If you’ve struggled to create that all-important profile for LinkedIn, these tips will help.
 
Don’t just paste in your resume/CV. A LinkedIn profile is not a resume. For example, the Summary section on your resume might be a nice concise presentation of your strongest qualifications, but on LinkedIn you have 2000 characters to fill with richer information in a more personal tone. In the Experience sections, you might not want reveal all the company details (numbers, customers, challenges, results, and more) that you include in your resume.
 
Use your resume/CV as the starting point for your LinkedIn profile, and edit and adapt as needed.
 
Write for short attention spans. In our fast-paced multimedia culture, it’s rare that someone sits down to thoroughly read a website, online article, or – in this case – LinkedIn profile. Instead, we skim. We quickly glance from item to item in hopes of picking up relevant information. Keep this in mind when creating your profile. Write in short sentences, short paragraphs, short sections.
 
Write tight and break up your text!
 
Load with keywords. Keywords are the terms that recruiters, employers, and network contacts use to find people. The Specialties section of your LinkedIn profile is a great place to dump any and all keywords that are appropriate to you and your career. Keywords located in other sections of your profile will also be found in a keyword search, so take the time to research and include the terms that will help the right people find you.
 
Keywords enable you to be found … and isn’t that why you’re on LinkedIn in the first place?