LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals catering to employers and job seekers. In 2019, LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, had over 675 million users in over 200 countries and territories, with more than two new professionals creating a LinkedIn profile every second, according to the company.

The network works like an online résumé, allowing you to display your abilities, identify new career prospects, and network with prospective customers. Some organizations may even let you apply for job openings straight via your LinkedIn page.

Here are eight recommendations for making your LinkedIn profile more job-search-friendly.

1. Add Profile Keywords

Adding keywords to your LinkedIn profile can make it easier for recruiters and businesses to discover you. Concentrate on keywords that correspond to your best skill sets.

If you’re unsure which keywords to employ, Google Trends, SEMRush, and KeywordSpy are helpful keyword tools.

2. Join Relevant Groups and Post Often

On LinkedIn, you can join groups in various industries and hobbies. These organizations will differ in terms of privacy, inclusiveness, and other factors, but they all serve the same purpose of bringing professionals together.

Making the most of these communities requires you to provide original information, whether pertinent news and references or your insight. Never spam these communities with links to your website or boast about your considerable skills on the record.

Contributing to current discussions in industry-related groups can help you learn more about your coworkers and competitors, develop knowledge, and establish yourself as a dedicated, involved professional.

3. Request Professional Recommendations

Seek advice from those familiar with your job and can speak to the unique value you provide. LinkedIn recommendations are public endorsements of your skills, personality, and job experience. Other experts on the network provide these recommendations, so be thoughtful about when and who you ask, and be prepared to write recommendations for others.

4. Endorsements from Experts in the Field

Endorsements add legitimacy to suggestions while requiring less thinking and depth since LinkedIn professionals can endorse another with a simple click.

Other professionals can recommend you for specific skills, but it’s your responsibility to post the list to your profile so others can view it. Your recommendations will come in due time if you actively seek out peers to support you—and if you don’t lie about your abilities.

5. Update Your Experience Section

Include no out-of-date or irrelevant employment on your LinkedIn profile, just as you wouldn’t on a résumé.

You want to organize your profile in such a manner that it draws attention to the positions, talents, and recommendations that are relevant to your future career goals.

Employers are often wary about gaps in employment histories. It’s preferable to have a brief, relevant CV than an info dump or a list of irrelevant experience, and the same goes for developing and maintaining a LinkedIn page. Of course, you don’t have to erase gigs or part-time jobs. Still, you should reduce the quantity of space allocated to short-term professional experiences that aren’t relevant to the position you’re targeting.

6. Follow Companies Ideal for Your Dream Role

You can follow enterprises on LinkedIn and get frequent updates on relevant news and trends for recruiting. Follow companies you dream to work for and pay attention to how they use LinkedIn to provide information about their businesses.

These valuable tidbits of information might be used while drafting a cover letter to the employer or meeting with corporate executives during the interview process.

7. Create a LinkedIn Vanity URL

LinkedIn enables you to personalize your profile URL on resumes and other professional materials. Vanity URLs can be configured to incorporate your first and last name, making them more professional and more straightforward to distribute than a random string of letters and numbers.

Having a LinkedIn URL that includes your complete name is also advantageous from an SEO standpoint, as it makes your profile simpler to discover online.

8. Update Your Contact Information

If you’re in the middle of a job hunt, you need your LinkedIn profile’s contact information to be recent and straightforward to locate.

Final Thoughts

LinkedIn business profiles represent more than 30 million organizations, with more than 20 million job postings every year. To make your profile work for you, you don’t have to spend several hours on the network every day; maintaining updated, detailed data about your professional aptitude can help recruiters and prospective clients find you.