I encourage everyone to update their LinkedIn profiles at least once a year. Even if

you are not actively job searching, most of you would be open to having a

conversation with a recruiter if the opportunity was right – and those recruiters

are looking for you primarily on LinkedIn.

Here are the areas of your profile I want you to audit before the end of the year:

1. Your headline.

This is the content that shows directly below your name and picture. Most people

default to their current job title, which is an incredible waste of the 220 characters you are allotted for this section.

Make sure your headline markets you effectively. Whether you take the value

proposition approach or the keyword approach, make sure your headline draws

recruiters in.

2. Your Skills section.

You can have up to 50 skills listed in this section, which is very important for

keyword searches. I recommend you use all 50.

-Eliminate skills you no longer use or no longer want to use.

-As you add skills, think in terms of what a recruiter would be searching on.

-Be sure to select one of the drop-down options.

-Duplicate these skills in your About section, starting with “Specialties.”

3. Add any new jobs or achievements to your current job.

This is an excellent opportunity to add your new job, or recent achievements to

your current job.

Are there older jobs that need to be deleted? I recommend going back about 20

years. I regularly see mid-career professional who still have college internships on

their profile.

4. Update your About section.

Look at this section with fresh eyes – what doesn’t it say about you? Have you

presented a clear and compelling reason for a recruiter to reach out to you?

Of course, if this is not your strength, I recommend hiring a LI profile writer like

me to do this for you – it’s well worth the money.

5. Your photo and background photo.

If the picture on your profile is more than a couple years old, has animals or

people other than you in the picture, or isn’t of a decent quality, it’s time for a

new photo. It doesn’t have to be professionally done, but it does need to be

professional quality.

Your background photo is a way to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Find a royalty-free, on-brand picture. When I do this work for my clients, I select 4

options, try each one on the client’s profile, then select the one I like the best.

I recommend pixabay.com; there are many others offering royalty-free images.

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