10 easy hacks for optimizing your LinkedIn profile in 2022

If you’re looking for a new career opportunity or just want to develop your personal brand, you need to make sure your LinkedIn profile is in great shape. LinkedIn has over 720 million users, including many who are looking for top talent in procurement and supply chain on a daily basis. So, how do you make sure these companies are impressed with your profile? Read on to discover 10 easy hacks for optimizing your LinkedIn profile in 2022.

1. Make your headline shine

Recruiters sift through dozens, if not hundreds of resumes and LinkedIn profiles every day so you need to make sure your LinkedIn headline is eye-catching and demonstrates your USPs. Including the right words in your headline will also help you appear at the top of searches more often. Keep your headline brief and informative, don’t use unnecessary superlatives and focus on your key attributes and achievements e.g ‘award-winning, highly-experienced, expert etc.

2. Choose the right photo

Your profile photo on LinkedIn is really important. As one of the first things people notice you need to make sure it reflects your professionalism and that it is a high-quality, recent image. Selfies aren’t a great idea as they can look unnatural and a bit casual. Recruiters won’t be expecting a studio-shot image but the lighting should be good (no shadows over your face) and it is best to wear clothing suitable for an office environment.

3. Create a personalized LinkedIn URL

Creating a personalized URL take seconds and makes your profile look a lot more professional. Find out how to create a customized LinkedIn URL.

4. Promote yourself well in your summary

Your LinkedIn summary is the ideal opportunity to sell yourself to prospective recruiters. Here are some tips for writing the perfect summary on LinkedIn:

1. Prioritize the most important information. It’s best to assume that people won’t read beyond the first or second paragraph, so think about what you want them to know most about you and your experience and place this at the top.
2. Be creative. Try not to use expressions such as ‘market-leading’, ‘top employee’, or other general terms. Recruiters see these all the time and they are unlikely to create an impact. Better to talk about tangible results and achievements.
3. Provide a good amount of detail about your skills and experience, if possible focusing on your most recent role or roles.
4. Write the summary in the first person and be yourself. Attempts to sound like someone you emulate are likely to alienate recruiters and make you come across as inauthentic.
5. Include some background information, if appropriate. A line or two about your hobbies and interests or any volunteer work will suffice.
6. If you aren’t confident with writing, ask a friend or peer to help.

5. Include recommendations

Recommendations are a great way of promoting yourself without showboating. Try to get some from people you worked alongside (whether in-house or as a client or supplier) and some from your former managers.

6. Make your profile public

Check your settings to make sure that recruiters can find you. You’d be surprised by how many people miss this!

7. Publish articles

Publishing articles on LinkedIn is a great way of demonstrating your expertise and experience. It goes without saying that you should only pick topics you are knowledgeable about and are appropriate to your career and interests. Also, make sure you check your writing with a fine-tooth comb for grammatical and spelling errors. When you publish, ask a few of your contacts to like or comment to get a discussion going.

8. Connect with a range of relevant people

LinkedIn’s search engines are pretty powerful so finding people in your sector who are worth connecting with should be easy. If you have time, compose a personalized cover note to add to the connection request, but never make it sales-y or crafted so it sounds like a templated email.

9. Add skills and endorsements

Adding skills to your LinkedIn profile helps recruiters make sense of your profile quickly and easily. It also helps you appear on searches more often. Include as many relevant skills as appropriate, but don’t go overboard. 30 well-chosen skills create a better impression than 80 general ones! To confirm and add credibility to your skills ask your peers and connections to endorse you for each skill and offer to do the same for them in return, if appropriate.

10. Promote your profile

Keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile is part of your personal brand so you should promote and share it where you can. Add a link to your profile on your resume and on the footer of your work emails. If you have a work Twitter account you could also add it there, likewise, on any business cards you hand out.

We hope these easy hacks for optimizing your LinkedIn profile have been useful and informative. If you’re considering the next step in your career in procurement and supply chain, get in touch or view our latest vacancies. Talk to us today - we’re experts in procurement and supply chain recruitment and we’d love to help you find your dream role!