Social media has taken the world by storm. It has completely transformed the way we interact and the way we do business. LinkedIn is one of the biggest career centered social media platforms. Users use it to connect to potential hires, boost their businesses, network, and more. Whether you’re looking to market a business or a brand or your skills on LinkedIn, there is an art to reaching your goals. All you need is five or more in demand skills on your profile to get up to 17 times more views.
Why You Should Add Skills to Your Profile
Adding skills to your profile is a must if you’re trying to get noticed for all the right reasons. Pinpointing certain skills shows your experience and expertise in your field. Think of skills as a headshot in writing. Potential employers and clients are likely to look at your skills before checking out your resume, so it’s important to grab their attention here first. If you’ve worked or are working for a Chicago marketing agency you’ll want to highlight some skills that are sure to get you noticed.
Some of the top skills to list would be content strategy, public relations, market research, and media planning. If you’re in the IT world, some attention grabbing skills will include content management, social media consultancy, database administration, and mobile development.
Whatever your industry, it helps to think about what you do in a more categorical way. This will allow you to see skills kind of like themes, as well as help you choose the most sought after skills to highlight.
Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills
It helps to list both hard and soft skills. Many people don’t realize the importance of soft skills. Oftentimes our soft skills are our natural talents, so listing them allows people to get an idea of your personality, disposition, and cognitive skills.
Yes, hard skills are often the skills necessary to get the job done, but your soft skills are what can set you apart from other professionals. If you easily adapt to situations or if you know how to read a room and cater to the atmosphere, you want to list these traits. These are important in any field and can mean a lot for your upward mobility.
Marketing Your Skills
When listing skills, two skills are as undesirable as 50 skills. List the skills that are relevant to your industry. If you’re not sure what people are looking for, scroll down to “How you match” on a job description in your field.
Order your skills so that the most important and relevant skills are listed first because only the top three will be shown on your profile. Lastly, drum up some skills endorsements. You don’t have to ask people to do this, just start endorsing some of your contacts’ skills. They will likely return the favor. Remember to update your skills just like you update your resume.
Choosing the right skills to highlight and gaining endorsements are two easy ways to increase your searchability and give you a better ranking within LinkedIn’s algorithm.
LinkedIn can be a powerful tool in advancing your career, getting new opportunities, and growing a business, so use it wisely. Happy career building!
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