LinkedIn is one of the most powerful professional networking platforms. For both job hunting and recruitment alike. In this age of connectivity, this platform has become an essential tool. Both for professional networking and for job seeking. It allows the user to build a detailed profile on an engaging template. It gives them access to a huge pool of recruiters and domain experts. Using this tool right, one can quickly take someone to the doorstep of their dream job interview. However, most people make grave errors while creating their LinkedIn profile. This not only reduces their chances of getting noticed by top recruiters but also makes them look sloppy and unprofessional.
10 LinkedIn Profile Mistakes Job Seekers Should Avoid
1. Not having a Professional Looking Profile Picture
Your picture does a good deal of talking to you in any virtual arena. Not uploading one or being careless in your choice of a picture for your LinkedIn profile will make you lose out. Any recruiter would consciously or sub-consciously judge a few traits like professionalism, sincerity, and confidence from your pictures. Make sure your pictures convey all of it and whatever else you wish for your first impression to be.
One way to do it would be to have a picture where you’re directly facing the camera with a friendly expression. This signals positivity. And makes you seem trustworthy, also easy to work with. You should use proper lighting conditions and a good camera too. This will give the vibe of professionalism needed for the picture.
2. Not Giving Enough Thought to Headlines
For someone to click on your LinkedIn profile and read through the contents of it, the headlines should be appealing enough. If your profile’s status is incomplete, cliched, or altogether amiss. That means you are massively lowering your chances of being discovered. When writing a headline, think of something that is descriptive, short and slightly creative.
So, instead of just mentioning your current titles and degrees try to highlight your work ethic. Or phrase the headlines in a style that’s exclusive to you.
3. Not Making Profile Easy to Search
Always include a few keywords and phrases that uniquely identify your LinkedIn profile. A complete and well-written profile is way more likely to show up in search results than a lousily written one. So if you want your profile to be found. And truly stand out pepper it with relevant keywords and make it search-friendly.
Try to find out the relevant skills and experiences needed for the job you’re looking for. If you have them, of course, use them in your profile. Recruiters will use the specific keywords for those skills and experiences when searching for candidates on linkedIn.
4. Having Too Many Grammatical Mistakes
Grammatical errors in a LinkedIn profile are fatal. Nothing conveys laziness and a lack of professionalism as does a profile with typing and other sorts of trivial errors. Even if you have all the relevant skills, experiences or top-notch recommendations these things will seriously put off recruiters. Use spelling and grammar checks to perfect your profile. And, always remember to proofread a few times before posting.
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5. Adding Connections Indiscriminately
Adding too many people meaninglessly is near buffoonery. If you do that, you are taking up a very childish gimmick to look popular on a network. Avoid it at all costs, add people you genuinely mean to connect with.
6. Not Being A Part of Relevant Groups
LinkedIn is a platform for introducing yourself, finding relevant connections and keeping your professional credentials updated, it’s not just a job-hunting site. One of the best ways to use LinkedIn and accomplish something out of it is by joining groups. A relevant group takes you to the people whom you can grow together with.
7. Sending Messages
If you get a profile visit from someone and are interested in establishing communication with that particular person. Don’t text the person with an opening line of, ‘I had a profile visit from you’. It is infinitely better to simply introduce yourself. And say you are interested in connecting.
8. Sharing too much Promotional Material on Groups
Groups have a purpose, and meandering away from it to totally irrelevant chatter is a waste of everybody’s wavelength on the group. Members will start recognizing you as that annoying person who makes spammy posts if you keep bombarding promotional links or other meaningless content on the group’s page.
9. Forgetting to Update Profile
One way to make a bad impression on people is to have a LinkedIn profile that hasn’t been updated in years or to put out zero status updates in a long period of time.
It just makes you seem out of touch with the current digital environment and quite possibly can make you seem inept with technology.
10. Going Beyond What LinkedIn is Intended For
Linkedin is a professional network, use it as one. When you log in to linkedIn, only keep your professional identity at the forefront. So do not post personal anecdotes, pictures or opinions unrelated to your profession on the platform.
So there you go, avoid these mistakes to stand out in the sea of candidates. While small, ultimately these mistakes are the factors that break your LinkedIn profile. Maintaining them might require patience and continuous effort but the payoff is much greater than the hassle.
Contributor: Atika Rezwan |Studying at Mawlana Bhashani Science & Technology University, Bangladesh.
