Why is LinkedIn so important for professionals and

“All professionals should have a LinkedIn profile” as claimed by a client of mine who is a qualified Insolvency Practitioner.

You have likely heard of it and probably know you should have it, but those of you who do have an account, probably do not realise the power of LinkedIn or how to fully utilise it. As a regular LinkedIn user, I thought I’d share some reasons to why it can benefit your career as well as a few tips to keep your profile cleanly presented, professional and up to date.

Key reasons why LinkedIn is such a powerful platform

Hiring Managers and Recruiters are on LinkedIn - it has been quoted that over 90% of recruiters use it to find candidates
Your LinkedIn profile is your personal branding tool - it’s what potential employers and clients see when they Google your name
Keep track of your network - similar to Facebook in terms of tracking activity within your network, but very different to Facebook in terms of keeping up to date with news, articles and career milestones within your network (keeping it professional)
Online outreach - LinkedIn has a powerful coding where if an article posted by someone has been interacted with by a connection (either liked, commented or shared), then the connections of the former will be able to see it in their news feed
Connect with senior personnel within your profession - this could be a great opportunity for you to learn, understand where you can bridge that gap to progress or simply expand your network!

It’s all in the detail!

Spelling, grammatical errors and typos - when posting content or communicating to an audience, remember it is a professional networking platform, so avoid using slang abbreviations e.g. such as “u” instead of “you”. You’d be surprised - some people treat LinkedIn like it’s Facebook!

Is your information is up to date? - be sure to have your recent job title, relevant work experience and corresponding timeframes (often I see profiles where an individual is working for two employers which can happen if you’re a freelancer, but in insolvency, surely you cannot be working for two IPs in different firms?).

Information is key, just not too much! There is a fine line between sharing too much or not enough information. Some people have profiles which are very vague, some have profiles which go on and on! And need I stress the importance of appropriate photos? I don’t think I need to go into too much detail regarding this, but there have been examples of highly questionable profile photos, saying this no picture at all is also not a great look!

Be truthful - some of us can also fall into the trap of having false claims of expertise… for example “Language skills: French, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, Latin…” do you really speak all of these fluently? Impressive if it’s true… but please remember, your profile is your personal branding tool.

Do remember, the larger your network, the wider the outreach you potentially will have.

Professional LinkedIn tip - send a polite message to a new connection each time it’s accepted or vice versa! Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

There are many sources of information online which will demonstrate and guide you through effective profile management, however, I would recommend spending some time playing around on LinkedIn to discover features for yourself.

For tailored advice on your LinkedIn profile, market insights and progression advice, please do not hesitate to get in touch!