LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for job seekers. It has a specific job section and is a social networking platform where recruiters and hiring managers seek suitable applicants.
Many opportunities exist to use your LinkedIn account to benefit your career. However, many people make these LinkedIn mistakes, and this list should help you avoid them.
1. Unprofessional Profile Photograph
Always upload a professional photo, ideally a portrait that shows your face clearly. Ensure your hair is tidy and your clothing is professional. When recruiters or companies check your profile, the photograph may be the first thing they notice.
2. Unprofessional or Confusing Headline
A common issue for graduates is that their LinkedIn headlines do not correlate with the jobs they’re qualified to do. When first graduating, getting a full-time job in your chosen industry is not always easy. If you’re a qualified Cybersecurity Analyst but working as a barista in a coffee shop, add “Cybersecurity Analyst Graduate” to your headline rather than “barista.”
3. Sharing Too Much Information
Resist sharing too much information. Keep your LinkedIn profile relevant and concise. Most recruiters scan through profiles for salient points, so keep paragraphs short (3-4 lines), add bullet points, and share examples of success relevant to the job you’re seeking.
4. Listing Irrelevant Skills
You don’t need to add every skill you have to your LinkedIn profile. Add only the skills relevant to your current job search. Adding irrelevant skills decreases the chance of recruiters finding and reading your profile. List skills in order of importance, such as “Facebook ads generated $2.3 million for my client” or “I led the marketing team for a successful campaign for client X.”
5. Not Enough Connections
It’s important not to spam connections, sending dozens daily, but recruiters may lose interest if you have fewer connections. An effective way to build your LinkedIn network is to follow the “People You May Know” offered by the platform and spend time engaging with a relevant audience. Post meaningful or helpful comments, and people will start sending connection requests.
6. Not Checking the Details
Before posting to your LinkedIn Profile, run the text through a spelling and grammar checker and read the content out loud. That process helps avoid typos and grammatical and spelling mistakes.
7. Unprofessional Email Address And Website
Always use a professional email address if you’re serious about job seeking. Only add a website address that is relevant to your job search. There’s no point in adding a URL about your love of Star Wars if you want a job in engineering. It might seem nitpicky, but every element adds up to creating a compelling LinkedIn profile.
8. Unprofessional Updates
LinkedIn may be a social networking platform, but members often say, “It’s not Facebook.” The platform has changed significantly over the last few years. More people add personal stories and photographs, mainly relevant to their business.
A few years ago, one member posted a video of himself crying because he’d had to let staff go. The content received a negative response from many thousands of members. Adding humor and being human is fine, but always keep the content on point.
9. Spamming People’s DMs
Reaching out by direct message is an art form and can go wrong. Always be respectful, and don’t pitch. Write personalized messages, always have a genuine reason to connect, and be polite if the other person rejects your approach.
10. Creating A Profile and Not Posting
If you fail to post or write content sporadically, there’s no point in carefully creating a fantastic LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn is a social networking platform. Like attending networking events, the goal is to build connections with others so that they remember you when a relevant job is available.
Commit to a posting schedule, even if it’s only once a week. If you download the LinkedIn app to your mobile phone, always respond to comments and messages.
11. Making Your Public Profile Invisible
Ensure your account has public visibility enabled. Otherwise, nobody can find you in searches, and you could miss out on your dream job.
If you want to keep your profile private from family, ex-co-workers, or employers, the only way around it is to block those people. Not every employer likes their staff posting on LinkedIn and may expect your content to reflect the work you do for them.
12. Sending Connection Requests To Everyone
When opening a LinkedIn account, you want to build connections with the right people, but sending dozens of random daily requests will not help you make genuine connections. If you have friends, family, co-workers, past or present managers, or classmates on LinkedIn, send a connect request to them first. After that, approach the process strategically.
The point isn’t to make lots of new friends. You want to attract people who might help you in your career and who you can help.
13. Endorsing Skills For Strangers
One of the most irritating aspects of LinkedIn is that new connections can immediately endorse you for skills listed on your account. How can someone genuinely endorse a skill if they do not know you? It’s acceptable to ask for endorsements from people you know and have worked with, but don’t be the person endorsing strangers. Be open and honest and only endorse skills you’ve witnessed, like if you’ve worked with a recruiter or coach.
14. Complaining About Your Boss or Co-workers
Badmouthing co-workers or your boss on LinkedIn is not a good idea.
Instead of garnering sympathy for your situation, this unhelpful practice reflects negatively on you. It repels organizations, hiring managers, and recruiters and could get you fired if you publicly bash your existing employer.
15. Ignoring Messages
Be prompt when responding to messages. Download the LinkedIn app and check the settings to send push notifications. That way, you will never miss a message from a potential employer, recruiter, or new connection.
Respond to messages as promptly as possible. If you’re not interested in the offer or message, be polite and professional about it. “Thank you for reaching out, but this is not my area of expertise,” or something similar is sufficient.
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