(ThyBlackMan.com) Some years ago, people used to create personal websites and online resumes to showcase their skills, but LinkedIn addressed those challenges. For individuals and companies, LinkedIn brings solutions that can not be achieved by a personal website. Who will care about finding your website when they can easily find many people like you on LinkedIn? Of course, you are unique in many ways and your abilities are different, but what’s the point of having so much when you make disastrous mistakes even on LinkedIn?
Here are 5 LinkedIn profile mistakes people make.
1. Not speaking about the ‘value’
Showing off skills on LinkedIn is really a good idea, everyone should do that, but there’s a limit. Just do a simple experiment. Observe the information available on LinkedIn profiles of people you admire and also check profiles of some random people. Compare the information keeping the ‘value’ factor in mind. You will see that most people use their LinkedIn profiles to talk about themselves or what they do. Only a few profiles tell visitors how the person is helpful and what value he or she can bring.
If your goal on LinkedIn is to connect with the right people, bring value. Show them why you are worth connecting with. It’s not because what you do, it’s because how valuable your knowledge and experience can be.
2. Treating relevant and non-relevant skills in a same way
Ten years ago when you came out of your college, you wanted to earn some money and you joined a small business as a receptionist. Soon after that, you started working as a computer operator. Today, you work in some other industry and using a different skill set, but your LinkedIn profile shows a mixture of skills.
It’s always good to document and show everything you have done in your professional life, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should treat irrelevant skills in the same way you treat the skills you’ve mastered. Some people don’t align their skills with their current aspirations. Doing so not only affects their profile’s appearance in search results, but their profile also appears to be irrelevant to many.
3. Not making a great first impression
Most LinkedIn profiles have nothing to be remembered for. People fail to paint a mental picture and visitors forget their profile because it doesn’t make a great first impression. Humans tend to imagine things when they read something. If your profile has some words, examples and a right hook, visitors won’t mind paying attention and scrolling down to read what you have posted.
A great first impression can be developed when your words create a clear mental picture of what you are trying to say. If it’s about a service, a product or your expertise, people want to see it through words.
4. Credibility is missing
Why should an employer or a potential customer trust you when no one recommends you or your services? Recommendations are the best way to establish credibility on LinkedIn. Those few lines praising your services, personality can do more than the description that sings your praises. If you don’t have anyone who can endorse you on LinkedIn, ask your clients, former boss or colleagues to write something about you. Write them an email asking if they can just touch on your professional capabilities.
5. Boring job descriptions
Some people believe that creating a dull list of company names and job titles is the only way to showcase their previous work. Maybe most of them are too lazy to do something different or they don’t even give a single thought to this section on LinkedIn.
It needs to be changed. Those job descriptions must tell a story, and should not look like a bunch of tasks in bullets. Instead of creating a list, why can’t you try telling a story? It doesn’t need to be poetic in any manner, but it should let people know that you have enjoyed what you did and you have many things to tell about your previous work. When you tell a story, people see you in it. They see how you were handling the work and how you got promoted or received an award for your performance.
You are responsible for everything you post on LinkedIn, it’s your reflection, so make it worthy and memorable by avoiding these LinkedIn profile mistakes.
Staff Writer; Corey Shaw
Have any Tech Tips? News? Hit up our Tech Guru at; CoreyS@ThyBlackMan.com