I spend most of my time on LinkedIn, as it’s the website my firm/industry uses for sourcing and a platform I enjoy spending time on because of the nicely-done information tayloring and quality of the network I work with there.

I’ve noticed when working with various people that setting up a LinkedIn page may not be as easy as it seems. Here’s how I usually conduct my LinkedIn page setup consultations, whether you are a first-timer or a seasoned professional :

1. Picture : do you have one ? Is it a professional one ? Aka : have your cropped your face from a wedding picture taken 3 years ago ? Is it a selfie at work ? Do you have professional attire and a neutral background ? Do you even look like yourself ? If you’ve tought “nope” to the previous questions, chances are you don’t have one. In my book a professional picture shows your actual face (not dead-serious-my-tie-is-strangling-me-face), with a somewhat background.
2. Public settings : have you ever checked how your page appears to other users ? Do you know you can have a personalized URL that will look super chic on a resume ? Tought so, go check it out. First, you could clean up the aformentioned URL while you’re at it, to have something like like name-surname. Then check the boxes that you’d like to have showing on your public profile, remove the rest.
3. Summary : this is the place for a quick and efficient introduction. I’m super sensitive to applicants / professionals with a well rounded summary that allows me to have an idea of how they communicate. I suggest trying the following stucture : where you’re at and what you are looking and when (if you have a fixed term contract, if you’re looking for your next internship, …), what are your top skills and work ethic (that is if you’re an Excel god, more of a detail oriented person or big picture strategist –  I’d like to know about it), and why I’d rather work with you rather than someone else. Think “what do people say about me ?” if you need an extra push to blurt out something. Optional but useful : if there is any relevant professional field of interest you’d like to be contacted about. It sounds like a lot, but the challenge lies in keeping it short and sweet.
4. Work experience : that’s the tricky part – maybe I’ll dedicate a whole blog entry to that delicate matter. Basically, you have the option to group different tasks into categories, or to only list the main areas you work on. Be specific, and don’t inflate something you’ve only dabbled in, as over inflated descriptions always look suspicious. Of course, pre-check what you can and cannot write about (key metrics that could be used by competitors : not so good…).
5. Education : more often than not, you have relevant coursework you should highlight for a position / field. List your projects as well, if you have the option to do so.
6. Skills and recommendations : getting a recommendation is always interesting. It’s the opportunity to read about you from someone else, that actually took the time to write a few lines about your performance as a colleague, coworker, …
   As for skills, since it’s one of the few ways recruiters can find you by keyword : need I say more ?
7. Groups & companies : LinkedIn is a nice and effective way to learn more about a company, or beef up your knowledge of current affairs in your field of expertise. So participate in a few groups, follow the companies you’d be interested in working for – it could be a good icebreaker in an interview later on.

And … that’s all folks ! You should have a nice looking profile up and running in no time.