As of October 2015, LinkedIn boasts 400 million users — and has grown by ?50M since June!
With numbers like that at your disposal and the cost of a profile being absolutely nothing, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by using the site to its fullest.
Even though LinkedIn maintains a professional environment, common social media blunders hurt your chances of getting found, being viewed and landing a great job.
These four fixes take just seconds to repair, and can mean the difference between staying in limbo and landing a fabulous role.
#1 Shadow Person
A shadow person is someone without a picture. According to DMR Publisher Craig Smith Expandedramblings.com, your profile is 11X more likely to get viewed with a pic than without.
Need a quick professional pic quickly and cheaply? Stand against a white wall and use photo editing software available on most smart phones today to jazz it up.
Your profile is 11X more likely to get viewed with a picture than without.
# 2 Incomplete Profile
An incomplete profile is a surefire way to limit who checks out your profile. According to Smith, including skills alone increases your profile views 13X.
When editing your profile LinkedIn offers step by step instructions on next steps for completing your profile. Follow their cue and get it done!
Increase your profile views 13X by including skills.
#3 Going it Alone
Joining groups reaps rewards that keep on giving. LinkedIn Groups are a great way to network with others in your industry and get the latest in terms of trends and news.
Jining groups relevant to your industry and specific interests can boost your connections and uncover potential prospects.
Furthermore, sharing, commenting or simply “liking” articles makes your profile more viewable. Lastly, anytime you interact on a platform you become visible to the connections of others in the group.
#4 Limited Connections
The more connections you have the more likely you are to come up in a hiring manager’s search results. This is a statistical truth that stems from the sheer volume of second and third connections one has access too via first level connections.
CAUTION: Be mindful of playing the numbers game, however, and focus on quality while aiming for quantity. Strategically identify people you’d like to be linked to and approach them with a custom connection request.
Focus on quality AND quantity by strategically selecting your connections and customizing your connection request.