Donna Serdula

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-28-2022

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just your resume! It’s your digital introduction and first impression to the world. Make sure that first impression is a good one by optimizing your profile. This handy Cheat Sheet offers quick references to tools and tips to help make optimizing your profile efforts easier.

Article / Updated 05-07-2020

They are almost synonymous: LinkedIn and job search. It’s a shame, really. Often, connotation is what stops a lot of people from joining and interacting on this professional network. When you use LinkedIn for branding, reputation management, thought leadership, and business intelligence, a funny side effect happens. You don’t have to look for a job because jobs find you. Nevertheless, many people get on LinkedIn for one reason only: to find their next opportunity. The hope for many is to get on LinkedIn and find themselves besieged by recruiters offering awesome jobs. It doesn’t always work like that. Chances are, you already experienced that disappointment thus the purchase of this book. Here are ten tips to help you utilize LinkedIn so you do intersect and collide with recruiters looking for someone like you. Make it easy to connect the dots quickly Harry Urschel, Managing Partner at Hansen Back, a Minneapolis-based retained recruiting and consulting firm, says it’s important to make your profile easy to read and clear in what you do: Any recruiter makes decisions very quickly when they are looking through LinkedIn profiles. Things that help in the process . . . The only way to get found is through appropriate search-terms/keywords. The headline has to be clear about what you do. The profile has to be easy to digest. Long paragraphs take too long to read. There are always more profiles to look at. Make yours easy for them to connect the dots quickly. Spend time perusing job descriptions of positions you are interested in. The keywords that are used to describe the position are the keywords that should populate your LinkedIn profile. Make sure your profile is clear regarding what you do and what you bring to the table. Take a few seconds to break up long paragraphs by hitting the Enter/Return key on your keyboard. Exhibit personality in your LinkedIn profile and show a cultural fit Kris Dunn, VP of HR for Kinetix, a recruitment process outsourcing firm (RPO) for growth companies believes that a personality rich About section is what will get you noticed by recruiters and ensure the best cultural placement: When positioning your LinkedIn profile, don’t underestimate the deeper impact of spending quality time on your “About” section of your profile. I took the time to write something original that top-lined who I am as a professional and had fun with it, and I’ve been reaping the benefits for years. While showing your spirit and soul in the “About” section may be viewed by some as risky, I’m convinced you’re more likely to find a cultural fit with your next company and boss by taking time in this important area of your LinkedIn Profile that most ignore. Kris is also the author of The 9 Faces of HR: A Disruptor’s Guide to Mastering Innovation and Driving Real Change. Recruiters are pouring through hundreds of LinkedIn profiles. They read “dynamic, out of the box professional with progressive experience” over and over and over again. Take mercy on them! Rather than give them the same words they’ve already read a hundred of times, make them smile. Give them a chuckle. By doing so, you are standing out and making them like you. Turn on LinkedIn’s Open to Job Opportunities Within the intro card of your LinkedIn profile is where you enable Open to Job Opportunities. out this section with as much information as you can. Be clear and concise. Recruiter and job seeker ally, Ed Han, tells us: On LinkedIn by far the best tool is to tell recruiters you’re on the market. This is accomplished by going to your profile. Right below the section known as your intro card (name, headline, profile picture, location, etc., there’s an option to tell the users of LinkedIn’s Recruiter product that you’re open to new opportunities. You can identify 10+ desired job titles, 20+ communities in which you would like to be employed — particularly useful for those job seekers interested in improving their work/life balance due to a long commute — what type of employment (employee, contractor, part-time, remote), and 300 characters for any particular message you want to communicate, such as preferred organization sizes or types, or anything else you like. If you are currently working, set this section to be visible to Recruiters Only. If you are displaced, you may decide to set it to be visible to everyone. People can’t help you if they don’t know you need help. Plus, not every recruiter is using the premium recruiting subscription. To be seen by all recruiters, you need to be seen by everyone on LinkedIn. This section does become part of your professional brand, so keep an eye on it and make sure it comes off when you come off the market. Keep in mind, this isn’t a silver bullet. Absolutely fill this section out, but don’t rely on it totally. Use a good LinkedIn profile picture Take a good, long look at your LinkedIn profile picture. This little tiny circular image transmits a ton of information. People form an impression about you from your profile photo, and they will also form one if one is missing. One LinkedIn recruiter said, “If a person doesn’t have a profile photo, I skip over them. If they don’t take LinkedIn seriously, I don’t take them seriously.” The moral of this story? Get a profile picture and make sure you look professional and friendly in it. Provide contact information in your LinkedIn profile Recruiters reach out to a lot of people on LinkedIn. Some are using the free version of LinkedIn, which means they need to be connected to you in order to message you on LinkedIn. Even those who are paying for LinkedIn can only send so many InMail messages each month. What you can do to help them is provide your contact information throughout your profile. Add your phone number and email address in the About section of your profile and at the end of your current experience description. You can also make sure that within the settings of LinkedIn, you allow anyone on LinkedIn to see your email address. Connect to recruiters on LinkedIn Chances are, there are recruiters who specialize in your industry. Make sure you know who they are and that they know you. The easiest way to do this is to conduct a search on LinkedIn for recruiters that source talent for your industry. Conduct a people search by clicking into LinkedIn’s search box and typing Recruiter AND [the name of your industry]. Scroll through the results and click on profiles that look interesting. When you find a match, send the recruiter a connection request. Include a note that states: We don’t know each other but I see you specialize in [insert your industry]. As a professional in this industry, I feel it would behoove us both to connect. I am open to new opportunities. Keep it short and sweet! Recruiters don’t have a lot of time for niceties. Comment on recruiter’s posts on LinkedIn Many recruiters post their open positions on their LinkedIn feeds. Use LinkedIn’s search bar to conduct a content search using the name of your desired next position as the keyword. You can also include the words “now hiring” or “job posting.” When you find posts that are interesting to you, you can either comment on the post (but remember that comment is public and will show up on your LinkedIn profile) or connect with the recruiter who posted and send him or her a message that you are interested in learning more. Post, comment, and hashtag to engage with recruiters on LinkedIn Recruiters are typically quite active on LinkedIn. Many of them aren’t just conducting people searches using keywords. Some are monitoring hashtags and conducting content searches looking for the movers and shakers in the industry they are sourcing. By posting quality content and including appropriate industry-related hashtags, you are putting yourself out there as an expert, and you may get noticed and found in an entirely different way. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and fresh LinkedIn rewards freshly updated profiles with higher placement in search results. Freshly updated profiles are more relevant than profiles that haven’t been touched in months or years. Want to get found by recruiters? Make sure your profile isn’t stale and doesn’t get stale by updating it regularly. Invest in your future If you want to get noticed by recruiters, consider subscribing to LinkedIn’s Premium Career product. When recruiters see you are a premium member, this indicates you are more serious about your job search. Additionally, Premium Career subscribers get Featured Applicant Status on job applications so your profile sits above those members using the freemium version of LinkedIn. You get what you pay for, so pay some money and get noticed faster! LinkedIn may surprise you with a free month of premium, so check it out. Want to make more of your LinkedIn profile? Check out this list of LinkedIn profile do’s and don’ts.

Article / Updated 04-29-2020

LinkedIn is one of the few social networking sites where you can remain quite passive and still experience amazing success. Imagine getting on Facebook or Twitter and doing absolutely nothing — nothing would happen. But on LinkedIn, simply by having an optimized profile infused with your keywords, people find you. Your profile’s content shapes how people perceive you and compels them to reach out. This is one of the great benefits to LinkedIn, but for some people, they want more. There are over 500 million users on LinkedIn. It’s a veritable ocean of people. In order to drive traffic to your profile, get noticed, and find opportunity, you have to splash around. Your LinkedIn activity is a direct contributor to profile traffic and LinkedIn success. Here, you find a bunch of LinkedIn activities to perform that will increase traffic to your LinkedIn profile page. View other LinkedIn profiles LinkedIn is one of the few networks that enables you to see who has checked out your profile. Most people on LinkedIn love looking at the Who’s Viewed Your Profile page. Not only do they love looking at who checked out their profile, they also want to learn more about the people with such awesome taste who checked them out! And so, in turn, they click to read their visitor’s profile. If you want to drive traffic to your page, view other people’s LinkedIn profiles! After you visit a person’s profile, more often than not, that person will visit your profile to check you out, too. However, in order for this to work, you must have your profile set to Visible and not to Anonymous. Here’s how to make sure your LinkedIn profile is visible: Go to LinkedIn. Hover your mouse pointer over your profile picture in the upper-right corner of your screen and Settings & Privacy Click Privacy from the top portion of the screen that appears. Click Profile viewing options. This is where you choose whether you’re visible to other LinkedIn users or viewing in private mode. Click the top option that shows your name and headline. Choose to be visible on LinkedIn! Click the Close link in the upper-right corner of the option to save your setting. By choosing Private mode, not only are you choosing to remain anonymous, but also you are disabling your profile stats so you can’t see who has viewed your profile. And when you switch to Private mode, your viewer history is deleted. Premium members can choose Private mode and still see the list of people who viewed their profiles (with the exception of viewers in Private mode). LinkedIn’s good when you pay! It feels weird to let people see that you browsed their profile. For that reason, many people keep their LinkedIn profile in Private mode. But, as you watch your visitor list grow and views to your profile increase, you’ll quickly realize there was nothing to feel weird about. Viewing a profile shows that you are interested in the other person; it doesn’t mean you are a stalker. People appreciate that you are doing your due diligence and research to learn more about them. It also provides the person with a link to learn more about you. Try it out after the initial feeling of discomfort passes; you’ll be glad you did it. Post status updates on LinkedIn Keep in touch with your network by sharing posts. As these status updates go out, people will click on your profile to check up and see what you are doing. Here are some ideas of items to share as a status update: Did you read an interesting article? Did you finish an amazing project? Are you attending a unique event? Did you hear a great piece of advice? Are you reading a life changing book? These are all things to share on LinkedIn! One of the best tools is the LinkedIn Bookmarklet icon. The Bookmarklet is a little button you drag onto your browser’s bookmark tool bar. As you surf the web and find an interesting website or article, simply click the Bookmarklet icon to easily share the information on LinkedIn. Follow these steps to install LinkedIn’s Bookmarklet icon: Go to LinkedIn's Bookmarklet page . Drag the Share on LinkedIn button to your browser’s bookmark bar. If your browser doesn’t have a bookmark bar, go to your browser’s settings and turn it on. While on an interesting website or reading an article that you would like to share on LinkedIn, click the Share on LinkedIn Bookmarklet button on your browser’s bookmark bar. A LinkedIn window pops up. This window contains the link to the item you want to share along with a brief description and thumbnail image. Choose to share this as a status update on your LinkedIn newsfeed, post it to specific LinkedIn Groups, or send it via LinkedIn InMail to specific first-degree connections. To post the link as an update, click to place a check mark next to Share an Update. In the text field, type your opinion, input, or reason for sharing. Although it’s easy not to add your own spin, take a few moments to share your thoughts. Click the Share With drop-down menu and select whether you want to share this update with the public or with just your connections. If you have a Twitter account connected to your LinkedIn profile, click the Twitter icon to also share this update on your Twitter feed. Click the Share button. In addition to using the Bookmarklet icon to share web pages and online articles as posts, you can also share as group discussions or direct messages with connections. Placing the check mark by clicking in the Post to Groups box enables you to then choose which group or groups you want to post to. Conversely, click in the Send to Individuals box to send the link via LinkedIn’s messaging. It’s important when posting to a group or to an individual connection to provide context. If you were posting to a group, you might state, “Do you agree?” “What do you think?” or something that helps the reader respond and create conversation. When sending the link as a message, let the person know why you are sending the link and what result he or she can expect. In her book, The Perpetual Paycheck: 5 Secrets to Getting a Job, Keeping a Job, and Earning Income for Life in the Loyalty-Free Workplace, author Lori Rassas wrote that she likes to send little gifts she calls TOYs to her connections as a way of strengthening the professional relationship. TOY is short for thinking of you. Sharing an article is totally free, but it’s a great way to show you were thinking of someone. Posting status updates is a great way to stay in front of your connections. Make it a part of your professional life. Rather than decide to post an update once a month, once a week, or once a day, resolve to stay connected by sharing the items, events, and happenings that move you. When you read a great article, share it. When you sign up for an event, share it. When you have that Aha! moment, share it. Once you decide that you are on LinkedIn to educate, add value, and inspire people, that’s when you start having fun and when opportunities start hurtling toward you. Blog with the LinkedIn Publishing Platform Publishing long-form posts gets you in front of large numbers of people quickly as LinkedIn notifies your network of your blog. When you create noteworthy content, it is shared way beyond just your network of connections. As the post catches on, people read it and want to learn more about you, the author. Profile views go up and opportunities appear. Participate in LinkedIn Groups It’s not easy to find the time to participate in LinkedIn Groups, but when you consider the results of group participation, you may decide it’s worth the time investment. Not only do you expand your network by joining groups, but also you meet people, engage in healthy discourse, develop professionally, and drive views to your LinkedIn profile. By commenting on discussions and creating engaging discussions that compel people to comment, you are showcasing yourself as an interesting individual and expert. I am not suggesting that you market yourself low and wide in a slimy manner. Instead, use the discussions to help and inspire people. When you give your time, advice, and expertise, people take notice of you, which then makes them open your profile to learn more about you. Recommend people on LinkedIn When you recommend people on LinkedIn, those recommendations display on their profiles as a link back to your profile, right next to your profile picture. The more recommendations you give, the more links you have on LinkedIn pointing back to your profile. Those profiles attract readers, and many times those readers look at the recommendations received. It’s not unusual for people to click the profile link to learn more about the recommender. Always recommend people out of the goodness of your heart. Recommend people you know and who have impressed you. It’s important to use recommendations and endorsements genuinely and authentically. Endorse people on LinkedIn LinkedIn endorsements also provide links back to your profile from other profiles. Go out and endorse people for their real skill sets. Not only will they be touched by your generosity, but also your name is now listed next to their Skills & Endorsements section on their profiles. With each link, there’s a better than good chance other people will see the endorsement and click to read more about you.

Article / Updated 04-29-2020

Now that you’ve decided to optimize your LinkedIn profile, let’s make sure you didn’t miss any sections or make any mistakes. Your public LinkedIn profile is your online reputation and digital face to the world. Your LinkedIn profile must be perfect, as this is how people see and judge you. Make sure all the sections are customized completely. As you go through your LinkedIn, check off each completed section. Profile picture Does your LinkedIn profile picture cast you as a professional? Do you look warm, friendly, and well-adjusted? Is the background neutral and not distracting? Background photo Did you upload a background photo that illustrates your brand, subtly suggesting who you are and what you do to your profile reader? Name Is your name spelled correctly? Is it consistent with your business card, resume, other social media channels, and letterhead? Remember: there shouldn’t be any symbols or characters other than letters in this field; don’t be obnoxious! Headline Is your LinkedIn headline intriguing? Does it contain your top keywords? Will the person reading it see a benefit to them? Does it compel a person to open your profile to learn more about you? Location and industry Is your location correct? Is your industry accurate? Customized public profile URL Did you customize the link to your public URL? Does the customized URL contain your name? Contact information Did you include your phone number, email, and IM? Did you add links to your websites and Twitter? Remember, opportunity can’t knock if it doesn’t know which door to knock on! About section Is your About section engaging and easy to read? Does it introduce you to your reader? Does it provide a clear call to action? When you read it, do you feel a sense of pride? Accomplishment? Is it an authentic professional manifesto? One current (hopefully) and at least two past experiences Are your experience titles packed with keywords? Do the descriptions explain what you accomplished along with your performance highlights? Education Did you list your education in your LinkedIn profile? Licenses & Certifications LinkedIn gave licenses and certifications its own section. If you got ’em, list ’em! Volunteer Experience You hear how Millennials are a mission-driven generation? Well, they are our future. It’s not just about taking, it’s about giving back. Here’s where you detail how you give back. Not giving back just yet? It’s never too late to get started. Skills & Endorsements Did you add your core competencies, strengths, skill sets, and abilities? Remember, when people are searching for someone like you, they are using keywords as their search query. Make sure those keywords are in your profile, and adding them as skills is the easiest way to get them into your profile. Recommendations Do you have glowing recommendations on your LinkedIn profile from people in high places? Have you given recommendations to other professionals? Accomplishments Did you add your honors and awards, organizations, languages, projects, publications, patents, test scores, and/or courses? Are you showcasing yourself as a well-rounded professional? Connections Do you have at least 50 first-degree connections on LinkedIn? Following influencers, companies, groups and schools Are you following at least five influencers, companies, and schools that interest you? Did you join up to 100 LinkedIn Groups that contain not only your target audience but also large amounts of members? Now that your LinkedIn profile looks amazing and impressive, you’re on to your next opportunity. Want to do more to optimize your LinkedIn profile? Check out these ten LinkedIn do's and don'ts.

Article / Updated 04-29-2020

Whether you are working on your LinkedIn profile or just doing some good ol’ fashioned job research, coming up with the right keywords is challenging. The good news is that there are tools designed to assist you in finding the right keywords. Check out the following tools and strategies to find keywords for your LinkedIn profile. One great technique to determine keywords is the word cloud. A word cloud is a way to visualize data. It is an image composed of words used in a particular piece of writing. The size of each word is determined by how many times the word is used or the importance of that word. A word cloud generator is an application that scans through text and provides a graphic output of words. The more often a specific word appears in inputted text, the larger and more colorful the word is shown in the word cloud. To use a word cloud generator, you first need text for it to analyze. Use text from your current job description in digital format or find a similar job description online. If you are looking for your next opportunity, do an Internet search for a job description that fits your dream job. Don’t worry whether the position is in your location or already filled. Most job descriptions are the same — right now you are just after the text and not the actual opportunity. If you are not a job seeker but instead looking to brand yourself more effectively or showcase yourself as an expert thought leader, use the content of your company’s website or marketing literature. There are also industry-related articles and whitepapers that you can use. Also check out the LinkedIn profiles of people you admire and copy their LinkedIn profile content into the generator. (But do not copy their content into your own profile!) There are a number of word cloud generators out there on the Internet. Here are a few examples: WordArt WordClouds Word Cloud Generator Using WordArt.com for keyword research WordArt.com is a great free word cloud generator. It’s especially wonderful because not only is it super easy to use, but also the resulting word clouds are visually beautiful and you can customize them. Follow these steps to use WordArt.com to generate a word cloud for keyword discovery: Find and copy the text you want to visualize for keywords by highlighting the text and pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac). Go to Wordart.com. Click the Import button that appears on the left side of the screen. A large, empty text box appears with the words, “Input your text here.” Paste the text into the WordArt.com text box. Copy and paste by using the right-click menu or by pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac) to copy and Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (Mac) to paste. Click the Import Words button. Click the Visualize button. The resulting word cloud visually shows you what words hold the most weight. These words are typically your keywords. Hopefully your word cloud provided you a good strong list of keywords. If not, I have another keyword tool, and this one is found right in LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn’s job postings for keyword research LinkedIn is not just a social network, and it’s not just a search engine; LinkedIn is also a job portal. A veritable warehouse of job listings, you can search LinkedIn for open positions worldwide. And LinkedIn provides more than just a job description — it also provides a section called How You Match. This section highlights the skills pertinent to the position and lets you know if your skills are a match. If you are a premium LinkedIn user, you also get access to a section that shares competitive intelligence about other applicants. You can see where you rank based upon your LinkedIn profile, and you can see the top skills of those who have already applied. These two areas are great places to discover additional keywords. These skills may also describe your skill sets. If so, not only consider them keywords but also add them to your LinkedIn Skills section. To access LinkedIn’s job postings, follow these steps: Click Jobs on LinkedIn’s toolbar. The LinkedIn Jobs page appears. In the Search Jobs text box, enter the position you are interested in and click the Search button. A new page displays with a listing of open positions. You can also designate a location to search. Click the job listing you find most compelling. More information on that position appears on the right side of the screen. Scroll through to find more information. Using Good Ole Google to do keyword research There’s another helpful tool to help you determine your keywords: Google. Go to Google and search job descriptions for the position you are interested in obtaining. For example, “Customer Success Manager job description.” You may find job descriptions from Indeed.com, Glassdoor, CareerBuilder, or Monster. Don’t worry if some of the results are for old postings that are no longer open or for positions located outside your target area. The point of this exercise is to find four to five job descriptions to determine the different ways this position is defined. Print out the descriptions and with a pen or pencil, underline the keywords that are specific to the position Repeat this exercise at least five times, using five different job descriptions. You want to make sure you know exactly how different companies are defining the role you are targeting so you can define yourself in the same way and be seen as the perfect candidate! Regardless of how you located your keywords, make sure you write them down. Don’t make the mistake of trying to remember them in your head. It’s important to keep these keywords in front of you so you can work them into your LinkedIn profile in an organic, natural manner. Don't forget to write down the keywords you intend to use on LinkedIn. Ranking higher with LinkedIn profile SEO SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is the process of making certain strategic changes to a profile to boost its search ranking. By putting in a little effort, you can improve your profile’s ranking so it appears more often and higher in search. Certain areas within your LinkedIn profile are highly sensitive to the addition of keywords. When you add keywords to these areas, the LinkedIn search algorithm treats these keywords with more weight and your profile ranks higher on the search results page. These highly sensitive SEO fields are: Headline About section Skills & Endorsements section Job titles (especially current) Job descriptions Make sure these five areas are rich in your chosen keywords. Don’t just list keywords in the summary and job description fields. Use your keywords intentionally yet naturally in your narrative. Write for your reader first and the search engine second. The more times a keyword is repeated throughout your profile, the higher you may rank for that keyword in LinkedIn search results. Although repeating keywords is a good thing, it’s easy to become obnoxious, so be careful not to overdo it! You can rank higher by repeating your keywords ad nauseam, but when your target reader opens your profile and sees the repetition, they are turned off and exit from your profile and move on to the next search result listing. Keyword abuse doesn’t impress anyone. In fact, LinkedIn has been known to delete profiles that are abusive in their keyword stuffing technique. Ultimately, you want to be strategic and smart when peppering your LinkedIn profile with keywords, not obnoxious.

Article / Updated 04-29-2020

LinkedIn search is a little peculiar. When you search by a person’s name in the LinkedIn search bar, it doesn’t matter if the person is in your network or not; his or her profile (provided there is one) appears in search results. But as you know, people don’t always search LinkedIn by name. When typical users search by keyword, the results that appear are from profiles that are in their LinkedIn networks — not the entire LinkedIn user database. This means that the profiles that are returned are either first-, second-, or third-degree connections, or members of common LinkedIn Groups. It is true that occasionally you’ll see an Out of Network profile appear in your search results, but when that happens, the full name is not provided and the profile isn’t completely visible. You just put a lot of work into optimizing your LinkedIn network. To make sure you get a lot of profile views, you must be able to be found, and to make that happen, you need to make sure you have a strong LinkedIn network. This article does not advise aiming low and wide, spraying and praying and connecting with people for sheer quantity. Instead, the tips you find here help your online LinkedIn network reflect your offline network. The people you know, the people you knew, and the people you meet every day should be added to your profile. When you have a strong network, your LinkedIn profile appears in search results more often, and you get more views to your profile. Here’s how to get started. Import your address book to LinkedIn It’s hard to connect one by one, remembering the people you met through your life. Rather than rack your brain, LinkedIn allows you to import your online address book. Scanning your email address book shows you who’s on LinkedIn already, and LinkedIn allows you to automatically connect with them. It seems a little scary to give LinkedIn your email password, but not to worry, nothing bad will happen as long as you go slow and read through each screen! Here are the steps for importing your address book to LinkedIn: On LinkedIn’s main toolbar, click My In the left navigation pane, add your email to the Add Personal Contacts section (some users might see Invite Contacts instead). The Add Contacts page with a list of email providers appears. Enter your email address and click Continue, or click the button for the email provider you use. An authentication window appears. Enter your email credentials and accept any permission requests. LinkedIn scans your email address book looking for profile matches and presents you with a list of people you know who are already on LinkedIn, but not connected to you. LinkedIn automatically selects all contacts. Do not click Add Connections! It’s important to first go through this list one by one and select or deselect who you want to invite to connect with you on LinkedIn. Remove the check marks by clicking in the circle to deselect the individuals you do not want to send a connection request. Click the Add Connections button. An invitation request is sent, and then LinkedIn displays a list of people from your email address book who are not on LinkedIn that you can invite to join. Deselect the people on the list you do not want to invite to join LinkedIn and click the Add to Network button, or click Skip to skip this step. Invites are sent to those people you selected and you are back at the People You May Know Screen. It’s absolutely acceptable to skip sending invitations. LinkedIn has over 500 million users. Most times, those people who show up as not on LinkedIn, are on LinkedIn but with a different email address. Rather than bombard people with LinkedIn invitations, skip this step and concentrate on connecting with people who are definitely on LinkedIn already. Import a contact list into LinkedIn To make connecting as easy as possible, LinkedIn lets you upload a .csv, .txt, or .vcf file of email addresses. This is perfect if you have a spreadsheet of email addresses. Simply go to Add Connections under My Network and choose Import file. Select your file and go! If you want explicit directions, simply follow the directions under “Import Your Address Book” starting with Step 5. Let LinkedIn help you connect Under My Network on LinkedIn’s navigation bar is People You May Know. This is a great page that most people overlook. LinkedIn shows you connection recommendations of people you may possibly know and may like to connect with on LinkedIn. These recommendations are based on similar profile information. You may have gone to school with the person LinkedIn is recommending, or maybe you worked at the same company, or maybe you have similar experiences or work in the same industry. LinkedIn also extrapolates people you may know from your email and mobile address books. Don’t worry: LinkedIn never reads your messages; it just looks for email address matches. To use People You May Know to make more connections, follow these steps: Click my Network on LinkedIn’s main toolbar. A list of People You May Know appears. Scan through the list of profiles that appear, and click the Connect button when you see a person you want to invite into your first-degree network. By clicking Connect, you are sending a non-personalized invitation. If you want to personalize your invitation, go to Step 3. Click the profile picture of the suggested person. His or her LinkedIn profile opens. Click the Connect button that appears next to that person’s profile picture. LinkedIn prompts you to add a personalized note. Click Add a note. Add a personalized note in the text field. Click the Send Invitation button. A personalized invitation is sent. Join 100 LinkedIn Groups Group members are part of your LinkedIn network. LinkedIn allows you to join up to 100 LinkedIn Groups. If you want to get found and find more people via LinkedIn search, join the maximum 100 LinkedIn Groups. By joining groups, those members are added to your LinkedIn network. This means that when they search for someone like you, the odds of you appearing in their search results are much greater because you are “connected” through the group. Start a LinkedIn Group Depending upon your need to grow your network, starting a LinkedIn Group to grow your network might be akin to killing a fly with an anvil. Starting a LinkedIn Group is a huge undertaking, but it can be a worthwhile investment depending on your goals. As the LinkedIn Group administrator, you sit in a unique leadership position, and people within the group get to know you. Who would reject a connection request from the Group administrator? My only caveat here is there is a lot of work required to create and build a LinkedIn Group. If you are absolutely not interested in creating a group, become very active in an already established group. As you interact with people via group discussions, send them a connection request. It’s on a slightly smaller scale than being a LinkedIn Group administrator, but it does allow you to meet people and connect. Make connecting on LinkedIn a process To grow your network, you must make it a systematic process. Don’t just focus on connecting with people from your past. Each time you schedule a meeting, make sure the invitees are in your LinkedIn network. Don’t just collect business cards at industry events, enter the names into LinkedIn and connect with them. The idea is that you connect with the people you meet along the way. Connecting must be part of your professional process, and it’s something that you should never stop doing. Link to your LinkedIn profile Expanding your network is not just about sending connection requests to other people. It’s equally important that you make it easy for other people to connect to you. The best way to do that is to provide a link to your LinkedIn profile wherever you are … online or off. Here are a few places you can add a link to your profile: Business card Email signature Letterhead Marketing literature Spray paint it across the local bridge (just teasing) Resume Social media networks Website bio Website social media section Brand yourself a LinkedIn LION or just connect to them Surely you’ve noticed people on LinkedIn with the moniker “LION” next to their names or have it listed in their summaries. No, these people are not actual cat lovers. LION is short for LinkedIn Open Networker. A LION is a person who is willing to connect with anyone on LinkedIn, regardless of whether they know you or trust you. Back in the wild heyday of early LinkedIn, being a LION was a renegade thing to do. This was back in the day before LinkedIn had a Follow button. Heck, this was back in the day when most people had networks with far fewer than 500 connections. Yes, this was back in the day before smartphones and the LinkedIn app made connecting in person possible. Back then you had to walk up a hill barefoot to connect with a person (not true). Being a LION isn’t quite what it was, but there is still value in the mindset of openness, and inclusion. The one rule LIONs follow is never mark any incoming invitation as SPAM or I Don’t Know. When a person marks an invite as SPAM or I Don’t Know, that’s a black mark against the user. If too many people mark you as SPAM or I Don’t Know, LinkedIn restricts your account and you will only be able to add people if you enter in their email addresses. It’s easy to become a LION. All you need to do is add LION or LinkedIn Open Networker to your profile and never choose SPAM or I Don’t Know on an incoming invitation to connect. However, there are pros and cons to becoming a LION. It’s something that you need to consider long and hard. If you are only looking to grow a strong network, not a ginormous one, becoming a LION may not be the best option for you. Instead of labeling yourself a LION, you can choose to just connect to LIONs. By searching out LIONs and adding them to your network, you are expanding your second-degree network and growing your total LinkedIn network in the process. Because it’s easy to spot a LION, it’s easy to find them on LinkedIn. By doing a simple keyword search for “LinkedIn Open Networker,” you’ll find a slew. Send them a connection request and a short, personalized note and they’ll be happy to add you to their enormous network. Don’t join open networking lists and groups A number of websites allow you to download a list of email addresses of LinkedIn members who want to expand their network. By uploading that list of email addresses to LinkedIn, you can expand your own network very quickly. These websites all work in a similar manner. It’s free to download the list, but it costs money to get your name on the list. The idea is that you want people adding you as a connection rather than having to download the list yourself. By having other people add you, you are able to determine who you want to add, but also, you aren’t using up your 5,000-invitation limit. The problem is, most of the people on these lists are either inactive accounts, spammers, nefarious MLMers (multi-level marketers), or Nigerian princes with large sums of money they want you to help them deposit. Just stay away from these lists. No good can come from them. You want to connect with real people who are using LinkedIn in an authentic and genuine manner. LinkedIn isn’t about spraying and praying. Use the LinkedIn app What makes connecting so gosh darn hard is that it’s outside your everyday process. Wouldn’t it be great if instead of having to visit LinkedIn.com, you could connect directly with people within your email application? As you receive and read email, you get to see a link to the person’s profile and a Connect button? Guess what, there is! It’s called Sales Navigator for Gmail, and it’s a browser extension that comes in two flavors: Lite for “freemium” users and Premium for LinkedIn Sales Navigator users. This extension displays profile information on the right side of opened email messages. Not only do you see the sender’s headline, location, and current position, but also it displays links to the sender’s LinkedIn profile. If you are not currently connected to the sender, this extension shows you a Connect button that you can click to send an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Or go the Chrome store and search for Sales Navigator.

Article / Updated 03-01-2017

Your LinkedIn profile is your digital identity. Of all the social media profiles out there, LinkedIn's profile is the most in-depth and provides a comprehensive overview of you as a professional person. When people search your name in a search engine, your LinkedIn profile is often returned high in the search results. When it comes to creating a professionally impressive profile that helps you collide with opportunity, here are ten Do's and Don'ts to keep in mind. Do Use a Professional Profile Picture The picture on your LinkedIn profile is your public face to your network and the world. It's imperative that it presents you in the absolutely best light. If your budget allows, get a professional photo taken in a photographer's studio. If your budget doesn't allow for it, enlist a friend to take a photo. Make sure you are dressed professionally and the background isn't messy, busy, or distinct. Position yourself near a window to ensure a well-lit image. The camera should be at eye level — not at too high of an angle nor too low of an angle. Look directly into the camera lens and smile. Have the photographer take numerous shots. Usually the winning image is snapped toward the end of the photo session, right when you start to feel comfortable in front of the camera. Don't Use LinkedIn's Default Headline LinkedIn automatically populates your headline with your current job title and company name. You couldn't pick a worse headline if you tried! Ditch LinkedIn's default and create a compelling headline — infused with your keywords — that gets your target audience to open your profile and read more. Do Turn Off Your Update Notifications Before performing any major updates to your profile, make sure your activity update notifications are turned off. You don't want to inundate your network with change notifications! To turn off update notifications, toggle the Notify Your Network switch that appears on the right sidebar within your LinkedIn profile from On to Off. Once off, you can make changes quietly — LinkedIn will not send updates to your network via email, nor will your changes show up as status updates on your connections' LinkedIn newsfeed. Do Use Eye-Catching Symbols Sparingly LinkedIn doesn't allow any formatting within your profile. This means you can't bold or italicize text, create links, or even have a bulleted list. However, you can copy and paste ASCII symbols into your profile to create visual flair. Choose one or two symbols and use them where you want to attract attention to your profile. This might be around your call to action and contact information, or before an accomplishment. Less is more when it comes to symbols. Whatever you do, don't go overboard, splashing tons of different symbols throughout your profile. Regardless of how great the content might be, too many symbols may cheapen your profile and may make people not take you seriously. Do Include Your Contact Information The Contact Information section of your LinkedIn profile is only visible to your first-degree network of connections. If a second-degree connection, third-degree connection, group connection, someone outside of your network, or someone not on LinkedIn views your profile, they will not see your contact information. LinkedIn is all about business networking and opportunity development. In order for people to reach out to you, they need to have your contact information. Make sure it's easy for people to reach out by including your contact information not just within the Contact Information section, but throughout your profile. At the end of your LinkedIn summary, at the end of your current experience, and within the Advice for Contacting section, add your phone number and/or email address. Let people know you are serious by allowing them to contact you off LinkedIn. Do Add Multimedia Files Add work examples to your profile to further showcase who you are and what you do. Upload presentations, images, documents, videos, and more to your LinkedIn profile so readers of your profile can get a more robust view of you as a professional. Decide what your target audience would like to see from you and add it. Rich media can be linked to or uploaded to the Summary, Experience, and Education sections. Don't Stuff Keywords Strategically placing keywords into your LinkedIn profile is a great way to increase the likelihood of your profile turning up in searches. Although you might be tempted, don't stuff your profile with keywords. Instead, work the keywords into your profile naturally and organically. Profiles that are stuffed with keywords might rank well initially, but they quickly get deleted by LinkedIn. Keyword-stuffed profiles impress no one, and when it's clear you are gaming the system, people click away. Don't Go Back 30 Years You don't need to detail your complete work trajectory. Business has changed drastically over the last 30 years. Highlighting your IT accomplishments from 1985 doesn't prepare you for anything today. Your LinkedIn profile should align you with your career future. If you want to showcase your deep history, consolidate all past positions prior to 1985 into one experience. Your history is important, but what really moves mountains is what you did lately. Do Get Recommendations Recommendations listed on your LinkedIn profile provide social proof around your accomplishments and background. To get recommendations, you need to ask people to give you recommendations. In fact, if you want to truly make sure that those recommendations are posted to your profile, write the recommendation for the person. There is no such thing as too many LinkedIn recommendations; although, you should make sure that the recommendations posted to your profile are current, align with your objectives, and are authentically given. Do Add Interests Within the Additional Information section of your profile is where you can list your interests. Don't skip this area of your profile. People do business with people. By adding interests, you show you are human and allow your reader to see what you have in common together. Shared interests allow you to forge a quicker, deeper rapport with your reader. Yes, LinkedIn is a professional network, but don't skip the Interests section. By providing some insight as to who you are as a person, your business connections may feel a stronger connection to you, which may spur more business and career opportunities.

Article / Updated 03-01-2017

The Organizations section of your LinkedIn profile is the place to record the real-world associations and clubs to which you belong. Listing professional membership organizations on your profile proves you are an integral force within your community and an involved member within your industry. LinkedIn members often add LinkedIn Groups or their volunteer experience to the Organizations section. This is a mistake. LinkedIn Groups are forums within LinkedIn focused on a specific topic. Within a LinkedIn Group, members post and comment on discussions. It's a great way to come together with like-minded individuals for discussions around shared interests. However, you do not want to list your LinkedIn Groups within the Organizations section, as LinkedIn Groups automatically appear at the bottom of your profile. The Volunteering Experience section of LinkedIn is where you list those humanitarian organizations to which you donate money or time. Not sure where to add a particular organization? To determine which organization goes into which section, ask yourself the question, "Is this organization's goal philanthropy, and am I donating my time or money?" If so, enter it into the Volunteering Experience section. To determine the organizations to list in your profile, answer the following questions: Do you belong to any industry organizations? Do you belong to any user groups? Are you a member of a networking group? Do you pay dues to any association? Are you a part of a local government organization? Do you sit on a board of directors? Make sure you include organizations that forward you professionally and are interesting to your target audience. It's okay to leave out organizations that are of a personal nature or may alienate your target audience. Everyone has causes that move them but you must be smart about what you list on your profile. You may love animals but showing your support of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) may alienate some people. Likewise, listing your National Rifle Association (NRA) membership may upset others. It's certainly fine to stand behind your convictions whatever end of the spectrum they might be on — just realize that not everyone will agree and opportunity might be redacted because of what you list on your profile. You can't please everyone, so be strategic and think through the pros and cons prior to adding organizations to your profile. To add professional membership organizations to the Organizations section of your LinkedIn profile, follow these steps: Open your LinkedIn profile. If you have the Organizations section already added to your profile, simply scroll to it and click the pencil (edit) icon to enter into edit mode, then go to Step 5. If you don't have the Organizations section added to your profile yet, add it by scrolling below the Contact Information section at the top part of your profile. Two sections appear that you can add. If Organizations isn't one of the options listed, click View More to expand the area to see a full list of sections to add. In the Organizations section, click Add Organizations. When clicked, the Organizations section appears on your profile. In the Organization field, type the name of the organization. In the Position(s) Held field, type the position you held. If you didn't have an official title, such as President or Treasurer, you can use: Member, Key Contributor, Team Member, Patron, Supporter, Sponsor, Subscriber, Angel, or Backer. In the Occupation field, select the current or prior experience to connect this organization to a particular role. The drop-down list is populated by your current and previous experiences. If you are part of this organization not because of a current or past role, feel free to skip this field. By linking the organization to a position, the organization shows up in the Organizations section and directly under the position it is paired with. In the Time Period fields, choose the month and year you started your membership from the drop-down lists. LinkedIn defaults to no end date. If this organization is no longer current, enter an end date by deselecting Membership Ongoing. In the Additional Notes field, enter information about the organization. Click the Save button. See the figure for an example of an organization added to the Organizations section.

Article / Updated 03-01-2017

The Honors & Awards section of your LinkedIn profile is the area to enter any honors and awards you earned throughout your career. The Honors & Awards section is one of the hardest areas to fill out. Many people don't keep a list of the honors and awards they have received, and when it finally comes time to list them, they simply can't remember. Here's something to remember: If you don't record these honors, no one else will. You never know when it might come down to you and another highly lauded individual for a job, promotion, or project. You don't want to miss out simply because they recorded and touted their accomplishments and you didn't. To determine your honors and awards, think in terms of certificates, plaques, and trophies you received. Open up your closet and check the top shelf — are any of these items collecting dust in a box? Jot down on a piece of paper these awards. Once you have identified any certificates, plaques, or trophies, dig deeper. Honors and awards don't have to be tangible items. Here are some questions to help you remember other types of honors and awards you may have received: Were you ever quoted in a newspaper article? Were you ever profiled in a magazine? Did you ever give a speech or deliver a keynote address? Did you ever sit on a panel or act as a moderator? Were you ever asked to work on a special project? Were you chosen to provide training or mentoring to colleagues? Were you ever appointed to a committee?

Article / Updated 03-01-2017

The Projects section of your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to spotlight your involvement in company-driven initiatives. Long-range, high-yield projects that deserve a bigger spotlight than a simple bullet in your Experience section belong in the Projects section. Choose projects that make you proud and show that you helped move the corporate needle, but most of all, choose projects that will impress your target reader. The Projects section is also the perfect section for consultants who have spent time working with different clients. Consultants can't list clients in their Experience section because they didn't work for them directly as an employee. The Projects section is the perfect answer to this conundrum. This section also allows you to add a URL that links to an external website to add even more context to the project. Another great part of this section is that you can pull in other team members and link them to the project to show the full range of contribution. To add projects to the Projects section of your LinkedIn profile, follow these steps: Open your LinkedIn profile. If you have the Projects section already added to your profile, simply scroll to it and click the pencil (edit) icon to enter into edit mode, then go to Step 5. If you don't have the Projects section added to your profile yet, scroll below the Contact Information section at the top part of your profile. Two sections appear that you can add. If Projects isn't one of the options listed, click the View More link to expand the area and see a full list of sections to add. In the Project section, click Add Projects. When clicked, the Projects section appears on your profile. In the Name field, enter the name of the project. In the Occupation field, select the current or prior experience to connect the project to a particular role. The drop-down list is populated by your current and previous experiences. By linking the project to a position, the project shows up in the Projects section and directly under the position it is paired with. In the Date field, choose the month and year you worked on the project from the drop-down lists. If this project spanned a period of time, click Switch to Date Range to add an end date. In the Project URL field, add the website where more information on this project can be found. If this project doesn't have a web presence, skip this section. In the Team Member(s) field, place your cursor over +Add Team Member and start typing a name. If the team member is one of your first-degree connections on LinkedIn, his or her name appears in a drop-down list. Select the team member(s) you wish to add to the project from the drop-down list. You can add team members even if they aren't on LinkedIn, but they will not have profiles dynamically linked within the project. In the Description field, add context around your project so that your reader has an idea of the extent of your success and why this project was singled out. Click the Save button. Just as you can add a person to a project you created, others can add you to a project they created. If you aren't happy with your inclusion on a project on someone else's profile, you can't remove it yourself. You must reach out to the person and ask them to remove you from the project.