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In a business world that is so demanding and competitive, it is fundamental for individuals to establish a strong personal brand that will enable them to stand out as top talent. With over 600 million users, LinkedIn is one of the most popular platforms enabling individuals, both passive and available to showcase their core skills, competencies and achievements. It is unlikely you’ll find a successful head-hunter/ recruiter or even candidate that isn’t on LinkedIn. And if they aren’t, where are they?

The great thing is that LinkedIn isn’t just a platform for job seekers but also for industry leaders looking to grow their contact footprint, network with other industry experts or source high caliber talent to join their business.

So, if you anticipate a career move in the next few years it will be worth sitting down and thoroughly going through your LinkedIn profile to ensure it is optimized for maximum visibility.

Here are some of the valuable tips we give to our candidates when they turn to our experts for advice:

Be Authentic

Do not try to portray an image that isn’t truly representative of yourself because when you land an interview, you’ll be caught out. Make sure your profile is authentic and the people viewing your page can see what you’re about. Include information about yourself – profiles including volunteer experience and causes receive 6 x more views.

Sure, it’s easy to leave the information about any previous roles the same as when you created them, but why would you? Instead of selling the company, now you can go into detail about what you achieved during your tenure. Your profile is 12 x more likely to be viewed if you have your previous experience listed and detailed.

Become a Thought Leader

To stand out you need to be the ‘go-to expert’ and someone that keeps up to date with all the latest industry trends. So, if you haven’t published any content – get it on your profile! Share your blogs, links to your portfolio, videos or collaborations. This will build your engagement and will not only mean your name appears more in the news feeds of potential employers or head-hunters but will also increase your chance of being visible and receiving contact and be more attention grabbing in a sea of typical or average.

Update Your Contact Details

Having a great profile is great but how can you expect people to approach you with limited or outdated contact information?

If you want to be contacted about new opportunities put your contact information on your profile! It is also best practice to duplicate and add it to the 1^st line of your summary, so it’s sure to get seen. Remember to ensure your summary is snappy and relevant, especially in the first two lines as recruiters now must choose to read more so you need to get people’s attention and stand out from the crowd quickly! Create a summary of 40 words or more and make it compelling! Include what your career looks like to date and where you see yourself in the future.

Branding is Key

To create an identity, upload an eye-catching background and ensure you have a profile photo. Remember, LinkedIn is a business tool, so use a photo that represents your professionalism. It doesn’t need to be too formal but it needs to represent your own brand as an expert and will increase your likelihood of being viewed by 14%.

Now for the detail. Use key words on your profile that relate to your expertise in the market place. Put your: job title | specialism | what I can do for you | keywords into your headline (Things that people would search on).

Engage

People like it when you like or comment on their posts (wouldn’t you?), so get engaged. Like and comment, or even better share other people’s content with your network. The more activity you have, the more LinkedIn believes you are likely to respond to a recruiter’s approach- and they do tell us. So naturally, recruiters will first approach people who are ‘open to new opportunities’ or ‘more likely to respond’.

Update Your Interests: Jobs on top toolbar

Here are a few great features to use on LinkedIn:

1. If you are actively looking for a new role, you can turn that button on, so recruiters know. And if you’re looking for a role in a specific area, you can now add preferred locations, as well as current location. For example: I live in X but would be open to a move to Y or Z.
2. You can select what type of role you are looking for i.e. contract / perm / remote / freelance.
3. You can specify the industry or company size and what job titles you are interested in being approached about. Not only will you be found by the right people but LI will tailor job ads to your preferences.
4. You can add keywords for the next role you are looking for too. You may not currently work in ‘software sales’ but if you want to be found by a recruiter for a role within that field – make sure it is clear from your profile.

To recap, your LinkedIn profile is a key tool for either successfully landing a new role, getting noticed by head-hunters or promoting your brand to leading industry experts. All the tips above will ensure your profile has maximum visibility to get found and create a great first impression.

What’s next? Get to work on your profile and use these tips to start engaging with the market.

Download our CV template and ensure hiring managers notice you when flicking through CVs.

Once you opt to share your career goals with recruiters, users of LinkedIn's Recruiter product will be able to find you based on your shared career interests when they are searching for profiles.