I think by now we all know how crucial a LinkedIn profile is. LinkedIn is a social network designed specifically for work and career related activities, including but not limited to: job searching, networking, and socializing about a variety of different topics.

LinkedIn houses millions of users, which makes not only your job search but also your visibility infinitely more accessible. In today’s digital world, it would be a crime not to have a LinkedIn page - but it matters what kind of page you have. Having a picture, a title, and a list of your jobs does not make a great LinkedIn page. So what does? Here are the 5 tips for making your LinkedIn page an ‘all-star’ profile.

1.       A professional profile picture

We really can’t stress enough how crucial a good, professional profile photo is. As mentioned, unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is specific to your career, so it is important that the picture you have is appropriate. We would all like to think that looks don’t matter, and while we do not believe someone should be judged by their beauty, having messy hair, or a very colourful shirt on can be distracting. Here are the rules you should follow when taking or choosing a profile picture:

• Be in front of a light, neutral colored-wall (think white, cream, ochre)

• Take the picture from your chest up, and make sure there is nothing in the background

• Wear neutral clothing colors – think black, royal blue, brown, or grey. It looks more visually appealing if your outfit is a darker color than the walls to have a bigger contrast

• Wear a professional outfit! No, you do not need to be in a suit and tie, but a blazer, dress shirt, or collared shirt are all appropriate. Try to show less skin, - cover your shoulders and chest.

• Look into the camera – one always looks more professional if they look straight into the camera. You don’t necessarily have to smile, but it definitely will make you seem more friendly, which, online is a good plus to have.

2.       Detailed and appropriate header

The header of your LinkedIn profile is the first thing people will see when they search you. This is what search engines look for as well, so it is imperative that this is well thought out and applicable to your experience and current and past jobs. I recommend having 2-5 titles that you can use.

As an example, you can see my profile has the titles:

This encompasses both my corporate experience as well as my freelance work and coaching business. This way, people who are interested in my corporate life or my coaching career can all easily find me on LinkedIn. You never know if someone searches for one job, lands on you, and realizes that they could use you for other services. Just make sure the titles are accurate, to the point, and actually reflect what you do. A tip is to find titles that have a high search rate – which you can easily find by typing the titles into the search bar on LinkedIn or even on google.

3.       Job summary with contact info

The job summary should be a culmination of 3-7 sentences, with each sentence describing a different area that you are good in relating to your professional career and background. The first few sentences should be broken up by skills, such as: project management, engineering, coaching, leadership, etc. The next few sentences can focus on non-specific work related topics, but ones that apply to your career, such as: being culturally seasoned, having specific certifications, living abroad, volunteering, etc. The last sentence should be a call to action, and look something along the lines of:

For more detailed information about my experience, contact me at XX, or

To learn more about how I can support you as a coach, please contact me XX.

The reason we recommend breaking the different areas into various sentences is because it is easier to read and better catches the eye of the reader. After all, people typically skim your information, rather than read it in detail, so it is important to make sure your information stands out.

In terms of grammar, we recommend writing in first person as a LinkedIn page has a less serious tone than a resume does.

Pro tip: always proof read your work – nothing worse than spelling and grammar errors.

4.       Detailed description of your experience

We see many LinkedIn profiles where people will list all of the jobs that have had, but don’t include a description. While having the list of job titles and companies is important and helps give the reader an overview, at the end of the day recruiters and people interested in your services will want to know what you specifically do.

This should be broken up similar to the summary, in that each sentence should be a different skill set you had or did at that job. The sentences should be first person, without using the word “I”, and always start with an action verb. Here are a few examples:

Increase volume of work by 20% for the Netherlands team by creating close relationships with partners through active video conferencing as well as preparing a portfolio of work and presenting to them on a quarterly basis.
Implement key strategies for improving way of working for large digital campaigns by hosting a workshop day, documenting processes, and continually updating and communicating improvements with team members and managers.

Be clear, show your achievements, and use action verbs for a more powerful sentence.

5.       More personal info

Although in many ways LinkedIn is a digital resume, it is also a social network. That means having additional info besides your career is important. So what other information is good to include on your LinkedIn profile? For example, certifications. Not only can you add the certifications you have, but also upload images of your actual certificate to show. You can add additional sections such as volunteer work you do, languages you speak, academic papers you have written, and courses you have taken either in college or on various platforms. This additional information can be the difference between someone with similar experience being looked at over you. Not to mention, these extra sections are great starting points for a conversation – it could be that someone finds you or is interested in you based on one of the extra sections. This really adds a personal touch and allows people to feel more connected to you digitally.

We hope you found this post helpful! For 1-1 consultation on your LinkedIn or any other topic, email us here or at doubletake.lifestyle@yahoo.com.

And here is our LinkedIn page for reference: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doubletake-co-a0157319a/