Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and looking good!

If you are reading this then most likely it was through a LinkedIn post, so I do not need to sell you on why your should have a LinkedIn profile. What you do need to have is a good profile. One that expresses your experience and puts you in a good light to anyone who might be looking at it. I do understand that for many of you, looking for a new position is not important and thus you might have a very basic profile just to put something out there for people to connect to you. That is fine, but I want to address those who are either looking for a position, exploring potential opportunities that might exist, or just keeping your feelers out for new business relationships such as networking or partnering with others in your industry.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having a well thought out profile and one that you have looked over to ensure that it is accurate and detailed. I have seen so many that do not even properly show where the person is working or dates that are so out of whack that it looks like that they currently have three jobs. I have also see a number of times where the "headline" that is under your name is different then the actual position you have because you never changed it when you started the new position. Finally having too little information about what you have done and what you have accomplished could really hinder you if you are indeed looking for a new position.

There is no doubt that LinkedIn has become one of the most used tools for both third party and internal recruiters. I was told my one internal recruiter that he uses LinkedIn almost exclusively for recruiting. He was with a very large Oil and Gas company that has the ability to afford any recruiting tool and they use LinkedIn. So if your profile is not updated and complete you might never been found. In addition when resumes are submitted either by a recruiter or through their website, a LinkedIn search is one of the first things that recruiters and even hiring authorities do.

Specifically I can tell you that I was working on filling a position recently and sent over 4 resumes. When I called to follow up, the hiring authority had already looked over their profiles and most of his comments where about the profile not the resume. One candidate got an interview because the manager liked his picture and the time he took to put together a good profile. He would never have gotten an interview without that great LinkedIn Profile. Some of us spend hours or pay someone like me hundreds of dollars to redo your resume (Which I am more then glad to do), yet do almost nothing to their profile. You are leaving your self vulnerable to making a bad impression to someone who is "checking you out". So please do not underestimate the power of your LinkedIn profile to either help or hurt your in someway.

If you would like some free pointers on how to improve your profile (or resume for that matter) just send me an email to jhavranek@siliconcantera.com or send me an Invite on LinkedIn.

Good luck,

John