When you’re looking for a new job, you need to effectively showcase your skills and experience to potential employers. In an age of social networking, this includes having an online presence in your job search.

With 500 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s biggest professional social network. Creating a LinkedIn profile can be crucial to bringing your job search online.

According to one report, around 80 percent of employers use Google to search a candidate’s name when deciding whether to invite them for interview. A LinkedIn profile will usually be among the first results to appear in a search.

You need a LinkedIn profile that’ll impress prospective employers. On the flipside, you also need to avoid making common LinkedIn profile mistakes that put employers off.

What attracts employers to your profile?

Creating a LinkedIn profile can open up huge opportunities for job seekers and you need to show potential employers what’s unique about your skills and experience.

Employers will likely search for potential candidates online. People who take this on board, and who are able to use their online presence to tell their story, are much more successful in their job searches using LinkedIn.

By linking together your experience, skills, and ambitions in your profile, you can build a compelling picture of what you offer to an employer.

A good LinkedIn summary

The best LinkedIn summaries establish career goals, highlight relevant skills and experiences, and address any career history gaps and are typically no longer than 250 words long, you want this summary to highlight your ambitions and what drives you each day. 

You should aim to highlight achievements that best demonstrate your values, skills, and/or progress towards your goals. If you’ve worked with specific people, or for organisations that are particularly impressive, make sure these are also highlighted in your summary.

This section is also particularly useful if you’ve got an unconventional work history, for example you’ve taken a career break or you’ve experienced a period of unemployment. You can utilise this to show what you have gained from this period of time, for example life experience from travelling or having a family, and how it has enhanced you as person and within your career. 

To conclude, use one or two sentences to show what you’d like to achieve through your LinkedIn profile, e.g. you’re currently searching for your next job, or you’re looking to build your network for the future.

LinkedIn summary examples

The following three useful LinkedIn summary examples demonstrate the different ways that you can communicate your career goals and highlight your achievements. They also show you the kind of language that’s appropriate for LinkedIn profiles.

The recent graduate

After graduating with a 2:1 degree in Business and Management from Brunel University and spending a year travelling in Asia and Australia, I am looking to combine my business knowledge with my passion for responsible travel by working in a graduate operations role for a sustainable tourism company.

My year travelling was life-changing. I saw amazing natural beauty and met lots of interesting people. During my travels, I worked as a waiter at an eco-lodge in Queensland and on the reception desk of a backpackers’ hostel in Bangkok. My experiences opened my eyes to the environmental challenges of tourism – making me passionate about using my skills to promote the benefits of travel while limiting its impact on the planet.

As part of my degree, I had an industrial placement at a small firm specialising in providing logistics solutions for haulage companies. This included:

• Assisting managers in key local projects by organising budgets and checking process maps for errors. In recognition of my work, I was asked to assist on a high-profile national project.
• Engaging with clients to provide updates on progress, for which I received positive feedback in the firm’s annual engagement survey.

My work placement gave me practical experience of project management that will help me hit the ground running in a graduate operations role.

As a student, I was also the part-time manager of the student union bar. During this time, I managed the bar budget and reduced spending by 25%, allowing us to host more social events.

The skills I’ve gained in project work, budgeting, and working with clients, along with my passion for sustainable travel, make me a great candidate for a graduate operations job in an eco-tourism business.

If you work in sustainable tourism and are looking to hire an enthusiastic graduate, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

The career break job seeker

An experienced marketing professional with a Postgraduate Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, I’m looking for a new role after taking a career break to start a family. With expertise in leading innovative projects and a passion for raising awareness of smaller organisations, I’d be a great fit for a start-up.

Before my career break, I spent 8 years as Marketing Director for a small educational charity. My achievements included:

• Managing the organisation’s social media strategy, including growing its Twitter following by 300% over 3 years.
• Leading a rebrand of the organisation, resulting in a 120% year-on-year increase in money raised through fundraising campaigns.
• Creating a successful digital and print marketing strategy, resulting in consistent national media coverage of our local projects.

To refresh my skills while on my career break, I volunteered as an events coordinator for a local community arts group. This included taking on the promotional responsibilities for a sold-out exhibition, as well as organising a crafts event involving 12 different arts groups across Greater Manchester.

I’ve used my time out of the workplace to assess my career so far and plan my next steps. With my experience of marketing small organisations, including a proven record of increasing exposure and fundraising, I’ve decided that my skills would be most suited to a start-up looking to increase its profile and attract investment.

If you are a new business owner looking for the expertise of an experienced marketing professional, let’s connect!

The experienced manager

As a senior sales executive for over 20 years, I sell pharmaceutical products to healthcare companies across the UK and Ireland. Currently managing a team of 15 sales representatives, I consistently exceed national sales targets.

Formerly a Sales Director for a multinational pharmaceutical manufacturer, I currently work for Pharm Consultancy Inc. to sell equipment on behalf of several medical manufacturing companies. I have developed a wide range of sales and people skills developed over a 20-year career. My achievements include:

• Exceeding annual sales targets for 8 consecutive years, which has ensured consistent growth for our client companies.
• Successfully managing the annual team budget, which has allowed me to expand the team from 8 to 15 people over the past 3 years.
• Winning the Pharm Consultancy Inc. “Sales Director of the Year” award three times.

Passionate about motivating my team to deliver exceptional results, I also provide sales training workshops across the UK on behalf of my company. Using my expertise in sales strategy, I’ve written numerous articles for leading industry magazines on team dynamics and business development.

I enjoy making new connections from across the sales and pharmaceutical sectors and I’m actively looking to expand my network on LinkedIn. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss future opportunities.

For more information on how Barker Ross can support you in finding your next job opportunity please get in touch.