95% of recruiters are on LinkedIn looking for exactly what you can offer.
Help them find you.
How? By using your LinkedIn profile to its fullest potential.
Here are 5 quick updates you can do to maximize your LinkedIn profile, attract job opportunities, and help recruiters, hiring managers, and prospective employers find you in a sea of 810 million LinkedIn users.
94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet job candidates. Optimize your LinkedIn profile and show that you’re a recruiter’s perfect candidate.
Click here to start optimizing your LinkedIn profile
1. Let recruiters know that you are #OpenToWork
LinkedIn rolled out the #OpenToWork feature to help job seekers share job preferences (i.e., locations, start dates, workplaces, and even job types). This feature increases your chances of appearing in recruiter searches and matches your job preferences so that when a relevant job is posted on LinkedIn, you will be one of the first to be notified.
To enable the #OpenToWork feature in your LinkedIn profile:
- Click the “Open to” button below your contact info
- Select “Finding a new job”
- Supply your job preferences
- Indicate who could see that you’re #OpenToWork (either recruiters only OR the entire LinkedIn community)
- Click Add to Profile
With this feature, you can control who sees that you are open to new work opportunities: you can choose to share this either privately with “recruiters only” or with the broader LinkedIn community through the #OpenToWork LinkedIn profile photo frame.
Around 12 million LinkedIn users are taking advantage of the photo frame, and LinkedIn data would show that, on average, these users are 40% more likely to receive InMails from recruiters.
2. Use targeted keywords in your LinkedIn profile
Let’s face it. Keywords are the key to a great LinkedIn profile that gets noticed by recruiters!
With over 810 million active LinkedIn users and 40 million job seekers looking for jobs on LinkedIn every week, recruiters start with keyword searches to filter through candidates for open positions and vacancies. Therefore, not using keywords to your advantage is a wasted opportunity!
One quick thing, though. Don’t overstuff your LinkedIn profile with keywords but use only those that reflect your experience, skills, and expertise. Otherwise, you run the risk of appearing spammy.
So how do you look for keywords?
- Be clear about the job you want or the specific industry you want to be a part of
- Study industry trends and learn about your dream company and the values they uphold
- Check Job Descriptions of the job/s you want to apply for
- Map out hard skills, terminologies, and keywords across various job descriptions, industry trends and data, and relevant skills a recruiter in your industry might search for. Be specific.
- Pepper those relevant and targeted keywords throughout the different fields and sections in your LinkedIn profile to increase your chances of appearing in LinkedIn search results
Jobscan LinkedIn Optimization saves you time by automating this process for you. It scans your LinkedIn profile and analyzes it against three or more job descriptions you provide, adding a level of keyword personalization missing from general advice and best practices.
3. Build an all-star LinkedIn profile
An all-star status simply means that you have a complete LinkedIn profile. Shauna Cole, the founder of Career Interrupted, shared during our No Fear Job Search webinar series that “having an active, well-put-together, all-star LinkedIn profile will make it 40 times more likely for you to be discovered by a recruiter on LinkedIn.”
Further, a study conducted by ResumeGo reveals that those who have a comprehensive LinkedIn profile have a 71% higher chance of getting interviewed for a job.
And even with these, only 51% of LinkedIn users have a complete LinkedIn profile.
You can read through our comprehensive guide to building a LinkedIn profile, but here’s a quick rundown of some essential elements of a great LinkedIn profile that attracts recruiters and appears in LinkedIn search results.
Make a great first impression with your LinkedIn headshot
You don’t need to hire a professional photographer and pay large sums of money for your LinkedIn profile photo (although you can do that for sure!). You just need to make sure that your profile photo is sharp, decent, and professional. LinkedIn users who include professional headshots get 14 times more views than those who don’t.
Note: Add a great background image to your LinkedIn profile that will complement (and not compete) with your profile picture.
Write a compelling and keyword-rich LinkedIn headline
The LinkedIn headline is your most prominent branding and marketing message. It shows up in the recruiter’s Boolean searches, making it one of the most powerful fields in your LinkedIn profile.
By default, LinkedIn uses your current job title and employer for your headline section (e.g., Content Strategist at XYZ Company). Honestly, this is not the best use for this powerful field, considering that it also has a 220-character limit.
Therefore, make the most of the headline section to rank higher in recruiter searches. Include job titles, targeted keywords that recruiters in your industry might search for, specific and relevant skills, signature accomplishments, and your value proposition. Check out impactful headline examples to help you craft a headline that makes recruiters stop scrolling and actually open your LinkedIn profile.
Specify your industry and location
More than 30% of recruiters use location to narrow their searches for viable candidates. Leaving the industry and location fields blank is a huge missed opportunity and will leave you out of recruiter search results.
Write a strong LinkedIn Summary (About Section)
The LinkedIn Summary is important digital real estate. It gives you a chance to share your story, show a little bit of your personality, and showcase the value you bring and what differentiates you from other candidates.
The About Section currently allows you to use 2600 characters, so maximize this. Include relevant and targeted keywords in this section, as this also plays a huge role in your searchability.
Include measurable results and accomplishments in your Work Experience section
Instead of outlining your job responsibilities, use the experience section to showcase significant accomplishments you made and measurable results you contributed to your current and previous employers. List these in bullet form so that it’s easier to read.
If currently employed, including your current position is a plus. LinkedIn users who include current positions are discovered 16 times more in recruiter searches. Their LinkedIn profile views also increase up to 29 times.
You can also leverage job title fields in the work experience section by adding keywords, specialties, and areas of expertise, as these are heavily weighted in LinkedIn search.
For example, instead of saying Accountant, you can write
Accountant – CPA, Financial Statement Analysis, Risk Assessment, Tax
Highlight your skills
When vetting candidates, 87% of recruiters consider skills as a critical factor.
Skills are essentially keywords. So adding hard and soft skills relevant to the jobs you are applying for increases your chances of being discovered by recruiters. As a matter of fact, LinkedIn reports that users who have at least five relevant skills in their LinkedIn profile are contacted by recruiters up to 33 times more.
LinkedIn allows you 50 slots for skills, so maximize this opportunity. You can check skills in the job descriptions of the roles you want to apply for and use these keywords in your skills section.
Further, the terms under the Skills Section more heavily factor into your LinkedIn searchability when other LinkedIn users endorse you for them. So make sure to add keywords and get endorsements to rank higher in search results.
Complete your education section
This section speaks volumes about you and plays a role in helping you connect with other alumni and expand your network. And the more LinkedIn networks you have, the more job opportunities you attract.
You may include any relevant qualifications, awards or honors you received, and media such as photos, videos, or documents to showcase your achievements while attending your school/college.
4. Network and actively engage in LinkedIn
Building an All-star LinkedIn profile is not enough. You also need to have presence.
To maximize what LinkedIn offers as a professional networking platform, strategically connect and engage with other LinkedIn users (and even recruiters) and regularly post relevant content.
Read through LinkedIn articles, check out what other people are posting about, and comment and share insights on things that pique your interest. These will not only help you build professional relationships with other LinkedIn users but will also signal to recruiters and prospects that you are active and engaged.
Linkedin shared that 35.5 million job seekers have been hired by a person they connected with on the site and so do not underestimate the power of strategically connecting and networking on LinkedIn.
5. Stay updated
Building a great LinkedIn profile is not a one-and-done process. You have to regularly and consistently update your profile. Yes, even when you aren’t looking for a job. Because maybe someone who is in the position to help you land your dream job will scour through LinkedIn one day, see you appear in a LinkedIn search, and read through your entire LinkedIn profile. You’ll never know. So make every effort to get your LinkedIn profile up-to-date – peppering it with targeted keywords and regularly adding into the different LinkedIn profile sections.
Your LinkedIn profile has a lot of things to offer when it comes to your job search. And during this critical time, you need all the advantages you can get.
So update your profile now (if you haven’t already), taking into account the LinkedIn profile tips and updates outlined above, because there are recruiters and employers specifically looking for you and the value you can offer. Make every effort to help them find you today.
Try Jobscan’s LinkedIn Optimization Tool and build a LinkedIn profile that’s optimized for recruiters to notice you, find you, and hire you.
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