If you are looking to be found by recruiters, you need to understand how they find you. The LinkedIn Recruiter license gives recruiters the ability to pinpoint the skill sets with incredible granularity, largely by keywords. This is true search engine optimization: the wording you use in your profile determines if you show up on the first page or buried deep in the results.
Sales and Marketing professionals know the term SEO well, but at its core, SEO is just a way of ensuring your website has the right keywords or phrases for Google to pick up and display in search results. Searching for people on LinkedIn is the exact same thing, so making sure you have the right content to jump to the top of a search is instrumental in being found.
By taking the following steps, you will put yourself in a better position to be found on LinkedIn by companies or recruiters looking to add talent.
1.) Complete your profile
To new or inexperienced users, LinkedIn offers guidance on having a cohesive profile, (photo, skills, education, etc.) Use it, while simple, having a completed profile will help those searching find your information better.
2.) Keywords
Review target jobs you’re looking at and make sure the key points or words are present in your profile. Back them up with examples as well, if you just have 30 words in a list there is no context or value-add to those looking.
3.) Content
It may sound simple but ensuring your reader has relevant examples of your background and experience within your target industry or job is important. In tight markets, providing more detail can give you an edge on the competition. Business impact, delivered results, and areas you personally focused helps tell the story.
4.) Look at it from the eyes of a searcher
Understand that every set of eyes on your profile is a new point of view. While it’s easy to fall in love with your own content, try to understand what others need to see and include it to stand out.
And that’s just to make sure you’re showing up on people’s radars. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be doing a deep dive on how to maximize the different areas of your LinkedIn profile and build your personal brand once you have people’s attention.
