Darain Faraz is LinkedIn’s Senior Manager for Corporate Communications. With over 12 years’ of international communications experience, he has plenty of advice to offer LinkedIn users eager to make their profile pop.
Tip #1, Be Authentic
“It’s really important people are authentic on their profiles. You can help yourself and boost your professional brand by painting a more colourful picture and steering clear of the most predictable buzzwords” advised Darain.
By “painting a more colourful picture” Darain means LinkedIn users should illustrate their point instead of simply stating it. For example, if you are ‘passionate’ about something, don’t just wax-lyrical about your ‘passion’, give real-life examples of what exactly gets you up and energised.
Show you are passionate and make your case concrete by listing experiences which demonstrate your ‘passion’, whether they are voluntary roles, or paid jobs, showing people, rather than merely telling them works wonders.
It goes without saying these ‘passions’ should be included in the appropriate sections of your LinkedIn profile such as within the ‘voluntary experiences and causes’.
Tip #2, Get Referrals
When it comes to your career success, yet again, back up what you claim you have done by getting work colleagues and current, or previous employers to recommend you on LinkedIn.
You can improve your chances of getting people to vouch for you if you take initiative and give those you’ve worked with a recommendation first, thereby encouraging them to reciprocate the gesture.
Tip #3, Stand out from the Crowd
Being modest on LinkedIn will not bring you career success. This is a self-marketing space and exactly the platform from which to blow your trumpet loudly (just steer clear of blowing hot air, no one likes a liar).
Pad-out your profile by uploading work samples, documents, videos and anything else relevant.
Don’t just state your credentials and skills blandly, bring life and colour to your profile by letting your personality shine-through. Craft stories which demonstrate and showcase your abilities and achievements.
Sell yourself, but don’t go overboard on the bells and whistles. Remain truthful when redoing your personal branding and remember people have shorter attention spans in the digital realm, so be succinct and get to the point quickly.
10 Buzzwords to Avoid Using on your LinkedIn Profile in 2016
We’ve given you 3 tips to take under advisement, now here’s 10 buzzwords you should not use on your profile courtesy of Darain Faraz. The following are the 10 most overused, cheesy and cringe-worthy LinkedIn buzzwords used by members of the social media, business networking website over the course of last year: (bullet points)
Motivated
Creative
Enthusiastic
Track record
Passionate
Successful
Driven
Leadership
Strategic
Extensive experience