6 Ways You Can Attract Recruiters to Your LinkedIn Profile

This is a guest post by Fatemah Mirza.
 
Putting the bare minimum of effort into your LinkedIn profile is dangerous, considering 95% of all hiring professionals screen candidates on LinkedIn.

 








Here are my six favorite ways to attract recruiters to my LinkedIn profile:

• Upload a GREAT Profile Picture:  According to LinkedIn, profiles with pictures are 7 times more likely to have their profile viewed.  Make sure you smile with your teeth and that there is no one in the picture except you.
• Have a Professional Headline:  Normally the headline section of your profile is auto-filled, but you don’t want to keep that headline. Automated headlines don’t show you off optimally.  The best headlines are ones that effectively show the candidate’s skills, experience level, and their personal brand.  Take this headline for example, “Sales Manager | Negotiations | Penetrating Competitive Markets | CRM | Improving Sales Productivity & Efficiency”  See how much value is being presented in just 112 characters? It gives a far stronger impression of the candidate than “Sales Manager at Firebolt.”
• Develop a Keyword Strategy:  It doesn’t matter how great of a profile you’ve got if you don’t show up in the recruiter’s LinkedIn search. This is why you need to sprinkle the right keywords throughout your profile.  Here’s an article I wrote that breaks down my two favorite “cheat codes” to getting tons of search views on LinkedIn.  Here’s an easy shortcut if you’re having a tough time including all your keywords into your profile: Make a “Specialities” section at the bottom of your Summary and put the keywords there.
• Make Your Contact Information Visible:  Recruiters need to know how they can get in touch with you, so you need to have at least your contact email clearly displayed. You can include it in your Contact Info section, along with your website or blog, or put it at the bottom of your Summary.  If you’re comfortable with including your telephone number, then include that in a visible spot as well.
• Build Your Network Strategically:  The more LinkedIn connections you have the higher your chances are of coming up in a recruiters search results. But don’t think this means you should start connecting with every Tom, Dick, and Harry you find.   You need to strategically identify which people can open the right doors for you, and connect with them only. Consider connecting only with people that are in your industry.
• Ask for Strong Recommendations:  Recommendations are one of the best ways for you to build authority. Getting endorsements from managers, co-workers, or past professors provide social proof for the skills you’ve talked about. These special stories can help you stand apart from the crowd.  If you want to learn how to get a glowing recommendation ask for a story using the guidelines I outlined in this article.

Fatemah Mirza and her team at CareerTuners have helped more than 2500 professionals get unstuck and into their dream jobs since 2010. Fatemah loves creating resources for job seekers, like this free resume cheat sheet.

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