Marco & Associates: Chicago’s leading accounting and finance recruiting firm

Your LinkedIn profile may be a hiring manager’s or recruiter’s first impression of you. The information given on your profile may mean the difference between being asked to discuss an opportunity or being passed over. To ensure maximum impact and increase your odds of being contacted, you need your profile to be updated, accurate, and fully complete. By implementing these five tips, your LinkedIn profile will be in top form to attract hiring mangers and recruiters.

Check Your Photos

If your profile photo is more than five years old or you took it yourself, update it. If you do not have the time or money for a professional headshot, ask a friend or family member to take your picture. Use a neutral, uncluttered background and natural sunlight. Also, include a background picture that represents the company you work for or something you are interested in or passionate about.

Improve Your Headline and Summary

Write your best headline and summary. Be original, clear, and informative. Similar to a job title, ensure your headline explains what you do and contains keywords that are searchable by employers and recruiters. Rewrite your summary to tell an interesting, memorable story. Give a short background on your biggest accomplishments and how you got to where you are. Mention future goals and ambitions to show where you want to be and what it would be like working with you. Include high-quality images, videos, documents, links to your work, and other media.

Update Your Contact Information

Be sure to update your contact information. When you change jobs, your email address may change. Hiring mangers and recruiters need current contact information to discuss opportunities with you. To further make your profile easy to find, edit your URL. Using your name instead of a random set of automatically generated letters and numbers helps you show up in search engines and increases the odds of hiring managers and recruiters finding you.

Add Skills

Add new skills to your profile. Having five or more skills listed significantly increases the number of times hiring mangers and recruiters view your profile and potentially message you to talk further. Endorse skills for members of your network and ask them to return the favor. If possible, add certifications to your profile to complement your skills.

Gain Recommendations

Give members of your network recommendations and ask them to return the favor. Request that they briefly explain how long you worked together, how you used your core skills to benefit a project or employer, and why the person enjoyed working with you. Hiring mangers and recruiters are interested in learning what you are like as an employee to better determine whether they should contact you about an opportunity.

Involve Marco & Associates in Your Job Search

Involve the professional accounting and finance recruiters at Marco & Associates in your job search. We have vast networks of employers looking for top professionals in the Chicago area. Reach out to us today.