“I’m not on LinkedIn, do I need to be?” – a shockingly common question from my clients who are typically engaged in a serious job search. Whether you’re in a job search currently or happily working away at your job, it makes sense to ensure that your online presence is all it can be, especially by optimizing your approach on LinkedIn. It serves as an online resume, “rolodex,” reputation management tool, and recruiter’s database all in one. It’s a great way to research companies and reach out to people inside those companies.

If you’d like to get more out of LinkedIn, hopefully you can say “yes!” to most of these items:

  • Is your profile up to date with your latest education, experience, and accomplishments?
  • Does your LinkedIn profile contain plenty of keyword search terms? Not all keywords in a LinkedIn profile are weighted equally!
  • Do you have at least 3 recommendations?
  • Have you uploaded a high resolution, professional-looking photo, cropped so that it features your head and shoulders?
  • Are you connected to the right people, including recruiters for your profession/industry and people inside your target companies?
  • Are you using LinkedIn to reach out to key people and start conversations?

One important update LinkedIn made after its acquisition by Microsoft is that the default setting is to let MS Word plagiarize your LinkedIn profile content to help others create their resumes. Be sure to change that setting in the Privacy section.

CAREER-Magic offers expert LinkedIn Tune-ups that include editing of the LinkedIn profile for keyword richness, credibility, and LinkedIn connections, as well as network building, and photo editing services at an unbeatable price. Check out the SERVICES page for more details. And feel free to invite me to your network!