Know your purpose and positioning: your target will dictate what you include in your profile.

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1 Social Networking LinkedIn Getting started Before you begin your profile: Know your purpose and positioning: your target will dictate what you include in your profile. What do you want people to know about you? How do you want to be recognized and for what? Consider how you stack up yourself. to others, so you can position yourself competitively and differentiate List functions and expertisee that clarify what you do or could drive searches to you. If you haven t done so already, read profiles of people in similar positions. LinkedIn profile checklist 1. Snapshot Section Discipline/Title Does it help establish your personal brand? If you re searching for a new role, are you making the mistake of listing your old title/company rather than your work identity? (ex. Development assistant II at ABC College vs. Non-profit fundraiser and event planner) Categories example: Professional Training and Coaching Does the category you selected best reflect what you do and where you are focusing your job search and networking? 1 Career Partners International

2 Post an Update Are you using this section to: Describe what you are looking for? (ex. Seeking challenging Risk/Compliance role in institutional side of Financial Services) Describe relevant activities? (ex. Investigating applications of cloud computing to ecommerce) Communicate interesting information from your field that might spark interest? (ex. links to articles, conferences) Photo Is it high quality? Is it flattering? Do you look approachable? Is it too informal vs. professional? How well can you see yourself? Headshots, as opposed to full-body photos, are best. Public Profile URL Have you customized your URL to remove unnecessary characters and set it as close to your name as you can get it? (ex. vs. Website/Social Media Should you include links to websites? (ex. company website, blog, personal website) If you use Twitter for business/branding, should you link to your Twitter feed? 2. Summary Does it highlight your qualifications for your future goals vs. your past achievements? Does it give a flavor for who you are and your professional style? Does it differentiate you? Is it consistent with your resume and 30-second commercial? Is it easy to read? Avoid little-known acronyms and company-specific language/jargon. 3. Professional Experience Are the descriptions edited down from your resume to reflect key areas of experience and scope of responsibility? Are the accomplishments visible and written in results-oriented language? 2 Career Partners International

3 Is your professional experience consistent with your resume? If you are consulting/contracting with the goal of a permanent position: Are you contracting/doing project work to keep your hand in your field? If so, avoid appearing to have started your own company, which can be interpreted by an employer that you are no longer on the job market. Does your description of your contracting assignments reflect skills, expertise, and/or industries that would attract potential employers and recruiters? If you want more consulting/contract work, have you clearly stated what you offer to potential customers? 4. Skills and Expertise Have you chosen 5 to 10 of your strongest skills/expertise to add to your profile that will drive more searches to your profile? This section is key to your visibility to employers. 5. Recommendations Do they enhance your brand and reinforce your skills? Are they redundant or does each provide new information? Do they focus on your impact, value and expertise? Are you including recommendations from colleagues at a variety of levels, rather than just peers? Have you checked for spelling and grammar errors? 6. Education & Certifications Do you include key in-service/certificate trainings as well as degrees? Do you include dates? They are optional in this section, but are required for the professional experience section. Do you include GPAs, honors and awards? Most appropriate for recent graduates. 3 Career Partners International

4 7. Military Service Is it listed under professional experience? The usual rule of thumb; include it, especially if it enhances your obvious skills for your desired position. Do you have current or prior security clearance? Add if appropriate. 8. Additional Information Interests: These should be current vs. the ones listed under education. Do they support your branding? Are they attractive to potential employers/clients? 9. Groups Groups can provide additional opportunities for networking and be a source of job leads. Do you have a thoughtfully chosen mix (e.g. occupation, industry, education, causes?) Are you following/participating in relevant groups? A note regarding privacy settings for your profile: While making extensive changes to your profile, you may want to turn off your activity broadcasts (updates) so that your contacts are not notified every time you make a change to your profile. You can turn your activity broadcasts on and off and select who can see your activity feed from the Settings page. Once you are satisfied with your profile, you can opt to turn the settings back on. When you are actively in the job market and looking to increase your visibility to people outside your network, adjust the settings on your Public Profile. Your public profile appears when people search for you using a public search engine like Google, Yahoo! or Bing. Control how you appear when people search for you from the Settings page. Searching for Jobs on LinkedIn To do a basic or advanced search to find open jobs, go to LinkedIn s Jobs page. To do a basic search, click Jobs at the top of your homepage and type a job title, keyword or company into the Search for Jobs box. 4 Career Partners International

5 To do an advanced search, click Jobs at the top of your homepage and then click the Advanced Search link to see additional search criteria. On the Jobs page, you can look for new roles under the sections for "Jobs You May be Interested In" and "Jobs in Your Network. LinkedIn s Help Center For additional resources, visit LinkedIn s Help Center. To find LinkedIn s Help Center: go to Click on More, then Help Center, then enter questions in search box. 5 Career Partners International