These are all the times that you need
to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date
Don’t wait until you get a new job.
Almost everything in your life eventually needs an update–your
car, your clothing, your Facebook profile picture. Just the other day, I
discovered that my running shoes are so worn down I’m basically running
barefoot.
Your LinkedIn profile is no different. As you progress and make
transitions in your career, you start to “outgrow” certain parts of your
LinkedIn, much like a pair of overused shoes.
Of course, depending on where you are in your career–whether
you’re job searching, just starting a new job, or several years into a
role–you’re going to want to make different kinds of tweaks and additions. To
help you out, I’ll break it down by career stages–with real-life examples!
WHY SHOULD YOU
KEEP YOUR LINKEDIN UPDATED?
There’s an obvious reason and a not-so-obvious reason. The obvious
reason is that keeping it updated helps in your job search and in networking–no
matter if you’re casually looking for something, eager to be recruited, or
merely open to being approached about new opportunities.
When your profile is up-to-date and polished, it immediately makes
you more attractive. Imagine a recruiter coming across your profile and seeing
only the title you had two promotions ago. You’re doing yourself a big
disservice by not highlighting your most recent accomplishments!
The not-so-obvious reason is that consistently refreshing your
profile helps you keep track of what you’ve done and where you’ve come from.
“To varying degrees we all do things that are outside of our own
job description, [and] sometimes they just don’t necessarily get articulated in
what our role and responsibility is,” says Muse career coach Al Dea. “Those types of
things are always good to add into your profile…because if you don’t they’re
really easy to forget.”
Sure, you’re going to remember when you get promoted or land a big
deal, but what about all the other little things you accomplish on a regular
basis? Writing them down locks them in memory and further makes your case for
being a stellar employee (and hire).
And, says Dea, “it serves as a forcing mechanism for you to
actually reflect and think about not only what it is you do or what are all the
things you did but what was the impact of what you did.”
This kind of self-reflection can also lead you to think more
carefully about what you actually enjoy doing–and what roles you might want to
pursue in the future as a result.
One note before we get started: When you edit your LinkedIn,
you’ll want to turn off your “Sharing profile edits” settings (under “Settings
& Privacy”) so that your network isn’t constantly notified of the changes
you’re making.
WHEN YOU’VE
LANDED A ROLE BUT HAVEN’T STARTED IT YET
You’ve accepted a role and start in two weeks. Is there anything
you should be doing on LinkedIn?
Your profile itself may not change just yet, but consider posting
a status about leaving your current role, followed by another one announcing your new job. It’s smart to do these separately out of respect for your
employers (and to build some suspense about your next move). The first can be
something along the lines of:
[Date] is my last day at [Company]. I’d like to thank [Old
Manager/Coworkers’ Names] for [what you’re grateful for]. It’s been an exciting
journey working on [projects you completed or experiences you had that you’re
proud of] and I’ll miss my team dearly.
And the second can say something like:
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be joining [New Manager’s
Name]’s team at [Company] on [date you start], where I’ll be working on [brief
description of their mission or what you’ll be working on]. I’m super excited
for this new chapter in my life!
Of course, go ahead and tag any colleagues you want to recognize
(which also notifies their networks of your transition), as well as the
companies involved.
WHEN YOU’RE
JUST GETTING STARTED IN A NEW ROLE
Now that you’ve actually walked through the door, add your new
role to your profile! You might not be fully on-boarded yet, but you can still
outline in bullets what your role entails or what clients you’ll be working
with (or throw in a joke or two about the new-job accomplishments you’ve racked
up so far, like the example above). Or you can adjust your headline to include
your company’s mission.
You might also add relevant information for networking. If for
example you’re in sales and trying to land prospects via LinkedIn, you’ll want
to fill in your LinkedIn summary with background on your company and role, as
well as include any contact information or links they might need to reach you
or learn more about your product.
WHEN YOU’RE
SEVERAL MONTHS/YEARS IN
Once you’re no longer the newbie and have developed a robust
workload and reputation, it’s worth revisiting your LinkedIn experience section
to see if anything has changed or been added to your responsibilities. Did you
accomplish a major project? Land a big deal? Restructure an important system?
Take on a direct report? Or are there certain assignments or tasks you no
longer oversee or complete? Add those in (or revise them) to make your
experience look even more impressive and accurate. Adding in links is key as
well, whether it’s an article, TV interview, press release, or some other
published work you’ve done.
This is also a great time to add in both soft and hard skills
you’ve developed–and have your colleagues endorse them!
Revising your experience on a fairly regular basis–every four to
six months or so–keeps you on recruiters’ radars, who may be searching for
certain skills and interests and will be more likely to stumble upon your
profile. Plus, if you do the work now, when you are ready to kick off a job
search, you’ll spend less time trying to remember everything you did.
WHEN YOU GET
PROMOTED
Of course you’ll want to advertise this major milestone. Luckily,
LinkedIn makes this simple by allowing you to “attach” various positions to one
company to easily showcase your trajectory.
Add in your new title and job description, especially highlighting
anything you weren’t doing in your previous role. This time, you’ll want to
notify your network by turning on your sharing settings so people are aware
you’re moving up (and possibly a hot commodity).
One other thing you might want to do at this
stage is ask for a LinkedIn
recommendation. Too often we collect
recommendations after we’ve left a role and are job searching, when either our
managers or co-workers don’t remember what we did or what it was like to work
with us or we worked with them so long ago it’s awkward to approach them for help.
So use this big achievement as a jumping-off point for your boss
or colleagues to sing your praises online. Their recommendation will be
tailored to your accomplishments, and you’ll save yourself the hassle of having
to scramble for one later on.
WHEN YOU’RE
READY TO MOVE ON (BUT DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW)
LinkedIn makes it pretty easy to job search without your network
finding out–check out the handy “Let recruiters know you’re open to
opportunities” and “Signal your interest to recruiters at companies you have
created job alerts for” settings (under “Accounts” > “Settings and
Privacy”). But there are some additional things you’ll want to do on your
profile (subtly) to show you’re looking for a new opportunity.
First off, make sure those sharing settings are turned off–unlike
adding a promotion or new job, you probably don’t want your network to know
you’re suddenly updating a lot of stuff on your LinkedIn.
Secondly, beef up your summary. This is your chance to tell your
story and stand out from the pack, so make it good..
Third, refine your headline so it’s tailored to the kind of role
you want, without being obvious that you want to leave. “If you’re trying to
transition into a new job or there’s a job that you know that you want and the
title’s different than what you have now, it may be a little bit more difficult
for a recruiter to find your LinkedIn profile,” says Dea.
For example, if you’re a recruiter with the title “Talent
Coordinator,” you may change your headline to “Recruiter and Talent Coordinator”
or just “Recruiter” so it’s super clear what role you hold and are possibly
after.
WHEN YOU’RE
OBVIOUSLY JOB SEARCHING
A lot of the advice above still applies, but since you’re more
open about your job search you can make your status even more obvious, from
your headline to your summary. Simply adding a line such as Looking for
opportunities in [field] or Passionate about [industry/mission] can make a huge
difference.
If you didn’t ask for a recommendation earlier (it’s okay, I
forgive you), you’re going to want to do that now–with your last employer as
well as bosses or colleagues before that.
Finally, post a status about your search! Many people may not
notice your LinkedIn is suddenly all about finding a new job, so it’s smart to
let them know what you’re looking for so they can help you out. It certainly worked for this person after they were laid off.
One final note: I didn’t mention your profile picture here–mainly
because you should update that when it makes sense, rather than at a specific
point in your career. My one piece of advice is that it be a photo of you
that’s more or less recent. As with everything else on your profile, it won’t
do you any good if it’s not up to date!
BY ALYSE KALISH—THE MUSE
https://www.fastcompany.com/90300953/when-to-update-your-linkedin-profile?utm_source=postup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Fast%20Company%20Daily&position=2&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=02022019
No comments:
Post a Comment