What You Need on Your LinkedIn Profile To Get My Notice

Lawyers believe less is more for their LinkedIn profile. They could not be more wrong. I work with great clients, ranging from unicorns to the Fortune 10 companies, and I sift through a lot of profiles to come up with a short list of top candidates. I agree with Suzy Welch’s recent article on how to get noticed by a recruiter. Populate your LinkedIn profile with these 5 things:

1. Add a picture. Lawyers are often concerned about privacy and do not post a picture. However, if I am faced with two similar profiles, one with a great picture and one with no picture, it’s pretty easy to decide who is getting contacted.
2. Fill out the summary section. Add at least one sentence explaining what you do. If I see great schools, firms, and companies, but nothing about what you do, I probably won’t reach out since I don’t want to bother someone with the wrong job.
3. Add your skills. This section tells me what you do and what you’re good at. Don’t make me guess.
4. Include a location, at least where your current employer is. My clients in the San Francisco Bay Area often do not want to relocate candidates, and I will filter by geography. If you have no location and I can’t easily figure it out, I may not call.
5. Indicate industries you have expertise in when filling out your profile. Employers often do not want to train, so they want to see lawyers who have supported their specialty. If I search by industry and your profile comes up, you’re more likely to get called.