10 Top LinkedIn Tips, Tricks 2
Follow these best-practices to improve your profile, get noticed by recruiters, and land your next gig.
How LinkedIn savvy are you? Whether you're a seasoned user or a newbie just getting started, learning the ins and outs of the social network takes time. Here's a look at some of its best little-known features, plus tips for getting noticed by recruiters, managing your profile, and more.
1. Edit Or Remove Endorsements
LinkedIn introduced a new feature called Endorsements almost a year ago. Endorsements, which are found under the Skills & Expertise section of your profile, let your connections vote up the talents and proficiencies you've listed within your profile, as well as recommend new ones they think should be included. Your skills are then ranked and reranked based on the number of people who have voted on them.
As popular as Endorsements appear to be -- with more than 1 billion given to more than 58 million professionals, according to LinkedIn -- some LinkedIn users don't agree that they're useful. Because many people accept LinkedIn invitations to connect with people they don't know well, endorsements from these connections may be misguided, insincere, or incorrect. There's even a Tumblr blog called Endorsement Bombing that highlights how endorsements are abused on some profiles by users voting up skills such as "roundhouse kicks" and "comedic timing."
If you haven't paid attention to this profile section before, the good news is there are three ways you can edit it. To remove individual skills from your profile, navigate to the main menu and select Edit Profile under the Profile heading. Scroll to the Skills & Expertise section and click Edit. Here, delete individual skills from your profile by clicking the X next to each one.
Your second option is to remove endorsements from select connections. This may be useful if you want to limit your endorsements to only the connections you know well and trust. To do this, click the Manage Endorsements tab to switch views. Click a skill, and then uncheck the box next to the contact you want to remove. When you're finished modifying your endorsements, click Save.
Your third option is to remove the entire endorsements section from your profile. To do this, scroll to the Skills & Expertise section and click Edit. From the dropdown menu next to the option "Display your endorsements?" choose "No, do not display my endorsements." Click Save.
By default, LinkedIn users receive emails when they have received an endorsement. Users who receive many endorsements from connections may find these emails annoying. The good news is you can opt out. To do so, navigate to your Privacy & Settings page, click the Communications side tab on the left (next to the envelope icon), and click Set The Frequency Of Emails. Then click Notifications to expand the options below it and find the Endorsements section. Select "No Email" and click "Save Changes."
With hundreds of thousands of LinkedIn Groups to choose from, it's a good idea to know which ones are best suited for you before you decide to join them. When you find a group that looks promising, click the More tab below the group's name and select Group Statistics.
This is where you can learn details about the group's demographics, such as the breakdown of the group members' seniority, where they're located, the industries they're in, and more. You can also see how active the group members are and browse the group's growth.
One of the most common LinkedIn mistakes job searchers make is waiting too long to apply for a position, according to Lindsey Pollak, career expert and LinkedIn ambassador. But one of LinkedIn's newest features makes applying for jobs more convenient.
This summer, LinkedIn launched a new feature that lets you not only search for jobs, but apply for them directly from your mobile phone. To get started, open your LinkedIn app and click the Jobs tab to search for a position. Every job listing will offer the option to either Apply or Save for later. Some may have an Apply On Company Website button instead; in these cases, the company requires you to apply on its corporate career site.
Once you click Apply, LinkedIn will let you know if parts of your profile are incomplete. You'll have the option to edit your profile directly from the app before submitting your information. If your profile is already up to date, click the blue Next button on the top.
On the final screen, LinkedIn will prompt you to confirm your contact information, including your email address and phone number. Then simply tap the Submit button to complete the application process.
While you can use your LinkedIn profile to apply to many jobs, there are still instances in which you need a hard copy of your resume. To generate one quickly based on your LinkedIn profile, give LinkedIn's Resume Builder a try.
Once you connect the app to your account, it scans your profile to generate a preview of your resume. You can choose from a number of templates and edit any blank fields from right on the page. This app also saves your resumes and lets you share them or keep them private.
According to LinkedIn, adding a profile picture makes your profile seven times more likely to be viewed by others. To add or update your profile picture, click Edit Profile under the navigation option at the top, then click the camera icon to the left of your name.
On the next page, you can browse your files for a photo to upload and set the privacy settings for your picture. The default setting allows everyone to see your photo, though you can change it so only your connections or those in your network can see it. Your profile picture is automatically visible to anyone you message.
Your LinkedIn profile should not be a place to showcase your extensive vocabulary. Instead, keep your language simple. Recruiters won't search for a "passionate and clever wordsmith," after all, but they will search for a "writer."
"This one is an absolute science," said LinkedIn's Pollak. "Go to the job listing you're interested in and look at the words they have used, then use those same words in your profile. You certainly don't want to plagiarize the paragraph, but use your common sense to identify what's important, then make sure those words are in your profile."
To test whether you're attracting the right people to your profile, look at the "Who's Viewed Your Profile" statistics. In particular, check the listing of keywords that people used to arrive at your profile. If you don't like what you see, adjust the way you describe yourself.
If you're looking for a new job, beware: Whenever you browse a LinkedIn member's profile, that person is alerted along with details about you. How much information the person sees -- whether it's a vague description such as "IT manager at Microsoft" or your name -- is up to you.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, navigate to your Privacy and Settings page and click "Select what others see when you've viewed their profile" under the Privacy Controls subhead in the Profile tab.
You can choose to have your name and headline displayed, agree to anonymous profile characteristics such as industry and title, or choose to remain completely anonymous. When you've made your selection, click Save Changes.
LinkedIn now lets you upload images, videos, presentations, and documents to make your profile more engaging and show off your work. To add these to your profile, choose Edit Profile from the menu at the top. Under your Summary, Experience, and Education profile sections is a new icon: a square with a (+) symbol. Click this button to upload a file or add a link to a piece of content you want to share.
When you upload an item, a picture of your content will display with a prefilled title and description. To edit these fields, scroll to the media sample you want to edit and click the pencil icon in the lower-right corner. Click inside the Title and Description fields to edit the text, then click Save.
Every time you update your LinkedIn profile -- whether it's changing your summary, editing your past experience, or following new companies -- the social network broadcasts the activity to your connections. If you're beginning a new job hunt, you may not want your current employer to see your latest activities. Luckily, LinkedIn gives you the option to mute your activity broadcasts so your changes are kept private.
To turn off your LinkedIn activity broadcasts, navigate to your Privacy & Settings page. You can find this by clicking the dropdown menu below the profile picture in the top-right corner. (You may be asked to submit your login credentials.) On your privacy and settings page, click "Turn on/off your activity broadcasts." This option is found in the Profile tab at the bottom. Then uncheck the box.
Need a break from the workday? DropIn, LinkedIn's version of Tetris, uses your contacts' profile pictures in place of the standard colored Tetris blocks. To play, visit the DropIn website and login using your LinkedIn credentials. Just don't let your boss catch you.
Need a break from the workday? DropIn, LinkedIn's version of Tetris, uses your contacts' profile pictures in place of the standard colored Tetris blocks. To play, visit the DropIn website and login using your LinkedIn credentials. Just don't let your boss catch you.
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