10 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Today’s guest post comes from Naomi Woods, who served as an AmeriCorps Team Leader at Hands On Atlanta. She’s currently an International Student Advisor at Grambling State University. She is an active member on our AmeriCorps Alums LinkedIn group and enjoys sharing her tips to help others develop their professional skill sets.
- Organize your profile for a better flow and create a personal summary for potential recruiters to get an idea of your professional aspirations.
- Build your LinkedIn network by sending invites to your email connections
- Join groups for networking (including AmeriCorps Alums) and in your professional industries.
- Personally message and connect with members in your professional industry groups.
- Add apps to your profile (ie Amazon, TripIt, Event, Twitter, Box.net, Polls)
- Follow reading list of people with interesting jobs, tastes, and resumes
- Try to keep a continuous stream of activity on LinkedIn account with status updates and shared links
- Use the “People you may know” section and send customized invitations explaining your reasons to connect.
- Organize your contacts into groups and professional industries.
- Keep your LinkedIn profile at 100% by including your education, experience, recommendations and group memberships to help increase your search ranking and visibility to potential recruiters and professionals in your network
On July 24th from 12pm -1pm ET, AmeriCorps Alums will be hosting our July Professional Development Webinar, “LinkedIn & Your Career”, featuring Naomi and LinkedIn’s Higher Education Evangelist, John Hill. We’ll be discussing best practices on how to utilize LinkedIn in building your professional life after AmeriCorps. You can register for the webinar here.
Do you have tips on how to best use LinkedIn? Share with us in the comments below!
I would go one step further with groups. After you’ve joined them make sure to participate in discussions and start some of your own. This is a great way to work on your personal brand and make connections with others in your field.
@Dara – Great tip and I agree. Best way to get involved in groups is to start and join in on existing discussions. You can look to others as a resources and vise versa.