Give yourself the best job prospects with a great LinkedIn summary
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22/11/2018
In Australia, approximately 4.5 million users are active monthly on LinkedIn, according to statistics produced by Social Media News. To ensure that your profile stands out to potential employers, making an impact is essential.
The point of a LinkedIn summary
This section on your profile is the place to demonstrate who you are. It should tie together your history, your accomplishments (whether it’s job qualifications or personal achievements), and your personality. The reader should leave feeling like they know something about you.
In some ways, a LinkedIn summary is similar to what you’d write in a resume, with one important distinction. A resume summary focuses on one particular role, while a LinkedIn summary needs to open itself up to any opportunity you’re interested in. It should appeal to a broad audience to bring more options your way while you’re job searching.
A strong, persuasive summary that tells your story in a compelling way can help you do that, here are four ways you can help make your LinkedIn summary stand out.
A LinkedIn summary is your chance to attract the attention of recruiters or hiring managers.
Four ways to make your LinkedIn summary stand out
1. Draw them in with the first sentence of your LinkedIn summary
While your summary is important, the most essential part of it is the first few opening lines. When viewing your profile this is what your potential employer sees immediately. It’s your job to hook them strongly enough that they click through to read the rest of your summary.
When writing your opening lines, consider your personal brand, and what you want a hiring manager to take away from what they’re reading. Do you want to jump right in and create a provocative statement that gets them thinking? Or is your passion what you want to showcase right from the beginning? You might also consider stating what you can do for their company should they recruit you, or the purpose that keeps you getting up in the morning.
Your LinkedIn profile should demonstrate your personal brand
2. Write to your audience
Just as in an interview, you want your LinkedIn profile to demonstrate the best that you can offer. When writing your summary, consider what they are looking for, and answer the questions they’d ask if they could.
Let them know the skills you’d bring into the role, as well as demonstrating your personality so they can get a better understanding of the type of worker you are. Sometimes, knowing you’re the right character fit for a team can influence an employer as much as the right skills can.
Don’t be afraid of sharing your successes, and involving data if you have it. Discuss your talents and strengths, and tell the story of your career. Share the tale honestly, while focusing on the positive takeaways you’ve gained from the experiences.
If you’re struggling to string the words together, try writing it as you’d say it. You can go back and edit what you’ve put down in your summary, but in the meantime, you’ve helped it sound more like you. This brings character to your profile and helps it to leave a lasting impression on a hiring manager’s mind.
3. Don’t dismiss keywords in your LinkedIn summary
The end goal of your LinkedIn summary is to attract and hold the attention of a recruiter or hiring manager. However, first, you need to ensure that your profile reaches them. This means battling your way through search engines.
Unless you’ve got a background that can help you with search engine optimisation, it’s best to tread carefully here. While you don’t want to ignore it completely, overdoing it can cause just as many problems.
Instead, you want to try and pinpoint the right keywords to use, then integrate them into your LinkedIn summary sparingly. You wouldn’t use someone’s name every second word while in conversation, and it’s the same with keywords.
Analyse the profiles of people in the roles you’d like to occupy and figure out what keywords they’re using. Consider job postings as well, and look at the terminology involved. When you know the keywords you want to use, be authentic with working them into your summary. If they don’t apply to you, don’t force their use.
Keywords can connect you with new audiences when used correctly.
4. Make your LinkedIn summary appearance appealing
A solid block of text turns away all but the hardiest of readers, no matter how engaging the content is. Your reader’s focus will fade and so will your chance to make an impression. Break your summary up into short, readable paragraphs, and avoid writing something too lengthy.
Introduce white space between the clumps of words, and make the whole piece easy on the eye. Make your whole LinkedIn summary as simple to scan over as possible, while still drawing attention to what’s important.
Consider using bullet points to boldly and quickly sum up essential facts. However, don’t go overboard on stylising your summary either. While you want to stand out, you should do that with what you have to offer, not through distracting formatting.
Additionally, don’t forget to proofread your summary before putting it up for everyone to see. You’re unlikely to appeal to a future employer if it’s clear you haven’t taken the time to edit your own work, even if the content is amazing.
KLC Recruitment knows what hiring managers are looking for when it comes to finding their next hire. If you want help being seen, reach out to our team today.
