People often ask me how they should write their LinkedIn profile. Among other things, I tell them to cruise around LinkedIn and look at tons of profiles to see which ones they like best. And then, without copying, emulate them. As the saying goes, “Imitation is the best form of flattery.”
- Notice their photos. Are they tie-and-jacket professional or casual professional?
- What about their title? Do they have a branding title–you know the ones that make you say, “WOW”? Or does it make you yawn?
- See what keywords they’re using for SEO (search engine optimization). Are their keywords strong enough to catapult them to the top?
- What kind of story do they tell in their Summary?
- What accomplishments do they tout in their Experience section?
My colleague Laura Smith-Proulx writes about 5 Reasons You Should Research Your Job-Seeking Competition on LinkedIn, in which she advises her clients to study their competition, not only to get an idea of how to begin and craft their profile. Her message is that you must become a student of examining your competition in order to really succeed in the job hunt.
In her article she asks you to look at five points as part of their strategy.
- Gaining insights applicable to your own career path.
- Forming new networking or career advisory relationships.
- Discovering which companies hire experts in your field.
- Learning how your skills stack up in the job market.
- Getting a close-up view of how to tune your Profile for internal SEO.
Laura goes beyond perusing others’ profiles to gather ideas for content. To build a powerful LinkedIn profile and then use it as Laura suggests, you’ll need to spend time and energy, which is what all the pundits say. Read Laura’s article.
Things Career Related 
Very interesting article. I’m very new to the LinkedIn world, so I’m learning a whole lot. Thank you for sharing! Very much appreciated!
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Thank you Madinah and welcome to LinkedIn. It’s a great place to network.
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Great idea. Also, remember that updating your profile, even a little, creates notice on LinkedIn. All your contacts get notification that you have made changes. When job seeking, it might be a good idea to make a few changes every week.
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Thanks, Catherine. I was just telling my Advanced LinkedIn workshop that every time they update or make a change on their profile is a way to communicate or at least ping them. Just what you’re saying. I also told them to have their activity broadcasts turned off unless the changes they make are substantial, not for one single word change.
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You are so right. When we make changes, they should be substantive.
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I just “discovered” you on line through some group we are probably in together and I must say, you offer great practical information for people….. just like your tag line says!
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Thanks Jim. I just sent you an invite to join my network on LinkedIn. Hope you accept.
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Bob,
Not sure how I missed your great advice (and reference to my post!) last year. I do believe LinkedIn provides insight to a wealth of competitive intelligence that was never available in my job-seeking days.
Of course, for anyone who is struggling to get results in a job search, looking around at others’ Profiles can give you a good idea of strategies or opportunities you’re missing. In particular, adding more data to the Profile almost always draws more traffic – and I believe most users would benefit greatly from this strategy.
Thank you again for the mention!
Kind regards,
Laura
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