By Joan Stewart
Too many of us build out our LinkedIn profile, and then once we see the blue bar that says “100% profile completeness,” we forget to return to it periodically for updates.
An article by Elaine Varelas at Boston.com offers several tips that are especially pertinent to anyone who has lost their job, or foresees a layoff.
She says, for instance, that you should spend time finding other people in your professional associations, and connecting with them. They just might know about a job opening.
Here’s another tip Elaine didn’t mention.
Spend time recommending other people. They could be those people in your trade associations, or former co-workers, or anyone whose products or services you love.
Here’s why making recommendations is so valuable. Every time you do, LinkedIn asks the person you’re recommending if they’d like to return the favor and recommend you. Not everyone will. And I certainly don’t recommend everyone, or even most of the people, who recommend me because I’m not familiar with their work. But sometimes I do.
Rack up a few of those kinds of recommendations and before you know it, you’ll have an impressive list of favorable comments on your LinkedIn profile. If you’re job-hunting, those recommendations just might be the deciding factor on who gets hired.
While you’re spiffing up your profile, refer to the part of the profile that lets you list your websites, and link to them. If they say “My website,” you still have some work to do. Read my tips on how to get Google juice from your LinkedIn profile.