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Optimize Your LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the modern resume and .  In many cases (particularly for executives) you may no longer be asked for your resume.


LinkedIn is the first thing recruiters and hiring managers look at.  They make a VERY fast judgment about you based on your profile.  So, invest the time to polish it. Here are our best practices (honed with feedback from top executive recruiters) for cleaning up your LinkedIn profile before beginning a search.

💡 Before you start editing your LinkedIn profile, make sure your network doesn’t get notified about updates by turning off notifications.  You can do this by going:

  • Settings & Privacy →

  • Visibility →

  • Visibility of your LinkedIn activity →

  • Share profile updates with your network → Off

Background image (aka banner)


Be thoughtful about this, innovation can hurt, rather than help.

  • Never have a blank background - its just wasted real-estate

  • If you are at a company (or recently left), the best option is your corporate background. It shows you are currently employed and sends the right signal.

  • If you have a personal branded background you will likely be perceived as not interested in full-time work

  • Using a generic scene background is always fine (and safe) if you are truly between jobs. We are building a library of ones we think are effective and neutral. The one below is great as it could be perceived as you on stage at a company event;)


If you aren't in a job, here is an example of an effective generic scene background
If you aren't in a job, here is an example of an effective generic scene background

Your Photo


Make it a good one - don’t get funky.

  • If you are going for a C-Level role, a professional photo of you on stage with a microphone makes you look even more important;).

  • Don't look too old in your photo (ageism is real in hiring). It is totally ok to use a photo from 5-10 years ago.

  • If you need a more professional photo check out Secta Labs.

  • AND.... Make sure your photo displays even if people aren't connected to you. This is a classic mistake people make that they don't realize


Headline


Align this with your one-pager to be really clear about what role you do, your super-power.

  • Make clear your focus on full-time roles: Remove pieces of the headline that could suggest you aren’t focused on full-time roles (i.e. advisor, thought leader….). We also see a lot of people put board member in their headline to indicate you want to be a board member but now is not the time to confuse things.

  • Highlight your current (or recent) company: If you don't put your current company in your headline you seem a little desperate. Even if you have been gone for a few months you can include your current company / role succinctly (i.e. CRO @ Vendr)

  • Niche down: The more specific you are with the role you are seeking and the value you drive the more it engages people.

  • Be concise: Keep your headline short and to the point.

  • Highlight past logos: We love highlighting meaningful logos in your headline (i.e. ex Uber/Salesforce)

  • Be creative + memorable: Highlight your super-power succinctly and help people know / remember you personally. Use action words, power words, and attention-grabbing phrases to make your headline stand out. Make people want to read further and learn about you. Some of our favorites of all time.

    • I wrangle chaos and bring strategic quality to the revenue tech stack

    • more coming soon....

  • Don't optimize for the algorithm: Don't optimize your headline for search with lots of keywords about all your skills. Those you will cover in your role descriptions

"Don't optimize your LinkedIn headline for algorithms (don't list skills, keep your headline simple). At the senior level, with unposted roles you are more likely to be reaching out personally." Whispered founder

Experiences


  • Logos: Never have an experience without a logo… you can always create a company with a logo if it doesn’t exist or link to something fun. Here are links to some useful ones:

    • Career Break: A way to professionally own a break

    • Various Companies: A great company to put all your advisory roles under. See below

    • Various Startups: If you are advisor and in a break but fractional this is a nice way to position it. We've also seen people group multiple short-term roles under this in some cases.

  • Impactful Descriptions: Make sure the description for each experience provides succinct, provide clear insight into the impact you drove + scope you managed and quantify impact.

    • Put quantitative results where you can. On LinkedIn you can have more swagger and fun with the impact you drove but put numbers!

    • Include the size of the teams you managed. Don't make people guess

    • People will NOT click "see more" so prioritize making the first 2 lines impactful

    • See some of our favorite examples here

  • Fractional / Advisory / Community Experiences: Since you are looking for a full-time job, We recommend NOT listing each advisory role as an experience - it will look like you aren’t focused on full-time work. Instead, put all fractional / advisory roles under a single item on LInkedIn.

  • Above the Fold: Be really thoughtful about the experiences “above the fold”. You want the key elements of your career story front and center. While they will always show by date, you can merge/delete/don’t show things that will push your key experiences “below the fold”

  • Role Progression: If you've been promoted in your role and you've been there a while, show each position you had. It helps show progression within that company vs. one long experience.

  • Skills: We don't recommend using LinkedIn skills on individual roles. These can be distracting and at at a senior level people aren't looking to understand what tools you have experience with but your soft-skills.

  • Titles: Consider refining the titles on your roles to best position yourself for the role you are focused on.

  • Featured Articles: If you have written / spoken about topics related to your experience, you can link those posts / articles to specific experiences. You can also feature these on the top of your profile.

  • Ageism is Real: As you get older, feel free to pull off your very early experiences and remove dates from education.


About (Description)  


Have a punchy description that engages people in the first person (3rd person is creepy:).

  • Use stories to engage people who visit your profile.

  • A simple approach is to use the “Value I Drive” content from your 1 pager.

  • Also add a few side passions to give yourself some personality / provide hooks for people to engage with.


Recommendations


Asking for recommendations on LinkedIn is an excellent way to showcase your skills and expertise to potential employers and recruiters.

  • Try to have everyone you would give as a reference to also add a reference on LinkedIn.

  • A great way to warm up references and reconnect by saying “I’m about to look for the next role, I wanted to ask if you would be a reference (and also share one on LinkedIn)"

  • Recruiters judge people with strong references higher


Open to Work


Turn on LinkedIn “available for hiring mode” to appear on recruiters radars. This is especially effective if you are in a role similar to the one you are searching for. It can yield a lot of inbound opportunities. Note: We don’t suggest to make “Open to Work” visible for all on your LinkedIn profile. From convos with recruiters / execs, “it can appear desperate”

"You lose all leverage when you have "Open to work" on your profile as a senior candidate. Companies will deprioritize your application because they know they can have you." Chris Gannon, Founder at Captivate Talent

💡 Whispered's Executive Directory offers a new, free way to stand out with top recruiters


Other LinkedIn strategies


  • To Post / Not to Post That you are looking on LinkedIn?: For junior roles, we love posts that share that they are searching. But for more senior people, recruiters/hiring managers have shared they see it as a negative.

“While you may be thinking to yourself, ‘I’m going to get a bunch of likes. This is going to feel really good. I’m going to share my story —I don’t see how it personally helps you.” Nolan Church, former Google Recruiter
  • Content: Content can add more depth to your LinkedIn profile. See this article on the power of writing.

  • Dates: Feel free to remove dates from education if you don’t want to state your age

  • Custom URL:  You can customize the URL of your profile. This looks better on your resume / email signature. You can find it by going to your profile and clicking “Contact Info” (located right below your photo)

  • Update how your headline caches on LinkedIn: LinkedIn caches images for a long time. This means that your current headline might not be the one that shows up when you (or others) share your linkedin URL via LinkedIn ;). There is an easy way to fix this... just go to this URL and re-enter your LinkedIn URL - it will force a reset in the cache/


the feeling after you polish your LinkedIn profile
That feeling when your LinkedIn is polished!

Use AI 🤖 to accelerate your search



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