How to make your LinkedIn profile stand out for work

Looking for a new job and the opportunity to learn new skills?  Keen to discover content and connections that can support your career? Then you should be asking how to make a good LinkedIn profile.

There are 850+ million people on the career-focused social media platform globally. What’s more, you can meet recruiters and potential employers, and discover millions of jobs on LinkedIn. In fact, eight people are hired every minute on LinkedIn!

In this blog, you can find top LinkedIn profile tips to help your profile stand out. Customise your LinkedIn to differentiate yourself from the 52 million jobseekers who visit the site every week. You can also find free resources and tools available to help you with your job search. So let’s get started on improving your LinkedIn profile:

Refresh your LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile is a digital representation of your professional self. Whether you’re creating a LinkedIn page from scratch or refreshing an existing one, make sure that:

• Your profile is complete
• Your work experience and skills information is up-to-date
• Your profile summary reflects who you are and your experience

Upload a professional profile picture

First impressions count. LinkedIn members with a profile photo have 21x more views and up to 9x more connection requests than members who don’t.

When taking your professional headshot, remember to:

• Wear an outfit that you would typically wear to work
• Ensure your picture is recent
• Frame the photo so your face fills around 60 per cent of the frame.

Read LinkedIn’s own guide to taking the perfect profile picture.

Introduce yourself with an impactful personal statement

Think of the summary section on your LinkedIn profile as your personal elevator pitch to summarise your professional story. Share what motivates you about your role or what you’re looking for in a new one. You can keep it to about four to five sentences or bullet points.

List all of your relevant work experience

In the experience section, highlight your roles and what you were responsible for. Just like on your CV, remember to include:

• Your key skills and experience
• Your accomplishments
• Any relevant education
• Any side projects and volunteering experience

Unlike your CV, you’re not limited by space or formatting on LinkedIn. Therefore, include plenty of detail and specific examples that will help recruiters and hiring managers understand the full scope of your potential.

Include a featured section to spotlight your experience

Make use of the Featured section on your LinkedIn profile. This feature allows you to showcase work that you’re most proud of.

For example, you can feature:

• posts that you’ve authored or re-shared
• articles you’ve published on LinkedIn
• external media like images, documents and links.

Highlight your professional skills

Highlighting your skills and areas of expertise is a great way to help you stand out to recruiters. Many hiring managers prioritise skills-based recruitment. This approach focuses on your skill rather than your work experience.

Be specific about what skills you have to offer to a new role. That way, recruiters can quickly get a feel for the type of roles that would suit you. Recent data shows that 44% of hirers explicitly use the skills and experience information to fill roles.

Ask colleagues for LinkedIn endorsements

Your connections can also endorse your skills. Once they have, their name and picture will appear next to the skills and experience listed on your LinkedIn page. If you receive positive feedback from a colleague or manager, ask if they would be willing to add this to LinkedIn.

Prove your skills with LinkedIn assessments

To make a good LinkedIn profile great, check out the Skill Assessments feature. This tool allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and proficiency of the skills you’ve mentioned. You can complete assessments specific to each skills to demonstrate your aptitude.

Develop new skills with LinkedIn Learning

An online learning course can also help to bridge any skills gaps that you may have. Microsoft and LinkedIn have recently partnered to help people learn new skills for free. A LinkedIn login provides access to nearly 1,000 hours of learning courses.

Let people know that you’re Open to Work:

When you’re active on LinkedIn, you can let recruiters know that you’re open to new job opportunities. Members who do this are twice as likely to receive a message from a recruiter. You can download a simple green photo frame feature which sits on your profile picture and tells people that you’re ‘Open to Work’. Over 17 million LinkedIn job seekers have adopted the ‘Open to Work’ frame to date. These users also receive 20% more messages from the LinkedIn community.

Specifying the type of roles that you’re interested in and your preferred location will also help.

Help people to pronounce your name correctly:

If people often struggle to pronounce your name, you can create an audio recording of your name. This audio clip will sit on your LinkedIn profile and demonstrate your conscientious approach.

Adding a recording to your profile confirmed your pronunciation preference. Other users can listen and feel confident to say your name correctly.

Use LinkedIn to find your next role

Once your LinkedIn page is fully populated and up-to-date, you can start to be more active on the platform. These next steps can help you to find the right role for you:

Grow your professional network

Your professional network is a good starting point for helping you to find a new job. Current and former colleagues can also be a great resource for advice and support. Just 50 connections on LinkedIn can make a big difference.

Start by adding people to your LinkedIn page who are around you in your everyday life. Send requests to family, friends and colleagues. You never know if a friend might be connected to a hiring manager.

Use LinkedIn QR Codes as a business card

If you attend a conference or event, make sure to have the LinkedIn app on your phone. Every profile comes with a unique QR code link. Whilst networking, ask people to scan your QR code. This link will take them straight to your profile to start a new connection.

Ask for a referral from LinkedIn connections

LinkedIn applicants are nearly 4x more likely to get a job at a company where they have connections. If you see a job that you’re interested in, check whether any of your connections work at the organisation. If they do, direct message your mutual connection to request a referral.

When you reach out to your network, remind them of your areas of expertise and why you’re a good fit for the role.

Set up job alerts

Our final LinkedIn tip to set up automatic job alerts. If you’re looking for inspiration for the type of companies hiring currently, LinkedIn’s News team keeps track of all UK companies hiring 50+ roles. Explore the Jobs page and search by criteria:

• job title
• location
• remote/hybrid work
• Industry
• company.

You can then set up job alerts to receive notifications about new openings. As soon as a new job description matches your search criteria, you’ll receive an alert. This system allows you to be first to apply.

In the current jobs market, with stiff competition for roles, it’s important to be proactive. Take action with your job search and build your professional network. We hope these LinkedIn tips help you to build a standout profile and discover new opportunities. For more help and advice, you can find free resources at opportunity.linkedin.com.

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