Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

Jan 9

Introduction

Leatherwood Legal wants you to know that LinkedIn is a powerful professional networking site, but it takes some time to create an effective profile. When you optimize your LinkedIn profile, you'll be able to communicate your skills and experience in a way that highlights them for potential employers and clients. You can also use the features on your summary section to add more information about yourself and your career. You can showcase relevant past experience in previous positions or volunteer experiences that relate to your field or goals. It's important to keep your LinkedIn updated so that it looks good and reflects who you are!

Make sure your profile photo is professional.

Of course as a legal professional, your profile photo should represent this. This means that it is a photo of you in a place that looks professional, wearing clothes that look professional, and doing something that looks professional. If you are wearing a suit or business attire, then your face should be clearly visible.

Personalize your headline.

Your headline is the first thing people see when they view your LinkedIn profile. Use it to show off your personality, highlight a few keywords that describe you, and draw potential employers' attention to what you have to offer.

Let’s start with the basics: Include some keywords that describe your job role (e.g., Patent Attorney) or career goal (e.g., Managing Partner). Finally, make sure each word in this section makes sense together! Grammar mistakes will turn off potential employers faster than anything else—make sure you proofread before posting!

Write a summary that explains what you do.

Your LinkedIn summary is one of the first things that potential AMLAW employers will see when they look at your profile. It should be short and concise, but also informative and engaging.

It’s important to remember that LinkedIn is a professional networking site; you want to make sure that your summary helps you stand out from other candidates. Use the space wisely, highlighting the skills and experiences that are most relevant to your career aspirations.

Your summary should include:

Information about what you do (if applicable)
Your contact information including email address and phone number(s)
Links to any external websites where someone could learn more about you or find out how they can work with you (e.g., personal blog or portfolio site)

List skills that your target audience has endorsed you for.

For example, highlight the skills you have been endorsed for. These skills might include communication skills, team leadership and collaboration.

If you don't have any endorsements yet on LinkedIn, ask friends or family members who work in your field of interest to endorse you for the skill set that best represents what they see in you. If they do not know how to endorse someone on LinkedIn properly, they should read this guide: https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7427

Use the features on your summary to add more information about yourself and your career.

Once your summary is complete, you can get more information about yourself and your career in the following sections:

Skills
Recommendations
Education

Showcase relevant past experience in previous positions.

The first step to optimizing your LinkedIn profile is to showcase relevant past experience in previous positions. This can help you get found by hiring managers looking for candidates with a specific skill set, and it will also allow recruiters to better understand what kind of work you’re capable of doing.

Here are some tips on how to do so:

Use keywords that will help others find you—these include industry-specific terms, titles, locations and years worked at companies or in positions (e.g., “software engineer” or “data scientist”).
Use keywords that describe the company or position where you worked (e.g., “Marketing Director” at “Acme Pharmaceuticals”). The more specific these terms are, the better they will serve as descriptors for what type of work experience you had there—and who might be searching for someone like you!

Include current position or relevant volunteer experiences.

LinkedIn is a great way to showcase your current position and legal talent and relevant volunteer experiences. However, if you are looking for a new job or want to be considered for an internship, it's still important that you include this information in your profile.

Your current position will help others read through your profile easily. Instead of having irrelevant information interspersed throughout the page, those who are interested in hiring you will know exactly where they need to look. As long as it's related to your field of study or work experience (or both), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t include any unpaid internships or volunteer positions within your education section. The same goes for other non-professional jobs such as working at a local coffee shop or grocery store because they give prospective employers an idea of what kind of personality traits they can expect from an employee like yourself!

Add a list of schools you attended.

You can add any schools you have attended, even if they are not related to what you do now. Add the following information:

Name of the school and city.
Year of graduation (or expected year).
Any degrees or certifications earned at that institution.
Any honors or awards received while in attendance there.
Extracurricular activities that were part of your time there, such as sports or clubs.
Specializations or minors you may have taken while at that institution.

Add certifications, licenses or awards that relate to your field or goals.

Add certifications, licenses or awards that relate to your field or goals.
Certification can help you stand out from the crowd and helps you get a job, promotion or raise.

Contact your references for permission to add them as recommendations for your profile.

Check if they're happy to be added.
Ask if they can provide a recommendation.
If they can't, ask if they can provide a link to their LinkedIn profile (if they don't have one).
If they don't have a LinkedIn profile, encourage them to create one so you can add it as a recommendation later.

It's really important to keep your LinkedIn updated and ensure it looks good and reflects who you are!

Why?

Your profile is one of the first things that potential employers will see, so it's important for it to be professional and up-to-date. That way, you'll show potential employers that you're organized and conscientious (two qualities most employers value).
If your profile is out of date or inaccurate, people won't find you when they search for jobs involving the skills in which you specialize.

How do I update my profile? It’s easy! You can change your headline, add new skills or experiences, add education information like degrees earned, schools attended etc., edit your interests section by adding more relevant topics that describe what kind of work interests you (i.e., not just dog walking but also animal rescue), expand on previous roles by adding accomplishments/achievements achieved during each role (or simply correct any errors). You can also add personal details like family status if they are relevant to your job search (e.g., “engaged” or “parenting two children under 5 years old").

Conclusion

Is your LinkedIn profile optimized? The best way to find out is by checking out some of the tips we've shared above. The more time you put into creating an updated, high-quality profile that tells a story about who you are and what you can do, the better off you'll be when trying to network with others. If there's anything else we missed that's important for us all know about profiles in general or just optimizing them for certain audiences... let us at Leatherwood Legal Recruiting know!

Matt Raby