In order to have an interesting contact network and get partnership and business opportunities, it’s fundamental to have a solid LinkedIn profile.

With the mission of connecting recruiters to potential employees, this social media increasingly attracts more professionals around the world.

Just so you have an idea, the platform currently has over 630 million users, though a lot of them still make the same elementary mistakes when creating their profiles.

Would you like to find out what these mistakes are and learn 10 relevant practices to make your profile stand out?

First things first: why should you use LinkedIn?

We’re talking about one of the most successful social media channels in the world, in fact, it’s the largest online professional network. Furthermore, more than 30 million companies are represented on the platform, according to LinkedIn.

Having a LinkedIn profile is a great way for recruiters to reach you, especially ones from companies that interest you. After all, LinkedIn gathers extremely comprehensive information about your professional life and even a few personal characteristics that recruiters generally take into account.

But you need to create a very relevant presence on the network.

There are so many opportunities, possibilities, and people in one place that you just can’t be left out, right?

Not to mention that LinkedIn has become one of the main spaces to work on your personal marketing and establish new connections with professionals in your field; in addition, of course, of being an excellent place to network.

Check out 10 LinkedIn profile tips that will boost your professional opportunities

Learn how to transform your profile into a successful showcase!

1. Learn how to show off your skills

Make sure you use the skills tab in your favor. List at least 5 of them on your profile and allow your connections to recommend you.

But you should know that, just as with recommendations, you won’t be able to evaluate yourself, only make the list.

The skills session is essential for your profile. Therefore, don’t leave it blank, but also don’t include any information merely to fill out the lines. You need to know the difference between what is essential and unnecessary “filler”.

2. Use a good profile photo

A LinkedIn profile without a photo is a huge mistake that you cannot commit.

However, this photo cannot be just any photo. The one you use on your Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp profile probably isn’t the most appropriate for your LinkedIn profile, wouldn’t you agree?

So, choose a more professional-looking photo, because this way a recruiter won’t need to see a photo of you at a party or on the beach. Common sense is key.

3. Pay careful attention to your summary

Here, you should create your description using up to 2,000 characters. So, try to show everyone who is part of this platform how you should be perceived.

In order to use it as best as possible, follow these rules:

• Create your presentation;
• Talk about your professional interests;
• Describe your area of expertise;
• Talk about what motivates you;
• Don’t forget your contact information.

4. Remove unnecessary words

The word “motivated”, for example, ranked 6th among the best-known buzzwords, therefore, it’s a good example of a completely unnecessary word, which adds no value to your profile.

Ideally, you should analyze your LinkedIn profile to find these types of words and replace them with more concrete examples.

The easiest way to find them is by asking yourself if the antonym of a term could be something like “unmotivated”.

5. Pay special attention to your professional experience

When talking about your professional experience, which is the most important factor in this network, focus on making it as complete as you can.

Enter the specific dates regarding the period in which you worked at each company and make a detailed list of all the activities that you took part in.

Here, prioritizing the details can make the difference in the eyes of a recruiter or even draw the attention of a professional in your field who is looking for new networking connections.

6. Give and ask for recommendations

On LinkedIn, recommendations given by others are fundamental.

If you still haven’t received any, one option is to write recommendations for the connections with whom you’ve worked before. By proactively creating recommendations, people may feel inclined to reciprocate.

If this isn’t effective, you can ask school colleagues, acquaintances or coworkers to make recommendations about you on your LinkedIn profile.

7. Share relevant information for your niche of interest

Sharing relevant information is one of the most efficient ways of providing added value and increasing the visibility of your profile.

Posting articles of interest to your field will make people associate your profile to useful information.

8. Join groups in your industry

Joining groups in your field is an efficient way of ensuring that your profile is being seen by other related professionals or even recruiters who use them to find specific talents.

As soon as you join a group, this will appear on your contacts’ feed. In addition, all of your interactions and shared content within the group will also show up on the feed. This means that groups are extremely important in order to get to know other professionals in your field.

9. Use keywords on your profile

One way of finding specific content on the web is through keywords, and of course, LinkedIn isn’t any different.

Therefore, if you want your profile to be more easily found, having it displayed at the top of the results page, make sure you include the necessary keywords.

10. Add sections to your profile

In order to make your profile better organized and so it’s more easily read and analyzed, you should separate your experience and skills into specific sections.

To do so, just go to “Edit profile” and select one of the options provided by the social network.

LinkedIn profile Don’ts

Check out the main mistakes to be avoided on this platform:

• Posting information about your personal life — sharing love relationship posts, photos and declarations definitely do not belong on this social media;
• Spamming — liking too many posts, adding people indiscriminately and sending the same message to countless contacts are similar to SPAMMING, therefore, they can end up hurting your reputation instead of demonstrating “engagement”;
• Look up your connections outside of LinkedIn — sometimes you’ll know a person from your professional universe, though you’ve never been close to them or you may even have never met them in person. Well, then you shouldn’t look them up on other more personal social media channels. This might be perceived as invasive and may create an even greater distance.

How about creating your own profile?

Well, now that you know what to do and what to avoid on this famous professional network, it’s your turn to make the best out of our LinkedIn profile tips in order to achieve genuine business opportunities and partnerships!

Did you enjoy this post? Did we fail to mention an important point or do you happen to have any questions? If so, leave us a comment below!