How to Make Your LinkedIn Stand Out - Career Sidekick

How to Make Your LinkedIn Stand Out - Career Sidekick How to Make Your LinkedIn Stand Out LinkedIn / https://www.edenscott.com/blog Theres a lot of competition on LinkedIn, so if you want to get noticed, you need a few tricks to stand out.In this article Im going to show you how to make your LinkedIn stand out and catch attention from recruiters, hiring managers, and anyone else you want to network with.How To Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out1. Have a great headshotThe first thing you should do to make your LinkedIn profile stand out is have a friend (or professional) help you take a great headshot.You should be clearly visible, smiling, and in a somewhat professional setting (not a dimly-lit party surrounded by beer bottles).Your image on LinkedIn is one of the first things people see in search results, when you make a post, when you comment on other posts, etc.And it can make or break the first impression of you.Also, the worst thing you can do is have no profile photo at all. Many people will assume youre a fake account if you dont have a real photo.So before you do anything else to make your LinkedIn profile stand out, get a great photo set up.2. Make Sure Your Headline Stands Out and is UniqueAlong with your image, your LinkedIn headline is one of the few things people can see BEFORE they click your profile. So its utlra-important if you want to stand out.And theres no rule that says it needs to be your job title.You can get creative and put whatever will you think will attract attention from the people you want to connect with.One word of caution, though: If youre a job seeker, I dont recommend saying Actively seeking positions in your headline. There are better uses for that space.If you need help with your headline, you can find 10 LinkedIn headline examples here.3. Write Your Profile for Your Target AudienceThis is probably my favorite (and most underrated) tip for how to make your LinkedIn profile stand out:Dont think about yourself as you write your LinkedIn. Yes its about you and your work experience. However, its also about the reader.And yo ull get noticed more on LinkedIn if you think about your ideal reader when writing your profile.Picture the person you want to read your profile and notice it. (You can even give them a name, decide how old they are, etc. In marketing this is called creating a customer avatar and is a powerful tactic).Now sit down to write your LinkedIn profile thinking what that person will find exciting, what theyll notice, and what will get THEM to click your profile and contact you after reading it.(Your image and headline are what get people to click, and the LinkedIn profile sections on your actual profile page are what will get them to contact you).Think of your ideal audience when writing ALL of this.4. Make your LinkedIn Skimmable and Easy to ReadUse bullets and other formatting. Avoid large paragraphs with many sentences. Make it as inviting and easy to read as possible. This is one way youll make recruiters and hiring managers want to keep reading (and hopefully contact you) after theyve opened your profile.I recently wrote an article on how to write a LinkedIn summary and there are some great examples in there of how you can even use emojis to grab attention on your LinkedIn profile.5. Get LinkedIn RecommendationsAnother way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out is ask a couple of colleagues to write you a recommendation.You can ask past colleagues, bosses, current coworkers, or anyone else that knows your work!If you want more info on this, I wrote an in-depth article about getting recommendations on your LinkedIn profile and why its so powerful.The short answer is: Very few job seekers do it, so it immediately catches an employers attention and gets them to stop skimming and read it closely!6. Engage and Be Active on LinkedInPart of getting your profile to stand out on LinkedIn is getting seen. Nobody can click your profile if youre not showing up on their screen, right?So no matter how great a profile you write, you also need to be active on the platform to g et seen by more people.Look for relevant groups to join and post in. You can ask questions, answer questions, share articles, and more. Just make sure you read the group rules first. Some group owners are terrified of someone stealing their thunder and posting advice in their group (its a terrible mindset and theyre not going very far in life or business, but thats how some people think).You can also post articles and tips/thoughts on your own feed. You can follow other people, comment on their posts, etc.Every time youre commenting, posting, responding to comments on your own posts, or anything else, your photo and headline are getting seen! And thats a key part of getting clicked and getting messaged once youve written a basic LinkedIn profile that looks good and stands out from other people.It Takes Effort to Make Your LinkedIn Stand OutRecruiters spend a LOT of time on LinkedIn. Looking through hundreds of profiles. And we usually see the same things each day over and over.Like anyone, we get tired, and start to go into autopilot. Our brain is half awake as we scan through a bunch of profiles quickly, looking for one or two keywords.However, when we see a great profile that someone put effort into, it does stand out and grab our attention.We stop skimming and start reading closely.And were more likely to want to talk to you about job opportunities, invite you to interview for a position, or add you to our network.If you follow the tips above, youll make your LinkedIn stand out so you can grow your network faster, get more job interviews, and advance your career faster.