Why Your LinkedIn Presence Matters

Do I need to have a LinkedIn Profile?

Do I need to stay active?

Does it have an effect on my career?

The short of each of these questions: Yes.

Many use LinkedIn as an appendage to their lineup of social media profiles and others as a means to connect with colleagues in the same industry. When it comes to prospecting candidates and searching for the next stop in your career, LinkedIn is paramount.

Gone are the days of not having a profile. It isn’t just about having a carbon copy of your resume available. Much more than that, in fact. LinkedIn, from the professional world, is the way people interact with your brand — your personal brand.

Here are a few things that matter most from a recruiter’s perspective:

Proper Keywords and Touchpoints Matching Your Background

• List things that you are ACTUALLY good at or have experience in. Don’t take the approach of listing everything you can think of just to “look” good. Tell the accurate story of your professional life.

Details

• The more details you have on each part of your career, the better.

  • Dates - Months and Years

  • Locations - City-specific (Make sure you’re more extra specific here)

  • Specific Hard Skills

Endorsements

• Get the people you trust the most to give you a good recommendation. This lets others tell your story and describe why you are different, skilled in specific areas, and more.

Connections

• It’s imperative to show activity in connecting with others — recent activity. The more you lay dormant, the less likely you’ll be noticed. If you’re on LinkedIn and only show 24 connections, recruiters and employers may find this suspect.

  • Find the connections you know within 1-2 degrees of separation first

Most Important: Be Tactful and Consistent

• The more you use LinkedIn to extend your personal brand, the better off you’ll be. This may seem like a daunting task to some, but the more you regularly pay attention to your profile, add new connections, interact with content that speaks to you, and pay mind to the proper details, the better off you’ll be.