LinkedIn Profile Tips 1.2 – Real name and a catchy Headline
A well-crafted headline is another element of your LinkedIn profile to attract prospects, apart from a pleasant profile picture. But before that, pay attention to your name.
You have got a nice name, keep it cool (not kewl) … and identifiable. Along with your profile picture, the way you put up your name reveals how much you pay attention to details. Yes, you can write it in any way you want, after all, it's your profile. But if you want to impress recruiters and HRs with a fine-tuned profile, pay heed to the name in your profile.
abhijeet kumar
AbHiJeEt KuMaR
ABHIJEET KUMAR
AbhijeeT KumaR
Abhijeet kumar
… those are the different styles people use in their profile. A few other ways are in the picture alongside.
I don’t want to be the one to divulge the bad news, but the way you put your name could be one of the reasons why recruiters skip your profile. The accepted format is to have the initials in CAPS and other characters in the small case, e.g. Abhijeet Kumar.
This is Part 1.2 of “How to use LinkedIn to get jobs?” series.
You can also choose to include your designation or job role in the name itself. It can be some renowned degree, which would be an honour in itself or some specialisation, which increases your chance of getting your dream job. However, you will find many other places in your profile to do so. And your LinkedIn headline is one such spot.
What is the LinkedIn profile headline?
It’s a small space provided by LinkedIn for you to share what you are. It’s a brief description which appears in the search results along with your name. And keeping it to default “Growth Manager at XYZ”, “HR at Confidential”, “Student at Not Working” or “Looking for Opportunity at Unemployed” would be wastage of precious space.
Instead, use it to share something about you which pulls people towards your profile. Use those 120 characters to your benefit and put something up that distinguishes you from others. Stand out from the crowd!
And here is how you can have a compelling LinkedIn profile headline –
Keep it simple –
The headline should be intriguing but also tell your story in words that everyone understands. Here’s my current profile headline –
Content Writer – Strengthening the life support of websites | Content Marketer | LinkedIn Enthusiast | Freelancer
I hope it tells you what I do. Yes, I am a freelance content writer and marketer who writes for different websites. Moreover, I also like to explore LinkedIn and its benefits.
If you’re looking for a job change, you can put something like “Senior Account Manager looking for new opportunities”. Students, similarly, can use the space by writing “MCA aspirant looking for full-time Java programmer role”. In case, you passed your college and also have a CISP certification, you can put up “CISP-certified fresher interested in Sales and Marketing position”.
Yep, your headline can be as simple as those and still tell people what you do or are looking for.
Let it advertise YOU –
Apart from your (present or expected) job role, your headline should be able to scream the value you provide. My headline, for example, says that I strengthen the life support of websites.
Yours can be “Senior Account Manager – Keeping your books good and you in the good books (Looking for new opportunities)”, “MCA aspirant – Churning programs that bring profits | Open for full-time Java programmer role” or “CISP-certified MBA fresher | Loves to save time and money | Sales and Marketing Enthusiast”.
And just like that, your headline brings you in the limelight without the need of any bragging.
Make it searchable –
Last, but not least, your LinkedIn profile headline should have keywords you want to be searched for. Even LinkedIn says that –
“Place emphasis on keywords if you want your LinkedIn account to be a way for people to discover you.”
In my headline, “Content Writer”, “Content Marketer” and “Freelancer” are the three keywords. When someone puts those words while searching, I will appear in the results.
I will be there in the search results even when someone is looking for a LinkedIn Enthusiast. That’s how keywords help. If you have a close look at the sample headlines above, you sure can notice a few keywords.
Senior Account Manager, Account Manager looking for new opportunities, MCA programmer, full-time Java programmer, MCA Java programmer, MBA fresher, Sales and Marketing fresher and Sales Marketing fresher MBA are some of the words which can be used to find the respective professionals.
Jobscan, in their blog, provided many sample headlines that other job seekers and students used. Take a look at them for further inspiration.
When it comes to having a suitable headline, there’s no right or wrong format. You can choose what works for you; whatever gets the job done. Put up your value proposition, throw in some words you want to be searched for and there you have your unique LinkedIn headline.
Quick tip – Use ONO in your LinkedIn profile headline. “ONO” is another word recruiters, HRs and employers use to search for active job seekers. It stands for Open to New Opportunities.
What other tips do you have? Let me know in the comments.
