LinkedIn plays a major role when it comes to recruitment. Earlier employers used to post a vacancy on job portals and receive a number of resumes from unqualified candidates. Now-a-days recruiters rely on LinkedIn and other social media to find the best candidate, out of the bunch of active prospects.

If you are looking out for a change, you not only require an updated resume but also an optimized LinkedIn profile. Many people think that we should keep our resume updated and handy, who cares about LinkedIn, who has got so much time to visit our profile. They have created a LinkedIn account just to show that they are present there as well, even if their profile is not up to the mark. But its wrong, you never know, that an updated LinkedIn profile might get you a call from the recruiter.

There are a few areas where you need to focus while creating an extraordinary LinkedIn profile:

Headline: Headline is the most important section, it should be so inviting that it captures the reader’s attention and they click on the profile.

Profile Picture: The best way to present yourself is by having a professional head-shot with a neutral background.

Skills and Endorsements: Always use industry relevant keywords, it helps in getting your profile higher in the search ranking. Endorsements are a perfect way to display your skills.

Summary: This should always give an overview about the candidate and what they have to offer. If you want, you can add a video or a slide show in this section.

Personalized URL: A personalized URL helps employers in finding the candidate when looking for them on Google.

Experience: Give a brief about your work experience, what have you done. Include action verb, action taken and result accomplished.

Education: Mention all the formal studies you have done.

Apart from this, there are few sections where you can work upon (if required) – Certification, Courses, Publications, Patents, Test Scores etc. You can also add a personal background to the LinkedIn profile.

It takes some of your time to work on the LinkedIn profile, but the result is worth the effort. Once done, start promoting the profile by adding groups, taking part in discussions, updating your status, endorsing your connections, getting endorsed, etc. You will notice that people are inviting your profile 🙂

Make sure you put your best feet forward, by paying attention to these basic points.

Cheers!!