Chapter 1. Understanding What LinkedIn Needs to Do

Before you write anything, you need to understand the purpose of your LinkedIn profile; your LinkedIn profile needs to answer three questions quickly:

What does this person do?

What are they relevant for?

Should I contact them?

Most people make the mistake of treating LinkedIn like a storage space for career history. They add every job, every responsibility, every skill, and hope it creates an impression; but it usually does the opposite. A strong LinkedIn profile should help a recruiter, hiring manager, former colleague, industry contact, or potential referrer

understand:

• Your professional identity

• Your target direction

• Your level

• Your key strengths

• Your areas of value

• Your credibility

LinkedIn is not just there to confirm where you have worked, it should help people understand why you are relevant now, so before you start editing, write down:

• What do I want to be known for?

• What roles do I want to be approached about?

• What type of opportunity would make sense for me?

• What should someone understand about me in 10 seconds?