How to Construct a perfect LinkedIn profile

Gone are the days when LinkedIn was used only for the high professionals, nowadays even a college teenager has made a profile on LinkedIn for his professional reputation. In today's competitive scenario, LinkedIn is a chance to get yourself in front of a crowd. However just making a profile is not enough, you have to make a profile that draws attention while helping you build your career. Here are a few simple ways which you can use to make your LinkedIn stand out:

1. Add your Headshot

The simplest thing you can do is to put a profile picture. Believe us, it's worth the investment. The picture used should be professional. Not necessarily sitting in your cabin showing off your formals, but a simple decent casual look would also work. Make sure the picture used is in high resolution! With a huge number of applications everyday, the ones without profile pictures are easily pushed away.

2. Eye- Catching headlines

Headlines are positioned exactly below the name on your LinkedIn profile. Headlines are usually the first thing that a viewer reads. These can be of maximum 120 characters, but 120 characters aren't less. These are like small hoarding boards for your brand. You can add your job title, speciality or your company.

3. Craft a fascinating summary

You have a 2,000 word platform in your hand to showcase your story. You can put your past experiences there. Also, you can put what you are looking for in your future jobs. Summary is the area which shows who you really are as a professional.

4. Highlight your experience

Many people just copy the experience that they put up on their resume and paste it on their LinkedIn profile. However, you can do so much better than that. Unlike resumes, you don't have your 2-pages rule here. You can add any relevant job profile that you did in 3-4 points highlighting how you benefited the organisation and how the organisation benefited you. Also, you should use good action words while writing what you did in the organisation.

5. Customise your LinkedIn URL link

Your LinkedIn URL is the web address to your profile. Usually a default link is assigned to each profile, which consists of the name and some random numbers, but did you know that you can actually customize your link? You can have anything written over there provided the same characters are not used earlier by someone else. This feature only takes a couple of minutes and can actually make your URL more near and concise. The option to customize your URL is available along the right side of the profile.

6. Check your LinkedIn profile strength

LinkedIn gives a feature of "Profile strength" measurement to users. This tells you how completely you have filled up your profile. The all 5 starts measure shows that your profile has been filled completely. If the bar doesn't show up full, keep adding things to check if you have overlooked anything.

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool, and is easy to use and affordable for all in today's world. Make the best out of it by showing your profile to stand out in a pool of candidates, selling your skills (and yourself), and validating your accomplishments. Make your profile visually appealing to the visitors while easily portraying who you really are professionally.