Do you realize that there are over 690+ million people on LinkedIn? Do you know how important it is to be on this platform for your career … AND be active? AND get noticed?
Every second of the day, two people join LinkedIn. This is a place where you can establish your brand and tell your career story … past, present, and future.
You can reinvent yourself or begin a career all over and tell your future forward.
WordCamp Philly is running online on Saturday, September 26, 2020. This article was inspired by my presentation on Why Getting Noticed on LinkedIn Is Important for Your Career at Wordcamp 2019.
Here are just some of the reasons why you should be on LinkedIn whether you are self-employed, employed, freelancer, unemployed, or a student:
- Start building your online resume that grows with you in your career
- Start collecting endorsements and recommendations from employers, clients, teachers, etc.
- Connect with alumni and classmates for internships, future jobs, and client work
- Add a customized LinkedIn URL to your business card, resume website, brochure, etc.
- Highlight awards and honors, as well as projects and publications
- Explore companies and higher education
- Use a Boolean search in LinkedIn to find industry professionals
- Use a Boolean search in Google to find industry professionals on LinkedIn
- Search for jobs and get found by potential employers
- Connect with others you meet at networking events
- Engage in conversations in LinkedIn groups on topics of interest
- Give/receive recommendations and endorsements
- Lead generation > write about your area(s) of expertise on the home page, in groups, or write articles
- Create projects where you have worked with others to showcase collaboration
- Create a company page to highlight your expertise and get followers (check out this LinkedIn resource for your small business)
- Let LinkedIn be your online portfolio
- Start or join an engagement pod to get your groupies to like and comment on each others’ posts
- Tell your story and your WHY you love doing what you do
- Add media to your profile to showcase your talent, creativity, skills, products, services, etc.
- Find the hashtags for your areas of interest and post using 3 hashtags
- Create meta tags and alt tags in LinkedIn with keywords
- Add emojis, icons, and symbols to your profile for a pop of color
- Find out your Social Selling Index (SSI) score to get your “report card grade” on LinkedIn
- Use the FIND NEARBY feature on the app on your phone to connect with others in the nearby vicinity
No matter what … keep on learning! You don’t know what you don’t know.
NEXT STEPS
- Subscribe to my newsletter on LinkedIn™ for bright ideas on how to manage your career.
- If you need a resume or LinkedIn™ profile to get you to your next step, book a call to chat!
- Join as a member at https://greatcareers.org/membership of the #1 business networking association on the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Book of Lists four years in a row!
- To support our charity at KeepOnSharing.com use the referral code Career
- Follow #GreatCareersPHL
AUTHOR BIO
Lynne M. Williams is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Network, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career development and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed for career management.
Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn™ profiles, Lynne is writing her doctoral dissertation on LinkedIn™ for Job Seekers. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on career topics.
