Look for work? Follow these tips to improve your LinkedIn profile

The social network for professionals can be much more than the place to go to look for a job.

Having a profile on LinkedIn, the professional social network that facilitates contact between companies and employees is not enough to guarantee that you find the best job opportunities or that potential recruiters discover it. It is important that you interact, publish and comment. Even if you are not looking for a job, all this will help you expand your network of contacts.

"LinkedIn is not a static place, it's not just opening the profile and waiting," says Milton Beck, general manager of the company for Latin America.

This platform, which was launched in 2003, has revolutionized the way to look for employment on the Internet. About 20 million companies are subscribed, and only in Colombia, there are around 120,000 job posts.

Therefore, even if you are not looking for a job, it is important that you follow some of these recommendations, which can help you achieve your professional goals.

Do not stop publishing

Manage, read and publish. These are the three most important practices you should apply in your LinkedIn network, says Milton Beck, a company spokesperson. "More than tricks or secrets is knowing how to use time within the platform," he says. Remember that when you make a publication, you can see a summary of the users who saw it with information such as the companies in which these people work, the positions they have or the city where they live. "The important thing is to send messages, read the articles that others write and make comments. When you send requests, it is recommended that you include some lines explaining why you are making that contact, "says Beck, who adds that it is also advisable to visit other profiles and follow the companies in which he is interested in working. "That will help keep you updated," he adds.

English helps

If you are interested in looking for job opportunities in other countries, LinkedIn offers you the option to create your profile in another language. Today, being bilingual is one of the requirements that most companies request, so describing your experience in English can be a plus.

"Recruiters search using terms in English, so they can find it easier," says Beck.

Keep in mind that we are not talking about necessarily creating another profile, but LinkedIn gives you the option to pass it to the other language. To do so, go to your profile and at the top right you will see a tab that says: 'Add profile in another language'. Then you must select the language you want and enter your first and last name. Keep in mind that, while some parts can be translated automatically, most sections and content must be added one by one by the user.

“Recruiters search using terms in English, so they can find it easier”

Add videos or multimedia elements that show or highlight your work in some way is, according to Beck, one of the strategies that help make your space in the social network more striking.

"Many forget how important it is to publish files or documents. For example, an architect can include a project; a musician, a video of a presentation; a journalist, an article that he wrote, or an expert, an interview he gave for television, "he says. To incorporate these elements go to your profile and click on the edit icon, which is in the form of a pencil. In the end, in 'Extract', you will see the section 'Multimedia content', in which you can link documents, photographs, websites, videos, and presentations.

Create your own URL

LinkedIn offers the possibility of creating a personalized URL for each profile. This option will be very useful when you want to share your information in this network quickly with other people. In the top right you will find the section 'Edit URL and public profile'. Clicking will open a new window, and there you can customize the link in a text box. Note that it must contain between 3 and 100 characters and spaces, symbols or special characters can not be used. You can change the URL up to five times in a period of six months, and the accounts that are in another language will remain the same, although the language field will be added at the end. For example, if it is in French, 'fr' would be included.

Use keywords

Many of the companies recruiters perform searches using keywords. "You have to find out which are the most sought after in your profession and use them," Beck emphasizes. Additionally, in its description include eye-catching and creative phrases that can capture the attention of companies. "They can be phrases like 'I am a leader who has a passion for innovation' or 'I am a passionate human rights professional'", he recommends. It's fundamental

Update your profile

The most important advice is to keep your profile updated. Include a professional photograph; According to LinkedIn, the profiles that have images are 21 times more than those that do not.

Beck notes that the description should give priority to the most recent experience. "It's like making an inverted pyramid. The more recent experience, you should add more information, "he says. It is vital that not only publish the workplace, but also write the achievements there. For example, you can highlight if you succeeded in duplicating a company's sales or created a communication campaign. These profiles are viewed 30 times more than those that do not have that data.

More tools

LinkedIn also has a platform called Learning Solutions, which offers online training courses for its users to strengthen their skills and knowledge. There are about 1,500 courses available in Spanish in different business areas. You can find modules on programming languages and lessons to learn how to use PowerPoint and Excel, as well as keys on how to start a business conversation or the guidelines for a productive meeting. On the site, there are more than 10,000 explanatory videos that complement the courses. According to LinkedIn, the most sought-after topics among Colombian professionals in the business, technology and creativity sectors are professional skills, business software, marketing and programming. This platform is only available to premium users.