FIVE tips to improve your LinkedIn profile

By Abby Swalga, Director of Communications, Pennsylvania Women Work

For some, social media can seem like a chore. It can sometimes feel like one more thing we have to check off our to-do list. But in the fast-paced work world, it has never been more important to be active on social media with LinkedIn. 

Since its inception, LinkedIn has grown significantly. The social networking platform now boasts over 900 million members, up nearly 60 million more than in 2022. It is the largest professional networking platform and provides an opportunity for job-seekers or those looking to advance their careers to learn about employment, training and career development opportunities. On top of that, it’s a space for employers to recruit talent for open positions and seasoned professionals to network and engage with one another across the country (and world). 

But what is my favorite thing about LinkedIn? It’s simple – it’s fun and positive. This is a platform where controversial topics are usually left aside and users lift one another up, cheer each other on, and celebrate accomplishments. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? 

Now the hard part, creating your LinkedIn profile or simply maintaining it. Here’s the good news - LinkedIn is very user friendly, and you can make some simple updates to your profile to keep it current, relevant and clean. 

Profile and cover photo: These two things are prime real estate on your LinkedIn page. Make sure your profile picture is not a selfie or a cropped photo, but a photo of you in a more professional setting. We don’t all have the means to get a professional headshot, which is okay, but ask a friend to take a photo of you dressed professionally with a simple background. That will do just fine! As for your cover photo, choose something that fits your personality and have a little fun. 

Headline: Your headline is the descriptive words that appear under your profile photo on your LinkedIn page. These are important because they follow you everywhere, showing up with your name whenever someone searches you on LinkedIn. For those actively employed, you can include your job title, but also consider adding some descriptors of who you are and what you do to better maximize your chances of showing up in search results! 

Here’s an example: Director of Communications | Story-teller | Strategic Communicator | Social media expert | Nonprofit branding

About: Your about section is an opportunity for you to tell the world a little more about yourself. I always like to say it’s a space for you to show your “professional personality.” By this, I mean it’s where you can share some of your professional accomplishments, employment background and highlights, and also a little bit about who you are personally. But keep it professional and under five lines. 

Activity: So here’s where people always seem to get hung up and overwhelmed. What do I share on LinkedIn? How often do I post? I’m here to tell you that you’re overthinking it! As I said, LinkedIn is a positive space where people encourage one another and lift each other up. For your activity, consider sharing an article you read that was of interest to you, or perhaps you just finished a professional development workshop or training. You can share a photo of yourself volunteering! You can even share content from a page you follow (we always love when volunteers share PA Women Work’s LinkedIn posts *wink wink*). Liking and commenting on other posts plays in your favor, as well, so you can’t do enough of that! I typically encourage people to log in to LinkedIn once or twice a week to share a post or engage with other users’ content. That’s all - just once or twice a week. 

Experience: If you’re just starting out on LinkedIn, upload your resume to autofill this space and then trim it down. Most importantly, you want your Experience section to match the timeline on your resume. Less importantly, you do not need every single bullet point of every single job you have ever had, so keep it to the highlights of each position. 

LinkedIn has so much to offer, so don’t shy away from it because you are intimidated to get started or maintain your profile! If you have these five areas up-to-date on your profile, you are golden. 

PA Women Work offers a LinkedIn virtual workshop through our A Closer Look program throughout the year. If you want to learn more about the platform, be on the lookout for the next one coming in the spring!

In the meantime, feel free to join me on LinkedIn and start networking today. 

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