is a tricky one—you are being asked to compartmentalize yourself into a silo called an “industry.” Many of us have worked in multiple industries, or for whatever reason, don’t want to be associated with the industry in which we currently work. There are also many companies where the industry is not clear. I looked at several profiles of employees from my previous company; interestingly enough, people’s choices regarding the industry they selected varied. Whichever industry you choose, it is very important to pick one that you want to be associated with, as this will be a key field upon which searches will be based. On the other hand, if your objective is to move into a new industry, why not select that industry for your profile? Once again, it all comes down to your objective. Even if your brand is not necessarily tied to a particular industry, pick the one with which you want to be associated.
Your Photo
It is highly recommended that you post a photo to your profile. It will add a personal touch to your profile and will encourage people to reach out to you because you will literally be seen as a “real” entity. There is a debate, since LinkedIn is a site for professionals, about what type of photo you should post. One thing for sure is that you don’t want to post a potentially embarrassing Facebook type of photo. I have seen some people post the types of photos you would see on corporate website bios as well as the more personal types of photos that may also include pictures with children. This is really a personal choice; it comes down to how you want to portray yourself to the outside world according to your own LinkedIn Objective. Selecting a photo plays an important role in how people will ultimately visualize your brand.
The “What Are You Working On Now?” Bar
I don’t know what the official name of this bar is, but it appears just below your city/industry. I will often refer to this as the “Status Update” text box. If you are familiar with Twitter, it follows the same concept; it broadcasts what you are currently “working on” to the world. You can decide, in the Accounts & Settings section, to who you want to display this information on your profile and whether or not you want to “broadcast” it to the LinkedIn Home Page of your connections. This bar also plays an important role in achieving your objective. Looking for a job? Trying to find a candidate? Looking for help or for particular information? Or do you prefer to just say something to the world? Broadcast it—people are watching! Just make sure you are not broadcasting things that would be more appropriate for your Facebook friends. LinkedIn, after all, is a site for professionals. There is a section in Chapter 10 (Customizing Your LinkedIn Experience), which is devoted solely to what you should enter here; at this point, there is no need to enter anything here. LinkedIn is critical real estate upon which you can differentiate yourself and thus strengthen your brand in. Broadcast wisely!
“Profile Synopsis”
This is the resume section of your LinkedIn profile, where the more you contribute, the more likely you will be able to find and be found. The reason being that for each company or school that you enter in your profile, you will enable both present and ex-colleagues and classmates to find you. Keep this in mind when deciding which work experience and schools you want to include in your profile. The details you enter here will be displayed further below in your profile, but the synopsis of titles, companies, and schools will all be collected from the profile information that you input.
Current (Position)
As you start adding your work experience, your Current Position is the position that will appear at the very top of your work profile. This “Current” position will also appear within the expanded search results, so be sure you put your present or most recent position details here. What you enter here will be the same as what you will input for every other work position that you choose to enter into LinkedIn. LinkedIn will help you narrow down your company name, using an assisted search functionality to draw from the member profiles that contain the same company’s name. If it is the first time entering that company name (like for a sole proprietorship) you will have the option to enter the company’s URL as well as the industry. You will then need to put in your title, dates worked, as well as a description of the position. Since your description will be seen by potential recruiters, don’t be shy when listing your achievements, especially if you are currently unemployed. To effectively brand yourself, you will need to include the details that support the information in your Profile Headline. I recommend including resume-like content, but leave the full details for your resume. Include enough detail to entice someone to contact you. If you are employed, you will probably want to be a bit more diplomatic about what you enter in the description so it doesn’t appear that you are looking for a job. Note that the most recent position that you enter here will only appear if you check the “I currently work here” option. If you are unemployed and you already updated your most recent position with the final date of employment, this section will have nothing displayed.
Past (Positions)
LinkedIn gives you the option to add more positions here. I have seen people list more than ten positions, so there may not even be a limit as to how many you can add. I recommend that you list as many positions as you are comfortable with; at minimum, list the same positions included on your resume. Guidelines regarding what to enter here are the same as for the “Current Position” listed above.
Education
Just as you enter your professional experience as if it were your resume, you can also enter your educational background. Most people stop at their university or masters/PHD program. This is a shame. If LinkedIn is about finding and being found, it makes sense to also list your high school as well as any other foreign institutions you may have attended during your college years. The process for completing your education profile is to enter the country and state (if applicable). A drop down of potential colleges and universities will appear. If your college is not listed here, or you want to enter your high school, you simply choose “Other” and then manually enter the name. There are also fields to enter your degree, field(s) of study, dates attended, activities and societies, and extra notes. I believe for most professionals there may not be a need to enter activities and societies as well as additional notes, but if you are one of the growing numbers of college students utilizing LinkedIn, you will definitely want to use this space to brand yourself with these details.
Connections
This will show an accumulated tally of the total number of connections you have acquired. If you have not yet sent or accepted any invitations, it should display “0 connections.” Note that the maximum number of connections that will be displayed is 500 connections, and anything above that will show up as “500+ connections.”
Websites
You have the opportunity to list three websites to appear in your profile. They could be your personal website (if you have one), your blog, your company website, or even your profile on other social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. It all comes down to what you want to advertise here, which depends on your objective, and on how you want to brand yourself. Note that you can also customize the text label description of each URL site that you enter. You should take advantage of this and use it as part of making your profile more search engine optimized.
Public Profile
This will be the default URL, which is automatically assigned to you, that will lead non-LinkedIn members to your profile. Do yourself a favor: edit this and claim your personalized URL now. If you are the first one to claim your name, your public profile URL will be easy to remember— www.linkedin.com/in/your name. You can then include this as part of your email signature or business card (if you are in transition) to drive more traffic to your profile. Since LinkedIn is a site for professionals, I do not recommend that you include a URL name that is different from your real name, i.e. branding your URL. It could sound tacky and take away from your brand.
“Your Summary”
This is your chance to tell the world who you are. It is the most brandable part of your profile, as you are given the largest amount of text area. You could attach your bio from your corporate website if you are an executive, or if you are looking for a job, this could be a