For Giving Tuesday in 2014, our team offered to review LinkedIn profiles. After 120 submissions, there are quite a few things we’ve learned.
On December 2, we launched a campaign where volunteers from our team would review and critique LinkedIn profiles. Not going into this with any expectations, it was both wonderful and overwhelming when we ended up with just under 170 submissions come in. Unfortunately that means we didn’t quite finish the review list between the four of us conducting the reviews. However, we were able to streamline the review process, and decided to create a 100 point report card. Although it never hurts to have someone else conduct the review, . We’ll likely use this again in April if we host our Career Success Fair again.
Advice from the Expert
In addition to the basic contact information submitted, some participants asked some unique and interesting questions. To ensure we didn’t miss the mark, we ask our go-to expert for all things hiring, jobs, and recruiting, Lars Schmidt (@, Founder of AmplifyTalent.
Although my background is in international trade and customs regulations, I am interested in switching fields and pursing start up opportunities. Would it be possible to leverage my experience along those lines?
What kind of opportunities within startups interest you? That’s your starting point. Then identify what skills and experience from your previous roles may crossover. Startups tend to look for talent that’s smart, agile, self-motivated, and resourceful. If you can illuminate some of these in your past experience, that’s a plus.
I am a Communications Strategist and I want my profile to accurately reflect my experience and show that I am good candidate for Senior Positions. I look forward to your feedback and wish you a good day.
As a Communications Strategist, going for senior roles you’ll want to go beyond just sharing the campaigns, but provide insight behind the strategy (channel selection, metrics, etc) and the results. Particularly in your field, you’ll want to take full advantage of LinkedIn’s profile features – add multimedia, include links to your work, your social profiles, etc. You can also take advantage of their Slideshare integration to showcase your work.
I’m aiming to transition into a role in digital marketing, while still maintaining some level of commitment to my current job in international development. It’s a tricky balance, but necessary. My concern is that I’m not clearly portraying my skills/experience in marketing, or in general that my profile does not convey any one thing clearly enough.
What do you ultimately want to do? Your experience is what it is, but if you’re looking to potentially take a detour in the future and move more towards digital marketing you can emphasize that experience from your current role. Since it sounds like it’s necessary for you to stay in a split role for the time being, try and gain as much exposure to digital marketing projects as possible while maintaining your development responsibilities. Try to get more involved with digital marketing groups outside of work so that you’re immersing yourself in that thinking, learning about tools/trends, etc. Then when you’re ready to make the move, you’ll have both tangible experience and good awareness for the field.
I work at [large company] but have been working on a startup on the side, so it is kind of tricky as how to list it. I am looking to move into the startup space, so I definitely want all the experience I have gained highlighted so that I can leverage it. Also, does it look bad to have all my promotions from the same company listed as separate roles? Wasn’t sure how else to do it, but makes my profile look lengthy. Any other suggested updates as to tighten up my personal brand would be much appreciated!
Unless [the large company] has policies forbidding it, I would include both on your LinkedIn profile. Lots of people have things they do on the side – startups, volunteer, board work, etc. You want your LinkedIn profile to present the full you. Know that some recruiters might have concerns about potential conflicts (of interest or time), but most good ones will talk through that with you. I think it’s a better practice to have one entry per company. If a recruiter or hiring manager is doing a quick scan of your profile (which many do on the first pass), they might think you have a jumpy job history and not realize it’s multiple roles in the same company. I would share that growth narrative inside the one entry – better flow and more “recruiter-friendly” in my opinion.
*Some information has been removed to retain anonymity of the question asker.
The Perfect LinkedIn Profile
The good answer is that there is no perfect LinkedIn profile. Each of them should be unique. The bad news is that many people neglect it, when it can be an incredibly useful resource when looking for a job, finding connections, or learning more about organizations. Here is what our team looked for:
- No grammar or punctuation errors
- Lists achievements under experience
- List projects, publications, or awards
- Has a complete summary section
Most Common Issues:
- Profile not public (usually no photo)
- No Recommendations
- Doesn’t have a custom URL
- Bio is in third person
- Endorsements are listed very high, and nobody cares about them
