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You & Your Dream Job: A Surprising Missing Link

With more than 100 million members, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network. A place where you can build and engage with your professional connections, and gain access to career knowledge, insights and opportunities.

But for many LinkedIn users, there’s a rather surprising thing standing between them and what could be fantastic career opportunities. The missing link between so many and their dream job? Their user profile.

Yes, that’s right. The user profile—something that is perhaps the simplest tool in managing your professional identity, and the most important link between you and potential employers—is often times left completely blank.

What are the most important parts to fill out in your profile? We asked Cheryl Blumenberg, Regional Recruiting Director for Harvey Nash USA, which information best helps recruiters identify candidates. Here’s what she says should never be left out or out of date.

Work Experience Summary & Specialties

To help recruiters get to know you, summarize your current position into one or two short paragraphs. Include your special areas of focus as well, such as Front End Developer focusing on .Net/CSS/HTML.

You should also list out your past work experience, specifically, the companies you’ve worked for, the years you worked there and a brief description of job responsibilities. According to Blumenberg, this is where technical people should add the technical environment as well, to help recruiters identify specific tech skills.

Education

When a college degree is a must-have requirement, recruiters will do a search based on education. Be sure your profile includes your school, degree earned and years attended.

Skills

While it isn’t, Blumenberg believes this should be a required field. Many candidates don't complete this section and many times aren’t included in a detailed skills search. This space allows you to spell out your talents to people who might want to utilize them. Don’t waste this chance!

Recommendations

It’s always great to see that candidates are recommended by their peers and managers. After all, who knows what it’s like to work with you better than people who have worked with you? Include recommendations in your profile, and potential employers can read first-hand accounts of your professionalism and talents. Recommendations also help recruiters identify other potential candidates.

In addition to the elements above, another important piece of your profile is a profile picture. You’re more likely to stand out in a recruiter’s mind if they can put your face with your name!