5 Hacks for Your LinkedIn Profile

I agree with Lifehacker.com on these 5 easy ways to make your LinkedIn page less boring and more effective. Indeed, “you want to make a good first impression before you meet face-to-face for an interview”!

1. Disable updates before you start tweaking your page. This way you can avoid spamming your connections that you are making changes. To disable updates, click on the Settings & Privacy, then go to Privacy, and then Sharing Profile Edits (turn it off).
2. Describe your skill set simply and clearly. I hate it when people only list who they work for but not what they do. Is it commercial, or litigation, or M&A? Each practice area is plausible yet so different.
3. Include education and work experience at a minimum. Otherwise you have a sad, spare page. Why bother being on LinkedIn at all?
4. Post a professional picture. That alone will drive traffic to your page 14x. But apply some common sense. Don’t post your wedding picture even though a professional photographer took the shot. Also, I suggest wearing crisp but business casual clothes. Suits generally turn off people in the Bay Area.
5. Customize your URL so you can share something professional looking, not a meaningless jumble of letters. To customize, go to your LinkedIn profile, then Edit Profile & Public URL on the upper right, and create your custom URL. Mine, for example, is https://www.linkedin.com/in/susantien/. Catchy, no?

So much of your job search is out of your hands, e.g., whether your current title matches what you think it should be, or whether your dream employer will talk to you. But you can control your presentation. LinkedIn is your public face, so make it as on-point as possible!