By Amielle Moreno
Keeping your professional social network fresh is of the utmost importance when you’re in the job market. To attract the attention of the elusive “talent acquisition specialist” the key is to make your site smartphone compatible. But it’s tough to know exactly what to cut. Use these simple tricks to tighten up your LinkedIn game. But first, pu-lease! turn off your notifications so you don’t annoy the hell out of your contacts 1.
Pick Three: Especially if you are no longer in academic science, all the time you spend on those papers was for not. Thin out your publication herd. I know it hurts, but pick your top three children, I mean, publications, then use the fourth link for your PubMed summary. If you don’t have a Nature or Science publication, just find an author with a similar enough name and hope no one looks too closely.
Keep in Touch: Stay tight with your classmates by following the GDBBS Linkedin group. Use it to search for alumni at companies or universities of interest, getting the inside scoop on funding and new positions. It doesn’t just help you, it helps your alumni program receive training grants and represent their worth during the annual Laney Graduate School report
Change your URL: Every LinkedIn page has a url, usually your name followed by zodiac killer code. Changing this link to simply be your name takes 90 seconds with the instructions below2.
Let it Scroll: Like every exotic flower has its own unique pollinator, build your profile to attract the precise recruiter or boss you want. Perhaps the most challenging of these tips, it requires you to tailor your profile to a specific audience. Start in your profile’s “Headline,” directly below your name. While others use this space to describe the job they’re trying to leave, instead describe what you want and what you have to offer. Directly address the type of recruiter you want to woo with a call-to-action. The character limit will help you stay focused. In the Summary section, expand on this while staying tight. Let a link to your lab’s website cover all the general information on what you studied during that beautiful August of your family's reunion that you couldn’t make it to mom! You’re sorry grandma didn’t make it through winter! You’re not in control of that!
Use them Bullets: When listing your previous jobs, use action statements in bullets to list your achievements, brag away and cut out anything that sounds wordy like “was responsible for.” Use that active voice.
Select your Skills: Go ahead and delete that line about you being able to manage groups of small primates from your junior year camp counselor experience. No one’s impressed. Make sure you list at least five skills. Re order your skills, listing the ones you want recruiters to see at the top!
I hope these tips help you spring clean your social network. Set a notification on your calendar every two months to make updates and happy networking!
1 How to turn off your notifications: Go to your LinkedIn account and click on the “me” under your small profile picture bubble. Select “settings and privacy” from the drop down menu. Select “privacy” from the top. Turn off “Sharing profile edits” if you’re rolling up your sleeves and performing major edits to your profile. Remember to turn this back on so connections can see the little successes you have over time.
2 How to change your URL: On the top menu bar, click the profile picture of you with ‘me’ under it to view your profile, On the right side bar, find contact and personal info and click “show more.” There’s the link to “your profile” with your name and a bunch of other junk under it. Alongside the “contact personal info” title, select the little pencil to edit. On the pop out screen, you’ll see the horrendous profile url, press the arrow next to it. Again, on the side bars is that ugly thing we’re still trying to change! Select ‘edit’ next to it. Delete the useless numbers at the end, change your name to something spicier, make yourself a ‘Jr.” whatever you’d like and press “save.”