5 Easy Steps to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile
In the metalcasting industry, LinkedIn is often used to consider job candidates. While many professionals have profiles on LinkedIn, few have profiles that make employers stop and take notice. Here are five easy steps to improve your LinkedIn profile
you can do in less than hour.
1. Make Sure Your Employment History Is Current
First, you want to make sure your information is all up to date, especially your employment history. Make sure your job responsibilities are accurate. As you learn on the job, the scope of your responsibilities expands. So, it is a good idea to regularly update that section of your profile with your skills and accomplishments. This is the part of the profile employers will focus on, so you want to really highlight your potential.
2. Engage with Other Professionals
Some people view LinkedIn just as a tool for professionals to post their career profile, but at its core, LinkedIn is a social networking platform. Use the platform to network with other professionals in the metalcasting industry. Seek out others who share your career interests and regularly interact with them by liking and commenting on their posts. You can also reach out to other professionals directly by sending them a connection request but be sure to customize your introductory message. People are less likely to respond if they think you’ve just sent a generic message out to everyone in the metalcasting industry.
3. Think Carefully about Your Endorsed Skills
Listing skills on your profile will help hiring managers find you and help you establish your professional identity. But endorsed skills are pointless if the skills you include don’t reinforce your brand and target the specific foundries you want to work with. Saying you’re proficient with Microsoft Word doesn’t benefit you because everyone lists that skill. Think about the skills that are either unique to or essential to jobs in the metalcasting industry. If the skill isn’t relevant to the industry, don’t include it. You also want to think about organization. The most important skills should be at the top of the list so employers will them.
4. Make Sure You Have the Essentials
There are few elements every successful profile needs, including your name, location, and photo. You also need your work history and educational background. While technically you can have a profile that doesn’t contain all of these elements, you will be much less likely to appear in other people’s searches. Having a LinkedIn profile is useless if no one can find it, so make sure you have all the basic elements filled out.
5. Make Yourself a Custom URL
The key to a successful LinkedIn profile is visibility. This is even more true if you have a common name. When people type your name into the search field and your profile comes up ten pages into the search results, you will have a hard time getting people to read your profile. You can edit your profile, so it has a customized URL instead of the default URL. This will let you easily direct people to your profile, so they don’t have to fuss with the search function.
Having a winning LinkedIn profile can help you connect with the right people and open new doors in your career. But you need a profile that highlights skills and experience relevant to your industry, and one that is easy for people to find. You also need to interact with other professionals and build up your network.
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