I have over 15 years of experience as a recruiter on both the agency side and in-house and I wanted to share 4 tips for optimizing your LinkedIn profile.  For some ideas on how I use LinkedIn, check out my LinkedIn profile.

If this section is not part of your profile, make sure you add it.  The Skills section of LinkedIn’s site is relatively new and still in beta.  It’s a unique area of their site where LinkedIn connects people and companies to skills making it easy for people to find companies that associate with a skill and vice versa. These skills are also displayed on your profile, searchable via their standard and advanced search functionality and play a significant role in how you appear in LinkedIn search results.

Recommendations

People will look at your recommendations section to see if other LinkedIn members have made a point of noting their experiences working with you.  While these don’t carry the value of true references, they do offer a level of assurance to the person viewing your profile.  Make sure you reach out to current and previous co-workers and managers for a recommendation.  Don’t be shy, most people will be happy to help you out.

Join groups

Groups are an excellent way to keep up to date on areas of interest and expertise.  They also provide people another way to find you, and by displaying on your profile show people your areas of interest.

Keep your profile and network up to date

Now that you have created your profile, make sure you keep it current.  It’s also helpful to re-read it on a regular basis as you will find ways to optimize it.  Also, don’t forget to utilize your status field to keep your network up to date on your latest projects, helpful business articles you’ve read, etc.  Make sure to keep these updates professional and relevant.