In my LinkedIn coaching and training, I always pre-review the profiles of those whom I am about to meet and train.
They are always smart people, yet many miss something, a detail that can hurt your perception from the outside.
I know we all miss details, and I will admit this myself, but some astonish me.
On their LinkedIn profiles, well-intended professionals inadvertently leave proverbial sleeping children on the school bus.
A missed detail is not a very good sign to the reader who seeks a careful, precision-oriented prospective colleague to work with.
I can’t tell you how many times I see profiles with (or without) as the case may be:
- extraneous emphasis on that which is not business-related
- spelling/grammar/typing errors
- something obvious that was left out, leaving a gap in experience, for example
- accidentally leaving out a graduate degree required for your line of work
- duplicated college education with incorrect dates, or conflicting dates
- dangling details that do not make immediate sense
- self-referring as “Mr./Ms. {last name}” or “he”/”she” instead of the more personal “I”
- no pronoun+verb, instead a verb starting a bullet point, resume-y (…snooze…)
- using weak non-business verbs like: had, make, did, went
- incomplete sentences and other incorrect editing
- expired yet essential certifications
- using “etc.” as if we know what is included
- industry jargon to outsiders, as if we know what this means and why it is important
- certificate acronyms after your name that numb the mind and are not commonly recognized
and I can go on and on…
Look over your profile now, carefully. To help you, I posted a blog entry suggesting you have Word read your writing back to you. It’s amazing what you find when you hear it.
The school bus ride is short. You, as the profile driver, are responsible for accurate, safe delivery. Don’t leave any little thing behind. Your job and reputation depend on it.
