How to become an attractive candidate in Linkedin

Having a good picture, promoting your ‘personal brand’, avoiding long and boring descriptions, among others, can make a difference when catching the eye of a headhunter.

One of the key objectives of every business must always be to have a high quality staff. For this, the recruitment process has evolved and LinkedIn, since its beginning in 2003 – only as a job search site – has become the biggest networking, business and professional branding social community in the world.

Currently, the platform has more than 500 million users in the world and is used by more than 9 million businesses who offer more than 10 million job postings. Also, according to a study by the Spanish Economic Association, nine out of ten Internet users choose LinkedIn in the business area over any other social network.

Beyond the tools that the network offers, nowadays many advisors highlight how essential it can be to have a good profile, with really attractive elements. Leslie Cooper A., CEO and founder of HK Human Capital, explains:

“our reputation in the national market has lead us to work hundreds of searches every year and we can state that 87% of headhunters use LinkedIn to evaluate candidates, that is why it has become such an essential tool.”

According to the expert from HK Human Capital, consultancy firm with vast experience in the executive search business in Chile, the importance of an appropriate presence in LinkedIn, for businesses as well as for applicants, lies in Networking, corporate branding and personal marketing.

“It is about how the person places him or herself in the network, always looking for those details that can be very important for employability or for the search of specific jobs,” she asserts.

Cooper advises that those who publish their professional skills increase their visibility by 13 times, that means mentioning interpersonal skills, abilities, software they are proficient in, among others.

“Nowadays, businesses, and therefore their recruiters, focus more in what the candidate can bring to the company and LinkedIn can be a very good entryway,” she states.

How should a good LinkedIn profile be?

Boost personal branding:  do not describe your carerr with generic definitions such as ‘financial advisor’, ‘lawyer’, ‘doctor.’ The first thing the user sees of you is the biography and the extract. Those are the first places to differentiate yourself and get attention, in order to get away from identical formatted resume .

Picture: according to studies, having a good profile picture makes it 14 times more likely that a headhunter reaches the applicant. “Make sure to upload a good quality photograph, it must be formal yet you must still look cheerful and use adequate work clothes,” she advices.

Use a good headline: “If the profile picture is the visual hook, the headline is the written one,” claims Cooper, who also recommends mentioning the full definition of the position currently held by the candidate.

Think of an eye-catching headline: “It is all about explaining who you are, what you do, and what sets you aside professionally. When putting together your extract, ask yourself: what do you want the people who visit your profile to do and think after reading your extract?” she adds.

Size matters: Don’t become obsessed with having an endless profile filled with facts; summarize, synthesize.

Work your network: make contact with people in your area, follow businesses that interest you, share and publish content of value. Keep active in the network! Enhance your experience and skills related to your ‘target’ companies.