Tips to boost your LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile often gets more visibility than your resume, which means it plays a central role in how recruiters, peers and hiring managers evaluate you.

Strengthening it isn’t about overhauling everything. It’s about making a series of thoughtful updates that improve clarity, credibility and discoverability.

Building or strengthening your professional brand is essential to a successful job search. While the resume still plays a significant role, your LinkedIn profile is equally, if not more important. LinkedIn is where recruiters source talent, professionals network and interviewers check out candidates (and vice versa).

Your LinkedIn profile gets way more views than your resume, so it’s time to boost your profile and make a great impression.

Here are the tips and best practices for building a stellar LinkedIn profile:

Create a custom URL

Does your URL have a bunch of numbers after your name? If so, it’s time to optimize your URL by removing them. Ideally, you want a URL like “linkedin.com/in/first-last” or without the hyphen. This makes it easier to share with people and include on your resume.

Add a background image

LinkedIn recently upgraded the standard background, which looks nicer. The better option is to add an image that’s related to your profession or one that inspires you, or a favorite view of the city where you live. The biggest challenge is finding a good size (1584 w x 396 h), so this may be a good time to ask one of your designer friends for help.

Take a new headshot

A picture can make or break an impression, so please use a good one. If you don’t have one readily available, take a new one. Here are some guidelines: take it outdoors or near natural light against a neutral background and wear a solid color, not a busy pattern. Have a friend or family member take it with your phone and aim for about the top one-third of your body. Look at other headshots within your network for ideas.

Write an interesting headline

The default is your current title and company, which is pretty lackluster. Either lead with a higher-level description like “Strategy & Operations Leader” or something like “Building key partnerships that drive innovation and growth.” Avoid trying to fit too many things in this section, including degrees and certifications, which can come across as pretentious.

Provide contact information

Make sure your information is accurate and relevant. Use a mainstream email address such as Gmail or Outlook. Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL addresses can feel outdated and don’t reflect who you are today.

Share who you are in the About section

This gives you an opportunity to showcase your personality. Use your elevator pitch in a more conversational tone. Write in first person and aim for one to three short paragraphs.

Showcase your experience

Assuming your resume is one to two pages, you can copy and paste the high-level description and bullets into LinkedIn. The only exception is if you’re pursuing multiple types of roles, then keep it higher level but still include key accomplishments to show a pattern of success.

For those with decades of experience, you only need to include the last 15 years or so. Be consistent with formatting, use bullets and add spacing after longer ones.

Include your education

Add your degrees but avoid including dates, especially if you’re over 40. You can also add executive education programs. Courses and certifications can be listed in the Accomplishments section.

Add skills

You can showcase three skills in the top section. Choose the ones most relevant to your experience and the roles you’re targeting, such as “Product Management,” “Strategic Planning” or “Global Operations.” Add additional relevant skills from your resume as needed.

Include accomplishments

This section can include publications, patents, courses, projects, honors, awards, languages and organizations. There is also a separate section for licenses, certifications and volunteer experience.

Follow companies and influencers

Use the Interests section to follow companies you’re interested in learning more about or working for. Follow influencers who inspire you. You can also explore LinkedIn Top Voices lists to discover leaders to follow.

Get recommendations

Aim for two to four recommendations from recent roles. A strong mix includes a manager, client, colleague, direct report or someone you mentored. Ask them to focus on one or two specific topics, such as a project or your leadership skills, which increases the likelihood of a thoughtful response.

Be active

There are many ways to stay visible and share your expertise. Publish articles about your profession or industry. Share content you’ve read and highlight key insights. Engage with your network by liking posts and leaving thoughtful comments. Join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions.

Make quality connections

Invite former colleagues, friends and family members to your network. While LinkedIn is a professional network, your broader social network is often connected to many professionals. Once you reach 500+ connections, you’re more likely to have first- or second-degree connections at target companies.

Follow these tips and you’ll have an impressive LinkedIn profile. Once you’ve updated your profile, you can let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities by specifying titles, locations and job types.