New Year, new goals! The beginning of the year is always a natural time to recharge, reset and refocus on new and existing goals. If one of yours is exploring career growth opportunities, now might be the time to dust off your resume and refresh your LinkedIn. As a rule of thumb, you should always have these two items up-to-date. Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready! With the great resignation, top companies are actively seeking top talent to fill important roles within their organization, so even if you aren’t in the market for a new role, it’s still a good idea to keep your LinkedIn profile refreshed. 

LinkedIn is one of the largest professional networking platforms with more than 750M members. Recruiters use the website daily to search for talent, without you even applying to a role. Here are a few tips to spruce up your page.

Update your profile picture. Ideally, your profile picture should be a professional headshot with a non-distracting background. If you don’t have a professional headshot, use a high-quality photo, chest up in professional attire. Don’t use a photo where you have to cut someone else out or in revealing or disheveled clothing. Also, update your photo every 2 years. Your photo should reflect you currently. In other words, it’s time to remove your college grad pictures. 

Use Your Headline to Your Advantage. Did you know that the words in your headline are searchable by recruiters? You should think of them as keywords to a search engine. So instead of simply copying your title and current employer, think of 3-5 keywords that describe your experience, interests and qualifications. So instead of your headline reading, Product Marketing Manager at Google try “10+ Year Tech Product Marketing Professional | MBA | Google Analytics Certified”. This will automatically elevate your profile because you’ve included more keywords for skills that recruiters may be looking for in their search.

Complete Your About Me Section. This is your opportunity to tell your story. If you’re looking to pivot or transition, this is a great section to discuss your plan. It’s also an area to speak more in-depth about your experience and what you are actively working toward. Think of it as a generic cover letter to your dream job, explaining how you got to where you are today and where you want to go with your career. Don’t forget to naturally add keywords to this section as well!

Add Key Accomplishments to Your Experience Section. Your experience section will look most like your resume experience section. Make sure to include accomplishments in each role and tangible bullet points where you made an impact. This shouldn’t just be a laundry list of your job duties and responsibilities. 

Check your settings. Use LinkedIn settings to your advantage! If you’re actively looking for a role, make sure you update your visibility settings so that you are searchable. Select whether you want your network to be informed or not informed when you make profile updates. You can even let recruiters know if you are actively seeking a job. Don’t worry, LinkedIn does its best not to share this information with your current employer.

What other LinkedIn profile questions do you have?