Why you should update your LinkedIn Profile while you still have a job

I recently entered the job market for the first time in almost 20 years due to the elimination of my division at my former company. Like many of you, I had a LinkedIn profile before this, but really didn’t give it much thought in terms of a job search. LinkedIn served as a record of my employment and a place to connect with a few close colleagues and not much more!

Having an opportunity to discover the importance of LinkedIn from a job seekers perspective has opened my eyes to the value of actively maintaining your profile while still employed! Why? Here are 3 reasons followed by 5 quick steps to get started.

1. The “recommendation” section of LinkedIn is quickly becoming just as important as the reference section of your résumé. When a potential employer can see a handful of glowing reviews of your work and character without even the need to contact the individuals directly, it puts you a step ahead of the competition. And the best time to get a great recommendation from a coworker is when your excellent work is fresh in their mind!
2. Whether you realize it or not, your coworkers are watching what you do on LinkedIn. Your boss probably is too. And so is HR. They are watching who you are connected to and who you are not and how frequently you update your profile, make new connections and post comments. A sudden spike in activity could be interpreted as the beginning of a job search. Maintaining an active profile lets everyone know that LinkedIn is a tool that you use frequently which can help keep your future job search activities in the dark.
3. Finally, when it comes time to look for a new job, especially if that moment comes unexpectedly, having an updated profile allows you to immediately begin a job search simply by notifying your connections that you are looking for something new. For most jobs that are posted on LinkedIn, you can now apply directly with your profile. And most online job applications allow you to auto-fill using your profile as well.

While updating your profile may seem like a bigger task than you want to take on right now, here are 5 easy steps to get you started. Making a few small changes now, will increase your visibility in your industry, help you maintain a strong professional network and give you tools that will assist you greatly in the future whether you are looking for new employment out of luxury or necessity!

1. First, make sure you turn off the “Notify your network?” button on the right side of your profile screen! Otherwise, every time you make a change to your profile, your entire network gets a notification that you made an update! Time needed: 10 seconds. Reason: Nothing says, “I’m looking for a new job” more than your boss getting 20 notices that your profile has been updated! Remember to turn it back on once you are done.
   

1. CONNECTIONS: Use the “Add Connections” feature of LinkedIn to import your email contact list and send connection requests to as many of your contacts as possible. Time needed: 5 minutes or less. Reason: Networking is probably the greatest key to future job opportunities. Maintaining as many people as possible in your network increases your opportunities in the future. Also recruiters may take the fact that you have a lot of connections to indicate that you work well with others and are not a lone wolf that they may regret.
   

1. ENDORSEMENTS: Once you are connected to colleagues, they will begin to receive messages when they log in asking if they would like to “endorse” you for various skills. You can manage the specific skills that are listed. To start,
   
   I recommend adding 10 skills that you have that are highly sought out in your industry. Receiving endorsements in those areas will keep you high on recruiter’s radars for the future. Keep in mind that a great way to keep people interested in endorsing you is to endorse them first! Time needed: a few minutes to manage your skills; ~30 minutes to endorse your connections. Reason: Endorsements are a casual form of reference, sort of like “Does BILL GATES know about SOFTWARE?” While it might seem intuitive that you should know about the core parts of your industry, having a large number of people agree with you over time is another indication to potential employers that you are connected to others in your industry well enough for them to say yes.

1. You should really keep personal information to a minimum on LinkedIn with the possible exception of volunteer work that you do. Information that is more social in nature is more appropriate for Facebook, not LinkedIn. Time needed: 5-10 minutes. Reason: Even items as benign as your family status or what you like to do on the weekends could negatively influence a future employer. Also, I know you are proud of your spouse/child/dog but please keep them out of your profile photo! If you choose to post your birthday, be sure to hide the year of your birth to prevent identity theft.

1. RECOMMENDATIONS: As I said earlier, the “recommendation” section is quickly taking the place of references on your résumé. This makes sense from the employer’s perspective, as it allows them to get a “quick read” on your work, skills, teamwork and character without having to actually contact anyone directly. This saves time and potentially allows them to obtain references prior to you actually authorizing them to contact your list. That is good for both of you. If you don’t have any recommendations yet, send a request to a few coworkers asking if they would write a short recommendation based on your work together or a recent project that you completed. You can also ask your supervisor if you can use comments from your annual review. Either way, you’ll get a chance to review the comments and choose whether or not to post them on your profile. Remember, a great way to encourage people to recommend you is to write a recommendation for them first! Time Needed: 10-20 minutes to ask 6-8 people to recommend you. Reason: Ten years and two jobs from now, it will be difficult for your current coworkers to remember specific examples of your outstanding work. Getting those recommendations in place now avoids being limited to generic language (“I worked with Jane and she was nice.”) in the future.
   

I’m hearing from several recruiters and career counselors that LinkedIn is quickly becoming the résumé of the future. It contains all of the traditional elements of a résumé and more if you choose to post it such as endorsements and recommendations. It also has more subtle information that your résumé never shows such as how you are connected to others in your industry, how diverse your connections are, and what networking groups you belong to. LinkedIn has become a powerful tool for networking and job search today. A little time spent maintaining your profile now, will certainly pay off in the future.