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Making a good first impression is key in a job search and these days that includes the way you present yourself on your LinkedIn profile. You want to make it catch a recruiter’s attention, and avoiding certain things can help.
Career advisor Ida Pettersson and Amanda Brandon, LinkedIn expert and certified branding and career coach, share their advice for what to never do on your LinkedIn profile.
- Don’t make it an exact copy of your resume - These career experts say your LinkedIn profile and your resume should be distinguishable from each other. Your resume should be a “concise, one-page overview of your achievements tailored to a specific position and company,” Pettersson explains, while your LinkedIn profile should “showcase both your depth and breadth of expertise.” So basically, your resume is a list of accomplishments, and LinkedIn lets you show what you’ve accomplished with extra detail.
- Don’t put “negative” words on your profile - Terms like “unemployed” and “desperately need work” can send the wrong message. Instead, present your best self and show why you’re a great candidate, not a desperate one.
- Don’t include a limited range of experiences - On LinkedIn, include a wide range of experience that isn’t on your resume. Give recruiters a more complete picture of who you are by adding experiences and accomplishments that don’t make it on your resume, like volunteering.
- Don’t use an unprofessional photo - This is where recruiters see you, so you want to make the best impression. That means not cropping yourself out of a group photo, not wearing sunglasses or a hat, and not using a picture that doesn’t look like you today.
- Don’t skip the headline and about sections - Search engines work in different ways, and filling out these sections may help you show up in a search. “LinkedIn ranks the keywords in these two sections higher than other sections in its search algorithm,” Brandon explains. “Adding relevant titles (what you want to do or what you do) and industry-recognized keywords matter in headlines and the ‘about’ section.”
Source: Apartment Therapy
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