5 Common Mistakes You Will Make on Your LinkedIn Profile

In today’s competitive job market where there are millions of job seekers and companies are downsizing, employers are extra choosy about who they want to hire. The challenge is not just about standing out anymore; it’s about what kind of connections you have.

LinkedIn makes it easier for professionals to build a network and stay connected with other like-minded individuals. If you are banking on it for life-changing opportunities, you can read Get Set Resumes’ top LinkedIn features that can be leveraged.

Of course, the main star here is still your LinkedIn profile, because that’s the part that attracts the attention of potential employers. Are you confident about the page you built? Well, as long as you aren’t making the following mistakes, your LinkedIn profile would do just fine.

1. Choosing the wrong profile picture

While you may have looked your best in your wedding photo, it’s not a good idea to use it as your profile photo on LinkedIn. If you’re searching for work, your photo should help convey to recruiters how serious you are about the job search. Go for a decent picture that is a.) not a selfie; b.) not with a distracting photo filter; and c.) an actual photo of you and not an image of a movie or cartoon character.

2. Sharing too much personal information

It’s okay to show off your personality by sharing your interests. However, you should skip adding information that’s not related to your chosen field. Bustle iterated that personal info will only crowd your profilewith details potential employers don’t need.

Let’s say you’re applying for a position in digital marketing: companies could care less if you were once given an MVP award in basketball. The appropriate personal interests to share are those that can be tied to your preferred career path. So if you’re venturing into digital marketing, letting people know you love blogging and graphic design would help give you an edge.

3. Using a boring professional headline

By default, LinkedIn uses your current job title and company as your professional headline. Since that information is already in the body of your profile, you should change your headline to something more interesting. Zero2Hired noted that a professional headline should have important keywords that answer what you do and what unique skills you possess. It should be something like, “Project Manager with 10 years of Agile expertise completing projects on time, budget and scope.” This lets recruiters know your profile is worth visiting.

A title like “Project Manager with 10 years of Agile expertise completing projects on time, budget and scope.” lets recruiters know your profile is worth visiting.

4. Placing long job descriptions

Consider that employers have access to millions of LinkedIn profiles and that they have to comb through each of them. When they scan your experience and read through each of your job descriptions, the information has to be interesting. Otherwise, it will just be a boring list of company names and job titles.

What you can do is share interesting highlights in each job title. The idea is to tell a story about your career path, but remember that the manner of portraying it matters, too. Menlo Coaching pointed out that the use of jargon will only confuse readers, because the story you’re telling can come off as too abstract or unclear. Fancy words don’t necessarily impress recruiters, which is why you should stick to conversational sentences. It’s the message that matters and not the way it was written.

5. Being passive

You’re missing on big opportunities if you don’t visit your profile regularly. LinkedIn is still a social network, and it’s easier for recruiters to find you if you’re socially active on the platform. By showing up, you’re essentially keeping yourself on their radars. LinkedIn is designed in such a way that people can notice whether a person is active or inactive.

Fast Company explained that LinkedIn serves as your online portfolio too, which should be updated even if you are not on a job hunt. If your profile is not updated to reflect your latest achievements, you may be passing up any chances of scoring a good opportunity. If you’re relying on the platform for a job, make sure you’re always visible.

Content intended only for the use of getsetresumes.com

This post first appeared on the getsetResumes.com Blog