1. Register on LinkedIn

The article is long and practical, so please don't read it now. First, open your LinkedIn profile. If you are not registered yet, now is the time to do so. Take some time and step by step read and add changes to your profile. If the profile is almost ideal, check each item as per the checklist. And at the end of the article you will receive a small bonus. The material will be useful to both technical and non-technical representatives of the IT sphere, regardless of level.

2. We fill in the main page of the profile

As a career consultant, I recommend everyone to correct their profile at least once every three months. Not because the recruiter is so demanding, but because the algorithms of the LN system are often changed and improved. There are cases when some settings take off and need to be updated.
Last year, this was the case with language settings. In many candidates, the level of English turned out to be at the level of Limited working proficiency, although before that he could have been second. If the recruiter checks the profile, he can write to the candidate and clarify certain information. But automated search systems for employees actively implementing companies will not do this.
So we work from top to bottom in turn with each chapter. If you are in another country, working through a VPN or a mobile application, the interface, settings or certain functions may differ from Ukrainian models.

3. General settings

If you know at least a little English, then fill out your profile in it. There is a function to add several profiles in different languages, but I know from practice that candidates are then confused in them. And adjusting several profiles takes time.
To add a language, go to your profile and select "Add profile in another language" in the top right. Such a window will appear with the necessary settings.
Specialists recommend choosing the profile language that is spoken by the largest number of people in the world. I advise you to choose English and the local language where you live, work and want to work in the future. For example, Ukrainian, if you live and work in Ukraine.

4. Paid profile

Candidates often ask if they need a paid profile. Necessary if your work involves frequent use of LN: recruiters, HR, sales specialists in LN, etc. The biggest advantage that a paid profile provides if you buy the cheapest package is the ability to view a large number of profiles. Recruiter packages are more expensive, have more advantages and great functionality for searching for candidates, but even without them, a specialist can successfully use the system's capabilities.
In paid packages, there is a function of InMail messages to write a letter to a participant who is not included in the first level of contacts. But this function is not mandatory, because there are many other ways to contact the candidate. For example, write to email or Skype, if it is specified in the contact data and the About section.
Let me remind you, the contact levels:
The 1st level is people who are in your contacts (like "Friends" in the Facebook network);2nd level — people who do not recognize your contacts, but you have common contacts;3rd level - people with whom you have no common contacts. Usually from other fields or countries.One participant can have no more than 30,000 first-level contacts. Others will have to subscribe to read publications or track news.
No one knows the limit of how many contacts can be added per week or month. Just as no one knows how many profiles can be viewed within the framework of the free package. LN keeps this data confidential. But according to my observations, it is possible to add approximately 50-100 contacts per week. This is enough to increase their number to several thousand in an hour or two. Or use a month of free premium subscription to add a large number of contacts at once.
If there are 136 contacts at the first level, do not be surprised that you are not invited for an interview. In order for the profile to perform its functions well, you need at least 1,500 contacts, among which there should be many recruiters from the companies you are interested in and your future managers.
Be careful when viewing a large number of profiles and the system sends warnings about the end of limits. In this case, it is better to stop searching and not use them for at least a week. Because the profile is sometimes even blocked for violating the limits.
The number of characters in an LN publication is limited to 1300. Over the past six months, LN has added many quality features, so it has become more convenient to share useful information with your subscribers.
Privacy settings, passwords, interface language - I'm sure you can figure it out yourself. In this article, we will focus on what affects getting invited by recruiters.

5. Intro

PhotographyIf there are still discussions about the necessity of a photo in the resume, no one doubts it in LN. This is a social network, and there should be a photo. But remember that this is a social network for professionals, so you should not add a photo here that should remain in the family album or is intended for the second type of social networks.
Cover pictureThe rule here is: nothing is better than one that distracts the profile reader from information about you as a professional. Do not add advertising materials there if you are not promoting your business or your own project. People come to your profile to read about you as a specialist, not about the products of your employer, which can become the same in a few weeks.
When one candidate wrote in LN that he was looking for a job, he received many profile views and not a single invitation to an interview. On the cover was a picture of soap bubbles and pink flowers. The picture itself is very good, but it did not match the level of the candidate, who was the director of a large industrial plant, and in the context of his profession, it seemed very strange.
In general, at interviews, do not forget to ask about the company's policy on social networks. Because there are employers who force employees to repost all news or, on the contrary, delete profiles, even if it's LN.
In general, a standard LN cover is suitable, it will not draw unnecessary attention to itself.
NameFirst the name, and then the surname - this is an international standard. Also in the resume. In the system, when registering, it is clearly indicated where to write, but there are people who still confuse it.
If you are planning a relocation, make sure that the name is written in English and the way you want to be addressed at work. It is better if the name is spelled the same in the LN resume and profile.
TitleLN keeps its working methods secret. No one knows by what principle the list is formed in response to a search query. LN algorithms change almost weekly. A few months ago, when a search word, for example, Python, was written in the search field at the top, the first to appear were profiles with positions with the word Python in the title. Today (July 27, 2020), I tested and profiles appear where Python is indicated in the "Skills" section, and the title or job titles were not taken into account at all. After a month, this may change, and the list will be formed from those who have Python in their current position.
Therefore, in order to be at least a little bit confident that our profile will be on the 10th page, and not the 150th, we will fill in the key fields correctly. Yes, the information will be duplicated, but we will be confident that the changes in the algorithm work system will not affect the number of invited recruiters, which should be at least 1-3 per month.
In the title, you should indicate the well-known position that you hold now or plan to hold in the future. If you are not sure how it sounds, look at the vacancies and write the name used by employers.
Do not write Dalai Lama quotes or wishes for a good day. Do not use emoticons, they are not needed in business communication, and no one will search for an emoticon. Just write your post there.
The title is not a field for writing a status, as it happens in other social networks, but a field for informing about the profession. What you specify in the title should help recruiters find you.
IT specialists often additionally write the job level, as is customary in the industry: Junior, Middle, Senior, Team Leader, etc.
Be sure to specify your subject branch. That is, the words manager, developer or team leader in the title will not give any information about your profession if there is no field nearby. It is better to write like this: "Finance Manager", "Android Developer", "Data Science Team Leader". Look below in the sample: the first and fourth profiles do not give an understanding of the candidate's profession at all. Even if you write the phrase open for new opportunities, which means that the candidate is openly looking for a new job, be sure to write the title of the position or profession next to it.
How correct:
Java Developer — Open for New OpportunitiesQA Engineer - Open for New OpportunitiesIT Sales Manager, Kyiv only — Open for New OpportunitiesHR manager — Open for New OpportunitiesMarketing, Pharma business — Open for New Opportunities

6. Contact information

To the right of your photo, there is a pencil sign, click on which you enter the "Contact Information" editing section. This section helps recruiters to contact a candidate whose experience and knowledge are relevant to the vacancies of the employing company.

Location

Mark in the location not only "Uzbekistan", but also the city. Be sure to go to these settings and set the zip code of the city so that the settlement is added. You can specify the code of the city where you plan to move. When the recruiter is looking for candidates, he sometimes marks the exact city, and the candidate's profile will not appear in the search results if something else is specified in it.
After "Location" there is an important section, which, according to the example below, is called Industry. Be sure to follow the relevance of the specified industry. Especially if you change profession or field. This also affects the work of algorithms.
The last line contains a button for editing contacts. I had candidates who waited for months to be invited to an interview, and it turned out that the old email or phone number was written in the contact data.
In the "Contact data" section, you can specify:
site, if it is the platform of your project or you are the owner of the company. The employer's website may not be specified;the "Location" field can be filled in manually. But only the city and the country. You don't need to write the exact address with the street and the number of the apartment anywhere, and also in the resume;Instant messenger - Skype ID as an alternative method of communication. It happens that the candidate does not go to his profile for months, so the recruiter sends him an invitation by mail or Skype.It is better not to indicate the phone number, because it is open data and can be used by fraudsters.
The date and time of birth may not be indicated, unless you are a representative of a profession where age is part of it. For example, actors, photo models, etc. For IT professionals, age is not a criterion for determining a candidate's level of professionalism.
Don't forget to click the Save button below.
In the "General information" section there is also an Add profile section button: if you are missing any section, come back here and add it.

6. Job search section

Another of the recent changes in LN concerns the clear indication in the profile that the candidate is looking for a job. This is what recruiters around the world have been waiting for. This simplifies the search for candidates, and therefore reduces the time to close a vacancy. Candidates using this section will find work faster.

Do not skip this section if you are actively and openly looking for a job. It is easier to negotiate with a candidate in the search than with those who need to be encouraged to change employers. Therefore, invitations from recruiters will come first to those who have a green mark on the photo with the OpenToWork hashtag and a well-filled section.

It looks like this:

That they would find you

Click Get started and fill out the main sections. Here you should remember the general principles of the named positions and your job search strategy. It is possible and necessary to specify several positions if you have several job postings or there are several positions listed on the labor market. It is possible to choose several locations. Job Type depends on the professional level of the candidate. For example, Senior Project Manager will not be indicated in Internship employment types.
If you are openly looking for work, then in the settings indicate that anyone can see it, not only recruiters. Therefore, sometimes a hired manager or company director is also looking for specialists in the team without the help of a recruiter.

7. About

There is an opinion that recruiters do not read candidate profiles at all. A programmer, a recruiter, a marketer, a doctor, and a teacher can do their work unprofessionally. Yes, among recruiters there are those who act unethically or unprofessionally, but most of us carefully study profiles and especially carefully read the About section before offering a job. It is quite normal for us to manually look at several hundred profiles or resumes, select several candidates and write to them. This does not require ultra-modern automated systems or artificial intelligence. The attentiveness of the recruiter and the completed profiles of candidates help to perform this work at a sufficiently high level. Fill out the profile for those who read and listen to the wishes of the candidates.
It is important for recruiters to hear from the candidate what he is looking for and what he is interested in. I generally believe that this section is the most important in the whole profile. Therefore, I always analyze it. But, unfortunately, most candidates write that it raises more questions than it answers.
For example, a candidate is looking for a job in the field of digital marketing in an IT company operating in foreign markets. But at the same time, in the About section, he writes about his previous experience in an advertising agency that developed campaigns for FMCG only on the territory of Ukraine. A recruiter reading a profile cannot guess the candidate's desire to change the direction of work. Even if it is indicated in the second sections that the person has completed certain courses in digital marketing. In the About section, you can write your wishes and clearly indicate what job you want to get.
It often happens that a person writes in the About section that he works and knows a certain technology. For example, PHP. But when the recruiter opens and studies the profile, and then offers a certain vacancy where work with this technology is provided, he hears from the candidate, for example: "PHP? Are you joking? Who is interested in this at all?". I would like to answer: "To you! You wrote it yourself in the About section." The recruiter understands: the candidate has not opened his profile for many years and does not know that there is something that he is no longer interested in.
Everything that a specialist writes in his profile will attract vacancies of a certain level or direction.
Sometimes motivational quotes from coaches are written here. For example: "As the great coach, trainer and motivator Ivan Ivanovich said..." Ivan Ivanovich could say a lot, but it is interesting what the candidate himself says. This is not a section where you need to write anything on a free topic.
Once a programmer with good qualifications and experience came to me for profile correction, who did not understand why he had not received any solid invitation from employers in the last hour. He wasn't looking for a job, but his self-esteem was suffering, because usually programmers fight back from messages, but it's empty here. It turned out that in the profile it was indicated in large letters: "I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A JOB! RECRUITERS, DON'T WRITE TO ME." They did not write. Good recruiters consider the wishes of candidates.
There are also profiles that contain some phrases for a certain profession or direction without explanation. For example, like this:
Brand marketingSoftwareMarketingB2BSalesJavaExcelManagement
Of course, these words in the context of the profile give certain information. But this is like a puzzle, its solution depends on the professional level of the reader. The recruiter has to guess whether the vacancy will be interesting to the candidate. There is a big chance that the reader will not understand, whether it is a previous experience, it is a wish for future work, or it is something that the candidate does not want to work with at all. You know, it's like specifying a set of products in a recipe, but not explaining how to prepare a dish. Each cook will prepare something of them, and it is not a fact that the guest will like it.
If the candidate is actively and openly looking for a job, you should write your own wishes for the upcoming job, your professional advantages compared to competing candidates. You can choose your own option, but I suggest one like the example below. Separate each paragraph from the other so that graphical information is easy to read and can be analyzed and remembered. Sign the names of the sections. Do not spare the space and arrange everything beautifully.
Block 1: Name of the position you are looking for or currently occupying.Field or type of company.For example, a product company or an outsourcer.

Block 2: Write down what functions you want to perform or perform.Write what you like and what you know best.You can specify which markets or products you want to work with.Which specialist do you usually work with?Write no more than 10 points so as not to distract attention and convey the most important thing.

Block 3: Write down the technologies and tools you work with.This especially applies to digital marketers, programmers, and testers.Do not forget to write the office computer programs you work with and foreign languages.

Block 4: Add your contacts so that the recruiter or hiring manager can contact you.Information from "Contact data" is not available to the second level of contacts, so it should be duplicated here as well.Write the location: city and country or indicate that you are ready to move.If you want to work remotely, write about it.Enter email or Skype.
Do not list the company's services or products in this section if you are an employee, not a company owner or self-employed freelancer. You need to advertise here only your professional opportunities, not the employer's goods or services.
FeaturedHere you should add links, previously published posts, materials or a file from your resume. A very convenient section really helps recruiters to understand the candidate's wishes regarding future work and to additionally evaluate professional qualities.

Before looking for a job, check:

did the former employer have any files or links to websites;is the updated version of the resume attached;if submitted to a specific company, check whether there is anything that contradicts its policy or ethical standards. For example, you apply for a job in an international organization that opposes air pollution by large enterprises. And in this section you have a link to the report or plans of the company that is the main polluter of the region. Or materials of a competitor company. Or information that is fake or of dubious quality. Make sure that there is nothing in this section that could compromise your professional qualities.And the same advice on advertising materials. Make sure that the added materials advertise your professional opportunities and define your professional interests, not the business of your former employer.
Your DashboardI advise you to analyze this section at least once a month. You don't need to buy a premium account just because you are interested in who exactly viewed the profile.
The most important number is the last thing called Search Appearances. Click on it and see the section Keywords your searchers used at the bottom of the page - this is the most valuable information to work with.
You should not particularly worry about which companies and who exactly searched for the profile. Instead, you need to be interested in what words these people typed in the search field so that the profile was included in their result list.
If you are a designer, and you are searched for by the keywords "lawyer" or "accountant", then something is wrong with your profile. This means that you have written words that have nothing to do with your profession.
Thus, it is possible to track requests and correct the information in the profile so that it falls into the right hands, which will offer a relevant vacancy. This is how the system's algorithms work, and they should be used to develop a profile.
Analyze this section especially carefully when moving to the second area. If the candidate worked as an economist for 20 years, then retrained as a programmer and moved to the IT field, then new words for a new profession should appear in his profile. Otherwise, the person will be offered irrelevant positions. Especially if they are offered by an automated system, and not by a recruiter who manually studies each profile.
ActivityWhen the recruiter looks at the candidates' profiles, he can see in this section comments or criticisms of his articles, if he publishes anything. This is very nice and can influence the loyalty of representatives of the company in which you want to work. I think that you understood the hint and it is not necessary to explain it in detail.
Before you start looking for a job or write reviews for a certain vacancy, go to your profile and make sure that you have not previously written unethical comments or statements that contradict public norms. Toxicity is a popular topic among recruiters at the moment. Specialists can conclude "toxicity" from the candidate's statements. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to understand the details, and the candidate may be left with a valuable vacancy, even if his comments were important for the discussion of a certain topic.
To see all the posts that have been published, click the See all button on the right (by the time the article was published, it had already moved down and is called See all activity — changes in the system occur in a matter of days), and then select Posts from the four sections at the top. All activity will be in the All activity section: comments and bans on other people's posts, reposts. And here is the Posts section, where the owner of the profile publishes something on his own, gives more information and can even give the candidate information about the company and employees if he is looking for a job. And for recruiters - information about the person, his opinions, hobbies and interests.
ExperienceMost often, candidates are interested in whether to list each position in the "Work Experience" section. It's best to write. This gives certain information to recruiters and managers about the candidate's qualifications. But, of course, this information should be written in such a way that it helps the candidate to receive an invitation to an interview. You should periodically reread the information and try to find words that best describe your professionalism.
The information in this section depends on the job search strategy, preferences and individual situation of the candidate. You can copy the description from the resume. Or develop this section with a mentor, a specialist in your industry, an HR consultant or someone you trust. Nevertheless, I will give some general advice, perhaps they will come in handy.
1. Describe the functionality item by item using markers. A large block of text is less readable and there is a risk of missing valuable information.Do not forget about the priority of information. Write the most important and relevant information at the top so that it is read first.2. Do not specify the description of places of work that were a long time ago and are no longer relevant. If you are the head of the marketing team and once worked in your student years a cashier in a supermarket, it is possible not to tell in detail about the duties at the place of work. Or they won't add ego at all.3. Specialists who have changed their profession should revise their duties and leave only what is relevant for their current profession. In IT, knowledge from other fields, such as finance, medicine or law, is valued. Therefore, I do not recommend deleting everything, but it is worth leaving what is valuable for the candidate and his future employers.4. If you add links or specific materials, make sure they are up-to-date.I don't know why, but sometimes recruiters check to give facts in the resume and profile. Therefore, dates and names must be agreed.5. In the "Education" section, also leave relevant entries. Details about grades or descriptions of university courses and diploma theses are not required.6. If you received a bachelor's and master's degree in the same specialty, you can leave only one of the highest level with a record of the entire period of study. If these were different specializations, leave both. The same applies to courses.7. Be careful with the words used in the description. Recently, I shared with my subscribers the situation when the automatic job selection system LN identified the position of Java Developer as relevant to my profile and offered to respond to it.
In my profile, the word Java is mentioned only once in the job description. I wrote that I am closing certain types of vacancies for my client-employers and specified which ones. Among this list was the word Java. LN algorithms can read keywords not only from the title, job titles or the "Skills" section, but also from the job description text. Therefore, I recommend choosing all words very carefully.
If you have recently been a student or just finished IT courses, this does not mean that the section should remain empty. Write about projects completed during training or independently. When you find a permanent job, delete it. Such a small record is better than nothing. It is important to note what they did and what technologies they used.
Skills and EndorsementsI am sure that at least once you have come across vacancies in which there was a list of skills and grades at the bottom, how many of them correspond to your profile. LN, like many other companies, is trying to make an automated system so that when an employer publishes a vacancy, the system quickly identifies relevant candidates. Now this function has been temporarily stopped or hidden from the eyes of candidates.
As I already noticed, the query word is now read, first of all, from the "Skills" section, and not from what is indicated in the title.
Therefore, this section is still important, and the candidate should ensure that relevant information has been written in the skills.
I recommend choosing skills from the automatic list offered by the system. You click the Add a new skill button, write a new skill in the search field, and the system offers similar ones.

This list is relevant, there are skills required by employers. By choosing ready-made skills from the list, the candidate will make fewer mistakes, so this section will be filled in better.
The translation function works, but English is native to the LN system, so I recommended from the very beginning to make a profile in English and write down skills in English.
It is not enough to add new skills according to the profession you have or the position you want to occupy in the future. In LN, they must be in a certain order.
Periodically review and delete non-principal ones. If there is a technology in your profession that you consider not modern, unimportant, outdated and you do not want to work with it for any money in the world, delete it without regret.
Each of us is a professional in our field, and thus we also inform employers and customers of professional services about the relevance of technologies and tools. Therefore, the "Skills" section should be kept in perfect order.
Another important task is to define the three main skills that will be displayed in the profile. You can correct them in the corresponding section by removing the pins and putting the other three most important points in their place.

If some skill has a large number of confirmed ones, but it is not the main one for your position, then do not be afraid to remove it and put another one. The system automatically determined the three main skills by the number of confirmed ones, but you can change it.
In addition to technical systems and tools, do not forget to add foreign languages, management skills, working with documents and common office programs that you use at work. You can also write job directions or functions, certain industries or industries. There is a limit of 50 skills and I recommend using ego to the maximum.
Some LN users are afraid to delete irrelevant skills only because they have collected a large number of confirmed ones. The skills themselves are not a pity, but the numbers are confirmed, which is very close. This is how they are afraid to delete the old photo from Facebook only because the photo itself collected a large number of likes a long time ago. So, some people hate the photo itself, spoil the relationship with the current one, but keep swearing. This question is individual, but the past is sometimes worth leaving there.
RecommendationsThis is not the most important section in the profile, but it is always nice when someone decides to find time to write a review about the joint work. If the rating of the profile of the person who gave the recommendation is high, it will have a positive effect on your profile as well.
AccomplishmentsFor recruiters, the most valuable part of the "Achievements" section is "Languages".

Check this section, because, as I already mentioned, the settings can go wrong. Difficulties also occur with language levels. One or two languages will be native, and we specify the rest according to international standards. Make sure that the language levels in the resume and LN are the same.
Approximate ratio between the American ILR system used in LN and the European CEFR, which we are used to in Ukraine:
Elementary proficiency – elementary proficiency; basic level, approximately corresponding to A1-A2;Limited working proficiency – limited ownership, level up to the middle and middle, or A2-B1;Professional working proficiency — professional possession, good average level or above average, that is, the candidate can fully use this language to solve work problems or B1-B2;Full working proficiency – perfect mastery, level higher than average and free, or C1-C2;Native or bilingual proficiency is how we designate native language.
And finallyIf you filled out or corrected your profile while reading the article, I congratulate you, because in a short time you have done most of the work, which will definitely not go unnoticed.
If you have read and followed the recommendations, I offer a small gift - individual tips for your profile. Send me an e-mail moc.liamg%40ahlo.aksvorobz or a message LN — a link to your already corrected profile with questions or explanations of any individual situation.
In the subject of the letter, mark that you want to check the profile after viewing the article about LN.
But I will not be able to give individual advice if you have not followed the preliminary recommendations from this article, so before writing the letter, make sure that you have really carefully worked with it.
I wish you the best opportunities from LinkedIn!