The first thing a person interested in hiring you would look at is your LinkedIn profile. In today’s times, not maintaining your profile or not using LinkedIn at all is a rookie mistake. A good LinkedIn profile plays a major role in leaving a lasting impression on the recruiter’s mind.
Your profile is like the online version of your resume, only it gives you the freedom to be more creative and detailed. Not creating a good profile may lead to you missing out on job opportunities and the chance to connect with relevant people.
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However, while creating a LinkedIn profile, there are certain mistakes people tend to make that lead to missed opportunities. Keep scrolling and find out what they are and how you can avoid them.
1. No profile photo
Not uploading a profile photo is a bad idea. Not only does it make your profile look sketchy but if you’re meeting a potential employer in person, they may not be able to recognise you.
Hence, it is important to upload a profile photo. Uploading blurry photos or badly cropped photos could be seen as unprofessional or negligent.
While uploading, make sure you choose a clear picture and a solo one. If you have a photo in formal attire, it’s advisable to use that. If not, you can use any solo photo with good lighting.
2. Using symbols or acronyms in the name field
It's against LinkedIn’s policies to put anything other than your name in the name field. This can cause your account to be restricted.
Other than the legalities, putting anything other than your name in the name field simply makes you harder to find. It makes you seem unprofessional and decreases your credibility.
One of the first things a recruiter would like to know is your name. They may lose interest if your profile doesn’t provide that. Additionally, LinkedIn has also noted that adding emails in the name field leads to exposure to spam messages.
3. Boring headlines
A good LinkedIn profile is all about making a lasting impression on the viewer. They should like it enough to either connect with you or offer you a job opportunity. You only have a few seconds or a minute to make that impression.
The first thing a person sees when they click on your profile is your headline and summary. The headline needs to be interesting and creative enough for them to keep scrolling and viewing your entire profile.
If you have a simple and basic headline, chances are the person will move on to the next profile within a few seconds. Which is why you need to grab their attention with the 120 characters the headline provides.
4. Lack of recommendations and endorsements
The more people you have recommending you and vouching for your skills, the more credible you seem.
A good LinkedIn profile includes recommendations and endorsements from colleagues and people in your network. The more people recommend you, the more likely the potential employer will be convinced that you have the potential they’re seeking.
If you’re not very comfortable with messaging people within your network and asking them to recommend you, start by requesting your closest coworkers and peers to write them for you.
Your friends and colleagues can also endorse the skills you add in your skills section on your LinkedIn profile. With recommendations and endorsements, you increase your chances of impressing the recruiter.
5. Posting too much personal information
Here’s one of the most important LinkedIn tips that will do you good to remember: LinkedIn is not the same as Facebook and Instagram.
It’s a professional social media page and is meant for all things business. What goes on in your personal life is strictly private and it should be kept that way. Whatever you post here should be relevant to your business, career, or professional life in general.
Posting pictures of family, friends, birthdays, and anniversaries should be avoided as LinkedIn is a professional networking site. You could look unprofessional and an employer may lose interest too.
6. Inconsistent activity
If you’re active on LinkedIn, you will be at the top of your network’s minds. Being active is the easiest way to build relationships and create strong connections with people.
You can upload a status update or publish articles as a mode of staying active. If not, you can simply interact with the updates put up by other people in your network.
We hope this helped you understand the crucial errors people make when creating a LinkedIn profile and how you can effectively avoid them.
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