Your LinkedIn profile may be a more powerful tool in your job search than you think! As a recruiter, I am personally looking at hundreds of LinkedIn profiles a week and searching for qualified candidates for a number of different roles. A truly complete and effective LinkedIn profile will catch my eye and are the ones that I immediately reach out to.

Making your profile stronger and more comprehensive will not only make you stand out to recruiters, but will also help you find your next opportunity. Take a look at the top six things recruiters look for in your LinkedIn profile and make the necessary updates today.

Your Picture:

The first thing a recruiter will notice when looking through profiles is a nice, high quality profile picture. A LinkedIn profile with a photo can get you up to nine times more connection requests. You need to ensure that your profile picture is professional, because when recruiters see a selfie or a poorly cropped photo, it becomes a red flag to them. A big smile makes a candidate seem more approachable and friendly, which will make recruiters want to reach out to you. Take a look at our previous article that gives you helpful advice on how to easily create a professional profile picture.

If You’re Open to New Opportunities:

When using LinkedIn as a job search tool, there is a feature that allows you to let recruiters know you are looking. In your profile settings, you can choose to be “Open to New Opportunities,” which will privately let recruiters know you want to make a move (and not show it on your profile so your current employer will not be notified). You can also specify target roles, industries, and cities that you would like to work in. This is one of the first things recruiters notice when searching through various profiles. When you express that you are open to hearing about new roles you are more than twice as likely to get messages from recruiters.

Your Education:

If you earned a degree or certificate, you need to be sure to highlight your hard work as it will certainly stand out to recruiters. Some positions that recruiters work on have very precise requirements where you need a specific certificate or degree. Your LinkedIn profile needs to accurately reflect your education, whether it be a Professional Certificate or Bachelor’s Degree. The added benefit is that a completed education section of your profile can get you up to 17 times more messages from recruiters!

Dates of Employment:

As you make updates to your profile, it’s important to also update any dates of employment with the month and year as you change positions. Dates with the month and year shown will be able to better showcase your stability and really stand out to recruiters as they are looking at profiles. When you don’t have accurate dates (or no dates) listed of your past roles, it can be a turn off to recruiters and potential employers.

Experience Descriptions:

More often than not your job responsibilities in your current or past roles expand far beyond your title. Be sure to include not just your responsibilities and duties in your positions, but also your accomplishments under each title. Tailor your descriptions to truly highlight your abilities as these will ensure you come up more in recruiters’ searches. Your job titles usually don’t tell the whole story, so you need to be able to demonstrate how you are qualified through your profile.

Your Location:

When recruiters are searching LinkedIn, they typically have a specific location for the role. In this case, you need to be sure to include your location, whether it be a specific city or area. When you add your location on your profile, you are 23 times more likely to get viewed. If you do not include location, you can be missing out on a number of opportunities from recruiters.

Recruiters are here to help you find your next role! By ensuring each of these sections of your profile is complete, you will be one step closer to landing your dream role. Take the time today to brush up your LinkedIn profile, as you never know what types of opportunities are out there.

 

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