Are You Making Yourself Invisible On Linkedin?
Fog and hilltop with trees
What if I told you that a few easy tweaks to your LinkedIn profile could open doors to more opportunities?
I am sure you would be all ears.
Your LinkedIn profile choices make it difficult for many job seekers to be found in searches.
That is because they need to strategically use LinkedIn's auto-complete and drop-down options to complete sections of their profiles.
Is this you? Let's change that.
Market-Value Titles
Kevin D. Turner, a renowned LinkedIn trainer and personal branding guru, refers to these as "market-value titles." With its extensive member data, LinkedIn has designed auto-complete options or drop-downs to assist individuals in sharing information about themselves. These market value titles become visible as you begin typing into these fields.
LinkedIn utilizes this data through its Recruiter software, which provides access to for hiring organizations. Recruiters have numerous fields at their disposal for searches. They typically select options from the drop-downs or auto-complete fields. The information here aligns with what you've provided in these fields. If you don't choose a selection from LinkedIn's suggestions and instead write in an option, it won't be on the recruiter's list of available options. In other words, they won't find you UNLESS they specifically are typing in what you wrote. Most recruiters don't do that. Consequently, you've inadvertently made yourself less visible.
For those who are not recruiters (or do not have access to this software), they find people through the search function. But think about it. What search terms are they going to use? Likely, the common ones that LinkedIn already knows people use. So, when you choose to use something else, you are unwittingly making it harder for people to find you.
And job seekers want to be found for opportunities.
So, let's talk about six areas where these market-value titles are important and where people often make mistakes.
Job Title
I see a lot of interesting titles on LinkedIn. Some are very creative, like Ninja Coder. Some are hybrids of two roles, like Director of Benefits and Facilities. Some are acronyms, like CFO, instead of Chief Financial Officer. Each has a problem. They are not market-value titles. Using these settings has hindered your discoverability in searches.
Don't panic if you realize your title is not a market-value one. It's a simple fix that can significantly improve your visibility. Let's walk through it together. Start typing it in. Does a list show up that includes that title? Then you are good. But if you do not see that title show up, then you have a choice to make.
Choose one of the titles available.
Use the non-standard titles that you write in.
Some may feel uneasy about using something inaccurate on their profile. Here is how to address it.
Choose the market value title closest to what you do.
In the experience section, you can write, "Internal title: X."
In the Director of Benefits and Facilities example, you could choose Director of Benefits as your title if this was your primary duty, add the internal title in your narrative area, and write about your facility's responsibilities in the Experience section.
Industry
Does the profile show you in the right industry? If you have not looked at this area on your profile in a while, you may have yet to realize that LinkedIn has made some changes to its list. They are aligning it with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Therefore, what you have had in the past may not be consistent with the new classification used, or you could even have changed industries and have not updated your industry on your profile.
Another thing to consider when choosing which industry to use is how others would think about finding someone like you. Let's say you are an accountant working for an IT company. You could choose from IT Services and IT Consulting (your organization's industry) or Accounting (your profession). Please select the option that will make it easier to be found for the jobs you want.
Company
Have you seen when someone is not attached to a company? In the experience section, you get the LinkedIn default icon.
Now, sometimes, there is a legitimate reason for this. I have one on my profile because the organization is out of business and never had a company page.
But often, it is because you did not attach yourself to the organization by picking the correct name from the drop-down options. Those options come from the company pages set up on LinkedIn. Maybe you spelled it differently than the company's official title, so it did not show up. Or you weren't paying attention and did not select from the available options.
You can hinder your job search when you are not attached to the proper organization.
You will not come up if someone is searching for employees (past or present) from that organization.
You will not show up in the People section on the company page, which means that others looking to network with individuals from that organization cannot find you.
And here is another thing to think about. Suppose you are using the #OpenToWork banner and want to avoid a recruiter from your organization seeing that you are looking. How would LinkedIn know that you work for that organization? To them, you work for another one, so you could put yourself at risk of your job search being discovered.
Education
Many people get this wrong, and until it was pointed out to me, I did, too. LinkedIn has standardized how degrees are worded. For example, my degree is "Bachelor of Arts—BA." It is not a BA. It is not a Bachelor of Arts. This distinction is important. Should a recruiter be searching for someone with a college degree, LinkedIn will recognize me as having it since I have it on my profile as a recognized degree. If you put only BA, you might be out of luck. So, use what LinkedIn provides.
Also, use the drop-down options in the field of study that your school has provided. At my school, one of the study areas in economics was econometrics. Yet, if I took that program, I should choose what the school has provided as the field of study: Econometrics and Quantitative Economics.
Certification
The same rule of thumb applies to certifications. For example, many project management people refer to their certification as a PMP. And recruiters will recognize this acronym for this certification. But if a recruiter is using a choice from their drop-down list in the recruiter software, they are going to have the option of "Project Management Professional (PMP)" or "PMP® Certification Training Course." Again, the best practice is to use what LinkedIn offers as a choice. It can make it easier to be found.
Location
There is a strategy that you need to employ in this section as to how to be found easier. When adding information for a location, it will ask you for your country/region first, then your postal code. You will be given one, two, or more options when you put in your postal code. Always try to pick the most extensive area available to you. As a job seeker, that means that if a recruiter is using location as a search criterion, you are more likely to appear in results when your location is broader.
Also, if you are looking to relocate or open to other locations, you could put the location of where you want to go and not where you currently live.
Conclusion
You don't want to be sabotaging your job search by not taking advantage of the market-value titles that LinkedIn offers. Go and look at your LinkedIn profile now. It will take only a few minutes to audit your profile and correct any of these problem issues. As a result, you may find you have more visitors to your profile, a good thing for any job seeker,
Shelley Piedmont is a Career Coach who focuses on understanding your unique skills, interests, and aspirations and provides personalized coaching to guide you toward roles where you can truly thrive. Whether you are stuck as to what your next career move should be or need help with resumes, LinkedIn profiles, or interview preparation, Shelley is here to help you. Please set up an exploratory call to find out how she can help you reach your career goals.