“Listen...there’s a reason our forever president Obama once joked that he planned on using LinkedIn to find a job once his term was up...because according to the Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, 87% of Recruiters use it to find job seekers like you.” IFYKY

LinkedIn has 133 million users in the U.S alone and is utilized by companies in 200 + countries and territories around the world.

However, what you didn’t know is….

Your LinkedIn profile is YOUR opportunity to get paid to do whatever you want.
Yep I said it: Whatever. You. Want.

Do you have a professional background in Customer Service but sometimes do graphic design projects for friends and family?

Perfect, then use this article to get paid to ONLY do graphic design work and NEVER. LOOK. BACK.

Ready to get started?  Let’s go.

Step 1: Prioritize Adding Your Connections & Build Network (You’re not bothering anyone, don’t be shy.)

Our recommendation?

Start with 30 - 50 connections and every week and then tack on about 20 - 30 more.

How?

Let LinkedIn crawl your email address(s) first and then connect with everyone you know.  

That church sister?

Old High School friend?

Yes, connect with them all!  

Why?

Because you never want to see this 👇

At some point, there’s going to be a founder, an HR person, or Recruiter you’re going to want to connect with….and if your network is too small, you won’t be able to.

You always want to see the little CONNECT sign so get to work and add 10 - 20 new contacts a week until you’re sitting pretty at around 150 - 300 connections.


Next up! Your headline...image and summary.

Step 2: Your Headline, Imagery & Summary (Yes, Recruiters look at this.)

Let’s start with your headline.


Your headline isn’t the place to describe what you do now. It's more of a place for you to brand yourself i.e. present who you want to be.

Let’s use our first example.

You wouldn't call yourself a “Customer Service Professional” in your headline.

Instead, you’d write something like this: Graphic Designer | Customer Service Support

The key to this is, you’ll need to be strategic here and think about the percentage of roles you’ll be applying to in the graphic design space vs customer service.

If you never plan on applying to customer service jobs again then feel free to get rid of customer service and instead use that space to list (graphic design) tools/software or industries you’re curious about entering…..

Here’s an example of what that could look like:

Graphic Designer | eCommerce | Amazon Web Services

And if you plan on applying to 50% graphic design and 50% customer service then combine them in a thoughtful way as shared in the initial example.
Cool?

Next up, Imagery….

If you’re around age 18 - 25...then choose a professionally shot photo or a photo that shows you in business casual or business professional outfit & pose.

It’s important to show a more mature side of yourself here and try to keep the images as non-grainy if possible. HD would be nice but also just make sure theres good lighting.

If you’re around 25 - 35 (age) then you can afford to show a more casual version of yourself, but be cognizant of your industry.

For example, if you work in corporate finance then you’ll still need to be slightly more business professional.

If you’re in marketing, tech, or creative then you have more license to just be casual. Companies and HR teams would love to see your personality in those industries.

Now….for your banner image…

….try to pick a photo that speaks to your personality.

Do you like to go hiking…? Then add a mountain shot.

Are you an artist? Then share your favorite artwork.


I love using pexels.com for my clients.

Now, lets head on over to your Summary Section.

It should describe three things.
1. What you do now & your ‘wins/bragging reel’.
2. Why you’re entering an industry or transitioning your role.

3. Your passions & relocation interests if that pertains to you.

Think of your first sentence as the reason why someone should read more...here’s an example to start with:

XYZ Professional obsessed with XYZ Industry and the opportunity to do XYZ in the world.

Former Customer Service professional obsessed with creating Graphic Design solutions for my clients across industries around the globe.

--- Take the opportunity to talk more about that.

Did you do something cool for a client in the past? Even if it was unpaid, try to get creative.

Here’s an example of what that would look like below:
Former Customer Service professional obsessed with creating Graphic Design solutions for my clients across industries around the globe.

Highlights include:
Landing page creation for Holistic Tea Company www.MogulsTeas.com resulting in 50% increase in sales.

You don’t even need to link to the client website or list the full name if you’d prefer not to.

And finally, your last paragraph should just speak to your passions and where you’d like to go next.

Example below:

Someone once said that graphic design is the new art. It’s the new bridge to connecting you to your soulmate clients. I’m so passionate about this work because I believe every entrepreneur and small business should get the support they need to speak directly to their client. Graphic design helps me connect the dots and bring them closer together.

I’m happy to talk more about my work, or just to say hello here your@email.com and open to remote and relocation opportunities in the ___ and ___ area.

Almost done!


Step 3: Your Experience Section, Education, Recommendations

This section (the experience section) is the easiest part. ;-)

Treat it like your resume by fully writing it out, meaning less is not more here. An easy trick I use is to just find an old job description either from your current company or any other you can find online.

Use it to build out your experience and just plug in any detail specific to you and your work.

It's kind of like a short cut.

I like to recommend sticking to around 5 - 10 bullet points while also sprinkling in quantitative wins that you can brag about.

Similar to what we did in your summary section, remember?

Cool!

Example below!

Lastly, get creative with your work title.

If you know your title is Associate ll then choose a title that does the work you do justice and more importantly, is something recruiters can search for to easily find candidates with your background.

Trust me, this increases the odds of you actually getting interview requests vs having a dead profile that gets no attention / love from recruiters.

Thats where the term Head Hunter comes from. You want to be hunted by recruiters and messaged by them vs you just always applying all the time.

Okay?

Next up….

Your Education Section….

Your education should be added even if you didn’t graduate….

A great line you can add in lieu of a graduation date is “____Credits Attained.”

Just write that in the description section and leave off the year of graduation. This works just as well.

Feel free to provide more color if they ask you about it on a call or during your background check.


Next up….your recommendations section.

Recommendations…

Recommendations may feel awkward to ask for but ask for them (from trusted sources) anyway. They go along way, especially for creatives.

Here’s how to do it if you didn’t know already!

Start by going to the Add a Section (Section) and then press add Recommendation Section.

After, you’ll be able to ask for recommendations directly on Linkedin!

…...and now...you’re all done.

Let’s Summarize….shall we?

So….I know we covered a lot in this article but honestly, your LinkedIn is a living breathing document so it’ll change as you do.

For now, hone in on these major areas:

1. Don’t take a backseat and wait on adding connections. Add 30 - 40 every week until you hit 150 and then try to hit 250. At 300 you’re in a good place.

2. Choose off the cuff smiling photos of yourself. Choose a banner image that speaks to your hobbies and feels good on the eye...Follow the age-appropriate advice above...ie...under 25? Wear something business professional. Above 25...you can afford to go a bit more casual.

Your summary should tell your personal story with respect to the ‘wins’ you’ve created for your clients or at your current company and speak to where you’d like to go and why...ie why you’re passionate about the work that you do.

Get creative and speak in your own words.

3. Use a job description to build out your experience section. Less is not more...treat this section like a resume and add as much as you can so you can satisfy the Linkedin algorithm and get all the keywords you need to have recruiters find you more easily.

Last Notes:

Keep track of how many Recruiters and HR folks visit your profile…..keep track of how many interview requests you receive from your applications and how often you’re being invited to interview without sending one over.

If you notice it isn’t as high as you’d like it to be then you may need to add more keywords, adjust your work titles, or more.

But don’t sweat it.

We’re always here to help.

Hit us up on Twitter @mogulmillennial or IG @mogulmillennial and we’ll answer there.

feature photo credit: Nappy.co