8 Tips for Optimizing LinkedIn in Your Job Search

Add Keywords to Your Profile

Adding keywords to your LinkedIn profile will help recruiters and companies find you. Focus on keywords that match your strongest skill sets.

If you’re stumped on which keywords to include, there are several helpful keyword tools you can use including Google Trends, KeywordSpy, and SEMRush.

Join Relevant Groups and Contribute Frequently

You can join groups on LinkedIn in a range of fields and interests. These groups will vary on privacy, inclusivity, and other settings, but they all function to bring professionals together.

Making the most out of these groups means adding unique content, either in the form of relevant news and references, or contributing your own analysis. Never spam these groups with links to your website, or brag on-record about your various skills.

Contributing to ongoing conversations in industry-aligned groups will help you learn about your colleagues and competition, build expertise, and position you as a passionate, engaged professional.

Ask for Professional Recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations are public testimonials meant to validate your ability, character, and work history. These recommendations are made by other professionals on the network, so you should be strategic about when and who to ask, and be ready to write recommendations for others. Seek help from people who know your work well and can speak to the specific value you offer.

Trade Professional Endorsements

Endorsements build credibility on top of recommendations, but generally require less thought and detail, as one LinkedIn professional can endorse another with a single click.

Other professionals can endorse you for individual skills, but it’s your job to add the list of skills to your profile for people to see. If you actively seek out colleagues to endorse—and you don't lie about the skills you possess—your own endorsements will arrive in due time.

Remove Outdated Information From Your Experience Section

Just like on a resume, don’t include out-dated or irrelevant jobs on your LinkedIn profile.

You want to format your profile in a way that calls the attention to the jobs, skills, and recommendations that speak to your professional ambitions for the future.

Having a concise, pertinent resume is better than an info-dump or list of unrelated experience, and the same is true for creating and maintaining a LinkedIn profile. You don't have to delete gigs or part-time work, but scale back the amount of space (i.e. text) that's dedicated to short-lived professional experiences which have a limited contribution to the role you're currently seeking. Gaps in work history are generally a red flag for employers.

Follow Companies That Offer Your Dream Job

On LinkedIn, you can follow companies and receive regular updates on the news and trends that are pertinent to hiring. Follow brands you aspire to work for and note the way they use LinkedIn to share about their business.

These helpful nuggets of data can be drawn upon when writing a cover letter to the company, or meeting with company leadership during your interview process.

Set Up a LinkedIn Vanity URL

LinkedIn allows you to customize your profile URL for professional sharing on resumes or other job material. These so-called vanity URLs can be customized to include your first and last name, an option that's more professional and easier to share than a string of letters and numbers.

Having a LinkedIn URL with your full name is strategic from an SEO perspective, too, as it can make your profile easier to find online.

Update Contact Information

If you’re battling your way through a job search, you need the contact information on your LinkedIn profile to be up-to-date and easy to find.