We live in a digital world where most things we do happen online, including looking for that next ace job opportunity. As a mum, we’re sure you have gained some amazing skills (patience definitely being one!) in both your personal and professional life. And of course the best place to show off all this incredible experience to potential employers is LinkedIn. It now has over 475 million users! Having an awesome LinkedIn profile is a great way to establish your online presence, attract recruiters and clients plus develop new relationships and connections.
Digital Mums recently spent time at the LinkedIn Head Office and learnt from the experts what makes a stand-out profile. Their advice was based on an analysis of millions of their users to determine exactly what good looks like on LinkedIn.
As ever we want to spread the love and pass these insights directly on to you. So we have created a bespoke, absolutely free, email course for you to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level. All you need to do is sign up here and you’ll receive an email each day for one week which includes a video and a short task. By the end of the course you will have transformed your LinkedIn profile into one that gets you noticed and paves the way for future career success.
And to get you started here are our eight quick wins you can instantly do to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level.
1. Use a professional photo
Make sure that you use a smart professional photo; recent evidence shows that profiles with a great photo lead to 14 times more profile views. And don’t forget to smile; profiles with a smiley head shot get 25% more views.
2. Create an attention grabbing headline
Stand out from the crowd by writing more than just your job title and make sure your summary is succinct but distinctively tells businesses what you do and can offer.
3. Detail your job experience
You should include all your past experience and list your previous jobs, including the relevant dates and an overview of your job role and responsibilities. Remember to include any key results too - did you exceed your sales targets or increase customer satisfaction? Make sure to showcase your personal achievements and the impact you made.
4. Include your career break
If you took some time off from work to raise your children list this as a ‘career break’ with the relevant dates in your experience section. This is much more preferable than leaving an unexplained gap. Also talk about the skills that you gained from doing this!
5. Show off your skills
List all your skills which a potential employer might be interested in and include those from your personal life too. It’s definitely worth it as profiles which include relevant skills get 13 times more views.
6. Make your qualifications shine
Add all your past academic achievements but also list any other awards or interests which give an insight to you and your personality. Stand out by adding any volunteering you have done or any languages you can speak.
7. Get connected
Regularly add or accept requests from connections that you think would be beneficial to have in your professional circle. By growing your connections this builds your personal brand and profile visibility.
8. Stay Informed
Over 3 million users share content on LinkedIn weekly. Join groups and follow key influencers to stay up to date on what is happening in your industry and find out about any new developments.
You can learn much more about LinkedIn and social networking through our Social Media Management Courses. We are currently taking admissions for our January and February cohorts.
