At this point, it’s common knowledge that you need to be on LinkedIn if you’re looking to get ahead in your career, but it’s not enough just to be on the social network.

Whether you realize it or not, your LinkedIn profile speaks to recruiters, and it tells them about the type of professional you happen to be. Obviously, you want your profile to say the right things to recruiters. Consider the list below and think about what your LinkedIn profile says about you to potential employers.

What Does Your LinkedIn Profile Tell Potential Employers

Completeness Says You Care

If your LinkedIn profile is a bare-bones affair, it comes across as a serious lack of care on your part. An incomplete profile is often the result of somebody who joined LinkedIn only because someone told them they had to do it. Just being on LinkedIn is not going to impress anyone.

A complete profile has every section filled in, from the Experience section to the Skills section. It fleshes you out as a complete professional. Also, it makes it easy for recruiters to get a sense of your capabilities.

Your Photo Says: “I’m Literally Out Here!”

LinkedIn was created to engage other people online, and we are naturally drawn to images of the human face. Not only will it be hard to interact with others if you don’t have a professional-looking profile photo, but the lack of a photo will also be seen as a red flag by recruiters.

Post an in-focus, friendly and professional image to your LinkedIn profile. If you aren’t sure how to dress or look for your profile photo, look at the profile images of others in your field and replicate their general look.

A Substantial Network Says You’re a Modern People Person

Having only a handful of connections suggests you don’t know many people, you’re not good at connecting with other people, or you’re non-active on social media. All of which are wrong impressions.

While you don’t need to collect LinkedIn connections like they’re Pokémon, you ought to have at least 50 people in your network. If you’re a bit short, go ahead and reach out to professional friends, former colleagues, current colleagues, former bosses, alumni, and other connections you’ve made throughout the years.

Achievements Say a Lot About Your Value

Recruiters devote a lot of time to searching LinkedIn for top performers. When they can locate one, they contact them immediately. So, if you can represent yourself as a high performer, you make career development a lot easier.

Be sure to highlight your most significant achievements. Where possible, quantify your achievements. For example, you could say you “increased sales by 45 percent while working for a previous employer.”

Group Memberships Say You’re Passionate About Your Job

Recruiters want to identify people who are excited about their work, and one telltale sign of a passionate professional on LinkedIn is participation in different groups.

Join and participate in groups associated with your field. Engage in discussion and share interesting content.

We Can Help You Stand Out

At ZDA, we help connect candidates to quality supply chain jobs. If you’re interested in improving your job search efforts, please contact us today.