Linkedin Upgrade: 21 Tactical changes to make to your Linkedin profile that will dramatically increase your chances of getting an interview

The quick and dirty list to selling yourself on Linkedin.

Alright, folks, there’s already been a million people who have written on this topic, but I have some additional recos. If this post is confusing at all, check out my LinkedIn profile as a guide. You do these things… and you’ll be good to go.

The Basics: 9 simple Linkedin profile improvements

1. Make your URL custom: To get there, click “Me” in the nav (where your pic is). Then click “Edit public profile & URL” right below it. Then type in your URL. Go to the Edit Profile screen and you’ll see a Public Profile URL. Choose your name or something close to it. Don’t get cute. My name was taken by someone else, so I used my company @thedurkinorganization. Done.

2. Profile pic: The #1 most important part of your LinkedIn profile.

   Would it shock you to know that this is the most important part of your LinkedIn profile? Well, it isssss. Have this represent your personal brand. Tip: Ask your friends to help choose one photo to serve as your profile: If you’ve used dating apps, you know that you’ve got to have a close friend vet your profile. Do the same shit here. Oh, and have your face occupy 50–75% of the circle. Don’t go bigger. Don’t go smaller. Screw with it in filters on Instagram if you want to. Soften it up. Make yourself seem APPROACHABLE and LIKABLE. In terms of clothes: If you’re the type of person who wears T-Shirts, do that. If you wear collared shirts, do that. If you wear suits, do that. The safe play: Collared shirt. Don’t go sexy. Don’t go stodgy. Professional + personality. Use portrait mode. Smile with teeth. Light-colored shirts do best. And use portrait mode on your phone.

3. Choose a background image that speaks “you” and is on-brand: If you’re currently employed, throw up a background image that represents your company. Show your company pride. And this plays safely. If you’re not employed, show an image of something that resonates with you, and even skews towards a company/role you’re looking for. If you want to move into sustainability/energy/environmental work, throw up a nice image of a forest. If you want to move into transportation evolution… electric cars.

4. Your headline (the line under your name) should sell yourself: The format you should use for this is: “Job title at CompanyX | Keyword, Keyword, Keyword | I verb lorem ipsum dolar sit amiet.” Don’t just make this “Title, Company.” Include that, but expand upon it to convey the VALUE you provide. Use the verticle line thing to show breaks. Here’s mine: “Founder @ TheOpeartors | People, Product, Progress | I help high performers find careers they love”. Ex: If you’re in Product Management, include a line about you being a builder. If you’re in Sales, include Sales. You can have some fun with it, too. For example, I could have also written: “The People’s Agent @ TheOpeartors | People, Product, Progress | Building the Dream Team, one day at a time”.

5. Just like the headline section, in the Summary section, you want to convey the VALUE you would bring to a company. This is your 60-second elevator pitch. Gun to your head. What value do you provide? Focus on conveying (1) Skillset, (2) Leadership, (3) Values: Leverage this space to sell yourself. Write 3–4 sentences, then leverage the rule of three to focus on the three things you’re best at. Write (1) Lorem ipsum, (2) Lorem ipsum, (3) Lorem ipsum. Include accomplishments in numbers where possible.

6. Add location!: Recruiters search by location. When I polled 30 of my recruiter friends about what they search for regularly, over 50% of them included the location (even though today a large % of us are remote).

7. Add your email, website (if you have it), and phone (if you feel comfortable) into the “Contact info” section: Especially if you’re looking for new opportunities. Let people who connect with you take it, offline-LinkedIn messenger, to email or text.

8. Connections: Get 500+ connections to maximize search results from recruiters. Spend 30 minutes looking at the people LinkedIn recommends to you. Odds are that the 500+ people are sitting in there (over time). Add people you already know. Don’t add random people.

9. Open to Opportunities & Searching Remote: Under “Job seeking preferences” in the “Data Privacy” tab of “My Account” you’ll see something that says: “Signal your interest to recruiters at companies you’ve created job alerts for.” Click that toggle from “No” to “Yes” to allow recruiters to see you. Just be careful with this… once it’s on… your own company can see you too.

5 improvements to make to the “Company Section” of your Linkedin profile

1. Stick to your story: If you want a job in Product Management, everything you have on your LinkedIn should line up with that: Product Management. Your job titles should be specifically tailored to that and consistent. If at one company your title was “Analyst” and you spent the majority of your time focused on Product Analytics / working with the Product team… write your title as “Product Analyst.” Never lie. But, also, don’t put yourself at a disadvantage. If you spent 80% of your time analyzing customer data for the Product team or spending the majority of your working days with PMs and Product Designers helping them identify opportunities and release better products for customers… stating “Product Analyst” is more than fair and truthful. (If you have a guilty conscious about it… reach out to your former CEO and ask him/her if he’d be cool with that… I’m sure she/he will be). Also, when it comes to sticking to your story, your summary at the top of the page should be consistent with that. Example: Using the same Product example…. your headline may be: “Product Leader | Analytically minded | Experience scaling high growth Series A & B product teams.” Even your Interests at the bottom of the page should focus on Product. Yes, it’s time to remove all those random Interests you’ve accumulated over time and replace them with Product focused interests.

2. Remove jobs and titles that don’t help your story: There’s one big rule when it comes to the company section… and that is… “If it doesn’t HELP you… it HURTS you.” Let’s say it again now: If it doesn’t HELP you… it HURTS you.” If you’re a Product Manager looking for a Senior PM or Head of Product role within a company, and if you have two internships in non-Product related focuses, it’s your job to either (1) Keep those internships on your LinkedIn and play them to your advantage, or (2) Remove them so you do not dilute your message. My recommendation is to lean towards #2 unless you know it will directly help you tell your story. The reason: When it comes to a hiring manager or People Ops manager trying to fill a role, you do not want to give someone a reason to say “no.” You want to only give them reasons to say “yes.” Then, if you get to interview, then you can mention those internships you did (if it plays to your advantage). Otherwise, forget about it. Remember: If it doesn’t help you… it hurts you.

3. Include the current company you’re at (even if you’re currently employed): Don’t just add your past companies when you’re looking for a new role. What if the opportunity of a lifetime came today and a recruiter doing a search wanted someone with your company’s background? Your LinkedIn profile should always be live time, and you should review it once every three months. You change. Your responsibilities change. Your accomplishments change. And if your LinkedIn is a reflection of you… yep, you gotta change it, too.

4. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Your resume & LinkedIn bullets should match up for the company section: I’ve seen a bunch of people with a resume with XYZ details and their LinkedIn has ABC details. Why? Make them consistent instead. The bullets on your resume for each company should be the bullets under each for LinkedIn. The only difference with LinkedIn is to use the word “I” on LinkedIn. “I believe XYZ.” “I build winning products.” On a resume, don’t use “I.” Here’s a resume template if you need one.

5. Again, speak to accomplishments and metrics. Did you drive active user growth from X to Y during your tenure? Did you close on $1.5 MM in sales? Did you recruit 75 people to the business? Whatever your wins were/are, include them. Again, think about what the person on the receiving end reading your Linkedin is going to be thinking: “What can this person do for ME and my company?”

7 Improvements to make to the Other sections of your Linkedin profile

The modules below can be found in the “Add profile section” blue button when you’re on your profile page.

1. Add the modules for Projects and Volunteer Experiences: If you’ve started multiple companies or websites… INCLUDE THOSE! If you’re passionate about volunteering for Dana Farber, NAMI, etc… INCLUDE THOSE! Bring YOU to the forefront and inject some personality. Again, don’t get too cute with it. There’s a balance here. If you feel like you may have stepped over the line, ask a friend and get their thoughts. I do that all the time. It ain’t weird. Do it.

2. Add multimedia into the Featured section: This section allows you to add links, posts, and articles, and other media. Add your blog URL if you have it. Add your most popular post if you have it. Again, think of these as VALUE you can bring to other people. If you have a post about you and your cat and how much you love cats… I’d probably save that for Facebook / the gram.

3. Manage your skills section: Focus on skillsets that are domain specific to you and take more significant time to learn. If you’re in tech, and your two most popular endorsements are from Microsoft Word & Excel … I’d kill those and go with skills that are much more specific to your domain. Ex: If you’re in Analytics, include the fact you’re skilled with Tableau, Python, and R as your three. If in Marketing Acquisition, I’d make sure SEM / Google Adwords or Paid Social are included. Massage this section and get endorsements for things you actually want to convey you’re good at.

4. Kill any of the LinkedIn groups you’re subscribed to that are random: Over the years, it’s likely people have invited you to LinkedIn groups and you’ve just clicked “Accept” to them. Go through and audit this section. Kill any that don’t tighten your story.

5. Add awards and scholarships if you’ve won some: If you won scholarships in college, include them in your Education section. If you’ve won awards at companies, include them in your company section. These all convey you’re a winner. You’re such a winner people recognized you publically and/or gave you money. That’s a big stamp of approval.

6. Ask for a couple of LinkedIn recommendations and review them to provide recommended changes before putting that shit live: Don’t go crazy asking people. Maybe ask 5–10 people. Have them be diversified… have people who can speak to your different skill sets and focus areas. And don’t have 100% of them be white guys.

7. If you’re looking for a job, add the “Looking for job opportunities” section: This can be found in the “Add profile section” blue button when you’re on your profile page.

That wraps it up for now.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s the quick and dirty. Get after it.