You can find the majority of the employers, HR managers, recruiters, and headhunters on LinkedIn. And that’s one of the places where they will track down your profile and CV. You could call LinkedIn the “Google for candidates”, if you want. And guess what? If you’re not on LinkedIn, you probably don’t exist for a lot of recruiters or your future employer.
Your LinkedIn profile should be one of your best selling assets. It’s how you pitch yourself to potential employers and recruiters. Your headline and summary are your main selling gizmos before anyone else looks at the rest of your profile. Why would they click and look if they can’t see anything appealing, right? So, do you know how to successfully pitch yourself on LinkedIn to recruiters and employers?
Knowledge is power
In order to be found on LinkedIn you have to write as much as you can at each section of your profile. Add as much relevant information as you can. You can go on LinkedIn and do your own research. First, find some keywords from your industry and similar roles to yours. Look at some job boards and make a list. Second, look on LinkedIn at “People”, and add the keywords you found and a location. For example, “Ashford Kent Electrical Engineer” will offer you a list with people who have this in their headline and they are in Ashford or around Kent. See what kind of words they are using, what headline do they have, etc.
The bottom line is to match your keywords with the recruiters’ keywords. It will help them to find your profile and contact you for job interviews. Relevant keywords must be in your headline, summary, all your job titles (add suitable extra text, incorporating keywords), all the job descriptions, etc. Include your most in demand skills. And don’t neglect any section of your LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn headline
Your LinkedIn headline has a text limit of 120 characters maximum. The headline is who you are in professional terms, not what’s your job or role title. Make sure you use your main keywords, and try to avoid adding the name of the company where you are working now. You are interested to reach other traffic. Add in your headline keywords that clarify what you do using words people will look for. Anyone can see where you work now in the Experience section where you have all your roles and achievements.
LinkedIn summary
Your LinkedIn summary section has a limit of 2000 characters. Be wise and use them all! You have more chances to add more keywords, and attract more relevant recruiters or employers. Under your Experience section you have 100 characters text limit for each position title. And for each description of your roles you have a limit of 2000 characters maximum.
The characters include spaces, symbols, anything that takes space. See below a short list of the main LinkedIn locations where you should take advantage of the maximum number of characters.
Your LinkedIn text limits
Professional headline: 120 characters
Professional summary: 2000 characters
Summary cut-off on a desktop: 270-320 characters (add what’s most important first)
Experience – position title: 100 characters
Experience – position description: 2000 characters