Linkedin Profile That You Can Be Proud Of! - Page 2


11 Ways To Make A Great Linkedin Profile

When employers or people you network with Google you, the first entry they find about you will probably be your Linkedin or Facebook profile (unless you’ve already been heavily published, or have already built an online reputation).

However, most Linkedin profiles are very generalist in nature, and do little to help the job seeker truly stand out. As a job seeker, do you want a profile that looks like thousands of others, or a profile that is totally unique, yet professional?

The good news is you can make your Linkedin profile work for you, by writing a profile designed to help employers find you in searches.

What are the steps needed to write a killer Linkedin profile?
  1. Develop a very defined Subject Matter Expertise. Linkedin doesn’t help generalists nearly as much as Subject Matter Experts. Throw out the idea of branding yourself as a broad generalist…it doesn’t work anymore. See Who Needs Generalists Anymore? (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/01/who-needs-generalists-anymore-best-of.html).


  2. Determine the Specific problems where your Subject Matter Expertise can provide the Unique Solution. See Will You Stop Looking for a Job Already? http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/would-you-stop-looking-for-job-already.html).


  3. Develop strong bullet points of accomplishments, to demonstrate your experience in solving specific problems, to demonstrate you are the Unique Solution. Demonstrate how you have provided employer value – see Do You Create Employer Value? (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/would-you-stop-looking-for-job-already.html).


  4. Develop a skills matrix, and match it against what skills you see in demand in the marketplace. This is a great gut check to make sure you are highlighting the skills that are important to employers, not just the skills that make you feel good about yourself. See Focus Your Job Search With A Skills Matrix (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/focus-your-job-search-with-skills.html.


  5. Develop a template resume around your tightly defined Subject Matter Expertise.


  6. Use the top 4 bullet points from your last or (present) job, 2-3 bullet points for relevant jobs with outstanding achievements that add additional proof to your Subject Matter Expertise. Don’t bother with bullet points for jobs over 10 years ago (unless it contains subject matter expert proof that you can’t show elsewhere).


  7. For jobs over 10 years, just list without explanation. It was 10 years ago - how much about that job is still relevant to an employer today?


  8. Develop a highlight line, absolutely no longer than one typed line on a word document. Make it extremely brief, but extremely targeted.


  9. Include your education, including graduate degrees. Include any volunteer activities.


  10. Link relevant sites – post samples of your work, your online portfolios, blogs, any groups you moderate. List other online profiles (Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, Spock, Ecademy, Xing, Jigsaw, Zoominfo, etc.).


  11. Get the right recommendations. See Linkedin Strategies – Recommendations (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/03/linkedin-strategies-recommendations.html).

Your Linkedin profile is your first step to Online Reputation Management (,http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/01/online-reputation-management-4-steps-to.html and building your personal digital brand.

So take a look at your Linkedin profile. Does it paint you as the unique answer to a very specific problem? Or does it paint you as yet another generalist?

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Related Articles:
Best Job Search Tools On Linkedin 2010
Resume vs Profile: Which should job seekers send?

Email your request to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Source: href="http://recareered.blogspot.com/">http://reCareered.blogspot.com

2 comments:

Career Transition Specialist said...

Phil, this is a great article full of useful tips. As a Career Counselor, I have used many of these in the past, but as per usual I gained a bit of new insigh as well.

As an aside, the picture for this article is entirely too funny. It reminds me of an old term, to "stop being the french fry." It refers to a french fry sitting on the beach, waiting for a seagull to gather it up. If you sit there looking like leftovers, the only thing to pick you up is a scavenger.

Great work!

Chris Kulbaba MBTI/PD

Phil Rosenberg said...

Thanks Chris! BTW, were you referring to the seagull pic for "Ten Things To Do After You've Told All Your Friends" (http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/08/ten-things-to-do-after-youve-told-all.html)?