If you scroll down your LinkedIn profile, you will see a section where you can add up to 50 skills. I wasn’t sure I had that many skills to be honest but once I started scrolling through the options given to us by LinkedIn, I was having fun!
Adding skills to your LinkedIn profile can help you rank higher in LinkedIn searches. What this means is that when someone types one of those skills in the search bar of LinkedIn, you’re going to come up in that search! Bingo!
Why is this important?
LinkedIn is used as a search engine as well as a networking and business tool. Many employers, recruiters and others use the LinkedIn search bar to look for employees and freelancers to hire. Even companies looking for interns use this function. By having your skills listed in your profile you stand a much better chance of being approached by a prospective employer or contractor if they’re looking for your skills. The more skills you add, the more likely you’ll be considered a ‘match’ for roles relevant to your field of interest.
Once you’ve added your skills, don’t stop there! The next thing to do is choose the 3 which you want to be found for most easily and ‘feature’ those for all to see without clicking through.
Don’t stop there either! Ask your peers and previous clients to ‘endorse’ you for your skills. This is not only a great ‘excuse’ for contacting these people directly, but it also adds validation to your skills. An endorsement acts in a similar way to a recommendation or a testimonial. It’s proof to the outside world that you ARE good at that what you do – at least at those skills.
Something else you can do is hop over to the profiles of your peers and clients and endorse them for the skills they’ve listed on their profile. This is a kind thing to do, obviously, but again it’s a way of saying ‘hello I’m thinking about you’ to someone. Hopefully they will then hop over to your profile and endorse you too, in return!
Why don’t you set aside some time each month to endorse people for valid skills that you have seen them demonstrate? It’s very easy to do!
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Sarah ????
