LinkedIn profiles that convert
How to get found and start conversations with the right people
This is an article in four parts:
An analogy to help you understand how people with hiring responsibility consume your content
How this relates to your LinkedIn profile and other documents
An exercise you can do now
Practical takeaways
This has a bit of danger of overwhelm; however, it’s important to understand the context and mindset behind searching for candidates so that you can help a hiring process make the right decision.
By hiring process, I mean anyone from recruiter and hiring manager, to agency, to a peer who can advocate for you, to a fellow job seeker that happens to know about a vacancy you are suitable for.
Help us help you through your content.
Part 1 - an Amazon (job) search
When I buy a commodity item on Amazon there are two stages to my buying process.
I know what I want, and I have to find an acceptable shortlist of possibilities, and then decide on what to buy.
As a sweaty runner that clocks up 60-70km a week, I go through Bluetooth Headphones like you wouldn’t believe.
I’m also deaf in one ear and can’t tell the difference in varying sound formats.
So my context is a little different to the normal buyer, although likely no more different than most are to another.
A search on “Bluetooth headphones” brings up over 2,000 results, which is hardly manageable, so I change the search to “waterproof Bluetooth headphones” and filter by:
£15-£30; in ear; Prime; running.
125 results. Much better.
Now I scan down the list and I ignore Sponsored, I’m not sure why.
Click on the first one with a relevant headline, promising 50hrs playtime, and skim past all the marketing twaddle. Who cares what they say - what do their buyers think?
I go straight to the three-star reviews (my hack for avoiding paid reviews) because they are generally good with caveats, then click away.
One of the three-star reviews says they were offered a discount to change it to five. That’s BS that turns me right off.
I click through a few more products and buy one. The decent guarantee swung it for me.
I didn’t get past the first 40 results.
Now think about your own commodity purchases, where you have to do a differing levels of research to get what you need.
What kind of search criteria do you use?
How do you filter?
What informs your decision to buy?
Perhaps you already know what you want to buy, having researched buyers’ guides, YouTube videos and users’ forums, and are just sourcing the best price.
Or maybe you just need something adequate, and literally anything above an acceptable threshold will do - 5 minutes and done.
These are examples of a buyer’s journey across a transactional process.
Which isn’t far removed from how recruiters might search for candidates.
Not just on LinkedIn, but through other channels too.
Part 2 - bringing it back to your job search
LinkedIn and Amazon - what’s the difference?
In a hiring process, they are both volume, transactional marketplaces that allow searches and filters to create an appropriate shortlist to read through.
As with a product on Amazon, your LinkedIn profile is one of many that fit broadly similar criteria and might be found at any stage in a recruitment process.
From a search through the Recruiter Licence
Out of curiosity from a comment or post you wrote
Checking it out on receipt of an application
Because you were recommended
Because you worked at a certain company
In the same way customers might visit a product page on Amazon, so too might someone hiring visit your profile.
This means that it doesn’t have to just stand on its own merits, it has to corroborate and support any other documentation a reader might have come across:
Your CV or application
Your LinkedIn posts and comments
Something you did that’s in the public domain - an interview, video, article
Where there’s a conflict, such as an overly customised CV that contradicts your LinkedIn profile - that can be a problem.
Assuming your contents all support each other, the aim is to prompt an action.
Unlike an Amazon purchase, you aren’t expecting a sale, simply for the right people to start a conversation that meets your goals.
But to convert interest into an action, first, you have to be found.
Think about an Amazon product page and the process you go through to buy - what do you typically read and in which order?
It’s probably something like <home page - search - list of product headlines>. Then my reading journey on a product page is <headline - price - delivery - three star reviews - buy now>.
How does your profile page cater to the reading psychology of a recruiter?
While a recruiter likely has access to the Recruiter Licence, you probably don’t, so I’ll write this in a way you can emulate, as a standard or Premium Member. (You can look at public user guides if you are interested, such as here)
A standard search might go across <home page - search - list of profile headlines>. Then the reading psychology of someone who wants to read everything (!) is:
#Open to Work banner (your choice and no discussion today on its merits)
Headline
Banner
Location / Contact details (depending on connection and privacy settings)
Activity / Featured Section / About (the order depends on whether you have Creator mode or not)
Experience
Education
Projects
Skills
Recommendations
Unlike Amazon reviews though, I rarely look at recommendations, as if I’m still interested by that point I’ll just get in touch.
You can also download your profile as a PDF, which looks like a CV / resume with contact details, headline, summary and experience.
In both your profile and the downloadable PDF, your headline and summary/About are going to be read before your experience (career history) is.
It goes to follow that’s where a lot of the decision to contact you will come from.
While the career section is important, if an attention-short reader doesn’t get that far, it won’t help convert interest.
Part 3 - an exercise to guide your approach to updating your profile
Imagine you’ve been promoted and you are tasked with recruiting your replacement.
The rules are that you are only allowed to search for candidates on LinkedIn through your standard membership.
You only have 10 minutes to run a search, and 20 minutes to form a shortlist of 3 top candidates from the results.
Location and salary don’t matter for now.
It’s likely you’ll search on your job titles, job specific skills and qualifications.
What do the results look like?
Pick your three favourite profiles from the results.
Now compare them against your own profile, step by step through the points in part 2.
Would you make your own shortlist based purely on the content?
If not, what is it about their profiles that is preferrable and how can you emulate the same in your profile?
What is it in their content that has converted you from being a passive reader to having them on your imaginary shortlist?
Part 4 - actionable points to update your profile (and CV too)
You want people with hiring authority to look at your profile and from there want to contact you.
And you should assume the people doing so are the weakest link in the chain.
Because if you cater to them, you also cater to more competent people in process.
How can you help them see you as a candidate of choice?
4.1 a punchy headline that says what you do and how you can help. The first four words count - think about those Amazon product headlines. If you don’t read further than the first four words, you’ll never know what you missed. Check out how other people’s headlines look on your mobile phone, when on their profile or if they are replying to a comment on a post - lead with relevance.
Scrap “I help companies by” because it’s meaningless. Start with your job title, then add a flourish or context. “CTO - scale-up deep techs. Equity backed and privately owned. £20m to £120m in three years”
4.2 banner - it’s free advertising real estate! Use canva; include your contact details in case a reader doesn’t have access through your account
4.3 make it really easy to contact you by phone or email, put it in multiple spots
4.4. About section - who do you help and how? What are your key skills and achievements? Keep it concise and focused on your ideal audience - move away from the ‘responsibilities led’ approach to CVs that get copied onto LinkedIn. Show context.
4.5 While your career section is further down, and may not even be read, it should still be fully populated and credible.
4.5 How can you highlight posts, videos and articles to support your candidacy? The Featured Section is a great facility in Creator mode.
4.6 Key words. Recruiters search on key words. Think about all the job adverts and required skills you’ve read - does your LinkedIn profile show these suitably? Of course these need to be true, but think about how differing acronyms and terminology may mean the same thing.
4.7 Personal branding. How can you showcase your personality in your words? Your about section is a form of elevator pitch. While it highlight your professional credibility, you can also show your personal qualities. What your most passionate about and best at? Lead with that.
4.8 It’s not about you. It’s about the needs of your reader - tell us what we need to know to make an informed decision on your candidacy. Answer the questions that we should have through your content.
4.9 Keep it simple and authentic.
4.10 If there’s something you want us to know, make it clear. This could be anything from the job you want, to part-time status, to highlighting a recommendation you are proud of.
I've mentioned ‘CV too’ as the same principles that let you get found apply here.
Principles that are used in SEO - read up on how Google prioritises expertise, experience, authorativeness and trustworthiness and they apply to how readers consume your content too.
Googling isn't just about key words, nor is your own LinkedIn profile.
As with the previous articles, this is both long and not detailed enough, but I hope is a good lens through which to think about what your readers need from your profile.
You are unique, even if your role is common. Help us see why you are the one person for the job, and you’ll get more interest for that one job you need.
Thanks for reading.
Greg
Brilliant advice for anyone jobhunting. In fact it's the most useful piece of content related to job searching I've seen.
I will be sharing it and pointing people towards you - many thanks Greg!