Investing in my LinkedIn Profile

Is LinkedIn really necessary?

Isn't my profile "good enough"? 

Are Recruiters really looking at it?

Image from Pexels 

These are all questions I've asked myself whenever I've given LinkedIn any thought. Now that my work is primarily done from the comfort of my own home, I feel like now more than ever we have the time to invest in our LinkedIn profiles as less and less real life face-to-face interaction is happening. Now is the time to invest in our profiles and secure that next opportunity or connection in our careers. 

I've had a LinkedIn account for a few years now but admittedly I've never really invested the time in ensuring that my profile is at it's optimum potential. I naively thought that if it's up to date and I have an acceptable profile photo that those factors alone should be enough - I was sadly mistaken. LinkedIn has so much potential as a platform and I feel a lot of us professionals often take the many benefits it has for granted. 

BEFORE 

As you can see, my profile is lacking visually. Upon reading Nancy Smith's article on "Best Practices For Social Media Profiles" there were some immediate red flags on my LinkedIn profile before I could even scroll down to my experience. Smith stresses the importance of an up to date profile photo that fits at least 50% of the frame. I noticed that my photo - although professional was a bit far away to truly view my facial characteristics. I'm also lacking a background photo which is also crucial according to Smith. In the past, I've always overlooked this one step in the fear of not looking professional. This is a common error on LinkedIn and upon scrolling through my connections I noticed that many do not have one as well. When reading more about this topic from Austin Belcak's article "How to Craft an Amazing Linkedin Cover Photo" I was surprised to read that " humans only remember 20% of what they read, but they remember 80% of what they see. Our brains process visuals up to 60,000x faster than text! People with custom cover photos get more connection requests, more messages, and more job interviews" according to Belcak. 

How crazy is that? I immediately knew I had to give it a makeover.

AFTER 

As you can see, my profile is a lot more visually appealing. I zoomed in on my photo to ensure my face is being shown and added a personal photo of one of my favourite areas of Calgary- Stephen Avenue. These small changes make me look more personable and approachable. I've also tweaked my headline to show what I do rather than my skills. 

I'm not an ALL-STAR yet... 

In true Aries format, "good enough" isn't enough for me. Once I set my mind to something, I have to finish it. The one thing missing from my profile to make it go from the initial "Intermediate" status to "ALL-STAR" status is a short summary to introduce myself and my skills. 

This is what I came up with... 

After completing this short summary, My profile reached it's ALL-STAR status! I'm hopeful my small but effective changes can increase my viewership and potentially pass on some new business leads!

What do you think about LinkedIn? What changes should you make? I'd love to know from anyone who's made these small changes and has seen any benefit from it? 

-Melanie 

REFERENCES 

Belcak, A. (June 17, 2020). How To Craft An Amazing LinkedIn Cover Photo [15+ Ideas + Examples]. Retrieved From: https://cultivatedculture.com/linkedin-cover-photo/

Smith, N. (2020). Best Practices For Social Media Profiles. Retrieved from: https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/le/content/315182/viewContent/4351217/View