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Intel Confidential — Do Not Forward

Quick Tips for Creating a LinkedIn Profile that

You Will Be Proud of

ACI June 2014

Your ‘Personal Brand’

Includes:

Your Professional reputation

Online Image

Personal Characteristics such as your work style

Particular skills, talent and areas of expertise you’ve cultivated over time

Community engagement and your world view

Also Covers:

How would your colleagues describe your strengths?

On what issues are you the go-to person in your organization?

What do you know more about than most people?

©2012 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 2

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2014/06/10/why-linkedin-is-the-only-personal-branding-resource-you-need/





















Why is your LinkedIn profile important?


• LinkedIn and other social media can be used to grow your career and enhance

your personal brand recognition. Here are just a few of the benefits of

engaging in social networking for business:

– Increasing your knowledge and productivity through learning from others

– Increasing your ability to influence, as an expert in your knowledge area and as an

advocate for Intel

– Expanding and staying connected to your network

– Engaging with peers to solve business problems

– Staying current on industry trends and use that knowledge to fuel innovation at

Intel

– Showcasing your career achievements, experiences, and key skills

Know your LinkedIn profile


The Structure of Your LinkedIn Profile


Profile Picture Headline

Public URL

Recent Activity

Summary

Experience

Causes you support

Skills

Education & Additional Info

Recommendations

Connections

Groups you’ve joined

What you Follow

Common Mistakes and Tips to Correct

them


Mistake #1 No Profile Picture/ Bad Picture


X X X X

Tip: Put up a professional picture of yourself

• Preferably a head shot with light background

• It’s okay if you aren’t dressed to the nines.

• Be authentic, look at the camera, wear your natural smile

• Avoid excessive jewelry, sun-glasses, fancy landscapes in background etc

• Do not have another person with you in the picture frame

• Some one who comes in to meet you after viewing your profile picture should be able to

recognize you easily

Mistake #2 Vague/ Non-relevant Professional Headline


Why is your headline so important?

• 120 characters to tell your story and be found easily. This is your hook.

• It almost always follows the mention of your name, everywhere on LinkedIn

Tip: Think the ‘Marketing’ way. It’s not your job title, it’s what you do, in everyday language, not Intel speak.

Who is your target audience? The headline should speak to THEM.

• Create a precise, powerful statement

• Make yourself memorable

• Excite the reader

X X

Mistake #3 Boring Summary


Keep it interesting & precise – It’s your elevator pitch!

• Inject your personality into the Summary

• Connect with the reader, create impact

• Use key words that your target audience would search for to find you

• Keep it conversational – write from 1st person (unless your brand requires otherwise), Avoid clichéd words

Tip: Have a format:

• Introduce yourself & talk about who YOU are. Make people see you as an interesting person. Talk about how you came to where you are today.

• Talk about who THEY are – who do you help? Talk about who your target client is – Be subtle

here.

• Finish by talking about what you offer. Don’t give away everything here – just talk about what you mainly do, and how people can benefit from it.

Mistake #4 Incomplete Description of Experience


Your Career history tells your story:

• Tells people about your career path

• Adds to your professional image when you showcase your past work & results achieved

• Allows your ex-colleagues to find you on LinkedIn easily

Tip: Complete this section in full. Think the ‘Sales’ way!

• Include both current position & past positions

• Detail specific accomplishments in each

• Let type-ahead find your company, so you can connect with past colleagues

Mistake #5 No Mention of Skills & Expertise in the relevant profile section


Why mentioning Skills & Expertise is important?

• It helps to showcase your core strengths as a professional

• Other professionals can endorse your skills on your profile that lends credibility to your professional image

Tip: Have a list that’s consistent with your professional image

• Target your strengths

• Prioritize the skills/ expertise that you wish to mention

• Do not fake

Mistake #6 No Recommendations


Why Recommendations are important?

• Adds to your professional image by letting viewers know what other professionals who have

worked with you think about you

• Recommendations lend credibility to what you say about yourself

• Recommendations that you write for others also impact your credibility – be careful & honest when you recommend others

Tip: Keep a healthy mix

• Only ask a recommendation from those who know you well. Give recommendations only to those you know well & genuinely appreciate.

• Be specific – Ask the referee to recommend you for something specific that you worked on together. Ask them to include what happened as a result of your working together

• Regularly manage your Recommendations and keep them relevant to your current work-profile

• Be prudent while recommending others

Mistake #7 Excessive/ Irrelevant Group Memberships


How are Groups important?

• Allow you to learn & stay abreast through participation in industry/ domain specific discussions

with other relevant professionals

• Allow you to position yourself as a subject matter expert

Tip: Stick to what’s relevant; Control your visibility

• Only join groups that are relevant for you

• Be judicious in deciding which Group memberships would you like to showcase on your LinkedIn profile

• Participate in relevant discussions and share expertise to increase your visibility

• Be positive in outlook & constructive in approach

Additional Important Elements of your

LinkedIn profile


Additional elements of your LinkedIn profile


Volunteer Experience & Causes; Certifications; Honors & Awards; Patents; Projects etc

• Helps in projecting a more holistic personal image that includes your world view

Your Connections

• Connect with trusted friends, former colleagues, classmates, industry leaders, partners & other

professionals

• The quality your network also reflects on your personal image

Your Public Profile URL

• Your public profile appears when people search for you on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.

• You can edit your Public Profile from the Settings page to

- Make it visible to everyone or to no one in search engine results

- Show only the basics like your name, industry, location, # of recommendations

- Add or remove profile elements like picture, current positions or education

- Customize your public profile URL to enhance your online visibility

Websites

• Mention links to you Website, Blogs or other articles published by you online

Avoiding the risks to Intel of “over-sharing”

Additional elements of your LinkedIn profile ( con’d)

16

Your LinkedIn profile can be further customized to showcase your skills and achievements.

For instance, if you have been a speaker or panelist at conferences, you can list them

here, as well as any publications you have contributed to.

Intel Confidential — Do Not Forward

Implement Best Practices when Reaching Out

18

Consider your first message to be a conversation starter.

Be brief and to the point.

Adopt a conversational, enthusiastic tone.

Focus on finding out candidate availability and interest in a new opportunity.

Use the filters in Recruiter to customize your message or template to reflect

something about the recipient’s experience.

Avoid sharing the job description or requesting a resume in your first message.

Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals if the recipient isn’t interested or available.

Determine Your InMail Strategy

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