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The Ideal LinkedIn Profile

February 10th, 2012 · 4 Comments

I saw an article the other day on “How to Pimp your LinkedIn Profile”. As I’m a big LinkedIn fan it made me stop and think about what the ideal amount of information on a profile is.

In the past, partly for SEO, I have taken the defacto approach that more info is better. But now I’m wondering if too much can be distracting.

When you check someone’s profile what info do you find most useful?

I know it can vary based on purpose (job hunting vs. sales for instance). But I know for business purposes my own top-of-mind order of importance when I look at a profile are:

  1. Picture
  2. Title
  3. Current Company
  4. Blog/Twitter if any
  5. LinkedIn groups we share
  6. Past major companies
  7. Shared connections
  8. Education (Rarely)
  9. Recommendations (Rarely)

Are lengthy descriptions, too many places of past employment, associations/clubs, and recommendations a distraction. Should a LinkedIn profile today be viewed as a searchable CV or more as a sales tool selling one specific current area of expertise?

@TomHCAnderson

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Tags: Linkedin · Networking · Social networks · Uncategorized

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Tom H C Anderson // Feb 10, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    I’d love to see some research on this.

    I’m sure LinkedIn must have interesting aggregate statistics including frequency, stickiness and conversions, but I’ve never seen anything. It seems they are just interested in having us put as much information up there as possible.

  • 2 Siva Balasubramanian // Feb 10, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    I wholeheartedly agree on the need to research this. There are lots of projects waiting to be kicked off if and when we get access to LinkedIn data for research (while preserving anonymity of course).
    I think the title is the most important characteristic. The importance of all other features varies based on the type of person, but the title initially, and strongly, defines expectations about the person.
    I constantly struggle with revisions to my own LinkedIn title, and I know a lot of folks that do as well. Ultimately, creativity and brevity in getting the title info conveyed are key considerations. Here is a LinkedIn title of a trainer/educator I came across that I admire very much:

    Procurement bullying? Win without pitching? End free consulting? Close at full fees? Sell past “No”? That’s what I teach

  • 3 Tom H C Anderson // Feb 10, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    They’re certainly more protective of their API than most.

  • 4 edward04 // Feb 11, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    It’s an interesting question. I’m not really that bothered about a person’s picture, more what the do, and what company/ organisation - and the rest I’m not too concerned about. That gives me enough information to know how/if it might be worth beginning to link up. I’d totally be interested in stats on “usefulness” of Linked In - for me it’s invaluable to link up to professional Groups. I’d also be interested in an HR/ recruiters take - how it’s used by them in recruiting process, or even to what extent it’s used at all. Is SM a threat to trad. sources of recruiters income maybe?

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