How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Work for You

Personalize your LinkedIn URL

If you haven’t already done so, modify the default URL that LinkedIn has assigned to your profile. Claiming your own name as your URL will make it easier for employers to find you. Moreover, a customized LinkedIn URL looks cleaner and more professional on your resume.

✓ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-smith
✗ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-smith-762rff590f45

Craft an eye-catching headline

Having a powerful headline can invite potential employers or recruiters to look at your profile. Moreover, the headline appears in Google search results. LinkedIn headlines should be specific, search optimised and authentic. Here’s a proven successful LinkedIn profile headline formula:

Your current role or target job title | Your key skills | Zing (something that makes your candidacy unique)

For example:

• Full Stack Web Developer | JavaScript (ES6), React, NodeJS, MongoDB | 3x Hackathon Winner
• Data Scientist at XYZ | Python, SQL, Machine Learning | Author of pydatascience.blog

Your LinkedIn headline can be a maximum of 220 characters, so make every word count. You can find some more tips and ideas in this blog post.

Write a strong, engaging summary

Many job-seekers leave the summary section blank, so by simply having something here, you will be ahead of the curve. A short, well-written summary is the key to getting more LinkedIn views and search hits. Here is a quick how-to guide:

• Write as you would speak—in the first person.
• Avoid using a passive voice and buzzwords.
• Tell your story, but keep it short and sweet. How did you get started in coding? What drew you to becoming a creator of mobile or web applications? Why do you love it?
• Be engaging and incorporate some interesting, work-related facts about yourself. For example: Since 2017, I’ve covered over 2M lines of code with unit tests.
• Highlight your most notable achievements, and back them up with numbers wherever possible.
• Add your contact details at the end, with a call-to-action. For instance: contact me directly at [email protected].

Use keywords

Include relevant keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile, especially in your profile headline, summary, work experience descriptions, and skills section. This will improve your chances of being found by recruiters and hiring managers using search functions.

Focus here on your hard skills, i.e. skills that recruiters would naturally type when searching for potential candidates. For instance, here’s an example of a search string used by recruiters to source Python developers:

site:https://linkedin.com (programmer OR developer OR engineer) AND python AND (mysql OR postgresql) AND (django OR flask) AND (chef OR puppet OR sentry)

Since you are looking for a tech job abroad, make sure your profile also has keywords like “relocation” or “relocate”.

Put effort into writing the Experience section

In addition to listing your job titles and the technologies you’ve used, bullet point your greatest accomplishments for each position. Keep your accomplishment descriptions short and punchy. Again, if possible, use numbers to show the scale and impact of your work.

For example:

Developed automated analysis system from scratch capable of processing 15 million statistical operations per day.

Use past tense action verbs (e.g., re-architectured, achieved, designed, overhauled, etc.) to describe previous jobs and present tense verbs for your current position. Don’t waste your time describing professional experience from 4-5 years ago in detail. Your most recent projects are of greater interest to recruiters or potential employers.

Ask your friends and ex-colleagues to endorse your skills

Having an impressive list of skills on your profile is one thing, but if you have an impressive number of people who’ve endorsed you for such skills it is more meaningful for recruiters to understand what you can bring to the table. Ask your friends and ex-colleagues to endorse your skills on LinkedIn.

Pro-tip: Linkedin allows you to reorder profile sections, so put your most impressive ones (for example, Projects) at the top of the page.