9
Chapter 1 Online Presence
Headline
LinkedIn provides a space directly under
your name for your professional headline. The
headline includes four parts: your full name,
your title, your geographic location, and your
industry. After you have input your name,
create the title portion of the headline. This is
the opportunity to position yourself as you
want others to see you. If you have a job, it is
appropriate to use your current title and name
of your employer, such as Personal Banker at
Southwest Mutual and Savings Bank. If you do not
have a permanent position, you can designate
a job title that describes your skills, just as you
did in your e-mail signature block. Think of the
most convincing, succinct description of yourself
that you would want an employer to read. Some
examples of titles are as follows:
•
Experienced Accountant
•
Hotel Concierge
•
Medical Assistant
•
Personal Banker
As you begin completing the headline, LinkedIn
will offer suggestions for pertinent words that
might help you to frame your ideas.
Next, add your geographic area and your
industry. This information helps employers who
are searching for local candidates in a specifi c
geographic location. Finally, add a professional
photo, such as the headshot you used for your
professional e-mail account.
There are several upgrade plans from which
to select. When fi rst joining LinkedIn, use the
freemium model. As your career advances, you
might wish to upgrade your account to utilize
the premium features.
Create an Account
In order to use LinkedIn, you need to create an
account. To do this, navigate to
www.LinkedIn.com
in your browser. Provide your fi rst and last name,
professional e-mail address, and a password.
Click the
Join now
button. LinkedIn will send a
notifi cation to the e-mail address you provided.
Confi rm that you received the e-mail by clicking
the link inside the body of the received e-mail.
That link will return you to the LinkedIn website.
It is at this point that you can begin to populate
your newly created account.
Create a Profile
After you create an account, you will complete
a profi le similar to the one you created for your
professional e-mail account. Your LinkedIn
profi le is a web page where you will describe
your career history, education, and skills. As you
complete your profi le, LinkedIn will track your
progress. Be diligent and make sure your profi le
is 100 percent complete.
The advantage of creating a profi le on
LinkedIn is that the site does the advertising for
you through search engine optimization. Search
engine optimization (SEO) is the process of
indexing a website so it will rank higher on the
list of returned results when a search is conducted.
For example, large corporations are masters at
making sure their websites are displayed at the
top of a search results list. Because of LinkedIn’s
SEO, when a person searches your name, he or
she will fi nd your LinkedIn profi le either at or
near the top of the search results list.
When you create your profi le, you will
notice that LinkedIn creates a URL address, or
link, for your account. You will have a chance
to customize the link if you do not prefer the
default provided for you. Once you have a
LinkedIn URL, add it to your e-mail signature
block for your professional e-mail account and
your résumé.
When you begin a new job, convey your
willingness to do whatever it takes to be
an asset to the company. Be eager to
learn new tasks. Demonstrate through
positive actions that you want your
department or team to be successful.
Develop the skill of responding with one
simple phrase: “Yes, I can.”