Get ahead of the rest with a great LinkedIn profile!

With more than 740 million active users, LinkedIn has expanded from a networking site for professionals to one of the top social media platforms which is used to recruit, advertise market brands, post industry articles, or look for our dream jobs.

It is certainly one that Randstad and Teachanywhere use regularly when looking for educators to fill our vacancies.

So...whether you are actively looking for a new position or are simply open to hearing about new opportunities, it is always beneficial to have your profile ready.
 
Here are our top tips for making sure your LinkedIn profile stands out:

Add a ‘professional’ and friendly profile photo

 A good profile photo increases the credibility of your profile. LInkedIn have cited that members with a profile photo can get up to 21 times more profile views than members without a photo. We suggest that the photo is interview appropriate and shows you smiling as this will give off a positive attitude and a warm and friendly personality.
 
You can also add a background image to personalize your profile which helps you stand out from the crowd.
 

Make your headline stand out

Your headline is created when you add positions to your profile. However, we recommend that you rewrite it to promote an area of expertise and to let your personality shine through.

The ‘About’ section 

 This should express your mission, motivation, and skills to people who view your profile. Ideally, you should limit the text to one or two paragraphs while filling this section. You can use bullet points if you’re not comfortable with writing paragraphs.
Great tip - Recruiters are usually filling vacancies with detailed candidate profile requirements. With this in mind, ensure your LinkedIn profile includes specifics about your role, which increases your chances of being found for matching roles.
 

Add sections to your profile 

In order for your profile to be useful to recruiters, you must make sure your profile contains enough information so they can get a full picture of you.
 
Featured - Use this area to promote your best and most industry aligned posts

Experience - Ensure this is industry relevant and up to date with your current role so recruiters can see how your experience will fit what they are looking for.

Education, licenses and certifications - As with experience these should be up to date and complete with anything that prospective employers may look for in your field.

Skills and endorsements - These are what can really set you apart and is often how recruiters target potential candidates. You will need to select the best skills for your industry and role. Once you have done this, ask colleagues and clients to endorse these skills  - particularly useful if you get an endorsement from someone who is ‘highly skilled’ at it. This will help recruiters understand your strengths and will increase the likelihood of you being discovered for opportunities related to the skills you possess. You can also take assessments for the skills you’ve listed on your profile to showcase your proficiency.

Recommendations - Asking clients for LinkedIn recommendations is a great way for recruiters to see how good you are at your job.
Great hint - In your recommendation request, you can ask your clients to use specific words or phrases that you have used in your profile information or that are highly prized in your industry, ie, highly supportive, honest, efficient.
 

Keep your profile updated

If you have recently changed jobs or locations, update your profile. Recruiters will want to know your current situation and if you have started a new role,  which will help save their time and yours as they will assume you’re not looking for another job right now, unless you mark yourself ‘as open to opportunities’ . 

Profile strength meter 

 
You can use this to gauge the strength of your profile. Click here for how to find it.
 

Completed your profile - what to do next

Once you’ve created and updated different sections of your profile, you can begin sharing your public profile with your wider network. Your public profile is a simplified version of your complete LinkedIn profile that shows up in search engines and is visible to everyone. You can promote your profile to show up better in search engine results by creating a personal URL. 
 

Connect with us

Randstad UK and Teachanywhere have very active LinkedIn company pages, where we post regular updates about available positions, current and informative articles as well as company news. Be sure to follow our pages to stay up-to-date on the information we share. Interacting with our posts is also a great way to get noticed by our recruiters. Sharing, liking and commenting on our updates gives you the chance to showcase your knowledge and opinions, allowing our recruiters to get to know more about you beyond your profile.