LinkedIn is an incredible platform for job seekers. Having almost 500 million users, LinkedIn is the ideal place to make career connections. Job seekers can easily start networking on the platform, but first they must make a LinkedIn profile. When writing your LinkedIn profile, be aware of some old rules that should be ignored.
Related Reading: How to Create an Awesome LinkedIn Profile Summary
Don’t Pay Attention to These 3 LinkedIn Profile Rules
When you research ways to use LinkedIn to your advantage, you will come across thousands of articles, blog posts and videos filled with tips. Don’t pay attention to these outdated LinkedIn profile rules:
1) “Display a photo that projects a highly professional image” — Gone are the days when you had to be dressed extremely professionally for your LinkedIn profile photo. While you should look professional, you should also look approachable. This could mean trading your blazer for a button-down work shirt. And don’t forget to smile.
2) “List your official job title” — This is a rule to definitely ignore. “Who says you have to stick to the ‘official title’ of where you work or worked? I haven’t been told I need to list my official title of ‘workshop facilitator’ first. Another consideration is that your title might not make sense to people reading your profile. I had a client who told me his title was ‘director of innovation.’ When I asked him what that meant, he told me he was a project manager,” wrote a contributor to LinkedIn.
If your official job title could be misunderstood by readers, list a title that makes more sense.
3) “Keep your summary short” — Keeping your summary short isn’t the worst thing you could do when creating a LinkedIn profile, but it’s not a rule you should abide by. While a short summary is more scannable than a long one, it also contains fewer keywords. Keywords help recruiters find your profile, so this works against you. Feel free to write a long summary as long as you write about your areas of expertise in CAPS to ensure easier reading.
Don’t Forget to Grow Your LinkedIn Network
Creating a LinkedIn profile isn’t enough to generate much attention from recruiters and career connections. There are plenty of other things you can do to grow your LinkedIn network, including:
- Posting regular updates.
- Promoting members of your network by endorsing their skills or writing recommendations.
These relatively easy tips can have a big impact on the growth of your LinkedIn network.
Learn more about expanding your LinkedIn network in our blog article How to Rapidly Grow Your LinkedIn Network.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received about writing a winning LinkedIn profile? Share with us in the section below.