III. Mastering-Linkedin

Mastering
LinkedIn
Karen Brown

KAREN BROWN
MASTERING LINKEDIN
Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

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Mastering LinkedIn
3rd edition
© 2019 Karen Brown & bookboon.com
ISBN 978-87-403-3210-0

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Contents
CONTENTS
1 About the Author 7
2 Introduction 8
3 Setting up your LinkedIn account 9
4 Take a tour of your LinkedIn account 10

4.1 Home 10
4.2 My Network 10
4.3 Jobs 11
4.4 Messaging 11
4.5 Notifications 11
4.6 Me (Your Profile) 11
4.7 Work 12
4.8 Learning 12
4.9 The LinkedIn App 12
4.10 Free v premium accounts 12
4.11 Activity 13
For internal use at LIGS University

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5 Your Profile 14
5.1 Editing and updating your profile 15
6 Optimising your LinkedIn profile 16

6.1 Getting found in search results 17
6.2 How to get an all-star profile 18
7 Developing your LinkedIn Profile 19

7.1 Switching off profile updates 19
7.2 A word about spelling and grammar 19
7.3 Adding and uploading supporting documents 20
7.4 Your information card 20
7.5 Personalising your URL and public profile 27
7.6 Your “About” section 28
7.7 Your Background section 29
7.8 The Skills and endorsements section 34
7.9 Recommendations 35
7.10 Your Accomplishments section 37
7.11 LinkedIn profiles in multiple languages 39
7.12 Don’t forget 39
8 Building Connections 40
8.1 What are connections? 40
8.2 The types of connection on LinkedIn 40
8.3 Where you can find connections 41
8.4 Sending out “Invitations to connect” 43
8.5 Allow people to connect with you 44
8.6 Accepting “Invitations to connect” 44
8.7 Removing connections 44
9 Groups 46
9.1 Types of group 46
9.2 Choosing which groups to join 47
9.3 Starting conversations 48
10 Interests 49
10.1 Influencers 49
10.2 Companies and schools 49
11 Job seeking on LinkedIn 51

11.1 Job seeking 101 51
11.2 Make sure you’re visible to recruiters 52
11.3 Where to find jobs on LinkedIn 52

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12 Increasing your visibility on LinkedIn 55

12.1 Your settings 55
12.2 Your activity 56
13 Keeping on top of your LinkedIn account 58

13.1 LinkedIn mobile apps 58
13.2 Emails 58
13.3 Task Lists 59
14 Your final LinkedIn checklists 61

14.1 Your LinkedIn profile 61
14.2 Your Connection strategy 62
14.3 Job hunting with LinkedIn 63
14.4 Your digital footprint: 63
15 Finally 64

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MASTERING LINKEDIN About the Author
1 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Since the first edition of this book, Karen has qualified as a Life Coach, and taken time
out to care for her father in his final years. She also qualified as a bio energy therapist and
meditation teacher, and now helps clients develop what she calls her Happy Habits.
It was these habits that helped her get through a series of losses and move forward with
passion and purpose towards new goals and exciting opportunities.
She has written a number of books, retired some and started a new series of guided journals
aimed at helping you build those Happy Habits. These include a number of themed gratitude
journals, a goals planner and her 2020 Positivity Planner.
Her website is coachkarenbrown.com, where there are over 100 blog posts covering topics
like LinkedIn, résumé writing, interview skills and personal branding. If you visit her Job
Magnets page, you’ll find her free 28-page Interview Skills workbook.
Her new website is fromlosstolaughter.com, where her mission is to help over 1 million
people get through their loss.
You can also find her on:
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/karenbrownauthor
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/coachkarenbrown
Twitter https://twitter.com/CoachKarenBrown
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ie/KarenBrownCoach
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Karen-Brown/e/B00AXAF2M8/

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Introduction
2 INTRODUCTION
LinkedIn is a social media giant, having over 645 million users worldwide (https://news.
linkedin.com/aboutus#statistics accessed Aug 2019). It is used by professionals to:
• Post their Curriculum Vitae (CV), also known as a résumé, online.

• Develop a network of connections.
• Demonstrate their expertise through status updates, articles and group
discussions.
• Research companies and educational establishments.
• Keep up to date with the latest developments in their field, through group
discussions and thought leaders.
• Find, and in some cases, apply for jobs.
Since I first wrote this book, LinkedIn:
• bough Lynda.com and turned it into LinkedIn Learning. It allows you to take
courses that can then be shared to your LinkedIn profile, demonstrating a person
who updates their skills regularly. You can even apply to become an instructor
on the platform.
• was bought by Microsoft.
(Source: https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-few-important-
linkedin-stats/ accessed August 2019)
• expanded its support to veterans and their families, offering LinkedIn premium
services to the spouses of service staff.
(Source: https://blog.linkedin.com/2019/april-/24/expanding-support-for-military-
families-and-veteran-caregivers accessed August 2019)
• completely changed the layout of the website and the users profiles.
Like all computer applications, using LinkedIn is part art and part science. The science bit
is being able to navigate around the application and complete fields of information. The
art lies in understanding how it works and leveraging that to your advantage. This is how
this eBook will help.
It will take you on a journey, helping you set up a basic account, teaching you how to
optimise your LinkedIn profile, showing you how you can build up a network of contacts
and ultimately assisting you to find jobs through LinkedIn.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Setting up your LinkedIn account
3 SETTING UP YOUR
LINKEDIN ACCOUNT
To set up your own LinkedIn account, you will need an email account (either work or
home) that you have access to. You will also need an image of yourself and your CV, for
use in setting up your LinkedIn profile.
Navigate to the LinkedIn website: www.linkedin.com
There will be an option to either sign in or join. To join, enter your:
• First name.
• Last name.
• Email address.
• A password – this must be at least 6 characters.
Once you have done this, click on [Agree & Join].
An email will be sent to the email address you provided to verify its authenticity.
LinkedIn will then take you to the next screen, which asks for your country of residence
and postcode. Once completed you will be asked about your current or most recent job
and company, or if you’re a student. You will also be asked which industry you belong to.
Next, LinkedIn will seek to import your contacts from your email account, to find people
who already know you on LinkedIn. Note: if there is a person not on LinkedIn, they may
be invited to join.
Once you have done that, LinkedIn will ask for your photo. Upload a photo that is 400 x
400 pixels, You can upload a larger photo, as long as it isn’t bigger than 4320 pixels high
and 7680 in width. You can crop and adjust your image as needed.
Note: Your image should be less than 8MB and be of you. If you use a company
logo, an artistic landscape image, a photo of your pet or images with words,
LinkedIn may remove it.
Once you have completed this process, you will have a basic account and access to the
application.
Let’s take a tour of your new account.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Take a tour of your LinkedIn account
4 TAKE A TOUR OF YOUR

LINKEDIN ACCOUNT
It’s really important that you can navigate comfortably around your new account, so we’ll
look at each screen in turn and explain their significance. Note: LinkedIn is constantly
changing, so new screens may be added and older screens changed.
4.1 HOME
The [Home] screen is your timeline.
It’s where you’ll see the posts of people you are connected to, as well as the people, companies
and news channels that you follow. It also shows posts liked, commented, or shared by
people that you’re connected to.
Whilst it’s unlikely that industry leaders such as Richard Branson will connect with you, you
can follow them, view any posts that they have added and then comment on those posts.
It’s also the place where you can post your own updates, images, videos or documents.
You can also write and publish your own articles here. This is an amazing opportunity to
demonstrate your expertise.
4.2 MY NETWORK
In the “My Network” screen you can see any invitations to connect that you have yet to
answer.
It also shows you suggestions from LinkedIn:
• people that are in your network

• people in similar roles
• people you might know from a previous workplace or educational establishment
Clicking on “Connections” takes you to a page listing all your connections, with the most
recent first. This list is searchable and has the option to message the person.

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Clicking on “Groups” takes you to the list of group that you are a member of. You can
also create your own group from this screen.
Clicking on “Pages” allows you to see all the people and company pages that you’re
following. You can then unfollow them if you want to. You can also see who follows you.
This is then an opportunity to invite that person to connect with you.
Clicking on “# Hashtags” lets you see which hashtags that you’re following.
4.3 JOBS
This is where jobs are posted by companies looking for new staff.
You can search for jobs by company, keyword or job title. The search criteria can then be
saved and re-used. You can also save jobs to look at later, and some companies allow you
to use your LinkedIn profile to apply for the post. This makes it really important that your
profile is up to date and reflects your current knowledge, skills and experience.
4.4 MESSAGING
This is where you can send, receive and respond to messages within LinkedIn.
4.5 NOTIFICATIONS
LinkedIn works hard to help you keep up to date with what’s going on in your network,
who’s viewed your posts, articles and profile. You’ll get notified of anything you wish to be
notified about.
You can adjust what you see in your settings.
4.6 ME (YOUR PROFILE)

This tab links to your profile, your account settings, help and an area that allows you to
manage your posts and articles.

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4.7 WORK
This is where other LinkedIn products such as groups, Slideshare, LinkedIn Learning, insights
and Post a Job can be found.
4.8 LEARNING
Optional. In 2015, LinkedIn bought Lynda.com, the online course provider and it became
LinkedIn Learning. You can access this by subscribing to LinkedIn Learning or as part of
LinkedIn’s premium accounts.
4.9 THE LINKEDIN APP

The LinkedIn app is available on both the App Store and Google Play. There are also apps
for LinkedIn’s SlidesShare and LinkedIn Learning.
To navigate is simple. You can access your profile, the search facility and messages via the
top of the main screen. Your timeline is in the middle of the screen and, at the bottom of
the screen, you can see icons to access your network, add a post, view your notifications
and access the jobs tab.
4.10 FREE V PREMIUM ACCOUNTS

LinkedIn is free to use, however, there are huge advantages to upgrading to a premium
account. This is something I’ve done myself now since 2013, as it gives you much wider
access to LinkedIn itself, and also increases the visibility of your profile.
There are options available for business owners, recruiters, job seekers and sales professionals.
To view the options available, go to https://premium.linkedin.com/. You can try it one

month for free, but if you don’t want to continue, remember to cancel your subscription.

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4.11 ACTIVITY
Take a thorough look at your LinkedIn account and make sure that you can find where to:
• Post an update
• Change your profile image, job details and personal details
• Post a message
• See who’s in your network
• See where you can adjust your settings
• See where you can find help.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Your Profile
5 YOUR PROFILE
One of the biggest changes to LinkedIn is the layout of your profile.
The changes reflect what employers want to see first, namely:
• Who you are and what you do.

• Who you work/ed for.
• Any recommendations and endorsements.
The other sections that were considered useful information, but not essential, have been
moved much further down your profile.
So, let’s look at what your profile now includes:
• Your introduction card. This is the top section of your profile and includes
your name, profile photo, last place of work, the last school/college/university
that you attended and how people can contact you. You can also add a
background image, recommended size 1584 x 396 pixels.
• Your “About” area. This allows you to provide a summary of who you are and
what you do.
• Your dashboard. Only you can see this. It tells you how many people viewed
your profile, how many people viewed your posts and how many times you
turned up in a search on LinkedIn for example by people searching for you by
name or for someone with your skills or work experience.
This is really important. If people don’t view your profile, then:
• You may not have the right searchable words in your profile
• You may be appearing too low down in the search results to
actually get found
• There may something wrong in how you appear in search results. This could
be a lack of image, a poor headline or poor spelling/grammar, so that whilst
you get found in search results, your profile doesn’t get clicked on
• Your articles and activity. Viewers of your profile can see your last article
posted and your recent posts.
• Your background. This is made up of your work experience, your education,
your licenses and certifications and any volunteer experience you might have.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Your Profile
• Your skills and endorsements. This area is used to highlight specific skills
that you might have. Other people in your network can then endorse them,
indicating how good you are at a given skill. Whilst you can have up to
50 skills, and are required to have at least 5 skills for a complete profile,
LinkedIn now only highlights your top 3 skills, allowing viewers to see
more if they’re interested.
• Your recommendations. People can see what recommendations you have
received from people you are connected to on LinkedIn. It also shows the
recommendations you have given to other people.
• Your accomplishments. This area is used to record your patents, publications,
courses, awards, projects, languages, test scores and communities that are
important to you.
• Your interests. This is where people can see which influencers, companies,
and schools that you follow. In addition, it shows which groups that you are a
member of.
5.1 EDITING AND UPDATING YOUR PROFILE
5.1.1 TO ADD A SECTION TO YOUR PROFILE
Whether you’re starting out on LinkedIn, or have been using it a while, you may need to
add a new section to your profile. You can do this in the introduction area of your profile.
Simply click on the [Add profile section] button. This gives you the dropdown list of
sections that you can add. Just click on the [+] button to the right of the relevant section
you want to add.
Alternatively, if you already have that section in your profile, you can add to or update it,
by clicking on the [+] sign to add to that section. For example, clicking on the [+] link in
the Experience section allows you to add a new job to your profile.
5.1.2 TO EDIT AND UPDATE YOUR PROFILE
For each section, there is a pencil icon to the right of it that allows you to edit and update
that part of your profile.
Where a section is made up of many items for example the different jobs in your Experience
section, a pencil will appear to the right of that item as your mouse scrolls down.
Before we look at developing your profile, we’re first going to have a look at some of the
things you need to take into account first.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Optimising your LinkedIn profile
6 OPTIMISING YOUR
LINKEDIN PROFILE
So why do you need to optimise your LinkedIn profile and what does it entail?
Well, imagine that you are recruiting for a job and want to use LinkedIn for this purpose.
To start with there are, quite literally, millions of candidates to choose from!
So, the first thing that you would do is to use some form of search criteria to find potential
candidates. This means that as a LinkedIn user you need to ensure that your profile can be
found by having the right keywords in it. Think about what job title or skills a recruiter
would search for in relation to the type of job you want and then make sure that it is
included in your profile.

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Once you appear in search results, the person searching can see:
• Your image.
• Your name and by what degree you are connected to them.
• Your headline.
• Your country.
• A summary of the shared connections that you have with that person.
For this reason, your profile needs to be well set up and look professional. Your profile
image and headline are the first thing seen, and so will immediately tell the person if you
are the type of candidate that they are looking for.
Top Tip
A poorly set up LinkedIn profile will do more damage to your credibility
and personal brand than having no LinkedIn profile at all.
6.1 GETTING FOUND IN SEARCH RESULTS

As LinkedIn gets bigger, it’s getting harder and harder to get found in search results.
They keep changing the algorithm in the background, and also how the results are displayed.
On the other hand, their search engine is more flexible in that you can search by people,
company, job, content, schools and groups. You can also filter the search results by degree
of connection, location and company.
However, there are some things that will influence where you appear in the search results.
For example:
• Photo. Having a photo on your profile will increase your profile views by 21
times and will garner 9 times more connection requests than a faceless profile.
• Experience. People with a current position appear 16 times more in recruiters’
searches. If you’re not in work, include a job that covers that period of time for
example “sabbatical” or “seeking full time post”.
• Location. Recruiters can search for potential candidates by a specific location, so
you’re 23 times more likely to appear in searches if LinkedIn knows which city
you’re based at.
• Skills. By having at least 5 skills in your profile, you are 23 times more
likely to be found in search results. Skills are keywords and when a recruiter
is looking for someone to fill a post, they will search for that person based
on the skills they have.

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• Completeness. LinkedIn profiles come in 5 levels of completeness: Beginner,

Intermediate, Advanced, Expert and All-Star. LinkedIn reports that you are
40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn if you have
an all-star profile.
(Source: https://blog.linkedin.com/2016/08/03/5-steps-to-improve-your-linkedin-
profile-in-minutes )
6.2 HOW TO GET AN ALL-STAR PROFILE

LinkedIn considers an all-star profile if it has:
• A Profile Photo.
• Your country and industry – you entered these when you set up your LinkedIn
profile.
• An up-to-date Current Position (with a description).
• Two Past Positions (also with descriptions).
• Your Education.
• Your Skills (minimum of 5).
• At least 50 Connections.
So that’s our next task… completing your profile, ensuring that it is the best it can be.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Developing your LinkedIn Profile
7 DEVELOPING YOUR
LINKEDIN PROFILE
Your LinkedIn profile is the cornerstone of your LinkedIn account.
It is your CV online, and as such, it will build up as your career develops.
For this reason, you need to keep on top of it, making sure that it is always up to date
and accurate. Any lies or gross exaggerations will be quickly found out by anyone simply
talking to the people who have studied or worked with you. Don’t lose your reputation,
credibility or job by making this one mistake.
7.1 SWITCHING OFF PROFILE UPDATES

Before we start building or updating your LinkedIn profile, it is recommended that you
switch off profile updates. This way, as you update each section, your connections won’t
be notified that you have done so. It might be annoying to others to receive so many
notifications when you’re setting up your profile.
To do this, go to [Me], then [Settings and Privacy]. In the [Privacy] tab, scroll down to
“Share job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries” and click on “Change”
on the right-hand side. Click on the slider so that it says “No”. This option will be saved
automatically.
You can now make all the changes that you want without broadcasting it to everyone!
7.2 A WORD ABOUT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR

The biggest mistake people make on their CV’s, job applications and LinkedIn profiles are
mistakes with spelling and grammar.
Never under-estimate the impact one spelling mistake can have.
When an employer has to review a large number of job applications for one post, he/she is
looking for any excuse to remove candidates to the “no” pile. The first thing he/she will do
is immediately bin any CV with a spelling mistake. Amongst other things, it demonstrates
a lack of attention to detail. This is something most employers will find unacceptable. So
don’t give them that excuse.
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It is strongly recommended that you ask someone to review your LinkedIn profile for
spelling and grammatical errors. There are accredited proof readers available, and many can
be found on specialist websites or via Twitter. In addition, if you create a profile in another
language e.g. in French and English, make sure that a native speaker reviews any profiles
set up that are not in your native language.
7.3 ADDING AND UPLOADING SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

In some sections of your profile, namely your summary, experience and education, you have
the option of adding files and links to that section e.g. to SlideShare to add a presentation,
YouTube for a video etc. or uploading a document.
This provides you with the opportunity to showcase your abilities and previous work carried
out. It also supports the information and achievements you have recorded in your profile.
Instead of saying what it is you can do, you are showing people and giving them the
opportunity to judge for themselves.
7.4 YOUR INFORMATION CARD

Your information card is made up of:
• your profile photo and background image

• your name,
• your headline,
• the country you’re based in,
• your most recent job,
• your most recent education,
• an indication of how many connections you have,
• a link to your contact information.
It is the first thing people see when they look at your profile and so any mistakes made
here will mean the person won’t scroll down any further.
In addition, some of this information is displayed in search results, and so may be the very
first contact you make with someone. Remember you don’t get a second chance to make
a first impression.

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7.4.1 YOUR PHOTO
On LinkedIn it is essential to have a photo of yourself.
Not only does it count towards the completeness of your profile, but this way, we know
who we’re talking too, if you’re the person we’re looking for and that your account isn’t as
likely to be a fake one.
Also, by not having a photo, some people may assume that you don’t know how to add
one or that you have something to hide.
It’s surprising the amount of information a person gives away by the profile picture they
choose.
7.4.1.1 Choosing a photo

When choosing a photo to upload there are a couple of requirements from LinkedIn. The
image:
• must be in either a JPG, GIF or PNG file.

• should be at least 400×400 pixels and no more than 4320x7680 pixels.
• should have a file size of less than 8 MB.
When choosing an image for your profile, always remember that LinkedIn is a professional
networking site. So, when choosing your image:
• Don’t choose holiday, family or casual pictures.

• Don’t choose company logos, images of your pets or avatars.
• Do make sure it is a recent photo.
• Use a head and shoulders shot rather than a full body picture, as people want to
be able to see your face.
• Think about what you are wearing in the picture. Keep it smart. Suit and tie are
best for men, whilst a smart jacket and blouse looks well on most women.
• For the ladies, make sure you use an image that has you made up for the office
and not the office party!
• Also, think about grooming. You may think that the windswept look is sexy, but
if you want people to take you seriously, keep that photo for Facebook. This is
about looking, and behaving, in a professional manner.
• Select a relaxed pose where you are looking straight at the camera. Also, make
sure your eyes are open and you’re smiling.

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Top Tip
Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
When you upload your image, you can also select the visibility of your image. Choose from
one of the following options:
1. Your connections.
2. Your network.
3. All LinkedIn users
4. Public.
Your choice will depend on your preferred level of privacy.
Your photo checklist

• Do you have an image uploaded?
• Is the image of you alone?
• Is it a head and shoulder shot?
• What does the image say about you?
Top Tip
Check how people judge your image by using photofeeler.com.
Your image is judged on the perception of your competency,
likeability and the perception on how influential you are.
7.4.2 YOUR NAME
This should be the name that you are known by and be grammatically correct i.e. John
Smith, not john smith, JOHN SMITH or John SMITH. You should also use the name
that you are known by, not what’s on your birth certificate so for example, if you are known
by a shortened version of you name like Liz instead of Elizabeth, or by your middle name,
then use that.
The other thing to consider is whether or not you have letters after your name e.g. BSc,
MBA, PhD, CIPD. LinkedIn doesn’t have a way of adding these, so to record them, add
them to your last name. Your profile name will then reflect the name used on your CV,
business cards etc.
Note: Some people include other information such as telephone numbers. Please don’t.

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Name Checklist
• Is it the name that you are known by?
• Is your name in title case?
• Do you need to include any additional information?
7.4.3 YOUR HEADLINE
When you set up your account, this was your job title.
However, LinkedIn allows you 120 characters for your headline so why not make the most
of them!
Contrary to what some people will tell you, there is no magic formula for a great headline.
By all means include your job title, but also add something more about yourself, for example
if you are an accountant or lawyer, what do you specialise in? Compare these two headlines:
Accountant for ABC Co. – 22 characters.
Accountant with 10+years’ experience working with small businesses, helping them
reduce their tax bill – 103 characters.
When you look at your headline, think about your target audience. If it is a potential
employer, what 3 things do they need to know about you? For example:
• Your current job title.

• What you specialise in.
• How you can help them.
Also, think about the top 3 keywords that someone might use to find you.
Top Tip
Avoid jargon, buzzwords or clichés

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LinkedIn used to provide a list of the top 10 over-used buzzwords. The last time it was
done was for 2017. The words to avoid then were:
1. Specialized 6. Passionate
2. Leadership 7. Excellent
3. Experienced 8. Expert
4. Focused 9. Generalist
5. Strategic 10. Successful
If you use any of these words anywhere in your profile, then maybe find a different way of
expressing what you want to say.
Top Tip
You can now add colourful icons to your headline.
These can make your headline stand out.
To see which icons you can use,
visit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/finally-color-your-linkedin-profile-tavis-bucklin
Just copy and paste the icon you want into your headline.
Headline checklist
• Does it include your current job title?
• Do you make the most of the space allotted?
• What keywords have you included?
7.4.4 YOUR COUNTRY
This was set by LinkedIn when you created your account.
This should be where your home is. If you live in one country and work in another, then
this will be reflected in the location of your job.
To change your location, click on the pen icon in your “Information card”. You can then
change your country and add or change your Zip Code.
Tip
Include your Zip Code, so that if a recruiter is looking for someone
with your skills in your location, they can find you.

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7.4.5 YOUR RECENT JOB AND EDUCATION
These are system generated from existing information, and so will be covered in the relevant
sections later in this book.
7.4.6 CONNECTIONS
Again, this is system generated. The number of connections you have is displayed under your
headline and links to a search of your 1st connections. This can be any number between 1
and 500. Where you have more than 500 connections this is simply shown as 500+.
7.4.7 CONTACTS
Your contact information is made up of:
• Your LinkedIn URL (system generated)

• Your website (optional)
• Your phone number (optional)
• Your address (optional)
• Your email address on LinkedIn (system generated.
This is your primary email address)
• Your Twitter handle (optional)
• Other messaging applications such as Skype (optional)
• Your birthday (optional)
To add or update your contact information, go to your profile and click on the pencil icon
in your Information Card.
Scroll down to the bottom, then click on the pencil icon to the right of the Contact Info
field.
Add or remove the details you wish and then click on [Save].
7.4.7.1 To add your twitter account to your Contacts

This is no longer done in your profile, but via your settings.

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To connect your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, allowing you to post and tweet from
LinkedIn, navigate to Settings & Privacy via your Me tab.
• Click on [Account], then Partners and Services.
Where it says Twitter settings, click on Change on the right hand side
• Click on [Add a Twitter account]
You will need to re-enter your LinkedIn password to do this.
You will then be taken to the screen that authorises LinkedIn to connect to your Twitter
account.
• Sign into your Twitter account. (If you have two-step authorisation, you will
need to do that too)
Once you have connected the two accounts, you can choose whether to display it on your
profile or not.

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7.5 PERSONALISING YOUR URL AND PUBLIC PROFILE

When you set up your LinkedIn account, LinkedIn provided you with a URL that was
made up of letters and numbers that linked to a public version of your personal profile.
This public profile can be set up to show as much, or as little, detail for people to see.
In addition, LinkedIn allows you to personalise the URL itself, so that it looks more
professional and can be found more easily by search engines such as Google. This personalised
link can then be used on business cards, email signatures etc. Alternatively, you can use it
to create a QR code to use on your CV and business/networking card.
From your profile, click on Edit public profile and URL. This is to the right of your
“Information Card”. This takes you to the Public profile settings page.
7.5.1 EDITING YOUR PUBLIC PROFILE
On the right-hand side of your Public profile settings page, you can see Visibility. You
can then select which parts of your profile that you want to be public.
As a minimum, I would suggest showing your:
• Headline.
• Summary.
• Skills.
This way interested parties can get a broad overview of your career, but you don’t compromise
your privacy.
7.5.2 PERSONALISING YOUR URL
Still in the Public profile settings page, you’ll find your custom URL on the top right-
hand side of the page.
• Click on the pencil icon next to your URL and change it as needed.
Note from LinkedIn: “Your custom URL must contain 5 – 30 letters or numbers. Please
do not use spaces, symbols, or special characters”

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When you have finished, click on [Save].
Top Tip
Create a QR code of your LinkedIn URL and add this to your business/networking card.
You can do this for free on websites such as:
https://www.qr-code-generator.com/, https://www.qrstuff.
com/, .and https://qrcode.kaywa.com/
7.6 YOUR “ABOUT” SECTION

A summary is probably the most under-used section on a CV, but it allows you to speak
directly to recruitment staff before they go on to read the rest of your information.
If you think about CVs from the recruitment persons’ point of view, they need to establish
quickly if you might fulfil the requirements of the job, and they generally take about 30
seconds to make that judgement.
This means that they need to see the most important information first.
Writing a short summary at the beginning of your CV then gives the reader a broad overview
of your story in your own words. If they are interested, then they’ll read further.
Compare the following summary statements:
A dynamic leader with the ability to drive 15+ years of experience leading teams of 10-
change and proven track record of high 200 staff members.
accomplishments in various areas.
Managed 30+ projects ranging from
Highly organized individual, believes in $100K-$1.7M in budget.
empowerment and team work, highly
adaptable, strong business sense, effective 200+ hours of presenting and training on a
communicator, result-oriented, and can-do wide variety of subjects including innovation,
attitude. teamwork and project management.
The left-hand side summaries are very ambiguous, full of clichés and are very subjective.
Alternatively, the summaries on the right hand side however are full of facts that can be
substantiated and demonstrate what the person could potentially bring to their next employer.

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When you write your own summary, think about:
• What do you do and how do you do it?

• What you have achieved in your personal or professional life that can
demonstrate your skills and expertise?
• What are your specialties?
• What keywords that describe you are important to employers or business
partners?
Top Tips
• Write your summary in the first person. It is you talking to the person reading
your profile.
• Keep it short – 5 sentences or less.
• Employers aren’t interested in your career goals; they want to know how you can
fit into their organisation and how you can help them build up their business.
Does what you do create money for the organisation (sales, customer service),
save money (do things more efficiently) or save time?
• Research your ideal employer and imagine that you’re talking to them directly.
• Avoid clichés.
7.7 YOUR BACKGROUND SECTION

This section is made up of your work Experience, Education, Licenses and Certifications
and Volunteer experience
It is essentially the CV section of your LinkedIn profile.
Remember, to have a complete profile, LinkedIn requires that profiles should include your
work experience, education and skills and expertise.
These reflect what most employers want to know:
do you have the knowledge, skills and experience for the job?

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7.7.1 YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE
How much work experience you have will depend on how far along you are in your career.
Regardless of how many jobs you have had, people may want to connect with you, now
and in the future, based on where you work e.g. old and new colleagues, so include all jobs.
This is one of the differences between LinkedIn and your paper/Word version of your CV.
On a paper CV, you should limit the jobs you include to the last 10 years, as anything
older than that would probably not be relevant. However, by including all your jobs, you
allow colleagues throughout your career to contact and connect with you. You never know
where the next opportunity may come from.
If you’re just starting out, then you may have taken low paid work to get you through
college or university. Don’t under-estimate the skills that you picked up there. For example,
working at a fast-food restaurant will probably give you customer-facing skills, working in
a high-pressure environment, delivering to corporate standards of quality, money handling
skills and so on.
Include any experience at this stage, as this will help set you apart from those people who
haven’t had any work experience at all.
When completing your work experience, always include:
• The company name. If the company has a profile on LinkedIn, then your
personal profile will link to the company profile, showing you as an employee
there. This will allow colleagues to find you.
• Your job title. This should be as it is in your contract of employment.
• The location. As you record the town that you were based in, LinkedIn will
offer suggestions as to the location e.g. Geneva, Switzerland.
• The time period that you worked there. Complete your start and end dates.
Tick the box if you still work there.
• Description. State what it is that you actually did, and how your work
contributed to the company that you work/ed for.
Some do’s and don’ts for job descriptions.
• Do highlight your main job requirements, but remember, it’s not a job
description.
• Do keep your tone positive.

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• Do ensure that keywords specific to your type of work are included.

• Do ensure that you include which software applications you used.
• Do include at least one achievement for each post e.g. exceeded sales targets,
brought project in on time and to budget.
• Do use the active verbs e.g. managed, implemented, saved, increased.
• Don’t use clichés. We’re all highly motivated, great communicators, able to
work in teams and under pressure!
• Don’t forget to check spelling and grammar.
• Don’t list everything you’ve done. Keep to the main points.
• Don’t lie or exaggerate what you did.
Actions
• Is your employment history complete? Are there any gaps?
If yes, are they explained?
• Does your employment history go back more than 10 years? If yes, keep the
descriptions of posts older than 5 years short.
7.7.2 YOUR EDUCATION
The Education section is for recording the schools, colleges and universities that you have
attended and the qualifications gained there.
Again, it is one of LinkedIn’s opportunities to connect with you, so whilst a CV would

only include your most recent school/college/university, on LinkedIn, it is suggested that
you consider including all post-primary schools to allow old school friends a way to find
and connect with you.
7.7.3 YOUR LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS
Certifications are earned from professional organisations, universities or private companies.

There are 3 main types:
Professional Certificates from universities. These are certificates awarded as part of

an educational program. For example, the Professional Certificate in Advanced Health
Assessment for Nurses and Midwives. These should be recorded as a qualification
in the Education section.

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Product-specific certifications. For example, Microsoft MCSE, Oracle DBA. These

certifications indicate that the holder has met a certain criteria and standards as set
out by the certifying organisation.
Profession-wide certifications. In some industries, there are professional standards

that need to be maintained for the safety of the public so for example a registered
nurse must:
• Complete a specified course of study to a set standard.

• Register, and be fully licensed, with the governing body of the relevant
country.
• Re-register during a given period of time.
• Complete a specified number of training days to maintain their registration.
• Comply with a given code of practice.
In the case of profession-wide certifications, record the qualification in the Education section
and the membership to the associated professional body in the Certifications section.

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Education v Certifications v Courses
Education Certifications Courses
Type of education Formal Occupational Formal and Informal
Schools attended Certifications Courses taken as part

Qualifications gained Licensures of a qualification
Clearances Occupational
qualifications
Used to record Post-educational
achievements
Continuous
professional
development
Certificates, Diplomas, Certifications are Courses can build

and Degrees issued by official approval to do into qualification or
organisations something legally. certifications
Usually issued by a They can also
Notes
professional body. be formal or
Certain qualifications occupational.
may allow you to
apply for certification.
School Certification name Course name

Dates attended Certification authority Course number
Degree License number Associated with
Fields Field of study Certification URL either:
Grade Dates • Job
Activities and societies • School
Description
Certificate in IT Chartered Accountant Train the Trainer

Diploma in IT Chartered IT Course modules
BSc in Computer Professional that make up your
Example
Science Registered Nurse degree
MSc Oracle DBA
PhD Microsoft MSCE
If you complete online courses from certain organisations, for example LinkedIn Learning,
then these can be added directly to your LinkedIn profile as a certification.

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7.7.4 VOLUNTEERING AND CAUSES
Sometimes when finding work is hard, and when you have trouble finding any work, you
have the option of gaining experience through volunteering. Remember, if you worked as
a volunteer, you still worked, so it’s important to describe the experience, skills attained,
and achievements made.
In addition, if you work and volunteer or support charitable organisations then you can
show which causes are closest to your heart.
You can record:
• Organisation that you volunteered with or supported.

• Causes and organisations that you support.
• Whether or not you would be available to donate your time and talent.
Note: If you have less than three jobs recorded in your work experience, but have also
completed some voluntary work, then add this as work experience, to complete your profile.
7.8 THE SKILLS AND ENDORSEMENTS SECTION

As your career develops, so does your skillset. LinkedIn allows you to record up to 50
different skills and requires a minimum of 5 for a complete profile. Connections can then
endorse these skills, (and suggest others!) validating what you say you can do.
You choose the order your skills are displayed in, and LinkedIn highlights your top 3. This
feature alone sets your LinkedIn profile ahead of your CV. It’s one thing to say you have a
skill. It’s another for 10, 20, 30, 99+ people to say that they think you have them!
There are certain classifications of skills that you should include:
• Industry specific skills e.g. Java. Javascript, HTML.

• Specialist skills e.g. Search engine optimisation.
• Core IT skills e.g. Microsoft office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
• Core business skills e.g. customer service, project management.
• Soft skills e.g. presentation skills, negotiation skills.

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7.8.1 ACTIVITY
• Review the types of job that you are looking for. What skills are employers
looking for?
• Review the skills of some of your connections. What are the most frequent skills
that are displayed? Are these the same skills employers were looking for?
• If you have a premium account, you can review the “Insights” tab of some of
the companies that you are interested in working for.
7.9 RECOMMENDATIONS
When you apply for a job, you are usually asked to provide references. These are provided
by someone who can vouch for your:
• Character.
• Skills and abilities.
• Qualifications.
For this reason, they had to be given by previous employers or someone (such as a colleague,
supervisor, client, teacher, lecturer) who was in a position to know your capabilities.
On LinkedIn, a recommendation can be provided by any connection. The person providing

the recommendation can recommend you as:
• A colleague – you need to both have worked at the same organisation.

• A service provider – you hired them or their company
• A business partner – you worked with them, but not as a client or colleague.
• A student – you were at school when they were, either as a student or teacher.
The person then establishes the relationship between the two of you and writes a
recommendation. You have the option to add this to your profile (or not).
Because you are building your professional reputation, it is important to seek relevant
recommendations. They are like references given in advance and potential employers really
value them, especially if they accept LinkedIn profiles as a means of applying for a job.

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7.9.1 SOME RECOMMENDATIONS DO’S AND DON’TS
• Do identify people who could provide recommendations. They should be

previous managers or lecturers who are able to comment on your abilities.
• Do ask for recommendations but do it on a one to one basis. Don’t send out a
blanket email. You’ll probably end up with blanket refusals!
• Do personalise the request. If needed, remind the person of the work you did
well and the contribution you made to the team.
• Do be careful who you ask for a reference. They should know you and be able
to vouch for you.
• Don’t ask family members or friends for references. If an employer realises that
the relationship is not a professional one, your credibility is gone.
• Don’t offer to provide a reference for someone unless you can actually vouch for
them. Your credibility will be damaged if they have been found to be less than
stellar employees.
• Don’t give a recommendation in exchange for one. It’s very easy to spot, and
they have the potential effect of cancelling each other out.
Your LinkedIn profile should now contain nearly all the elements required for a complete
profile. These will also be what most people would include on their CV. However, LinkedIn

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provides a number of other sections that you can use. These will help you record additional
skills and expertise not already recorded.
Note: these sections are optional and do not form the requisite for a complete profile.
7.10 YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SECTION

These sections are particularly useful for students to showcase what they can do, especially
if they don’t have any work history as yet. However, all LinkedIn members can make use
of them to demonstrate a broader skillset.
You used to be able to move sections around, but now they are displayed by highest number
first. For example if you have attended 10 courses and have 2 publications, the courses will
be displayed first.
7.10.1 PUBLICATIONS
Have you published anything? Thesis, research project, article, book? Include it here. The
only mandatory field is the publication title.
7.10.2 PATENTS
If you have, or are in the process of, registering a patent, record it here.
7.10.3 COURSES
These can be:
• Modules/units/courses that form part of a qualification e.g. Object-orientated

programming on a BSc in Computer Science. In this case, link the courses to
the relevant qualification.
• Post-education courses that can be part of continuous professional development.
Link to the relevant job.
• Stand-alone courses.
You can link courses the relevant qualification or job, but it is no longer displayed in that
section.

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7.10.4 PROJECTS
These may be:
• Classroom projects e.g. build a basic database.

• Research projects e.g. develop a new methodology.
• Work-based projects e.g. office move, software roll-out or building project.
Projects, like courses, can be linked to either qualifications or jobs. They can also be individual
or group, but if it is/was a group project, then include the other project team members.
7.10.5 HONOURS AND AWARDS
Have you been nominated for, or won, an award? Have you been honoured in any way?
Record them here. The award could be business, professional or personal. In this instance,
it’s all about the achievement.
7.10.6 TEST SCORES
If you are studying at the moment and would like to demonstrate to potential employers
how good you are at a specific subject, then you can record some or all of your test scores.
Alternatively, record your GPA.
7.10.7 LANGUAGES
Record which languages you speak/read and to what proficiency. If you record this, then
don’t forget to record your native language.
7.10.8 ORGANISATIONS
Which organisations did you contribute to at school, college or university? Are you a
member of a specific organisation that would validate part of your profile e.g. Member of
the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants?

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7.11 LINKEDIN PROFILES IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES

LinkedIn is available in a number of different languages and you can create different versions
of your profile in different languages. You can have one profile per language.
To create a LinkedIn profile in another language, you will need to create a profile in your
native language, and then create another profile in your second (third etc.) language.
To do this, in your Profile, to the right of your Information card, you have the option to
“Create profile in another language”.
You will then be taken to a screen which asks you which language you wish to choose.
The next screen states the language you’ve chosen, then asks you to complete your name
and headline. Once you’ve done this, click on [Create Profile].
Complete your profile in the same way using the language specified.
Top Tips
You may want to print out your initial profile to ensure that they are consistent.
7.12 DON’T FORGET

Now that your profile is complete, please remember to re-activate your profile updates, so
that your network is notified when you make further changes.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Building Connections
8 BUILDING CONNECTIONS
Many people forget that LinkedIn is first and foremost a social network and that once you
have set up your profile then the main reason for using LinkedIn is to build up connections
and relationships that will help you in your future career.
Remember, the wider your network, the higher up you are likely to appear in search results
and the more likely you will be found by someone looking for either you specifically or
someone with your skills and experience.
8.1 WHAT ARE CONNECTIONS?

In real life, these are the people you know or have met.
They are your family, friends, school friends/alumni, colleagues, and people that you have
met either personally or professionally. In other contexts, they are known as your contacts.
Online, whilst you should only connect with people you know, you are also trying to build
up a network of connections that will turn cold-calling into warm-calling.
For this reason, many people will connect with people they don’t know in order to have
access to the network of connections of the other person.
8.2 THE TYPES OF CONNECTION ON LINKEDIN

LinkedIn uses the theory of 6 degrees of separation to categorise your connections and
contacts on LinkedIn. The types of connection on LinkedIn are:
• 1st degree – those people you actually know. They are friends, colleagues and
people you may have met along the way.
• 2nd degree – these are the friends and contacts of the people who are your 1st
degree connections i.e. friends of friends
• 3rd degree - these are the friends of 2nd degree connections i.e. friends of your
friends friends
• Group – these are people in your network who are also members of at least one
group with you.

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LinkedIn no longer shows you how many connections you have and the size of your network.
In your Profile, you can see how many connections you have, and when you click on the
number, all your connections are listed. You can then filter them by location and company,
or use “All filters” for a more advanced search.
8.3 WHERE YOU CAN FIND CONNECTIONS

LinkedIn provides a number of ways to find and add new connections:
• Your email contacts. When you created your account, LinkedIn asked you to
sign into your email account to find people who are contacts on your email
provider and compare them to the email addresses of people who already have
LinkedIn accounts.
By definition, these will be friends, and family.
Note: If you have used your home email address, then you probably won’t have
your work colleagues and contacts there.
• Your alumi. Type in the name of your school, (college and university) and click
on search.
LinkedIn will display anyone with that school/college/university in their profile.
This may be in either the Education or Experience sections, depending on whether
they were a student or teacher.
If you would like a recommendation (or endorsement) from a teacher or lecturer,
then you’ll need to be connected with them first!
• Your colleagues. Type in the name of the different companies that you have
worked for and see who you know who works there.
Alternatively, click on the icon on your profile and view the Company profile to
see a list of people you know and those in your network.
By connecting with colleagues, you are in essence validating your profile by
establishing that you did in fact work there.
You are also providing people you work or worked with the opportunity to
recommend or endorse you.
• Friends of friends. When you connect with someone new, check out their
connections to see who you know but haven’t connected with. If there is
someone that you don’t know but would like to connect with, see if that person
would be willing to introduce you.
This way you can turn 2nd degree connections into 1st.

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• LinkedIn search. Throughout your life, you will meet people and lose touch
with them.
The search facility allows you to search by name for someone.
This can also be used to connect with people you know through your other social
media accounts.
• My Network. Your “My Network” tab is where you can see any invitations to
connect you have received.
It is also where LinkedIn suggests people you may know or want to connect with.
• Status updates. If you have posted an update and people like or comment on it,
consider inviting them to connect. The same applies to status updates posted by
others.
• People who have viewed your profile. In the “Dashboard” section of your
profile, you can see who has viewed your profile. If you are connected to them
already, then there is a [Message] button, but if you are not, then that button
becomes a [Connect] button where you can invite that person to connect.
• Job adverts. Some job adverts include the name of the person who posted the job.
This is an ideal way to see if you are connected, and if you aren’t, then perhaps
there is someone who can introduce you.
Also, take a look at the bottom of that persons’ profile and see what groups they are
a member of and who/what they follow. That may provide a means of networking
with the person, even if you aren’t connected.
• LinkedIn groups. When you join in discussions within groups, you get to
interact with people. Many of whom will be willing to connect with you. In
some cases, if you can’t connect with the person, you can follow them instead.
Also, don’t forget to connect with the group owner!
Once you have found someone to connect with, then you can send out an invitation to
connect.
Top Tip
When it comes to your connections, quality is better than quantity.
Whilst a large number of connections gives you a wider network,
you are also judged by “the company that you keep”, as my mum would say.

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8.4 SENDING OUT “INVITATIONS TO CONNECT”

When you send an invitation to connect, there are two things you need to do:
1. Indicate how you are connected to the person i.e. Colleague, Classmate, We’ve
done business together, Friend, Other, I don’t know the person’s name. Some of
these options require you to add the person’s email address to show that you do
know them.
2. Send a personal note to the person.
To ensure that people in both your professional life and personal life can connect with you,
make sure that you have included the different email addresses that you use. To do this,
click onto the “Me” tab, and then choose “Privacy and Settings”.
On the left-hand side, click on “Account”, and then under “Login and Security”, you’ll be
able to add additional email addresses, and set one as your primary email address. Note: the
email address you select as your primary address will be the one displayed in your contact
information on your profile.
8.4.1 PERSONALISING “INVITATIONS TO CONNECT”
LinkedIn provides a standard message, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on
LinkedIn”, which basically says that I would like to connect with you, but doesn’t say why
and what you have to offer, especially if you have not formally met the person.
If you know the person, then they may well respond to the basic message and accept your
invitation to connect, however, if you are trying to connect with someone that you don’t
know, you will really need to personalise the invitation.
Start with basic manners and use their name, so Dear, Hello, Hi, the person’s name. Then
how you found them, for example, “We’re both members of x group”, “I really liked your
article/status update about…”, “x is a good friend and suggested that we connect..”, then
ask to connect, signing off with something like “Kind regards”. There are a few things to
remember:
1. Don’t be shy. People are on LinkedIn to build connections.

2. Think about how you would introduce yourself in real life. The rules of etiquette
still apply.
3. Flattery goes a long way with people who don’t know you!
4. Connecting with someone also gives them access to your network of
connections.

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8.5 ALLOW PEOPLE TO CONNECT WITH YOU

In the “Settings and Privacy” page, you have the option under the “Communications”
tab, “Who can reach you” to choose who can send you connection requests. By setting
this to everyone, anyone can send you an invitation to connect.
8.6 ACCEPTING “INVITATIONS TO CONNECT”

We have looked at how you can find people to connect with, but you will also receive
invitations to connect, both from people you know and those that you don’t. Whilst it’s
flattering to be asked to connect with someone, there are a couple of things to consider
when deciding whether to accept an invitation or not.
• Do you know the person? If yes, then you’ll probably be happy to accept the
invitation.
• If you don’t know the person, then check out and assess their profile.
• If they have 500+ connections then they are a serial networker and you will
get immediate access to their network. In which case, connecting to them will
probably add value to your network. The downside is that unless you initiate
a conversation with them, then you’ll just be part of their collection of names.
• If they have less than 500+ connections, take a look at their profile. Think
about the quality of their profile. Is it well set out? Do they have a lot of
endorsements or recommendations? Some profiles are full of errors and not
complete. In which case, you have to ask yourself if you want to be associated
with that person!
Be aware there are some scammers out there who are using LinkedIn to obtain personal
information about you. When you connect with them, you are giving them access to your
personal contact information. Make sure that whilst your profile is complete, it doesn’t offer
enough information about you for identity theft.
8.7 REMOVING CONNECTIONS

Once you have connected with a person, something may happen where you re-consider
whether you want to be connected to them.

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It may be that you have reached the maximum number of connections, and someone who
could add more value to your profile wants to connect.
It could be that they have sent a spamming email or made a request that makes you feel
uncomfortable. Whatever the reason, it is very simple to remove a connection.
• Navigate to the relevant persons profile. You can use search or “My network”
to find them.
• If the person isn’t immediately visible, then use the search facility at the top of
the list, to find their name.
• In their “Introduction card”, click on “More…”, then click on “Remove
connection”.

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MASTERING LINKEDIN Groups
9 GROUPS
There have been big changes in LinkedIn groups.
There are now approximately 1.7 million different listed groups on LinkedIn, with group
size ranging from 1.9 million members to 1. There are also an unknown number of unlisted
groups that do not show up in search results.
Groups are the place where you can network with people with shared interests and professions,
share and join discussions and make new connections.
LinkedIn allows you to join up to 100 different groups (and manage up to 30 groups at a
time). The group members then become part of your network, showing up higher in search
results as a consequence.
You can view the groups that you are a member of on https://www.linkedin.com/groups/.
You can also create your own groups via this link.
In relation to your profile, the groups that you have chosen to be a member of will be
displayed at the bottom of your profile. People viewing your profile can then see if they
are members of the same group, and therefore part of the same network. If they are not,
they get the option to join.
9.1 TYPES OF GROUP

When you create a group on LinkedIn, you can choose whether it’s:
• Standard – anyone can request to join a group, and members in the group can
invite other people to join. The group can also be found via LinkedIn search.
• Unlisted – only the group owner can invite people to join and the group isn’t
listed, so won’t appear in search results.
This change makes creating and administering you own group much easier and removed a
massive amount of settings in the background. This change has also made LinkedIn groups
much more like Facebook groups.
The downside of this is that there are no longer tabs for “Jobs” or “Promotions”, so you
can’t easily see what jobs are posted in groups.

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9.2 CHOOSING WHICH GROUPS TO JOIN

You can choose up to 100 groups to join and the members of these groups become part
of your LinkedIn network, so choose carefully.
However, the problem with joining 100 groups is that there may be too much information
coming from them, so that you really need to focus your networking efforts to 3 or 4.
When choosing groups, there will be some you should join to validate different parts of
your profile e.g. your alumni, groups centred around your profession, groups set up by the
organisation you work for and some that will help you network with people that share your
professional interests and specialties.
To find groups:
• Search for a specific group using its name e.g. your alumni.
• Search using keywords e.g. tax accountants.
• Check out the groups that your friends, colleagues, peers etc belong to.
• Look at what networking groups there are for your geographical area.
If there is someone that you’d specifically like to connect with, then try and find out which
groups he/she belongs to and join. You will then be part of that person’s network and they
become part of yours.
In addition, LinkedIn allows you to follow group members even if you can’t connect with
them. If that person then posts a discussion, then you can join in and follow it.
When looking at groups to join, you will only see those that are listed. Before you can
join, you should check out:
• The groups information and rules.

• How many members the group has. You will see this under the groups’ name
• How many of your connections your network are already in the group.
You can no-longer see any information around how active the group is. There is also no
more Jobs tab within groups, although people still post jobs within LinkedIn groups.

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9.3 STARTING CONVERSATIONS

Not only has the way groups are set up changed, but the number and size of groups have
gone down. One of the reasons for this was that too many people went about promoting
themselves and posting spammy messages, rather than creating conversations.
It was the difference between broadcasting and engaging.
What do I mean by broadcasting?
To me broadcasting is a one-way conversation. It’s the difference between talking with

someone rather than talking at someone.
Imagine going to a live networking event, and there is a person standing alone, talking to
themselves, or approaching people within the group offering them their card and immediately
either talking about themselves or going into their sales spiel. They are not talking with
the people there, they look like they’re only there for one thing, and that isn’t getting to
know the people there.
This is what happened to LinkedIn groups and as a consequence, people stopped visiting
them, and even left those dominated by a couple of people.
To get the most out of LinkedIn groups, you need to create interactions between yourself
and other users. This takes time and some effort, but you can do it by:
• Asking questions,
• Posting engaging content of interest to them,
• Responding and commenting on another person’s content,
• Offering help and support.
Don’t be the person who only posts their own blog posts, landing pages or latest YouTube
video. Engage with other people in the group, in the same way you would in a live
networking event.

48
MASTERING LINKEDIN Interests
10 INTERESTS
LinkedIn allows you to follow people, companies, groups and schools. These are shown at
the very bottom of your profile under the “Interests” section. You can also follow specific
# hashtags as well.
The activity from these areas is shown in your newsfeed on your [Home] tab.
10.1 INFLUENCERS
LinkedIn proudly claims to have executives from all the Fortune 500 companies as members
of its platform. These members have profiles on LinkedIn, linked to their company’s pages.
They also publish articles on LinkedIn.
You are able to follow these leaders, even if you can’t connect with them, and when you
follow them, any posts or articles they publish will show up in your feed, allowing you to
comment on them, and potentially engage in conversations with them.
To find new people to follow, click on https://www.linkedin.com/feed/follow/
10.2 COMPANIES AND SCHOOLS

There are over 31million company pages, and over 100,000 schools pages, on LinkedIn .
These pages can have a number of different tabs on the left-hand side, depending on what
they have paid for:
• Home tab – provides a short overview of the organisation, including its website.
Status updates are posted here, so it’s a great place to find the latest news.
You can also see who in your network works there and how connected you are to
them. Think about how you could grow connections at the company.
• About. This tab tells you a little bit about the organisation. It provides an
overview of them, their website, industry, company size, headquarters, type and
when it was founded.
• Jobs. This is where any recently posted jobs are displayed. If you have a
premium account, you are given more details about the organisation and the
jobs being posted. Primarily, how many people have applied already, when the
number of applicants reaches over 10.

49
MASTERING LINKEDIN Interests
• Life. Not available on all pages, this is a paid enhancement used by some
companies to provide an overview of the culture within the organisation for
those who might be interested in working there. It’s available to companies,
universities, colleges and high schools.
• What we do. Not available on all pages, this is again a paid enhancement
to the company’s page aimed at “search and staffing” companies. Their
“Jobs” tab is used to advertise the jobs they are filling for other people.
“What we do” is their space to recruit staff to their organisation and can
include employee testimonials.
• People. This tab gives you some statistics about the company, and also shows
you who works there. You can see if you have any connections who work there,
or if there are any 2nd degree connections where someone you know could
introduce you to them.
• Insights This is only available to premium accounts and gives you a much
better overview of the company from a hiring perspective.
• Ads. If a company has any promoted content on LinkedIn, it will be shown
here.
If there are any companies that you would be interested in working for then follow them. You
will be able to keep up to date with their news, what jobs are coming up and potentially see
who the recruitment staff in the company are. You may not be able to connect with them
directly, but you could look at the groups they belong to and become part of their network.

50
MASTERING LINKEDIN Job seeking on LinkedIn
11 JOB SEEKING ON LINKEDIN

Did you know that:
• 20 Million jobs are posted every month on LinkedIn

• 100 Million applications are submitted via LinkedIn every month
• 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates.
• 48% of recruiters ONLY use LinkedIn
(Source: https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/linkedin-job-statistics/)
This is what makes LinkedIn the go-to place for job seekers.
Whether you are looking for your first job or the next job, the process is the same. So,
before we look at how you can find jobs using LinkedIn, let’s look at how this process works.
11.1 JOB SEEKING 101

There are 5 basic parts to the job-hunting process:
1. Decide what type of job you are looking for. This will depend on what you
are qualified to do, as well as how much experience and what skills you have.
You will also need to think about where you want to work, (e.g. cities have
more job opportunities that countryside locations, and for some, working abroad
may be the answer) and who you would like to work for. For example, a newly
qualified doctor has the option of working in hospitals or in the community, but
to get experience in a specific specialty, there may be a limited number of places
where he/she could go.
2. Find a job to apply for. Having established what you want to do, where you
want to work and which companies/organisations you could potentially work for,
the next task is to do some research. This will include looking at the routes they
use for recruitment. They may include some or all of the following:
a. On campus recruiting.
b. Career fairs.
c. Company websites.
d. Internet job sites. You will need to research which sites they use, whether they
are general websites or specialist.
e. Specialist magazine.

51
3. Apply for the job. This may mean submitting a job application form, a CV and
covering letter or an online version of your CV. In either case, you need to have
some sort of CV setting out your skills, experience and education. For paper
CVs, there are a variety of templates available.
For some suggestions of CV templates, have a look at this Pinterest board.
Take a look at the requirements of the job and some of the key words used in the
job description, and make sure that your application is tailored to the job.
4. Get shortlisted for interview. Depending on the role, and how many people
applied for it, only a small percentage of those applying for a job will actually
get shortlisted for interview.
If you have gotten this far, then you will need to prepare yourself and be able, as
a minimum, to answer basic questions such as why you want that job or why do
you want to work for that specific company.
5. Get offered the job. It may take more than one interview, but with any luck,
you’ll get offered the job. If you do, don’t forget to update your profile!
11.2 MAKE SURE YOU’RE VISIBLE TO RECRUITERS

If you’re looking for a job via LinkedIn, review your settings to ensure that you are visible
to recruiters. In “Settings and privacy”, go to the “Privacy” tab and scroll down to “Job
seeking preferences”.
These settings determine whether you appear in searches by recruitment staff, or not.
In addition, if you have a premium account, have a look at your “Premium account
settings” to ensure that you have an open profile, allowing anyone to contact you through
LinkedIn InMail.
11.3 WHERE TO FIND JOBS ON LINKEDIN

One of LinkedIn’s sources of income is by the advertising of jobs on LinkedIn. On any given
day there are literally millions of jobs covering many different countries and professions.
Whilst the [Jobs] tab is the obvious place to look for jobs, there are many more places to
find jobs on LinkedIn.

52
11.3.1 THE [JOBS] TAB
If you are looking for a job, then your first port of call is the [Jobs] tab. You can search by
company, job title or keywords, and then add a location that you want to work in. When
you click on the search icon, LinkedIn will display the results of your search criteria.
Let’s take the example of a search for “intern”. The left-hand side of the page displays all
the jobs that meet your search criteria. Clicking on a job will display the job details on the
right-hand side of the page.
You can use the filters at the top of the page for a more precise search.
When you look at the job, you can see the job description, some information about the
company, and how many people have already applied for it. You can also save it and apply
for the job. This may be by sharing your profile with the recruiter or by following a link
to a web site that allows you to submit an application for example by uploading your CV.
Searching for jobs in the [Jobs] tab may be your first choice in your job search, but it’s
not your only option.
11.3.2 THE [JOB] TAB IN A COMPANIES PROFILE
All company and school’s pages have a “Jobs” tab, where you can see what jobs are currently
available in that organisation.
If you are looking to work at a specific organisation, then you can also set up an email
alert for jobs posted by that company via their page.
11.3.3 IN GROUPS
There used to be a [Jobs] tab available for group owners to use so that jobs were not
included in the group discussions.
This is no longer available, so group members who wish to post a job can do so in as a
discussion. This is still done, especially in niche groups which focus on specialist skills.

53
11.3.4 THROUGH CONTACTS
Companies are increasingly seeing the benefits of hiring staff through employee referral
schemes. Candidates are hired faster, are a better fit and stay longer. This makes the
recruitment process not just cheaper but more effective.
This helps you in 2 ways:
• When thinking in terms of your own networking efforts, look at people not just
in a position of hiring such as HR staff and managers, but also your peers and
those in lower positions at the places that you would like to work at.
• When new roles come up in your organisation, or when you see a suitable
job elsewhere that would suit someone in your network, message them
and let them know.
11.3.5 THE [HOME] TAB
On the [Home] tab, you will occasionally see recruitment agents post a job via an activity
update. Some even offer a referral fee if you can suggest someone who meets their criteria.
In this instance, you just have to keep an eye out.
If you are lucky, a contact may notice and suggest you, but don’t be afraid to suggest one
of your connections. They may not get the job, but they will remember that you helped
and will in all likelihood reciprocate.

54
MASTERING LINKEDIN Increasing your visibility on LinkedIn
12 INCREASING YOUR
VISIBILITY ON LINKEDIN
There are several things that you can do to increase your visibility on LinkedIn. The first
is to review your settings to make sure that people can find you on LinkedIn. The second
is around your activity on LinkedIn.
12.1 YOUR SETTINGS

There are a few settings in the “Privacy” tab that can increase or decrease how visible your
profile is on LinkedIn
12.1.1 PROFILE VIEWING OPTIONS
You have the choice about how people see your profile when you view someone else’s profile.
They can either see your full profile, a private version showing a vague reference to who
you might be or you can be completely anonymous.
12.1.2 MANAGE ACTIVE STATUS
This option lets people see if you’re online. You can be visible to your connections, to all
members or no-one at all.
12.1.3 SHARE CHANGES
When you update your profile or have work anniversaries, LinkedIn can send out a notification
to your connections. This is a great way to remind people who you are.
12.1.4 NOTIFY CONNECTIONS WHEN YOU’RE IN THE NEWS
If you are mentions in an article or blog post, then this setting will send out a notification
to all your connections.

55
12.1.5 MENTIONS OR TAGS BY OTHERS
This setting allows others to mention or tag you in posts. This lets people in their network
get to know you.
12.2 YOUR ACTIVITY

There are a number of ways to increase your visibility on LinkedIn, and not just with your
network.
12.2.1 POST UPDATES
Post updates on a variety of topics that are relevant to your network either in your feed or
to a group. You can share images, videos and links. But don’t just share your own content
share the content of those in and outside of your network.
12.2.2 WRITE ARTICLES
130,000 articles are published on LinkedIn every week. These articles are written by
influencers and business leaders from around the world. And you can write and publish
your own articles too. When you do, all your connections are notified.
The thing about articles on LinkedIn is that they have a long shelf life and can help you
get found long after the post was published.
12.2.3 RESPOND TO BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES
LinkedIn notifies you when either you or someone in your network has a birthday or work
anniversary. This is a wonderful opportunity to respond and catch up with the person.
12.2.4 COMMENTING
When an interesting post or article appears in your feed or in a group, make a comment and
let the person writing know whether you liked it, found it helpful, or completely disagree.

56
12.2.5 GIVE ENDORSEMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
When this is appropriate, endorse the skills of those you know. You can do this freely, unlike
recommendations, where you should limit them to people you know very well
12.2.6 GET SOCIAL
LinkedIn is first and foremost a social network, so reach out to people in your network. Use
messaging to get to know the person and find out how you might be able to help them.
If you can, take it offline with coffee or maybe lunch. By getting to know someone on a
more personal level, they are more likely to like you and help you if you need.
12.2.7 SAYING THANK YOU
There are lots of opportunities to say thank you on LinkedIn. Thanks for accepting my
invitation to connect, thanks for responding, thanks for the message, thanks for the feedback.
Gratitude has a profound effect on those receiving it and invites further assistance in the
future.
Top Tip
Be helpful and be kind on LinkedIn, then see what happens.

57
MASTERING LINKEDIN Keeping on top of your LinkedIn account
13 KEEPING ON TOP OF YOUR

LINKEDIN ACCOUNT
It’s really important to keep on top of your LinkedIn account, so the following are some
ideas and suggestions to help you.
13.1 LINKEDIN MOBILE APPS

If you have a smart phone, consider downloading the LinkedIn mobile phone app. There
are apps for:
• Android via Google Play.

• iPhone and iPad via the App Store.
There are also apps for SlideShare, LinkedIn Learning and premium LinkedIn apps. Navigate
to: http://www.linkedin.com/mobile for more information.
13.2 EMAILS
13.2.1 SET THE FREQUENCY OF EMAILS FROM LINKEDIN
As you use LinkedIn, you may get too many emails from the application. You can limit
these in your [Privacy and Settings] screen, under [Communications]. Review the different
options to make sure that you get the right balance of emails
13.2.2 FILING MESSAGES
When you receive emails from LinkedIn, it’s useful to be able to separate those emails
from the rest coming into your inbox. Most are not urgent, so don’t need your immediate
attention. File them away to read at a time when it’s convenient.
Use folders and rules to help manage your inbox.

58
• To create a folder, most email providers will let you right-click on your Inbox
folder.
• To create a rule, there may be a folder or link to “Rules”. Follow the directions
to create a new rule, so that all emails from LinkedIn are moved to the folder
that you have set up.
13.3 TASK LISTS

I’ve also compiled a series of task lists that you could use to manage your LinkedIn account.
13.3.1 YOUR DAILY TASK LIST
1. Check your messages.
a. Respond to any messages.

b. If you have received an invitation to connect, then view the persons profile
and decide whether you’d like to connect or not.
2. View any notifications and respond to them where needed.

3. Click on the [Home] tab and check the status updates of your connections. Like
and comment on any updates as required.
4. Click on the [Me] tab, and check who has viewed your profile. If they
are not a connection, review their profile and consider sending them an
invitation to connect.
5. Send out 1 invitation to connect. This may be someone LinkedIn suggested,
a 2nd degree connection, someone you used to work for or someone you’d like
to get to know. Whatever the reason, get into the habit of finding someone to
connect with each day and you’ll soon reach that 500+ mark.
6. Check the [Jobs] tab to see if there are any new jobs that you might be suitable
for. Also check to see if there are any jobs posted in your groups.
7. Post an update to LinkedIn. Use the 4.1.1 rule: for every post or update about
you, share an update from someone else else and share 4 pieces of content
from other people.

59
13.3.2 YOUR WEEKLY TASK LIST
1. If you can, publish your own post on LinkedIn.

2. Check your groups and see if there are any new discussions that you could join.
3. Check to see if any company updates have been posted.
4. In the “Who’s viewed your profile” screen, see how many times you have
appeared in a search. You may want to make a note of this and see if any
changes that you make to your profile have an impact on how many searches
you appear in.
13.3.3 YOUR MONTHLY TASK LIST
Review your profile.
Does it need updating? Do you have a new job, an accomplishment that you can add or
does something need updating?
Periodically update your profile, then keep an eye on your dashboard to see what effect this
has on the number of times you appear in searches and the number of times your profile
gets viewed.

60
MASTERING LINKEDIN Your final LinkedIn checklists
14 YOUR FINAL LINKEDIN

CHECKLISTS
14.1 YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE

Is your profile 100% complete? Tick the box if the following can be found on your profile.
A profile photo
Your country
An up-to-date current position (with a description)
Two past positions (also with descriptions)
Your education
Your skills (minimum of 5)
At least 50 connections
Write down 10 words or skills that an employer would type in to find someone like you.
Tick if you have included them in your profile.
Keyword Incl Keyword Incl
1 6
2 7
3 8
4 9
5 10
Is your name grammatically correct? 
Have you updated your headline? 
Can connections contact you? 

61
Did you personalise your URL? 
Have you included it in your email signature, business cards etc? 
Have you included a summary as part of your profile? 
Have you sought out endorsements for skills and expertise? Are they displayed? 
Have you included descriptions for each job that you had? 
Have you included your education? 
Have you included other relevant sections? 
Have you sought out recommendations? 
Have you joined any groups? 
Are you following influencers, companies etc? 
14.2 YOUR CONNECTION STRATEGY

Have you connected with:
• Any and all family members? 

• Friends? 
• Classmates? 
• Colleagues from each job or volunteer role that you have worked at? 
• Other group members? 
• Anyone who has viewed your profile? 
Can you personalise your “invitations to connect”? 
Have you identified potential connections at the companies or organisations that you would
like to work for? 
Are you connecting with people in your other social networks, such as Facebook and
Twitter? 

62
14.3 JOB HUNTING WITH LINKEDIN

Have you set up email alerts for jobs? 
Are you following the companies that you’d like to work for? 
14.4 YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT:

If you Google yourself, can you see your LinkedIn profile account? 
Have you reviewed your digital footprint and taken any actions as needed? 

63
MASTERING LINKEDIN Finally
15 FINALLY
Thank you for reading and using the tips in this book.
I hope that in completing it, you’ve created a LinkedIn profile that will help you in your
future career.
If you found the information in this eBook useful, I’d really appreciate a review on BookBoon.
This let’s other people know that this book can help them master LinkedIn.
I have written a number of other books, and you can find them both here on BookBoon
and on Amazon.
I’ve also written a number of journals, planners and habit trackers to help you achieve
your goals in life. You can find these via my page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/
Karen-Brown/e/B00AXAF2M8.
If you, or your company would like training or coaching around goal setting, LinkedIn or
developing habits for success, then please connect with me on LinkedIn,
Take care for now
Karen x

64

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Mastering

Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

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3 Setting up your LinkedIn account 9

4 Take a tour of your LinkedIn account 10

For internal use at LIGS University

Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

6 Optimising your LinkedIn profile 16

7 Developing your LinkedIn Profile 19

11 Job seeking on LinkedIn 51

Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

12 Increasing your visibility on LinkedIn 55

13 Keeping on top of your LinkedIn account 58

14 Your final LinkedIn checklists 61

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1 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You can also find her on:

Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

• Post their Curriculum Vitae (CV), also known as a résumé, online.

Since I first wrote this book, LinkedIn:

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Navigate to the LinkedIn website: www.linkedin.com

There will be an option to either sign in or join. To join, enter your:

Once you have done this, click on [Agree & Join].

Let’s take a tour of your new account.

Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

4 TAKE A TOUR OF YOUR

It also shows you suggestions from LinkedIn:

• people that are in your network

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You can adjust what you see in your settings.

4.6 ME (YOUR PROFILE)

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4.9 THE LINKEDIN APP

4.10 FREE V PREMIUM ACCOUNTS

To view the options available, go to https://premium.linkedin.com/. You can try it one

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Download free eBooks at bookboon.com

The changes reflect what employers want to see first, namely:

• Who you are and what you do.

So, let’s look at what your profile now includes:

This is really important. If people don’t view your profile, then:

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5.1 EDITING AND UPDATING YOUR PROFILE

5.1.1 TO ADD A SECTION TO YOUR PROFILE

5.1.2 TO EDIT AND UPDATE YOUR PROFILE

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For internal use at LIGS University

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6.1 GETTING FOUND IN SEARCH RESULTS

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• Completeness. LinkedIn profiles come in 5 levels of completeness: Beginner,

6.2 HOW TO GET AN ALL-STAR PROFILE

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It is your CV online, and as such, it will build up as your career develops.

7.1 SWITCHING OFF PROFILE UPDATES

7.2 A WORD ABOUT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR

Never under-estimate the impact one spelling mistake can have.

7.3 ADDING AND UPLOADING SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

7.4 YOUR INFORMATION CARD

• your profile photo and background image

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7.4.1 YOUR PHOTO

3 Setting up your LinkedIn account 9

4 Take a tour of your LinkedIn account 10

6 Optimising your LinkedIn profile 16

7 Developing your LinkedIn Profile 19

12 Increasing your visibility on LinkedIn 55

13 Keeping on top of your LinkedIn account 58

14 Your final LinkedIn checklists 61

4 TAKE A TOUR OF YOUR