Keywords, titles and a quality headline

The headline is possibly the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. It is your 120 character hook to people finding you in a LinkedIn search, it should be about what you do as opposed to what you are and be memorable / enticing enough for someone to click on your profile.

Search Engine Optimisation is a key element on LinkedIn. Key words that highlight your skills help potential employers find you, so add specific key words such as "master at community management" or "social crisis reputation manager"

Complete the summary and contact details

The summary section is the most optimised part of your LinkedIn profile behind the Headline. Inclusion of keywords relevant to your industry and role are critical. You should speak directly to your target audience about who you are and why you are passionate about what you do. Leave accomplishments for the experience section.

Ensure your email address, phone number and current location are all up to date.

Profile Picture and Headline

LinkedIn profiles which have a picture have 21x more views and 36x more messages so it is important to put one up if you haven't already.

Choose a picture which is clear, up to date, professional and looks friendly.

Personalise your LinkedIn Profile URL Link and add the link to your CV

It’s much easier to publicise your profile with a customised URL (ideally linkedin.com/yourname).

How to get one? On your Profile screen, to the right, you will see "edit public profile and URL" . Click into this screen and edit your custom URL link. Specify what you’d like your address to be. When you’re finished, click Save.

You can also add this as a link on your CV to make it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to find your profile.

Recommendations



When someone says, “You did a great job on that project!” ask him or her to take a snapshot of that success by writing a recommendation on LinkedIn.

Don’t be afraid to specify what you’d like the recommender to focus on, like “Lea’s contributions on the project enabled us to increase forecasted savings by 5% over our original plan” will really showcase your strengths.