Selling keys of LinkedIn to job seekers (free account): Online in-depth resume and professional presence Expand network Reach out directly to recruiters See who of your connections can refer you to a particular employer

PROFILELinkedIn profile is the place to showcase what you’ve done, what you possess and what you achieved. Think of it as your online presence, not just an online resume, so don’t hesitate to make it a bit personal and detailed

BACKGROUND PHOTO 1400 x 425 pixel Use it to impress visitors/ greetings/ show expertise

PROFILE PICTURE Best if face is clear Casual, working-style, straight-looking is recommended High-quality, good lighting, ultra-sharp

NAME You can also include your former name and set it visible to your connections/ network/ everyone

HEADLINE Very important to LinkedIn search engine Could be your current job titles or anything you want to define yourself Should contain your brand keywords. Let say you want to differentiate your personal brand as a supply

chain expert, so your headline should contain words related to supply chain like logistics, lean, procurement, etc.

Dropping names. If you’ve worked for a big name (e.g. Former Microsoft Engineer) then put it in. It can help the way people look at you and when somebody search for the big name.

Catchy and casual 120 characters limit Avoid any unnecessary words like a, an, and, the Separate multiple titles by *, -, /, | (for example: Title*Title*Tile or Title|Title|Title)

LOCATION Easier to search for professionals in your area Help LinkedIn recommend connections in your area

INDUSTRY Choose one that applied, you can change it later Help LinkedIn recommend connections in your industry

CONTACT INFO Add as much contact info as possible so people can reach you in case they can’t send direct messages to

you on LinkedIn Visible to your connections: Email, Phone, IM, and Address

o Note for IM: You have up to 3 choices with several options (AIM, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, GTalk, QQ, and WeChat).

Visible to everyone on LinkedIn: o Twitter: You must link your Twitter account with LinkedIno WeChat: You must scan a QR code using WeChat so LinkedIn can send your name and profile

URL to WeChato Websites: Up to 3 choices and these web URLs can be used as backlinks. You just need to paste

the URLs and briefly describe what the websites are about. LinkedIn URL:

o Claim your own LinkedIn URL as soon as possible because the more users LinkedIn has, the less likely your favorite URL is available

o How to claim/change your LinkedIn URL: When you hit the line containing your current URL, you will be directed to your public

profile setting

Scroll down a little bit or Ctrl+F to search for “Your public profile URL” Now click on the small pen icon and change your URL

o Customize your LinkedIn URL is extremely helpful for personal branding and personal SEO (Search Engine Optimization, google it for more info)

o It’s best to use your real name as your custom URL, like www.linkedin.com/in/DavidGoliath if your name is David Goliath. It is easier to share and remember

o There are still lots of things to discuss in the public profile setting but we will address it laterPOSTS

SUMMARY Very important to LinkedIn search engine 2,000 character limit Write in first person, tell a story and express anything you want to appeal readers Keywords:

o Enrich and repeat your keywords. It helps people to understand your expertise and improves your LinkedIn search ranking

o It seems like LinkedIn is still working on preventing keyword stuffing (I found out some people having high search ranking while they have nothing in their profiles except stuffed keywords in their summary). To the search engine, you might be able to stuff keywords but I recommend not doing so because it might be counterproductive to people who come across your profile.

Add or upload video, image, document, presentation, etc. of your most proud works to make your profile more appealing. The nice thing is presentations and even videos can be streamed on LinkedIn

Call-to-action to encourage visitors to get in touch with you If you want to help people, who don’t know your email, to connect with you then include the email address

you used to signed up for your LinkedIn account. The reason is that LinkedIn asks for your email address when somebody add you

EXPERIENCE Very important to LinkedIn search engine Don’t need to list out all previous jobs. It’s best 3-5 jobs related to the personal brand you’re building. You

can group irrelevant/early-career jobs into one list like “Apprenticeship” or “Training Ground” If you add your current job, notice that the title of your current job will automatically become your headline You can add or upload video, image, document, presentation, etc. Briefly describe your employers

VOLUNTEER Same as the Experience section, except you can’t add files/URLs to showcase your work. If you want to

add a file/URL, it’s better to add your volunteer work in the EXPERIENCE section. Don’t need to say “Volunteer” in your title. Instead, use a title that specifically describes your

responsibilities, like “Tax Preparer” Briefly describe the organizations you volunteered with There is a sub-section named “Opportunities you are looking for” where you can choose:

o Joining a nonprofit boardo Skills-based volunteering (pro bono consulting)

Another sub-section “Caused you care about:”o Animal Welfareo Arts and Cultureo Childreno Civil Rights and Social Actiono Economic Empowermento Educationo Environment

o Health o Human Rightso Disaster and Humanitarian Reliefo Poverty Alleviationo Science and Technologyo Social Services

You can also include your favorite organizations in the sub-section “Organizations you support”PROJECTS

You can include any work or study projects and add URLs to the projects Describe in detail your project and what you achieved

You should include all of your team members to ask for recommendations in the future. If none of your teammates use LinkedIn, indicate how many members you worked with

If you’ve worked on several projects, it’s better to choose projects based on some factors:o How successful and well-known the project waso Your leadership/professional experience with the projecto How many members you worked with and whether they used LinkedIn (to recommend or endorse

your contribution)o Whether the project was accessible online

ORGANIZATIONS List out organizations that you have membership or are closely associated with them These organizations should be work-related and showcase your industry or expertise. If you’re in a

professional association, definitely put it in Make sure to indicate what roles you have in the organizations (members, chair, co-founder, etc.) Include your experience and accomplishments as a part of the organizations

EDUCATION Very important to LinkedIn search engine This is an integral section of your profile, not only to showcase your education but also helps you get

connected with schoolmates and alumni You can add multiple schools you attended, don’t forget to specify the time, degree, and major. Only

include your GPA if it’s above 3.0 You can add any activities or clubs/societies you joined in college and describe them in detail in the

description section If you add any projects, awards, or courses you had when you were in college, they will be shown in this

section You can also add media (document, photo, video, presentation, etc.), essays and research you did when you

were in college.COURSES

You can add any courses you took in college or outside school. It’s better to put in courses specialized in your industry like Global Supply Chain, not English 101

You can’t describe in detail these courses, so clearly specify the names of the courses so readers have a sense of what your courses are about

CERTIFICATIONS Write down the entire name as well as the abbreviation of the certifications you obtained because when

searching, some people type in the entire name while some just type in the abbreviation Insert a URL to the website of the certification or the organization that officially provided it You can also specify your license number (if any)

TEST SCORES Write down the entire name as well as the abbreviation of the test’s name so people know what it stands for

and immediately have an idea about it Indicate your score as well as the maximum for comparison. It is recommended that you only put in test

scores that are in top percentile or considered as professional level. In the Description: Describe the test in detail and where the test is recognized (nationally/internationally).

You might also want to describe how difficult it is and how the score was graded to impress readers.HONORS & AWARDS

Specify title and issuer of the honor/award In the Description: Describe in detail how competitive or challenging the honor/award is. You don’t need to

fill out the time if you receive the honor/award multiple times; put it in the description insteadLANGUAGES

LinkedIn allows you to indicate your language proficiency with five levels from low to high:o Elementary proficiencyo Limited working proficiencyo Professional working proficiencyo Full professional proficiencyo Native or bilingual proficiency

These levels of proficiency are mainly self-evaluated, but it is recommended that you only list out languages which you are at least able to hold a conversation. Knowing “hola” only shouldn’t be counted

Don’t confuse this with programming languages!SKILLS

Very important to LinkedIn search engine This section is to list out prominent skills you possess, and the best thing is your connections can prove

your skills just by hitting the button “Endorse” The more endorsements you have for a skill, the higher you’re ranked in the search engine when somebody

search for that skill You can add up to 50 skills and there’s no constraint what these skills are about. It could be technical skills

like programming languages or could be characteristics like teamworkRECOMMENDATIONS

Very important to LinkedIn search engine If someone recommends you, they must have a LinkedIn profile and their names will be linked to their

profiles, so you can’t fake a recommendation. That makes recommendations on LinkedIn valuable because everything is real and public

LinkedIn lest you choose your recommendations can come from: Supervisors, Colleagues, Clients, or Subordinates

When you ask for recommendations, make sure to tell the person you’re asking to be detailed and specific about you

PUBLICATIONSPATENTSADDITIONAL INFO

Interest: o You can add up to 1,000 characterso Freely express what you likeo Many people might not be aware, but interest has an impact on your ranking though not much.

The more keywords you stuff, the better chances that your ranking gets higher Personal Details

o Birthday: You can choose who can see your birth date and birth year (Only Me, My Connections, My Network, Everyone)

o Marital Status: Single or Married. You can also choose who can see your marital status (My Connections, My Network, Everyone)

Advice for Contactingo Include your email that you used to sign up for LinkedIn if you want people to connect with youo Include any contact info that you want to be contacted

FOLLOWINGPUBLIC PROFILEPROFILE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES