This May 2023, the professional social networking site LinkedIn turns 20 years old. Currently, the site boasts more than 900 million members in more than 200 countries and territories. 

LinkedIn was created so current and past co-workers can connect, professionals can keep up with industry news, and job seekers and passive candidates can get relevant work opportunities. For professionals, establishing and maintaining a strong profile on the site can help you grow your network and increase employment opportunities. 

If it’s been a while since you evaluated and updated your LinkedIn profile, here’s a reminder about the importance of the professional social site.

• LinkedIn is a powerful job lead site. Every minute, eight people are hired by using the LinkedIn platform. Of hirers on LinkedIn, 44% use LinkedIn skills data to fill their roles.
• Most business influencers have LinkedIn profiles. Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions.
• LinkedIn continues to grow. In the Q4 FY22 Earnings report for LinkedIn, the site saw record engagement among its members. Revenue also increased 26% year-over-year. LinkedIn membership in the U.S. has steadily grown since 2012, with Pew Research Center reporting that 28% of all U.S. adults used LinkedIn in 2021.

In the spirit of the Spring cleaning season, we recommend that you revisit your LinkedIn profile to ensure it’s optimized for your career journey. Whether you’re actively looking for a job or open to better opportunities, please take the following actions with your profile to improve its visibility on the network.

1. Edit Your Headline & About Statement

Your headline is what shows up when people search for profiles like yours. Your About statement summarizes your career journey and indicates your current professional state and goals. 

It’s helpful to think of LinkedIn as a search engine. A hiring manager is more likely to search for “Senior Engineer” than “Rock Star Ninja Computer Magic Producer.” It’s best to make your headline straightforward and keyword-friendly so your profile appears higher in LinkedIn search results.

Also, look at your About statement and update it to reflect the full breadth of your experience, and make sure to incorporate your current career goals into space.

Pro tip: Look at job descriptions for your ideal positions. Draw inspiration from the language in those job descriptions, and integrate similar copy and skills in your headline and About statement.

2. Update Your Experience

Next, when updating your job Experience section, consider the following:

• Have you added your most recent role and duties? Make sure your current position is represented on your profile. 
• Do you have work examples and/or certificates you can add to various positions? You can upload website links or add documents and presentations to multiple roles. You can also add certifications you’ve obtained that relate to a role. These documents help prove your experience and show off your work.
• Are there skills you can add for various positions? LinkedIn recommends adding your top five skills used in each role. You’re limited to 50 skills maximum total, which your LinkedIn contacts can endorse.

As you edit and write for your work history, remember that LinkedIn is essentially a search engine for hiring managers. Look at job descriptions for opportunities you’re interested in, and feature similar keywords in your LinkedIn positions.

3. Strengthen Your Endorsements & Recommendations

Another way to add social proof to your LinkedIn profile is to get more skills endorsements and recommendations. As mentioned, you can add skills you’ve used in each role, which your connections can endorse. Your connections can also choose new skills to endorse you for, which you can then add to your profile. 

LinkedIn also allows you to review your skills and click on which positions you apply to. Doing this can add more context to the roles in your LinkedIn profile.

Recommendations can also make you stand out as a candidate on LinkedIn. To get more high-quality LinkedIn recommendations:

• Reach out to people you’d like a recommendation from, whom you’re willing to recommend yourself. Ask them if they’d be willing to swap recommendations with you.
• Remind the person you’re asking about your professional relationship. Offer to provide suggestions for points to cover in the recommendation if that’s helpful.

You can apply similar tactics to increase your skills and endorsements. Reach out to people you’re interested in endorsing, and ask if they’d be willing to do a skills endorsement swap.

LinkedIn Can Help You Grow Your Career

Wherever you are in your career, LinkedIn can help you achieve your dreams. When you optimize your profile with keywords that relate to your career goals, you can position yourself more effectively to get noticed by hirers.

Are you searching for a job in industries like finance and accounting, technology, human resources, digital, marketing, creative, financial services or corporate support? Contact AccruePartners to connect with our recruiting team. We partner with exceptional employers that are looking for talent like yours.