How to be a Pro on LinkedIn, transform your profile in 10 easy steps!



23 May 2019

I’m writing this blog for the individuals in/from South Africa (SA). For some reason, the LinkedIn culture has not hit the shores of SA. When we moved to Canada, we had a rude awakening – no endorsements, no recommendations, barely a profile. Well, we changed that as quickly as Saffers would allow.

After months of research, seminars, webinars, this is my advice on how to boost/create your LinkedIn profile:

1- Intro/Background Picture
This is what will set you aside from the average LinkedIn user. Find a suitable yet professional picture related to you or your industry. Take a picture or create a background and insert text with Canva, or use Unsplash with a simple yet sophisticated picture. Anything but the standard blue background. Get creative, build your brand.

2- Intro/Profile Picture = 36x more views
A professional and up to date (I repeat – up to date) picture is a necessity. I often network with people over a coffee and when I arrive, I sometimes don’t recognize the face I examined on their LinkedIn profile - most of the time it was the grey hair or lack thereof. Show that grey hair off, it means something besides stress!

3- Intro/Name and Surname Qualification/s         
After your name, state your qualifications - before anyone looks at your experience and profile, they already know how qualified you are. Where LinkedIn asks for your first name, state “Rendering Light” and where they ask for your surname state your qualification in brackets “(BComm, LLB, SS)” - the result will say “Rendering Light (BComm, LLB, SS)” which looks fab at first glance.

4- Intro/Summary
Writing your summary (with 2000 characters) can be tricky, lucky for you I’ve made it easy – check my post on how to write a bio/summary. This section is where you flaunt it, insert some power words, explain who you are, what you did and where you are going. This is like an elevator pitch but online – it has to grab you!

5- Intro/Headline
My advice here is to be different. I wish I could have used the headline “Chief of getting stuff done Officer” but my husband suggested not, it may be slightly inappropriate to some people – maybe I’ll use it one day when I’m big. Ordinarily, you would state Lawyer, but avoid being ordinary where possible. As a foreign lawyer, or foreign doctor or foreign qualified anything, we cannot state our foreign title on our profiles overseas, as it is dishonest (I think the word the faculty used was illegal). My headline was “Operational Excellence”. But I change it now and then when I get bored. This headline does not need to be your title at your current job. It is a personal headline and what makes you unique to the world.

6- Experience, Education, Licenses, Certifications, Volunteer Work = Link to Pages
Every company, university, organization, etc. in 2019 should have a LinkedIn page (maybe not in South Africa, but they will catch on eventually) and all your credentials should be linked to something. If you have studied at a university, link/connect with the university. If you worked for a company, link/connect with the correct company. If you can’t find the company, ask the company why? It could be under a different credential/section as an organization and not a company. If the company isn’t interested in creating a page, you create the page, make it professional and pretty (with their logos, etc.) for yourself and one day they will come around and you can hand the profile over. For me having a qualification/title next to a university/company that is not on LinkedIn seems unprofessional. I think the point of LinkedIn is to Link to everyone to everything.

7- Personalize the URL
I’m not sure what a URL is, I don't know what URL stands for, but that’s irrelevant. For purposes of your resume or your presentations or your business card, you don’t want a URL link that is pulled off an algorithm, e.g. https://www.linkedin.com/company/rendering-light--658962113653.
You are a brand, keep it simple e.g. https://www.linkedin.com/company/renderinglight
On my personal profile, I made the mistake of keeping the dashes that LinkedIn gives you when dishing out my resume (my brand is out there now, its hard to change it), try deleting all the unnecessary info where possible. The same goes for company pages, keep it simple, claim your name.  

8- Ask for Endorsements
At this stage Saffers are like, ask for what, where? Endorsements are there to show off the skills you want to promote at the time. You insert them, people endorse them. You’ll choose 3 top skills, and the rest is visible on your page (the limit is 50, but I would suggest posting around 20 skills, so you can focus your endorsements on the skills required at that time, not the fluffy stuff). If I am on the market for a Sales position, I will promote my top 3 skills as Effective Listening Skills, Solid Communication Skills, Salesforce Software. Colleagues, friends, family, ex-clients, strangers then promote you by endorsing you and confirm you have these skills. Next year I may decide to look for a Human Resources position, then I would change my top 3 skills to Performance Management, Teamwork, and Collaboration, HR Information Software. The more endorsements you have the better qualified you look to potential employers/clients. Who needs to call around for references when everything is available online. 

9- Ask for Recommendations
Very similar to endorsements, but recommendations are more personal and daunting. People can see what recommendations you receive and send out, i.e. are you a giver or a taker. These are hard to write but are important to future employers/colleagues/suppliers/clients, etc. I'd recommend working on this once a month, give a recommendation to an ex-client /supplier/colleague, and ask for a recommendation in return. It can also be soul pleasing to read.   

10- Complete Your Profile = 40% more views
I couldn't find this in black and white but rumor has it, you need the following to have a complete LinkedIn profile: Insert your industry, location, up-to-date experience, last two positions, insert your education (even if it's just a certificate), insert more than 3 skills, a profile photo, and you should have 50 plus connections. If you are on the market for a new position, these are a must anyway, the fact that LinkedIn needs this to "complete" your profile is just a bonus.

Other than that, keep it professional, LinkedIn is the largest social media platform with more than 500 million users, 61 million users are senior-level influencers and 40 million users are in decision making positions. It is not a playground to mess about – this is the real world.

As I stated in my drafting your resume post, keep it simple, avoid spelling errors, you never know who is looking at your profile!

Follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter for more. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

3 Long Lists On What To Do Before Leaving Your Home Country, South Africa

Image
2 May 2019  I would read this post after you have made the decision to leave South Africa, and while you are busy with your paperwork. If you need guidance on the immigration process to Canada, check my post . The hardest part about migrating is the decision to migrate. Its one of those adulting moments you wish you were still a child. Its tough! And packing up is no easy task either. A question I have for you before we get into it, is why do you want to leave South Africa? Your answer needs to be more than “safety” or “politics”. You need a thorough answer you can bounce back to when you have a glimpse of doubt as to why you moved overseas, or when you have a bad day, or in an interview. We moved to Canada for an adventure, something new, we were bored with our day to day lives (had traveled South Africa backwards) and needed a new something (not a baby or fluffy something). When we have a kak day or the snow is beyond the beautiful stage, we remind ours...
Read more

The Immigration Process to Canada Via Express Entry, From a South African

Image
Photo credit to Kyle Glenn  @kylejglenn 30 April 2019 This is a very basic guideline to the immigration process to Canada. Based on our personal experience, our friends’ experience following us to Canada, and general knowledge I picked up on social media groups. Personally, I do not believe an immigration agent is necessary as Canada makes it really easy to apply yourself. I hope this post assists you with your journey ahead! Intro Let’s start by confirming what we’re doing… Are we immigrating, emigrating or both? Immigrating is when you enter a foreign country with intentions to settle there. Emigrating is when you leave a country.  In 2018 we migrated from South Africa to Canada. Said differently, we immigrated to Canada and emigrated from South Africa. A way to remember this is i(in)mmigration and e(ex)migration.   Firstly, well done for picking a direction. It took us many years of, ‘yes’, ‘maybe’, ‘no’, ‘not now’, ‘maybe next year’, ‘but my care...
Read more

How to Draft a Canadian Resume, From a South African

Image
25 April 2019 Bearing in mind I had not touched my  CV  resume in 13 years, I had a lot of catching up to do in terms of my research. I took 2 solid days and nights to research how to draft a Canadian resume, falling for “free” websites that won’t release your document unless you insert your credit card details. It took me 5 days to put everything on paper, and a further 3 months to continuously tweak my resume after each meeting with talent managers, COO's of law firms, managing directors, coaches, mentors, bank managers, presidents of banks, VPs, lawyers and more. Let’s start with simple terminology Resume – 2 pages in length, do not use as a heading on your resume. CV – 5 pages plus in length, going into more detail for every position (never seen in Toronto). Talent Acquisition Manager – I knew this title as HR Manager back home. Counsel / Attorney / Solicitor / Barrister – they all have their own meaning, I used counsel. I was called to the bar ...
Read more