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Nov 25, 2024 Roger Lear

Three LinkedIn Profile Changes Job Seekers MUST Make in a Post Covid 2022

I have been getting a lot of questions about LinkedIn and how to effectively “optimize” your personal profile during the job search. LinkedIn is always trying to figure out how to increase its social relevance and give everyone, not just job seekers, a chance to access the content. If you are a job seeker, this is excellent news because the more people who use LinkedIn for content and jobs, the more employers are likely to use this resource as a hiring strategy.  

Like all social media, those who stand out (which means they have optimized profiles) are the ones that usually get the interviews. Also, never forget that 90% of all recruiters (companies and third-party recruiters) search LinkedIn every day looking for your optimized profile. In a post covid hiring world, it is time to tweak your profile. Here is what you need to know.

  1. Video instead of picture profile. This one is HUGE! Instead of a profile picture, you can now do a 30-second video! The one thing covid did to help the recruiting world was force employers to use video interviews. Video interviews are here to stay, and while you are in a job search, your profile picture is an automatic 30-second interview. To record this video, you must use the LinkedIn app. (you can’t do it from a desktop). On the app, click the plus sign next to your profile picture. That will bring up some options to “add profile video .”You will then be able to record your 30-second video. This is your chance to shine like never before. The KEY to this video is to come across as friendly, energetic, smile throughout, and ready to work. Have a good background, don’t handhold your camera while recording, and look right into the camera lens. If you are in a job search and actively searching, let them know your top three skill sets and ask them to contact you for more information. If you are looking but don’t want your employer to know, your video profile will be more generic; however, you will still include your top three skills sets.
  2. Your LinkedIn headline is critical. You have 120 characters right under your name that should be your job DNA. Just like on the paper resume, the title of what you do or what you want to do should leave no mystery to employers visiting your profile. I look at a thousand profiles a month, and only about 20% have compelling headlines. Instead of just “Claims Adjuster,” why not try “Commercial General Liability Claims Handling Litigated, Complex Files .”Instead of “Administrative Assistant,” change it to” Administrative Assistant | Medical Billing | Payroll | Revenue Cycles | Business Administration | Accounts Receivable | A/R | Collections | Claims | Insurance | Communications .”Notice all the keywords? Very powerful. Finally, when a recruiter searches LinkedIn to fill jobs, your name and headline are the only things that show up in the search results. Your headline has to have an element of “clickbait” to get the best employers and recruiters to notice you.
  3. Breaks in Careers - New Tool to Help. Do you ever want to explain why you had a gap in your employment? Until just recently, you could never do that on LinkedIn. Thankfully, now you can, and the best news is it gives you a chance to let your future employer know what your learned while on that break. Also, covid tore many careers apart, and this is a perfect section to communicate what you did during these breaks. I like this section because it gives you a chance to be authentic, and employers like that…a lot! To set up your career breaks, under your profile picture/video, click on “add profile section .”Your drop-down will see “add career break .”This is an outstanding feature and is ready to be used today.

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