How to Captivate and Impress with Your LinkedIn Profile

Overheard on the subway one day: “Who needs a resume when you’ve got LinkedIn?”

I have to disagree. You do still need a resume. And LinkedIn is not it. Yes, you can use your LinkedIn profile as an alternative place to store data regarding your education and employment history. But if LinkedIn is replacing the old-fashioned paper resume, then I have to tell you that you’d be better off sticking to tradition – or at least your own website where you can show some creativity.

Keep in mind that I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t include, in your LinkedIn profile, all the information that you ordinarily list on your resume. But your resume is only a starting point. The power of LinkedIn is that it gives you a chance to do more – to personalize your background . LinkedIn offers you an opportunity to let members of your network, as well as potential future employers and colleagues, glimpse your unique interests – in a forum that appears completely professional. I can’t think of any other method you can use to accomplish that, unless you hand out resumes with links to your personal website listed which may run certain risks that LinkedIn does not expose you to such as accidentally making comments on your personal website that might be regarded as politically incorrect in your particular industry, or posting photos or other content that would be regarded as unprofessional or inappropriate.

LinkedIn gives you a chance to let your hair down – but not too much. Think of it as the “casual Friday” of work-related networking sites. It does give you a chance to slip in small, fascinating tidbits of information about yourself – information that you can appear to be presenting without presenting it, just in passing.

Think about those aspects of your own personal history and background that make you interesting and/or make you the best person to fit into a particular niche. Think, as well, about areas of your industry that you want to move into, but in which you have no formal background. Can your LinkedIn profile be used to make you seem more interesting or qualified in certain areas? The answer is absolutely, yes.

Do you want the people in your network to notice that you are educating yourself about a particular topic? You could use LinkedIn’s Amazon Reading List application to mention a book you are currently reading on the topic – and to offer a nutshell review. Or you could use the Questions and Answers section of LinkedIn, asking a question to indicate your interest in a topic, or answering one to show your knowledge of it or simply to show off your knowledge. If you wish, you can connect your LinkedIn profile to your Twitter account, post a link to a personal or business website, or use one of LinkedIn’s presentation or portfolio tools to show your more creative work.

Finally, it seems obvious, but many people do not ask their LinkedIn contacts to recommend them. I find that the quick, personal, “in a nutshell” nature of LinkedIn recommendations makes LinkedIn really shine as a networking resource. Once you have several recommendations, someone who is interested in your work can quickly get a sense of your personality and what it is like to work with you. That kind of information increases the likelihood that you will manage to find a group or organization to work with that is truly a good fit for you personally. Likewise, you should write short LinkedIn recommendations for others in your network – seeing who you have worked with and what you thought of the experience gives people who view your profile yet another piece of information that they literally cannot find out about you from any other resource.

Don’t throw away your resume, please. No, LinkedIn is NOT your Internet resume, but if you give it a chance, it can be much more. Using LinkedIn merely as your Internet resume is like using your cell phone only to make phone calls – or like using your computer only to check email. You could be using it to do so much more.

Brendan Cruickshank (Vice President of Client Services) – Brendan is a veteran of the online job search and recruiting industry, having spent the past 8 years in senior client services roles with major sites like Juju.com and JobsInTheMoney.com. He is quoted regularly as an expert in employment and jobs trends in major media outlets like the Washington Post, US News & World Report, and Forbes and has spoken at recruiting industry events such as Onrec and Kennedy Information’s Corporate Recruiting Conference.