Original subtitles

Hi, everyone.

I'm Andrew Thiemann, LinkedIn's Editor -at -Large for Jobs and Career

Development. And I'm Yerbanka Arthas, Senior Community Manager here at

Welcome to our Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile event.

Yes, and I see already Sarita in India, Maria in Rotterdam, Fernando in Mexico,

Sahil in Toronto, Mark in Dubai, and Linda in South Carolina.

You're all with us, and it's amazing to see such an amazing global audience

today. And, Andrew, this is actually one of my favorite topics. I feel like

people totally underestimate how much their LinkedIn profile can really work

them. Yeah, that is really true because a lot of people view their profile

static like a resume. But really, when it comes down to it, it's your first

impression. It shows off your reputation.

It shows off, really, your knowledge in everything.

And it could be the ticket to opportunities that you didn't even know

Yeah. And we're going to break it all down for you today. By the end of this

session, you will know how to craft a headline and about section that really

makes people stop and click on your profile, highlight your skills to set

yourself apart, and turn your profile into something that works for you even

when you're not online.

Plus, we'll do a couple of live profile reviews in real time here with us so you

can see exactly what works and what to avoid.

And we'll answer your questions along the way. So please be sure to drop your

questions in the chat. As we go along, we're going to try to pull it. as many

we can and if you need to step away no worries the replay will be right here

when you're ready to come back but for those of you who stay till the end

get a chance to find out how to win a private profile review with one of us

we're about to drop a link in the chat with a handy resource that not only

you keep track of today's tips but also gives you even more examples to help you

optimize your profile all right let's get started and first up we want to talk

about why the profile matters and really it comes down to pretty much everything

it showcases your soft and hard skills so linkedin profiles give you gives you

place to showcase your technical skills like data analysis or graphic design and

your essential soft skills like leadership and communication and we know

our research that members who list at least one skill receive up to two times

many profiles views and connection requests, and four times as many

Yeah, and another reason why your profile matters is because it really

opportunities. So with the right keywords, the right skills listed, and

experience, you make it easier for recruiters, hiring managers, potential

partners, collaborators to find you and to reach out to you directly. And like

you mentioned, sometimes it's for roles, projects, and connections that you

weren't even looking for.

Yeah, and I also want to add that profiles help you build your personal

or, you know, just boil it down, your reputation.

Because you can share content that joins and sparks meaningful conversations

that showcase your knowledge.

And really, at the end of the day, that's what employers are hiring for.

right. And before we dive in, we actually have a few questions.

The first is from Alberto from Belgium. How important is it to build a strong

professional brand on LinkedIn and personal brand?

And how do I show my human side along with my skills and achievements?

That's exactly what LinkedIn is, right? It's this living, breathing profile,

really showcasing who you are professionally.

And you can bring some of that personality in it too, right? So you

stand out. And I think the personality bit, what drives you?

What are your ethos?

What is your mission in some of the work that you do? So while you are breaking

down your experiences, your roles, you know, industry knowledge, there is an

opportunity to bring in that why. And I think that that's where you bring in

some of those more personal. elements and do some career storytelling and for

Andrew the second question we have coming in is from Akash from England and

they're wondering how can entrepreneurs with diverse experiences create a clear

integrated narrative on their profile Yeah, that is a really good question.

what I would say, Akash, is basically it depends on what his goal is. So if it's

to find a job, then you want to think about sort of who is going to be the

hiring manager and the recruiter. And you want to work backwards from that.

And then, you know, if you are trying to sort of showcase your business, then

you want to think of the end customer in mind. So maybe you're selling a product

or a service.

That's really, I think, how you craft it. You really have to think of who is

your audience.

Is it going to be a hiring manager?

Is it going to be a customer?

And then think, okay, what would they want to know from me based on this?

So if you're an entrepreneur and you have diverse experience, what I would

suggest is if you're trying to find a full -time job, come up with a good

story. What are all the bits and pieces that really speak to what you've done,

who you are, and what you want to do?

tell that story through your LinkedIn profile.

And similarly, like if you want to attract customers. So there's a few

ways to do it, but the main thing is like, who is the person that you want to

looking at your profile and what do they need to know?

So, and you know, for people who say like, okay, but there's so many

parts of the profile, what are we going to do?

Well, they're in luck because we are going to go step by step and for all of

out there we're going to go from top to bottom and obviously no better place to

start than your profile photo your background image your pronunciation your

verification and your pronouns so we're going to go through all of those right

now so why are they important First of all, having a clear profile photo just

helps you build connections.

We know that when we're doing content, people like to see other people's faces.

And also based on our research, we know that members with a profile photo

receive up to three times more connection requests.

And then we also have verification and pronunciation.

So we'll show you in a little bit examples of this, but basically a

is a badge next to the name.

And that means that person went through a third party process and we know that

they are who they say they are. And then obviously pronunciation.

Sometimes people just like, you know, they have a little bit of a twist on

name or something like that.

And people like to.

you know pronounce people's names correctly so it's nice before a meeting

like okay i just want to make sure is it smith or smites and you could listen to

their pronunciation and get it right and then obviously you could add a little

bit of flair with the background image um there's so many things that you could

do so you could choose a photo that represents you with your background

you know it doesn't have to be perfectly professional maybe you play um soccer

on the side or something and you have a really good picture of your whole team

you know playing soccer

So that's something that you could use as your background photo.

And also a hat tip is that you could, if you're a premium member, which you all

are watching this, you could actually have several different background images

that you use as a slideshow.

And obviously there are many different options. You could use banners like Open

to Work, which we know based on our information that the people who use Open

Work or Open to Network are much more likely to get notifications.

or messages from people within their network.

So like I said, there's a lot of things that you could do at the top of your

profile, and it's really a great place to just grab a person's attention and

draw them in.

So let's take a look at some of those examples that I was talking about.

So first up, we have Chris.

And Chris really has a fantastic top of the profile.

We have a clear picture of his face.

Obviously, he removed the background from his.

You don't have to do that, but we see his face clearly. So if someone from,

know, maybe he went to college with or someone he worked with a few years ago

saw it, they were like, okay, that is Chris.

And then obviously the background image that he has, I like it. It is

uncluttered. The text isn't too busy. The image really complements the overall

aesthetic of his profile. Again, you don't have to get as fancy as this, but

it's nice.

And then when we go down to his name, we have Chris, his name. We have that

little shield, which means that he is verified.

So we know that he is who he says he is. And then we have that little speaker

icon, which means that when I click on that, I'll be able to know if it's

lapping or laping or some other pronunciation.

And then we know he goes by he or him.

Let's take another look at a profile.

And I believe it's our friend Larry.

So this is Larry Trotter.

Again, he removed the background from his profile image.

You don't have to do that, but it's a clear, crisp photo of him.

He also has a really nice background image. The text isn't too busy.

It shows some brands that most people would know.

A nice color combo. That green and blue definitely stands out.

Then when we go down, we can see that he has verified his identity.

So if you get a message from Larry, whoever is using that account, it's

Trotter on the other end.

And I think we have another one that we want to show.

And this one has a really unique stance. So this is Kate. And what I like is,

you know, Kate, she's not looking directly at the camera. It shows that

different ways that you can do it. So we still see that, you know, if someone,

you know, from who she worked with recently, they would look at that and

okay, you know, that's Kate.

So that's kind of, I think, the line you want to go. Like if you're not going to

be directly looking at camera, you just want it to make sure. that it's still

recognizable. Again, she has a color banner that really pops out. She has

It's not overly busy. It doesn't detract from the overall profile.

And then when we go down to her name, she also has that shield.

And so that we know that Kate is... who she says she is.

So that's really what I would say at the top of the profile.

But obviously there's another part there, which is the headline and your

Do you want to take that? Yeah. Super quick though, Andrew, we have some great

guests joining us today. We've got Gonzalo, New York city, Gary and

Kenneth is joining us from Minnesota.

We've got Christina in London and Virginia in Brazil. Thank you so much

joining us today. All right. That was such a great breakdown of that top half.

Now we're going to head into headlines. So your headline show. up everywhere it

follows you across LinkedIn search results comments messages and even

requests so in those 220 characters right so that's about 15 to 20 words

headline should really communicate what you do what you're looking to do or what

you're really known for in your industry you're gonna want you're gonna want to

start with your current job title your area of expertise or what you're best

known for so a good formula for this how I like to think of it is what you do

who you help how you help them, and then shouting out or calling out any

recognitions or impacts or side projects you may have. Are you a host? Do you

have a podcast?

Is there a nonprofit or another passion project you're currently working on? The

headline is the place to call that out. It's a real teaser into what we're

expecting in the rest of your profile.

So we're going to take a look at a few headlines that have been done really

well. The first is going to be from Ashley Reed. We can see here that it's

clear and concise.

What we want to see is very clear. indications of what you do, where you're

currently working, and any initiatives that you're focused on. So I really love

here that she is saying that she's working in paid media, calls out the

and then also leading BIPOC ERG initiatives. So a bit of the passion

highlight here in the headline.

We've got another example.

I'm going to cue that up from Will.

So again, we can keep it very simple, but really add some color here. It

need to be

17 titles. We can have a few short bits of what we are, what we're doing, you

know, the work that we're currently focused on. Here, VP of Strategy at, I

can't, let's see, President, I can't see from here, but AI.

And then Will calls out that I'm helping omni -channel brands measure and

optimize their spend.

Also, co -founder at Don't Fee Lookup. So again, what you're doing, how you're

doing it, and then a bit about, you know, adding some color. Maybe it's a

bit of that personal flair. that we're always getting asked how do I bring my

personality into my profile yeah and I think we have one more maybe Amy or

we go yeah that's right again these are really great examples of headlines we

can keep it simple really wanted to call out the work that you're doing and how

you're doing it, how you're helping beyond just the title or, you know, just

name of the role. It's kind of like, how do I do that role?

Yeah. And also I like that CEO at C -Serve. It has a nice role. Right? Yeah.

No, I really like that. And those are great tips, Eureka.

And, you know, headlines, it's one of those things where like it causes more

anxiety than it needs to. It doesn't have to be overly complicated.

And again, you know, we have a lot of questions coming in, so many people

watching. And if we can't get to your question, we're really going to try. But

if we can't, Our friend Jemay Jackson, our wonderful colleague, is back

all of her wonderful energy, and she's going to be doing a premium Q &A on July

24th. So make sure that you're watching the comments. There's going to be a link

to that. We're also going to link to it again at the end of the show, but just

so that's on your radar. If we don't get to your question today, we might get to

it next week. So make sure you have that.

Also, we want to talk about the About section.

I think that is appropriate. It's actually one of my favorite sections.

And the reason I like it is because it works kind of like a professional

on a resume.

And the reason I think this is important is because a lot of times people are

like, should I include a cover letter? Should I not include a cover letter?

Your about section can kind of serve that purpose.

It gives you that just bite -sized bit of information that people need to know

who you are and how they're supposed to view you.

So imagine they have all these bits and pieces. They have experience, education.

They have these testimonials from people you worked with. And they're trying to

figure out, okay, can I draw this person in my head?

Your about section is a way for you to grab them and say, okay, this is who I

am. This is my history. And this is how I want you to know me.

That way, everything else they view is through that lens. So it's basically

getting them at the top of a funnel and say, I'm going to take you on a journey

about my experience. And we're going to talk about why I am fantastic for you.

So make sure that that is how. you're framing it, that you're telling this

person a bite -sized piece of information.

You want it to be engaging. You don't want to be too long. I'm not on LinkedIn

to read a novel. There are other places that I do that.

So make sure that it's concise, it's engaging, because you really want to

them in and go down that funnel.

The other thing, we talked about this before, Rebecca, is I always tell

don't talk like Elmo on LinkedIn.

Elmo is the only one who's allowed to speak like Elmo. And what I mean is that

he says, Elmo likes X.

Or Elmo works as a senior account executive at Google.

I don't think he does, but, you know, but Elmo, you know, he sweeps the

on Sesame Street or something like that. That is third person. It sounds weird.

You know, you always want to use what's called first person, which means that

says, like, hi, I've worked in, you know, the consulting industry for 25

Or I work at X, Y, and Z. I'm led by a mission.

You want it to be personable. You want it to be engaging.

Most people, like, I don't have an assistant, so, like, it would be weird

to write, like, Andrew does X, Y, and Z. It just sounds weird. So write as an I.

That's what we want you to write at as on LinkedIn so that you are engaging.

So make sure you do that. And we also have some examples, obviously, about the

About section.

So we have William here, great top of profile.

We know who he is, who he says he is.

This is really perfect. It's not too long. It's not too short.

We learn that he's a technology executive with a good track record. He's

that area for quite a while. We know that he is currently focused on applied

And then we also know a little bit of where he likes to operate, which is the

intersection of strategy and execution.

So, you know, it's not overly long, but I get a good idea of who he is. And then

as we go down the profile, we're going to be able to say like, oh, okay, he

backs all this up. I think we might have another example.

Yes, we have Sherry. So Sherry, again, great top of profile, love that image.

And then also, you know, not too short, not too long. We know that she also has

a really great career.

She's been in leadership positions. She's really looked toward the civic

operations. And then also we see that.

What drives her is equity, collaboration, and sustainable systems

So, you know, it's such a good sort of encapsulation of who she is. It makes me

say, oh, okay, I want to keep going. And I have a good picture of who she is,

what she likes to do, and all of that.

So I think those are just really great examples about the about section.

Yeah, those were great.

We're going to go on to the featured section up next. But first, I just want

remind everyone, we have a really exciting challenge coming up. We're

share more about it at the end of this session.

So just wanted to give you a heads up on that. Keep your eyes and ears here for

more on our post -session challenge.

All right, let's go into the featured section.

So the featured section is your highlight reel. It lets you pin your

your top posts, media mentions, key wins, so that people can see what you're

proud of first, so it's not too buried in your feed, right? So what we want to

do here is pin your most impressive or relevant work. So you're going to want

think top posts.

press, or portfolio highlights in this section.

You're going to want to feature a mix of formats as well.

Posts, videos, links, or media to keep it interesting, to bring your work and

your personality to life. And then a tip for the featured section, something I

have to remind myself pretty often, is to keep it fresh.

You're going to want to rotate in new content regularly to the section to

reflect the work that you're currently working on and not have it be too

outdated. I'd say having an outdated profile in general is not a best

so keeping your profile up to date also means swapping out some of those

featured posts.

So we're going to look at a few examples of featured sections that are doing

this really well. The first is from William.

So in William's featured section, what we see is three articles. They're

visually compelling. They cover a variety of topics. And they really speak

William's range of expertise across AI, across technology.

And it makes me want to click and engage with these articles, right?

As a member, if I'm scrolling on the platform, if I come across your profile,

this is saying, like, read me. It's literally like a read me sign.

And so love that these articles are here. Again, the visual compelling just

of draws me into these posts and makes you want to learn more about what Will

has featured and what he's been up to.

Another example is from Sherry. And I love that you called out earlier in the

About section the ethos that is driving some of her work because then her

Featured section directly supports all of the facts and claims that she stated

in the About section.

What we see in Sherry's Featured are three different types of posts. We

have two posts and a link. And they really support this journey that she's

taking us through, the About section, her work in environmental justice.

Here we can see that she is very active.

the communities in this industry.

And then also I love this announcement here on the right, this post that she

shared the, you know, her own appointment that she's now a board

nonprofit. Again, visually compelling. It really brings me into her profile.

I want to learn more. I want to engage with these posts.

So I think a real sleeper section, sometimes I see the featured post not at

or maybe there's one post, but really having this filled out and up to date is

going to add a lot of value and help to further optimize your LinkedIn profile.

Yeah. And what I also like about Sherry's section.

is that it shows her out and about in the world. Right. So it shows, like,

not just sitting behind a desk. She's going to conferences.

She's hanging out with her colleagues and other fellow, like, thought leaders

that industry.

So I really like that showcase.

And then we have the perfect question for you, Eurenka. And this one is from

Emily Robertson Yanks in Colorado.

And Emily says, I was recently quoted in a New York Times front page article.

How can I reference something like that on my profile?

Featured section.

a good way to do this, and I work a lot with execs on the platform.

I also have worked with creators, everyday creators, business owners, job

seekers, and they ask, like, I don't want to overly promote myself, but I do

want to highlight this one. And the featured section, it's a great place to

that. So for something like a New York Times feature, which, congratulations,

very exciting, that's huge, I think there's an opportunity here to bring

post, bring the link or the article, maybe it's a screenshot of the article,

into your profile, maybe create a post about it, give some context.

on what the article is exploring.

Are there any key points or key quotes that you can call out?

Having that as a standalone post.

in the activity section which we'll dive into a bit more later but then

featuring that post to call it out right away on your profile you can't miss it

you're something i'm excited about or really proud of so that's that's what i

would do with um you know that french front page article feature yeah and i

think we want to get to a couple more questions here i'll take this one and it

which is uh this is from christine ramos in california can you please give an

example of a headline for someone that is unemployed and actively looking for

work christine uh first of all um you know what i would suggest is actually

using the Open to Work banner. There is a lot of discussion online.

And fortunately, our jobs here are not necessarily to promote LinkedIn, but to

give you the information you need to actually land your next job, find your

opportunity. So I've gone to the engineers. I've gone to the people

the research.

The Open to Work banner is a net positive for people. What happens is

put it on, they end up getting more outreach from recruiters. They end up

getting more outreach from people within their network.

So even, you know, there's a lot of people who say, oh, it makes people look

desperate or something like that.

From our data, that is not the case. So what I would say is do the open to work

banner. You could also turn on open to work features behind the banner. So, you

know, even if you don't want that on, you can still put on those settings on

background.

So I wouldn't take up space in your headline saying, hey, actively looking

whatever these roles are, because that banner and those settings will actually

do that for you. Instead, what I would say is like.

put what you are, you want to be seen as. So if you are pivoting into a new

industry or you are sticking with your own industry, you want to go into

leadership, make that part of your profile, sort of own that. And I think

like one of those manifestation things where it's like, it goes beyond just

actively seeking this role. You are whatever that is. If you have those

if that is what you want to go into the industry as, into the labor market as,

that's who you are and that should be your headline.

So that's what I encourage people to do. And then this, one I would love your

take on.

because I have a very specific take on this.

And this is from Umo, a Duke in the U .S., and what do you think about emojis

the headline and about section? Okay, I'll share my take, and then I want to

hear your hot take as well.

Emojis across LinkedIn, even in your content, should be complementary to the

point that you're making. They should help to underline or emphasize a

point. Generally, I discourage from emojis in the headline and in the about

section. That is really important real estate where you're going to be wanting

to convey the key. points that you want to get across.

Again, emojis can be playful and add some personalization. I would hold them

the activity section and posting and would generally just discourage from

in headlines, in names.

It's not great for a CEO or search optimization either.

What do you think? I think this is why we get along.

Because I don't want to see emojis in a headline.

It's fine, but it's one of those things where it's like, listen, save that for

the activity section.

I don't want...

If you say you're a doctor, I don't need a stethoscope. I get it.

But, you know, save it for the activity section.

Don't overdo it. Make sure it's complimentary.

Like, I use them in my activity section.

But up above, I just leave that with the text.

And also, like you said, don't get overly complicated because I don't want

have to, like, decode something.

Right. Again, I'm not here to read a novel. Right.

But, so, yeah, I completely agree with you. And speaking of the activity

section, you know, we should talk about that, too.

So the activity section is so important.

The activity section is essentially where you get to engage with your

with the world of work.

So what you want to do is you want to say, okay, first of all, that you have

content to showcase there. So you could put your profile so that people see your

post first, your comments first, your videos, et cetera. You have a lot of

control over how people first view your profile.

And then as for how to actually create activity the big thing is to flex your

expertise because at the end of the day that is what people are hiring for you

for so if you want to be thought of as a leader in your sector consider that

you're in who you're interacting with who you're contributing to maybe you are

in the banking industry there are a lot of those people who are head of huge

banks in all countries on linkedin watch what they're talking about watch when

their earnings come out engage with them you really want to make sure that you

are pushing that conversation forward.

One of the things that's a little pet peeve of mine actually is when people

repost articles or something like that, I want to see what you actually thought

of the article. I want to see how you applied that to your own work.

One of the things that I really like is that there is a...

publication or news outlet for every profession.

So like if you are in loss management, so you're the people who try and stop

other people from like stealing stuff out of Best Buy or wherever, there is a

magazine specifically for loss prevention people.

And I really like the fact that people can look at that and say, you know what,

this tactic doesn't really work for us. Or, you know, I haven't tried this, but

I'm really excited to because I think this will solve X, Y, and Z. It shows

you're thinking more deeply into your profession and you're growing your

expertise.

Make sure you're creating those conversations.

Just create value with your content because you're going to get knowledge

what people post, and you should be giving a little bit of knowledge too.

So let's take a look at an activity section.

I think we have Larry here, our good friend Larry Trotter.

So Larry obviously is coming from a very specific standpoint.

He has a really nice graphic package.

He probably uses Canva or something like that. You don't have to do that. You

could be sort of linking to articles. You can maybe put pictures up from like

company retreat or maybe like your coworkers.

Maybe they went out after work to mini golf.

You know, it doesn't have to be complicated.

But he obviously is viewing his content as a service provider.

So he is trying to engage people.

He's asking questions.

And he's also making sure that when people land on his profile, that they

first seeing his post.

So again, you don't have to have a fancy graphics package.

But he's trying to move the conversation forward.

He's using statistics.

He's asking questions.

So I think that's a solid activity section.

All right, Yerbanka, how about we move on to the experience section?

Yes. Okay. But before we do so, I want to call out this member comment that we

just received in the chat.

It says, that featured section is something I'm planning on leveraging

in the process of standing up on my own blog to showcase my work, and I feel

like featured might be a good spot to highlight that external resource.

And this is coming from Martin Frost. Martin, that is a great idea. That's

exactly what the featured section is for.

Blog posts, external links, documents can live there. You can kind of play

it and swap it out as often as you need. So I love that call out. And actually,

there's so many different ways. People have a lot of their personal website.

But if you're a graphic designer, you could put your graphics up there. If you

are a doctor and you worked on research papers, you could put those there. So

instead of having them go to a website and click through and I'll do all these

things, you could actually just put that all up at the top. So you could really

use that as like, I'm not going to make you go click a million links.

Here's everything you need to know.

Exactly. Make it easy for them, right? All righty. So let's dive into the next

section, which is the experience section. This section shows how you

impact, the projects you're working on, and really your career growth over time.

So here you're going to want to highlight your accomplishments. So not

responsibilities, not just the title of the role, but here is where you can add

supporting links, supporting quantifiers and metrics that really bring your

experiences to life in a real way.

So we're going to look at a few profiles that do this very well. I call this

section the meat and potatoes of the profile because as a recruiter, as a

manager, this is kind of immediately where I'd go, right? So Ashley's

section here really tells her career story.

It's more than just job titles. It's her achievements.

It's those accomplishments. And within those roles, she's highlighting key

I love to see these buzzwords, right? Leading, strategic, planning, and

execution. I spearheaded. I supported. These are going to be the keywords. that

stand out to recruiters and hiring managers and really showcases here was

impact in this role but also here's what I learned here's how I grew here how

the skills that I'm going to talk a bit more about you know at the bottom of the

profile here's how they were in action

Here's how I implemented those in this role. So really strong experience

here from Ashley.

We're also going to take a look at Lauren's profile in her experience

Again, we really have a strong one here.

We want to, again, showcase the win.

phrases and keywords like I broke records I closed seven deals in the

weeks of selling which is really impressive by the way Lauren you're

but really expanding on the wins how I did this and so really like what I

think about the about section is here's the preface And then the experience is

kind of like, here are the chapters of my career story.

So some really strong experience sections here. You're going to want to

some time updating this and refreshing it often. And again, are there any links

or supporting materials that you can add to your experience section that helps

us tell that story even further?

I share this example, you know, as I was doing a career pivot in 2021, I was

previously a publicist before I joined LinkedIn. So what I did was pull some of

the stories I'd been working on and linking them to the profile to say, Hey,

work in publicity.

Here's what that has looked like. And here are some of the wins from those

roles. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's really great advice, and we'll get to the profile reviews in a

bit, and we'll go through other people's experience sections too. And actually,

we're going to head into the education section, and basically education, it's

not going to be overly complicated.

If you went to college, if you want to put your high school up there, you can.

Maybe you went to a master's program or something like that. Your education

section is where that... happens and what i really like about that and this

why i suggest people use this section is that maybe you are looking at different

employers or companies you could see like oh this person was in the class

of me um and they work there now i could reach out to them and say like hey you

may not remember me but we had lunch a few times when we were in college or

something like that um that is you know the key of networking is finding those

little connections even if it's not like a huge like substantial connections you

just build that bridge and sort of reach out. So when you have that, you can

find out if alumni of your university or your school work there as well.

You could also remove the years if you want, which is related, you know, if

people are worried about ageism, you could take those off your education.

Now we have a question here, I'm going a little bit rogue, from Molly.

And Molly wants to know, and she's from my homeland of Pennsylvania, and she

wants to know, I have heard to avoid years of experience due to a potential

age... due to potential age discrimination?

Molly, this is a great question and one I get a lot. If you take it off of your

education section, why don't you take it off your experience section?

The reason is because...

recruiters hiring managers and employers want to see the trajectory of your

career if you don't have years on your experience section it raises a red flag

for them and they sort of like they get out their magnifying glass they start

looking and say okay this isn't adding up they were at this company for three

years the next company they were there for six months like or like basically

that's not even there so they're just assuming they're like what are you

So it actually raises more questions for recruiters than it answers. So, you

know, you could take them off your education section, but recruiters, they

really want to make sure that they see how you've progressed throughout your

career.

So that's what I would suggest there. And now your education section, what do

you learn during your education?

skills. So we're going to talk about skills section. And this is really kind

like the furnace of your profile, because the way LinkedIn often works is

recruiters, hiring managers, they're going to be searching for specific

So the reason they do this is because, you know, instead of saying, like, I

someone who is great with human resources.

Instead, what they'll say is, you know what, there are people who have those

skills, and I'm not finding the right candidate.

just by looking for a human resource business partner. So they'll look for

actual skills.

So your skills section is super important because that's where they can

say, oh, do you have this skill? Do you have that skill? And at the end of the

day, that's what you have to actually do the job.

So it's so important that you have that. You want to showcase your expertise.

And what we know is that really people who list skills are 24 more times likely

to receive recruiter in -mails if they have five or more skills listed on their

program. They are three times more likely to receive connection requests.

They're also five times more likely to get viewed by recruiters if they have

five or more skills.

So basically, make sure you're using this section and you're making the most

it. So you can list up to 100 skills in your profile, including those hard and

soft skills we talked about earlier.

Hard ones are the ones that are like, I know this.

programming language soft skills are hey I'm good at conflict resolution the one

thing I would definitely recommend though is make sure that you think

just basic so think of it how the recruiter is going to be searching so if

need someone who is going to be maybe working at the coffee stand in their

office or something they might want someone who's good at communication

But if they plug in communication into a search bar, 500 million people are

probably going to show up. So they want someone who is good at customer service

and also interpersonal communication.

Think beyond just the basics.

So that's what I would recommend.

And, you know, if you're a premium member, what's nice is you could

highlight your top skills. So maybe you are in, let's say, working in the AI

field. And that is a fast -evolving place. So people want to make sure,

hey, I want to show people that I can do this.

super good with this specific thing to anthropic or whatever I'm just guessing

I'm terrible with AI but you know you could highlight those five skills if

you're a premium member and if you're watching this you are so let's take a

at an example we have Samantha's profile again and Samantha let's go down she is

listing her skills and what's nice this is where those endorsements come in So

anyone could obviously lift skills, but what's important there is people are

saying, oh, I've worked with her and I know that she's really good at strategic

marketing management.

or digital transformation.

We had all of these things that we were doing manually, and she brought it

online.

Similarly, she's going a little bit deeper. She has things like product

marketing, which could be a little bit more general, but then she has go -to

-market strategy with some of those.

So she has a good list of skills there, but she's going

beyond just the surface of marketing or communications or things like that,

which I think is really important.

So I think Samantha does a great job with this. And then I think we're going

move on to recommendations.

Yeah. All right.

We have folks from all over the world joining us in the chat. I just want to

shout out Joseph in New Mexico. We have Daniel in Michigan.

Cassandra is also in Michigan. Perhaps they're joining from the same room. If

you are, I think you're joining us.

Claudia in South Africa is here. Daniel in Alaska.

We have Conrad in Kuwait. Welcome.

Parvez in India. We have Ika in Finland. Joseph in New York. And Craig in

Scotland. Thank you for joining us all over the world. We know it's early

Eastern time.

So I appreciate you being up early or staying up late. All right, so we're

to get into recommendations, languages, and interests. This is going to be

towards the bottom of the profile but still an important section because it

some dimension and some depth to your profile.

Recommendations offer social proof of the impact, the skills that you kind of

highlighted in the skills section, and your working style.

So think of it as an endorsement from someone that you're working with, a bit

validation to say, hey, I work with this person. and I've seen how they operate,

and I can speak anecdotally and give specific examples to support these

Receipts. Let's call them receipts, right?

Receipts and recommendations.

And then languages highlight global fluency and can really open up cross

-cultural or international opportunities by saying, hey, I may live in this

region, but I can speak this language. I'm open to work across borders.

And then our interests reveal what is driving us. So professionally and

personally, this is a great place to highlight some of those, you know,

up your personal brand in that way to show people what else you're interested

and open to and really help people connect with your values and your

aspirations. So the ethos bit.

Recommendations for, well, recommendations for getting

You're going to want to ask for two to three really thoughtful recommendations

from people that you've worked closely with. So you want to prioritize

peers, clients.

Think about, like, doing peer reviews internally. It's very similar, just, you

know, living on the platform.

You're going to want to make these recommendations personal. So when

mention a specific project or strength that you'd like them to reflect on.

And then on the languages front, list all relevant languages. Let's be honest

about our fluency levels. I took Italian for four years in high school and did a

semester abroad. I'm not fluent in Italian and would not be able to do the

-to -day work there, right? So being honest about your fluency levels is

to be important here.

And then on the interests, following companies, leaders.

you know, nonprofits and topics that align with the goals that you've

highlighted all the way through your profile, right? So, again, I feel like

is a bit more of like a supportive section. It's saying these are the

This is speaking to them. These are the interests.

It kind of connects all of the dots there. So we're going to take a look at

recommendation section from a member named Samantha.

Samantha here has received two recommendations, either from former

peers, clients, as we mentioned.

And, again, this is going to be very anecdotal.

I think this can be both, there can be, you know,

quantitative metrics here, but a lot of it's going to be, I worked with, you

know, Samantha on this project. Here I'm seeing, I attended an industry show

and, you know, I learned a lot about her work in this space.

And then, you know, another one from Abby. So two really strong

And then in the given section, you can see recommendations that you've given, a

little bit of give and take here. We like to call LinkedIn sometimes a

of generosity.

So sharing tips and advice, but then also getting recommendations and giving

recommendations. So really strong recommendation section here.

with two strong recs, both on the receiving end, and Samantha has given

good ones as well. Yeah.

No, I think that's really good.

Recommendations are so powerful, and a lot of people, they go through job

or something, and one of the best things you could actually do is just...

you know, leave a person a recommendation and say, you know, I work

They're so hardworking.

And I think that just gives people a vote of confidence too when they're

down. So I really recommend, you know, even if you're just thinking of someone,

like give them a recommendation.

It just brightens up their day. It brightens mine.

We have so many questions coming in. So we're trying to get to them kind of

throughout the show.

And the first one is really great. It's from Anna Wolf in New Jersey.

Anna asked, since resumes should be tailored for keywords to match. job

postings, what should be placed in the description for previous roles on a

profile? Anna, that is a fantastic question.

So here's my advice. And the first thing you want to do is you want to make sure

that you have in mind what kind of position you want, in what industry, in

sector. You want to narrow it down to that area where you are interested,

you have the skills to do the job, and where there is growing demand in the

labor market. And once you have that idea, that's when you could go in. is

building out that profile and your resume because you want them to be

foundational documents.

So for your profile, what you're going to do is you're going to look around,

again, you could use LinkedIn for this, and you could find job descriptions for

that type of role or the role that you specifically want. And it's okay if

they're a little bit outdated or they're expired because what you actually want

is the description language.

And back in the day before AI, I would always tell people to print these

descriptions out or get the newspaper out.

and highlight the skills they're looking for or those keywords that say, like,

I'm looking for someone who knows how to use, like, this point -of -sale system

or something like that. And then what you would do is you would say, like,

I need to answer these in my various parts of my profile because that

essentially is what employers in that space are looking for. And you do the

thing on your resume, and then your resume, when you send them to specific

you just make small little changes. You don't do anything like major overhaul,

and the same applies. to your profile.

You're not making tweaks, but it's already sort of primed to go for those

positions. So Anna, I hope that helps. You could put it into AI, like, you

put it in a document and say, what are the main keywords or key terms and

that employers in the space are looking for?

And Yerbenka, I think the next one is good for you.

All right. So from Becca in Michigan, how do I address gaps specifically as it

may relate to family, health, or special circumstances?

So

breaks happen, right?

Oftentimes we cannot predict when they're going to come up, but they're a

of life. And what hiring managers and recruiters are really looking for is to

understand how you were using that time. So LinkedIn actually does have the

option to, you know,

include a career break in your experiences but then there's also

the about section to kind of share what was happening during that time were

there certificates or volunteer ops maybe even a freelance opportunity that

pursued during a career break so again we want to assume that our you know

who are hiring us are going to be empathetic and understanding but also

show what what impact or learnings or development were you pursuing during

time it's going to be what's most important than the actual break itself

you use the time and then

for Andrew. Oh, yeah. We have, let's see. Oh, Andrew to Andy. Okay. We have

Wong here in New York. So we're coming to you live from the Empire State

Building, actually. So we're right in New York.

And Andy wants to know, should you have AI write your entire LinkedIn profile

asking for a friend?

Andy, is that friend in the room with you? I think he is. So, okay.

You can have AI help you write your profile.

And there are actually some tools that you have access to to help you write

about section and all of that.

The main thing is you don't want to just copy and paste for a few reasons. First

of all, the AI could mess up. They're called hallucinations. And the more AI

actually advances, they're finding that the more hallucinations they get.

LinkedIn is really good about sort of making sure that the tools are tested

they're actually bringing value. So that's why it asks you to give. you a

up or gives them a thumbs up if it's a good one. But I would really suggest

whatever the AI spits out, you do massage and make it your own.

Otherwise, it's going to sound pretty generic. And actually, like a lot of

places, like if you're asking, hey, write about about section for me, and

someone else is asking the same question, the AI will try and make it

uniform or try and follow best practices. And it just gets overly

you know, use AI, but make sure you're still one having the final say over

everything. So that would be my suggestion.

And then with that, I think, you know, we promised people profile reviews. We

sure did. So let's do that. And I have another magic iPad here.

And let's see. I'm going to take the first one and then you could take the

second one. All right. So this one we have is Vishvesh.

So we're going to see if – wow, look at the magic of technology.

There it is. So we have Vishvesh's profile up here.

Excuse me.

you know we're gonna go a little bit piece by piece but try not to take too

time but vish vash um the first thing i would say is you know great profile

photo maybe lighten it up a little bit because your face is a little bit dark

but overall um you know it's a good profile photo the background isn't like

drawing attention from you um so i think that's really great the one thing i

would definitely call out though is that you don't have a background image so it

looks kind of generic

So it looks like you're in the tech space, so maybe you could put in some

pictures of code or something in the background.

Nothing too busy, but it just adds a little bit of flair and sort of makes it

little bit more homey for people who are viewing it.

The other thing is, let's see, you're verified. That's fantastic.

So we know Vishvesh is who he says he is.

He has his pronouns.

He doesn't have his pronunciation.

If you have time, I would suggest maybe recording it because I know, like, you

know, I'm calling you Vishvesh, but I know sometimes people go by Vishvish.

So I want to make sure that I'm pronouncing your name correctly.

I'm sorry.

You have your education there.

That is fantastic.

And let's keep going down the profile.

And then we have your about section.

Let's expand that. I think this is pretty good.

So one thing is you're definitely going to want to know what's going on in your

industry. So the tech industry is notoriously get to the point.

So I think you have sort of the main components here. You have the

languages. you know, you have sort of the technology that you know, you have

sort of a basic intro. You might want to include some more personal stuff in

there about like the stuff you really enjoy working on, sort of your approach

all of the stuff you build and you work on.

So, you know, I, but I like that it's short and it's to the point.

You could just add a little bit of more flair. The features section.

So, you know, it's okay to have, I don't mean to draw a triangle.

So, your features section you have obviously your resume there that is

fine but you also have a lot of other space there so I would definitely maybe

add some things here So maybe if during college you had some projects that you

worked on, maybe you write an article about something that's happening in your

industry, maybe how you're approaching AI, things like that, that would be

really good to include here, and it would add just some diversity to the

that you have.

So I would suggest adding a few more of those things.

Going down to the activity section, let's see. It looks like you are doing

courses, looking for some certifications.

I think these are great to definitely post.

But you might want to add some more content.

So instead of just posting like, hey, I got this new badge from IBM, which is

great, maybe do follow -up posts that says, here's how I put it to action,

really shows that not only are you just racking up certifications, it shows that

you are actually applying what you've learned. So I'd suggest that. And then

obviously you have comments and images.

For the comments, I think engage with stuff in your industry to draw it in.

look, I'm actually adding to this conversation. I'm taking it forward. I

adding value. So that's something you could do. But overall, I think your

activity section, you're on the right track. I really like your experience

section. I have to say that. I took a look a little bit earlier, but let's

expand some of these.

I love these bullet points. And one of the things that I really, really like

about your bullet points are these little, I'm terrible at drawing images.

have to go back to kindergarten.

These little like areas here where you have the percentages, they're so

This is what people are going to be looking for, especially recruiters,

they want to know that you can quantify.

your value to an organization.

So it's not just like, oh, yeah, I'm pretty good at what I do.

That's not usually good enough because, first of all, you're going to say you're

good at what you do. But second, they want to know exactly how good are you.

So I think your experience section is super solid.

And obviously you have some great names here like Amazon.

And the other thing is your education.

Again, I think this is super helpful because if you click on these places,

you know, this you could actually see who the alumni are you could see who

work for so i i think this is really fantastic to have these there it's super

beneficial and you can do the same thing with your past companies you could see

like oh someone i used to work with at this company is there you obviously have

your certifications which i think is is really helpful. You have list the

projects that you work on. I think that's really helpful.

Hayden Neha, who's messaging me.

We have skills here. I think that's great. You have 53 skills listed.

What you have is a lot of the hard skills, which is obviously important in

area. So I think that is really good.

You have courses you've taken and you have the languages you speak, which I

think is super helpful.

And obviously I see your interest. But overall,

Fishvesh, I think you are on the right track.

So we are going to pass this over to Eubanka, who's going to talk about Tracy

Lynn. Let's do it. Okay. All right. So taking a look at Tracy Lynn Blackwell's

profile, I'm just going to do a quick skim, really, what I want to do.

We'll do the top -to -bottom approach, right? So great photo from Tracy Lynn.

clear. It's, you know, a bit more personality driven. It's a bit playful

colorful. The only tweak I'd make to this top half here is that I love that

banner showcases very clearly that Tracy Lynn is in the medical sciences.

It is a little bit busy and kind of distracts from her name and the

eyes kind of go directly to the left ventricle. So I would just maybe swap

out for something a bit more muted. And then we have your name here at the

profile. So not necessarily the best use of banner real estate.

Something again, again, related to your experience in the medical sciences, but

maybe just a bit more toned down so we can focus on what's important, which is

going to be the headline, the about section.

Again, really great call -outs here of the different, you know, areas across

medical sciences that she focuses on. I love this call -out, the 15 years of

clinical experience. That's really great to have there, right, showing that

you're a bit tenured in this industry.

I would condense this just a bit. Just call out what you really want to

highlight and really want to focus on.

I'll do a quick skim here.

I know we talked about the about section, having a lot of color, really

showcasing who we are.

But some of these line breaks are a bit distracting.

So, again, condensing some of this, calling out the key points. Again, still

having a bit of personal flair, but remembering, you know, keeping in mind

audiences are going to be peers in the medical space, potential employers.

The activities section, again, reposting is a great way to kind of get in a good

groove of sharing content. But you want to give a bit more context, your

perspective on some of it. of those stairs.

And then the experience section is going to be very important. Again, calling

out that we want to bullet out and really highlight what we were doing in

roles and how we were doing them. So words like identify, develop are going

be really valuable here. One more thing to call out, I know we talked about

career breaks earlier.

If you spent any time volunteering, whether during a career break or in your

nine to five or whatever type of role you have, calling out those volunteer

experiences can be really valuable and complimentary to your more professional,

maybe corporate. experience.

So really strong profile from Tracy Lynn. A few minor tweaks, I think, would

just help to elevate this a bit more.

Yeah. And we have so many questions coming in. We want to try and get

few of these rapidly.

And for those, we know there's a lot of job seekers out there.

If you have more questions that we can get to, I'll be here on Monday actually

taking questions.

So make sure you sign up for that.

And then if you have questions specific to premium, again, our colleague Jemay

will be here on the 24th. So stay tuned. We're going to have some links that

we're going to be dropping.

Why don't you take the first question we have here, Yerbinka?

Sure. Okay. So how should senior leaders or transformation executives structure

their profile to balance credibility, influence, and personal brand? One,

a clear profile image so that we're able to clearly identify who you are. I

think verification is going to be really important for senior leaders as well.

I've always called it a badge. Today, Andrew, you called it a shield, and my

mind went to it shields you from misidentification. So specifically for

executives. and senior leaders, you're going to want to make sure your profile

is verified so that you can be a trusted source on the platform.

When we talk about influence and personal brand, my mind goes to thought

leadership and sort of professional storytelling.

This is going to really come alive in the about section, really showcasing,

know, my areas of expertise, you know, the industry topics that I'm most well

versed in. And then also that personal brand is going to come alive probably in

the activity section.

It's going to be showcasing the work that you're doing day to day, the

that, you know, maybe you're working on. on any news coming out of the company

that you're a leader at and so I think you know different parts of the profile

can be used to do this in different ways but really credibility we're going to

think we're going to think headline and verification and then personal brand I

think is going to come more to life in the about section and then the activity

section of the profile yeah and for people who say hey I have a recruiter

reaching out to me do are they who they say they are look for the shield or the

bad yeah because if they have it then they went through the verification

We have another question here. What are some ways to position your profile when

you move from corporate to being an entrepreneur or advisor or consultant?

that's from Yvette in Stanbury, Connecticut.

Yvette, this is a great question because a lot of people do this.

So what I would suggest is obviously showcase what you're working on.

Create that story for yourself and make sure you're building your profile around

that. So you could say entrepreneur building X, Y, or Z.

Make sure you're getting specific, though, because a lot of people make it.

of vague. The other thing I would say is when you're creating content, tell the

story of what you're doing. Why did you decide to leave the corporate life and

go into entrepreneurship?

What problem are you trying to solve for people?

Get specific.

So I have a former colleague, Lorraine Lee, who did this really successfully

when she moved out of the corporate world. She sort of tracked her progress

online. And when she learned something, she shared it on LinkedIn.

So I would really suggest you make your profile align with everything that you

are doing, but also create content about your journey.

So that's what I would suggest.

And Yerbanka, how about the next question? Sure. Yeah, I love this

it a good idea to put a one -minute video about myself in the featured part,

especially if I'm looking for a job? This is coming from Maria in the

Netherlands. Maria.

Yeah, like all around, yeah. So one, video is going to be one of the most

engaged formats on LinkedIn right now. It's our highest engaged format. So

visibility for video, discoverability for video on LinkedIn is high.

And so whether you're looking for work or wanting to showcase thought

leadership, leaning into video is highly, highly, highly encouraged.

And then, again, you hit the timing right on the head, right? One -minute

so short -form vertical video is kind of all the excitement on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn right now, a lot of momentum is being built around this. So when a

video under two minutes on your profile showcasing, maybe it's not, you know, an

introduction to say, hi, I'm Maria and I'm looking for work, but maybe it's,

know, here are three things happening in my industry right now to really

position yourself as knowledgeable, knowledgeable about the industry.

Uh, and then pinning that to your featured section. So it's very easily

discoverable when I'm on your profile. It's like chef's kiss strategy.

Um, absolutely.

Yeah. I love that name, Maria Kachikova. So

I think you helped Maria out.

Speaking of names I like, we have a question from Mission Viejo, California

Martin Frost.

And Martin wants to know, is there such a thing as too many skills?

No, we limit you to 100 because I think we want you to make sure that you're

really thinking about the skills that you put on your profile.

Like we talked about, you want to go a little bit deeper than just the surface

level stuff. Like, oh yeah, I can drive a car.

How well can you drive a car? Like, make sure you're digging deeper into that so

that way employers know, like, you know, the specifics. So you can't have too

many skills.

Don't lie.

And there's no magic number of skills. It's just, you know, if you could think

of it and you think it's going to be useful to a recruiter or hiring manager,

include it on the list. And then the next question, let's see. Oh, I can take

this one, too. What are the most important optimization factors for

small consulting businesses attracting prospective clients and engaging current

partners? clients to the desired outcome.

And that's from Amy Keller Lauer in San Francisco.

Amy, I could do a whole show on this because it's like one of my pet peeves.

People don't know how to advertise their business.

The first thing you're going to do is for past clients, you want them to give

you recommendations.

That's what it's there for. You want them to say, hey, I hired Amy. She is

fantastic. She helped me achieve X, Y, and Z in X amount of time. Do that.

for your content what i always tell people is show the value you'll bring to

them so many people decide like oh i have to advertise my business so i'm

going to post a bunch of ads No one knows the quality of your work through

ads. They know you may be a good graphic designer or that you hire good graphic

designers, but they don't actually know what you're bringing to the table. So if

you are offering a service, especially if it's like engaging in content or

things online, give them a little taste of the value you're going to bring them.

So use your content to show that. Write articles about it. Do videos about it.

And then when you're engaging with people, they'll see that headline that

oh, they're a consultant. and could actually help me solve my problem. So

go in and do a hard sell and don't just post ads.

Actually show the value you're going to give them and they will come to you.

And then our final question for today's session, how is the experience section

different from my resume?

I think that the experience section can be inspired by your resume, right? It

may look similar. You have these headlines, then you have what I did

one thing that, you know, I think is a big difference is that the experience

section is alive because it's digital. So you're able to add in media, add in

supporting materials that are complementary to the experiences that

listing. So think of this as like a living, breathing resume versus just

static document. that you're passing around.

This can be a little bit more interactive. You can make it more

have a lot of real estate. There's a lot of room to really expand on, you know,

the experiences that you've had within those roles, the metrics that kind of

drove success and impact within those roles. So again, it's like a living,

breathing resume can be.

Similar in format and style, but, you know, it's digital. So you're able to

with it a bit more. Yeah. You're not limited to one page.

That too, right? Yeah.

Well, this has been such a great session.

It's been so great doing this together. We have to do it again. And we love

seeing your questions come in and hearing how many of you are already

about your next profile updates.

That's so important.

Now, we know you have even more questions. So, again, we hope you'll

LinkedIn Community Manager Jemay Jackson next Thursday for an exclusive premium.

Q &A where she'll take your questions live. We'll drop a link in the chat to

register. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Start small,

one section, maybe your headline, your about section, or even just update your

photo. Those little changes add up. Yeah. And you know, I feel like some of

work is also emotional support. You can do it.

You can do it. And we want to see your glow up. So tell us how you implemented

learnings from today on your profile by posting on LinkedIn with the hashtag

WatchWithPremium. And be sure to tag us, too.

We're going to select one member to get a private profile review from one of us.

Yes. And thank you all for spending time with us today.

We so appreciate you taking the time to get your profile together and to really

shine for people who are looking for their new opportunities and looking to

you. That's right. We'll see you next time.

Bye. Bye.