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Your LinkedIn Profile – Getting It Right – Part 2

LinkedIn – almost everyone’s on it. If they’re not, they certainly should be. This astonishingly successful business ‘connections’ platform is used by over 20,000,000 businesses and individuals in the UK alone. The platform is now acknowledged as a vital element in the job application process.

In our last blog, we looked at the visual side of presenting yourself on LinkedIn – how to use images effectively. This blog is all about the words – how to use the verbal part of LinkedIn to put yourself across accurately and favourably.

Identify and focus on your purpose

The best place to start when trying to make your LinkedIn profile stand out to prospective employers is to highlight your purpose as a professional in the accountancy sector.

To put it another way – what’s your story?

Practice partners and managers and recruiters alike are busy people. While finding the right candidate is vitally important to them, they won’t be impressed if they find themselves ploughing through paragraphs of profile waffle.

Tell them in a clear, concise and compelling way about your professional purpose and already, you’ll be promoting yourself into pole position. Here’s how –

  • Keep your profile content succinct – use bullet points and clear content
  • Consider the reader – while describing your career to date, think about what the employer/recruiter wants to read
  • Keep your profile headline up-to-date. If you’re unemployed, don’t just state your preferred role – let the reader know that you’re ‘looking for looking for opportunities’. For example, “I’m currently looking for my next role as an Audit Senior in the West Midlands’.
  • If you’re in employment, include keywords in your profile, which identify your main areas of interest or purpose. Employers and recruiters will search for these words. By using them, you’ll increase the likelihood of being discovered.

Identify clearly what problems you solve

Again, let employers and recruiters know how you’ll benefit a new employer – what sort of problems you solve.

Either in your introduction or in a post, write about your areas of expertise. There’s a vacancy to be filled – you’re the perfect candidate to fill it! Don’t be timid about the different ways you can help them.

Remember – always be succinct. Online attention spans are small, so your bio content and posts have to hook people in. Be disciplined and just use a few lines to grip your audience.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation – they really matter

Including the right content is one thing, but if your LinkedIn profile is riddled with grammatical errors, you might as well say goodbye to that job offer.

Using poor grammar and making simple spelling mistakes will give the impression that you don’t take pride in what you do or even that you’re lazy.

You can use free tools like Grammarly. Or, ask a friend who you know is good at English to check it over.

Show them how great you are

Blowing your trumpet might not come naturally. But on LinkedIn, it’s essential. How else are you going to show how different you are from the rest? Let’s say you’ve worked for a company with thousands of staff all with the same job title. Try to focus on how you’re better than the rest. Was there a particular time where you went above and beyond? Are you particularly passionate about a certain element of the job? There will always be some way in which you excelled.

Tell the recruiter or employer why you’re so good. Don’t be afraid to be different – you’ll really stand out from your competition.

It’s worth the effort

Carrying out all this maintenance work might seem like hard work. But it needn’t take long. Once the job is done, keeping it up-to-date will barely take any time at all. Just keep yourself relevant and interesting by posting every so often and liking different pieces of interesting, industry-related content.

Surely, if it’s increasing your chances of getting that next great job, isn’t that worth a bit of effort?

As specialist recruiters for the world of accountancy, we know how employers think – how their minds work. When it comes to applying for an accountancy vacancy, put yourself in pole position. Talk to us about best practice in social media presentation.

Call 0333 577 7787.

Email –  info@PublicPracticeRecruitment.co.uk

Or complete our submission form.

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