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Take A Professional Photo
It’s time to retire your classic profile picture of you doing a 30 second keg stand during a tailgate. Ladies, time to stop hiding in a group of 5 females all doing the same pose. There are a few guidelines you want to follow when selecting your profile picture. The best advice I could give is to imagine your future boss looking at this picture. Feel free to be creative in making your picture relative to your industry or current job. Don’t use a picture with multiple people in it or of you wearing casual clothes. Basically, don’t use any picture that’s been taken of you in the last four or five years. Just get someone to snap a few pictures of you when you are going to an interview or first day on the job. No mirror selfies; I don’t need to see your bathroom.
Creating Profile
The LinkedIn profile differs significantly from your Facebook profile. Fear not, you can still make your profile attractive even if you worked at the same grocery store since high school. Load up the skills section with attributes useful to your industry. Use the summary section to write a short paragraph with your career goals and aspirations. Word of advice though: it’s 2014 and Microsoft Office is not a skill.
Beware Of Attractive Recruiters
One of the pitfalls of using LinkedIn are company recruiters. These sly bastards are quite clever in trying to attract the next batch of entry-level cubicle slaves to their corporation. One day, you’ll log into your profile only to see you have a connection request from a cute blonde named Cindy. You have no idea who Cindy is, but she is cute and you’re not going to be rude and deny her request to “connect.” Next thing you know, you get a message from Cindy. Oh shit. If my 4 years of college and Facebook have taught me anything, it’s that if she sends you a message, she must want the D. Nope. Cindy came across your profile and would like to talk to you about a career opportunity with ABCsystems. Avoid the recruiters and only accept invites from people you know or have meet before. If you really hate your job, feel free to entertain these recruiters. You’ll probably end up in a slightly smaller cubicle though, but hey at least you know there is at least one smoke working there.
“Who Viewed Your Profile”
Ah yes, my favorite feature of LinkedIn. Don’t be intimidated or uncomfortable by the little red flag. Use it to your advantage. Going to an interview? Find your interviewer the day before and do a little research. Got a new job? Find those people who peaked in high school who have a profiles for their sales rep job at the mall and show off. Cute girl in marketing department? Nothing says, “Want to go to lunch?” like a quick profile view. Wait until she views your profile back. Make your move, champ.
Respond
@Melvin_Powell
If your linkedin photo isn’t a photo of a crime in progress, it really shouldn’t matter. Half of my friends have a company headshot. The other half of my friends crop a headshot from something like a wedding or another non-alcohol fueled outing you’d find on facebook. Chances are if the picture did make a difference, your resume was not a fit for the position or you would have hated the company.
Also don’t ignore recruiters and open positions. Shoot a message back at the very least. They were looking at your profile for a reason.
LinkedIn is the new myspace of friend whoring. Fuck LinkedIn, and fuck me for not being able to deny a friendie from a hot recruiter.
I think the hardest thing I’ve ever done was trying to find a picture of me in formal attire and not completely hammered at a fraternity event.