LinkedIn is a social network that can bring great benefits at a professional level. However, many people still resist being part of the platform, either because they flee from all social networks -because of their public nature- or because they do not want to dedicate time to it. In a second category are those users who do have a LinkedIn profile, but do not use it actively.
This post is dedicated to both the former and the latter and, above all, to all those who are still wondering: can I really benefit from a job search portal?
The answer is very simple: yes, because LinkedIn is not a job search window, LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world.
We all know (or think we know) the potential of LinkedIn, but we often mistakenly associate this platform with a place to upload your resume and forget about it. Nothing is further from reality. Let’s start with some numbers:
- Although it may seem incredible, LinkedIn was founded in 2002, before Twitter or even Facebook.
- It is the largest professional network in the world. According to the statistics offered by the platform, it has close to 740 million members, more than 13 million.
- More than 55 million companies are on Linkedin.
- To this day, it continues to grow. Year-over-year, conversations on the platform are up 48%.
And it is on this last point that I would like to stop. Conversations? But wasn’t LinkedIn a portal to upload your CV to? LinkedIn goes much further, it is not (just) a portal to be in so that Head Hunters can find you, it is a network in which to connect with other professional profiles (that you may or may not know personally) and in which Stay up-to-date with your sector.
There are, therefore, thousands of reasons to actively use LinkedIn, but I will summarize them in three:
1. You will create your own personal brand
LinkedIn is the ideal platform from which to start creating your personal brand. Sooner or later, someone interested in you or your company will search for your name on Google, it is inevitable. In your investigation, you may find an article with your statements, your Facebook, or images that you once published on your personal blog. Creating your LinkedIn profile will help others find what you have decided to show first.
It is one of the basic principles of communication: if you do not want others to speak ill of you, communicate proactively. On LinkedIn you can share your experience, your training, your interests, your aptitudes… Whether you’re looking for a job or not, it will help others get to know you a little better. And yes, this also includes recruiters looking for profiles like yours.
2. You will contact your professional environment
If social networks are for connecting with your friends, LinkedIn is for connecting with all the people in your professional environment: ex-work colleagues, companies that run campaigns that interest you, or simply people who upload content that inspires you.
Your LinkedIn account will help you not to lose contact with the people you studied or worked for, and also to start getting to know the members of your company a little better. Being a professional network, you avoid the “loss of privacy” typical of other social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, while at the same time having all your professional contacts at one click. All advantages, right?
3. You will be up to date with your sector
On LinkedIn, users share news related to the sector in which they work: communication and marketing campaigns that attract their attention, business news, personal experiences… Identify and start following those profiles that share interesting information, and publish those too news that you consider relevant. Even, why not, comment on what you find interesting.
LinkedIn is the perfect platform to exchange impressions and get to know broadly the opinions of professionals in the sector.
Basic tips to apply to your profile
If you’ve come this far, you may be convinced of all the advantages that LinkedIn offers. However, you may still have doubts. Will I be able to use the network well? How can I upload all the content that I would like to show about myself?
Don’t worry, setting up a LinkedIn account is very simple and by following some basic tips you can greatly improve your profile. In fact, there are many users who have a LinkedIn account, but it is not fully exploited. Either they created it and didn’t update it, or they uploaded just a couple of basic data without realizing the full potential of the network. If this is your case, these tips will surely come in handy:
- Optimize your URL. Ideally, this should be linkedin.com + your name and surname. All you have to do is go to “Edit URL and public profile” and click on the pencil icon on the right of “Edit custom URL”.
- Edit your profile photo and cover image… And make them as professional as possible. It is recommended that the profile photo have a white or neutral background. It does not have to be the typical passport photo, but it does have to give the impression of professionalism. Regarding the cover image, it should contain some simple reason related to your sector, your contact information or a simple phrase that defines you.
- Use keywords in your definition –“About”–. Use keywords related to your sector: it will help others to find you.
- Don’t forget to update your professional experience with current data. It gives a very bad image to see a profile in which the last position ended years ago. It is important that the first thing that is seen is your current position.
- Unify the profile. It is important that all the experiences are described in a similar way (with a short text, or with hyphens…) and have the same language.
- Finally, start sharing your experiences and post updates by “@” mentioning the professionals or companies you talk about. Do not forget to show them publicly in the “Activity” section. Your profile will look like this sufficiently updated.