Begin in Edit Profile mode. Now you can add your job experience and all of your degrees.
Experience. Click Edit. Starting with your most recent previous job, prepare your job profile similar to your profile you already wrote with Company Name (Institution), Website, Industry from dropdown, current job Title, Time Period, and a Description of your job responsibilities. Save Changes.
Repeat for each job. Click Add a Position. Include significant and relevant jobs. For example, skip reporting your stint as a Capital One Viking, but DO include your visiting professor position at the University of Siberia. You can add your acting jobs under Interests.
Education. Click Edit. Starting with your most recent degree, pick Country, State, and School Name from dropdown lists, then fill-in Degree, Field of Study (Major and Minor), Dates from dropdown, Activities; Societies. Click Save Changes
Repeat for each degree chronologically. Click Add a School. Make sure to include special certification programs and other significant educational training at accredited institutions and fly-by-night mail-order diploma factories.
What’s Next? As of 2 months ago, this would have been pretty much the meat of your profile. However, Surprise! Surprise! Academicians and vegetarians throughout the universe, guess what? LinkedIn added sections on Publications, Certifications, Patents, etc., basic material that we normally include on our institutional Website and CV. My next blog will address these sections.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Make sure you’re in Profile Edit mode. Now we are going to tackle a super-important element in your profile: Summary. It is the first glimpse at who you really are and what you do. If a colleague, consulting firm, or job-recruiter glances at your summary and is not impressed, he/she probably won’t read any further. It’s lights out on your profile.
Before drafting this section, you need to determine the purpose of your profile. Is it to network, to promote you, to promote your business, or a combination of the preceding? Who will see it? Your summary must be written to fit your profile purpose(s). This section will be tailored to the image you want presented.
Summary: Click Edit. This section consists of 2 parts:
(1) Professional Experience & Goals which is a highlight “film” of your background, experience, and what you can offer a client, and
(2) Specialties field to highlight your areas of expertise and what distinguishes you from the rest of the pack
Professional Experience & Goals (max. 2000 characters). This blank white area should be filled with your “elevator speech.” Remember my blogs on that topic? NO! That’s okay. Format-wise, use lists, if possible. They’re easier and faster to read than running text. Carefully craft a capsule description of
a. who you are (teacher, professor, researcher, writer, secret agent, GEICO gecko, etc.)
b. what you do (conduct psychological profiles on the men in the Capital One commercials) or produce (books on rodents and lizards used in GEICO commercials)
c. what you can do for your target audience (create hilarious commercials for rich insurance companies)
The last-named focus is for consulting and business purposes. Consulting firms and clients want to know specifically what benefits or outcomes you can provide for them.
Beyond these outcomes, identify your goals.
This section should be brief and pop off the page so a colleague, client, or recruiter will stop and take notice. Since LinkedIn only formats in PLAIN TEXT, not HTML, you’re limited in popping options. I recommend UPPER CASE for important words and heads or “apostrophes” around other words for emphasis. Don’t get carried away.
Specialties. Identify your categories of expertise. These can be more specific than b above. What can you do differently or better than others with a similar background? Why should a client or employer hire you as a consultant, speaker, or CEO?
Click Save Changes.
What’s Next? I’ll add information on experience and education, which you can copy from your CV. Your profile should be taking shape.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
So far, you should have completed Snapshot and Photo. Under Profile, click you know what: Edit Profile mode.
Brief Profile: The next white box is a brief profile of your current and past job titles, education, recommendations and connections when you start accumulating them, your business, blog, and other Website links, Twitter link, and personal LinkedIn URL.
Current. For now, just click Edit to the right of Current and plug in your Company Name (Institution), Website, Industry from dropdown, current job Title, Time Period, and a Description of your job responsibilities. Spend time drafting a clear and succinct portrait of your job tasks and accomplishments in the description box. When you’re done, click Save Settings.
If you have a 2nd job, for example, you’re a professor Mon.–Fri. and an NFL quarterback on Sun., repeat the entry for that position so both will be listed.
All of this information will appear below under Experience, but your Title(s) will appear in this profile box. Ignore everything else in the box for the time being.
What’s Next? Let’s move on to one of the most critical parts of your profile: Summary box. If you want to start drafting that material, do it. I’ll give you some pointers in my next blog.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
