Are you ready to link in with China? Robert Parkinson

People in the west are mostly familiar with the leading on-line business networking platform LinkedIn. According to its official statistics, by the end of 2013, the number of its registered users in 200 countries has surged above 250 million people. So putting LinkedIn as a tycoon in the social workplace field is not to overstate its position. Recently I received an invitation to test  the Chinese version of LinkedIn. It is quite obvious that LinkedIn is aimed at elites and professionals of the 1.4 billion people in China. In this regard, for international companies with expansion plans in China, being part of this talent-seeking and selection group might bring them into contact with many talented people! However, if you haven’t got a quality LinkedIn profile yet, you might just miss it. So let’s activate your LinkedIn profiles with 10 simple tips.

1. Be clear about keywords

LinkedIn is all about keywords search! As I usually use it at work I find three purposes of using LinkedIn’s search function. First, you know the connection. By putting the name you can add one. Second, you search for professional keywords to find potential candidates for recruitment. Finally, you look for employers through keywords of companies or jobs for job seeking. It is obvious that the first purpose underlines the social function. The other two both emphasize the importance of a keywords search. In this regard, it is necessary to be clear about one’s keywords before building a LinkedIn page. For example, if an interaction designer wants to set up his LinkedIn page, he must put keywords like “user experience”, “interaction design”, “usability test”, “focus group”, “HTML” etc. in the content. Without those keywords, this designer will never appear on the hunting list when companies with recruitment need look for candidates on LinkedIn. Therefore, make clear of relevant keywords before thinking about content.

2. Upload professional photo

The reason why I come up with this tip is that I have seen enough LinkedIn accounts with poor visit numbers. When I search for candidates, those appearing in the first few pages all have professional photos and those without photos are mostly on the later pages.  Headhunters hope to find qualified candidates as soon as possible so they will be attracted more to the early pages. A photo shows that the user cares about his account. No one will be interested in the profile of somebody on the last page! Besides, to users who already upload photos, please make sure they look professional, for this will show how professional you are!

3. Add contact information

There are two ways of adding contact information on LinkedIn. Firstly, you can use the Contact Info section, which is under the professional photo. This is designed for LinkedIn connections to share email addresses, work and mobile phone numbers, individual blogs and company websites. A piece of interesting information for expat employers is about the customized social media. The popular social media WeChat has recently become available on LinkedIn. So, if you hope people will reach you via voice message, why not try it? Additionally, to make good use of LinkedIn for business, it is a good idea to add work email addresses and numbers. Another option is to add contact information in the Additional Info part at the bottom, which is especially designed for people you do not know who might want to contact you. If you do not want to be irritated by strangers’ phone calls, then just leave it with an email address.

4. Show your uniqueness via website options

On the Contact Information part you can add websites. You might simply choose your company website, but have you noticed the option “Others”? To be more specific, if you add the Company Website, it will give information about what the company does. It doesn’t work if you would like to build your company’s brand via employees. Therefore, I advise users to choose “Others”. In this way, you can fill in the  name of thecompany. Then people who see your company name and click it will have direct access to the company website. In addition, if you are a big fan of blogging, it will help to add your personal blogs to LinkedIn. As LinkedIn becomes an international career platform, adding blogs where you share work tips will  be helpful in showing your company’s strengths.

5. Give a clear summary

I have read a large number of LinkedIn profiles during my searches at work. Some people introduce themselves briefly and others describe their professional achievements. But it is the profile that creates the first impression and differentiates you from others. Like an interesting self-introduction in an interview, a brilliant profile will catch people’s attention at once. Those who already have profiles on LinkedIn, should check that it is clear. A tip for those who find it difficult to write a profile is to ask your colleagues or managers for short comments about your performance. This will make your profile more objective.

6. Use points in work experience  

Long paragraphs will tend not to interest many people.  People should describe their professional experience, with job responsibilities and achievements separately. Using bullet points to show the content structure might be helpful, because those who read  your profile  will be impressed by the clear way your experiences have been set out. Another tip is about adding links and documents. Users can add media interviews, published articles and projects to working experiences by uploading pictures and the links. For example, if you would like to emphasize your personal brand, a good way is to add links to your interviews with popular newspapers like Bloomberg or Financial times. You can take share a moment like this with your LinkedIn contacts.

7. Prioritize endorsements

Editing endorsements is quite important for a keywords search. At first, you must highlight your personal skills. Taking headhunters as an example, the key skills  might include “executive search”, “career consulting”, “talent management”, “recruitment”, “coaching” and so on. However, it is difficult to be specific about the skills required by different industries.  Language is important, because people from different countries might have different terminology. Some endorsements are irrelevant which  everyone gets from time to time. You should not list 40 useless or irrelevant skills just to make up the number.

8. Add projects to get associate branding

I always find few LinkedIn users add projects to their profiles. If you have not learnt how projects can affect your personal standing, you might want to learn it now! Most people are not clear about what constitutes a project. They exist in every industry, but different terms are employed. For example, marketing campaigns are projects planned by marketing teams. I would say that work with a target involving teamwork can be called a project. You can polish it up and add it on your LinkedIn profile. Then you will notice that adding projects requires team leaders and members. You might have the opportunity to add your latest project to your profile and show to all your connections the work you have done with the company’s managing director!  By pointing these out, you will increase your own status.

9. List honors and awards

I  like the customization of LinkedIn’s interface after its update. Users can decide whether they want to add honors and awards. If your company receives an award well-known in the industry, why not share it on your profile? The more honors and awards you put there, the more people may well be attracted by your company’s image. It will not only make your connections respect the company and you, but it will increase the range of your potential contacts. This may include headhunters with some interesting career opportunities for you.

10. Customize public records

The last tip is about public page customization, which means you can decide what you would like to show to the public. Users who care about privacy issues like birthday, hobbies, education and the current company can choose not to show them to the public. So it is not necessary to delete the information if you have already spent a lot of time working on it. Under the edit mode, you can go to public profile where you can tick the information you would like to share.

Improving LinkedIn profiles can take a few days, but as a start, following my 10 simple tips will certainly help you building a good profile.