5 Steps to a Better LinkedIn Profile for Payroll Professionals

1. Choose the right picture

First impressions are important and your profile picture will be prospective employers’ first point of contact. So make sure to choose the right picture. Your profile picture should be an up-to-date high resolution image. You should be professionally attired and your face should take up approx. 60% of the frame.

Similarly, you should also use an appropriate cover photo. This often overlooked image is much larger than your profile picture and when used correctly it can significantly enhance your profile. An image of you presenting or speaking at an industry event, having fun at a team-building exercise or demonstrating your work can go a long way. Profiles with custom profile pictures and cover photos generate 21 times the profile views, 9 times the connection requests, and 36 times as many messages than those that use the default graphics.

2. Use your LinkedIn Profile to tell your story

Your LinkedIn summary is your opportunity to give a broader narrative about your strengths. It is as much about selling as it is about summarising. It is your chance to tell your own story. Try to emphasise why your skillset matters and the positive impact it has had on your work and those you work with. It is your opportunity to provide context and highlight why you are an ideal candidate for the roles you are looking for.

3. Know Your Audience

Think about the recruiters and employers who will be reading your profile and what skills, experiences and qualities they want to see in a candidate. If you don’t already know what traits are in demand, pull up a few job descriptions for the type of job would like to have and identify the common words. Then work these words and phrases into your profile. This can be trickier than it first seems as you don’t have the option of creating different profiles for different roles. But when done right it can make your profile stand out, and set you apart from your peers. Remember, you only get one profile and you want it to generate as many opportunities as possible.

4. Make the most of the Skills Section.

Keywords are critical to being found in search results on LinkedIn. Recruiters use these keywords to identify appropriate candidates. By default, LinkedIn counts your skills as keywords, even where that keyword does not appear anywhere else in your profile.

LinkedIn lets you list up to 50 skills, and while it is best practice not to use all of them, there is ample scope for you to add a lot of keywords to your profile. Adding the right skills can be the difference between your profile showing up on a recruiter’s radar or not. They also help substantiate your profile and provide a platform for others to endorse you.

List your skills in order of relevance as only the top three skills can be seen by default on your profile and the visible skills are the ones that are most likely to be endorsed.

5. Be active and Grow your network

The more you share and comment on content, the more you establish your expertise and thought-leadership credentials. Sharing case studies, white papers and other content demonstrates your passion and commitment to your industry and helps people understand what you are passionate about.

Beyond this, get into the habit of following up meetings with LinkedIn connection requests. This can be a great way to surface people when you are looking for endorsements or recommendations at a later stage.

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