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How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

michele ronsen

How’s your LinkedIn profile working for you? Whether you’re currently job hunting, looking for your next gig, or professionally satisfied but looking forward, your profile probably could be doing more to help you reach your career goals.

In our last Ask Like A Pro® Alumni Mixer, we had the good fortune of chatting with Julia DeBari, a digital talent agent and UX recruiter who has also taught with or designed classes for General Assembly, CareerFoundry, Designlab, IxDA, IDF and others. It was nearly an hour and a half of fantastic information about landing your first (and next) UX job. I picked up some great LinkedIn tips I’m putting into action ASAP! (And this is coming from me, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology, so you know it’s awesome sauce!)

We’ll circle back to LinkedIn later in this newsletter — but first, I wanted to share a few quick highlights from our time with Julia. She shared her wisdom around:

  • How the UX interview process works with an in-house recruiter vs. with a third-party recruiter. Note: Third-party recruiters have to "sell you." Help them do it!

  • The best way to format your resume to work seamlessly with a company’s applicant tracking system (a must for larger companies and recruiters). One column, no fancy visuals!

  • How to best frame your answers to common interview questions, and a list of great questions for you to ask the hiring company — including a critical “final question” you’ll want to ask in every interview. Hint: use the STAR/SOAR/CAR approach!

  • How the formatting and message of your online portfolio should be different from the case study you present during an interview. Case studies should be tailored to the target company.

  • How (or whether) to handle a “design challenge” from a potential employer. It is controversial!

  • How to put your best foot forward while being authentic.

  • When to consider a contract job.

  • How to present work when you signed an NDA.

  • Where to look for jobs outside traditional listings.

Whew! Like I said, it was jam packed, and well worth a listen! If you weren’t able to join, Ask Like A Pro alumni on our learning platform can catch the recording, Julia’s deck with resources and UX interview questions here.

Now, let’s put those LinkedIn tips into action!

I think everyone recognizes LinkedIn as a powerful tool for connecting job seekers with opportunities. But did you know a lot of jobs never make it to the “job listings” section? Often hiring managers will announce jobs as posts instead of paying to put them in the listings section. (So follow as many of those hiring managers as you can!) LinkedIn also has recruiter tools that can be used to search profiles and reach out directly to candidates. What you put in your profile — as well as what others contribute to it — is verrrrrry important! How can you maximize your LinkedIn presence?

First, shore up the LinkedIn profile information you control:

  1. Make sure you have a good headshot. Your profile photo should be of you alone (no other people or pets). Your background image should be unique or say something about you. You can get a little more creative here, but keep it professional.

  2. Use your entire “headline” space. Don’t stop at “UX researcher.” You have 255 characters available here — use them ALL, and list important services, skills and other key words.

  3. Flesh out your “About” section. This one offers 2600 characters. Again, use them ALL Highlight recent projects and let your personality and passion shine through.

  4. Share your public-facing portfolio in multiple sections. About, Featured, and Contact are all appropriate places for a link.

  5. Use your experience section! If you’re new to UX research, you can (and should) share your experience in your previous profession(s). Just make sure to highlight how your transferable skills relate to your targeted UXR positions.

  6. Use all 50 slots available in the “Skills” section. These are often overlooked, but are critical because Skills are searchable when listed under “services” and in LinkedIn’s recruiter product. How many have you used? Are the most endorsed skills the most important to you in your current stage?

Next, use the social networking powers of LinkedIn to their fullest

This is going to mean asking people to connect, follow, recommend and endorse you, and being willing to return the favor for people you know. By way of example — and because it’s important for even seasoned pros to reach out — I’m asking you to help boost my LinkedIn profile so it accurately represents my skills and what I offer. It’s also a great example and you know I love tactical, practical examples :)

Step One: Ask people to follow you or connect with you. By default, most LinkedIn profiles offer a “connect” button on the home profile page. However, If your profile is in creator mode (as mine is), LinkedIn offers a “follow” button instead of “connect.” Sometimes people fail to connect because it’s a multi-step process, so you might have to offer some quick instructions to first follow you, then click the “more” button for a drop-down that allows them to request a connection.

When you initiate a connection, don’t just click and run. These requests are an important opportunity for both parties to start building a relationship. If you’re requesting, always be sure to mention what you might have in common or why you’re reaching out. When you accept, strive to include a message back!

Are you following me or are we connected? I’d love for you to follow me, at minimum. If you’re already following, PLEASE take a second to “connect”! You can go to my profile here, then click the “more” button for the drop-down menu, then “connect.” If you are game, feel free to please add “newsletter” into the message so I know you were inspired to connect by this edition of Fuel Your Curiosity — or not!

Step Two: Boost your network’s power with Recommendations and Skills Endorsements. People seem pretty comfortable with recommendations, but skill endorsements are often overlooked. Skills are searchable by LinkedIn’s recruiting tools, though, which can make them critical for people to even consider you and get past initial screenings for opportunities. And skills endorsed by multiple connections carry more weight. (So as you’re editing your own profile, make sure that you’ve adjusted the “skills” settings to accept endorsements!) I was surprised to find that some of my core skills — user research, training and development, usability testing, design research and public speaking — had very few endorsements!

If you have some experience working or learning with me, I’d like to ask for your endorsement. This is a quick process — just scroll down to the “skills” section of my profile and click “endorse” where appropriate. I’m particularly interested in boosting my user research, training and development, usability testing, design research and public speaking rankings right now. This event made me realize many of my core skills were not well represented. Thank you for taking time to endorse me and get familiar with how to do this for others. It feels good, right?

Take some time to beef up your LinkedIn presence, and boost others in your network as well. (We all win together on this one!) Investing just a few minutes every day can be one of the most effective ways to stay in the loop and top-of-mind when opportunities arise!

Upcoming Events

  • Feb 16th 11 AM - 12 PM PST: Increase Your Research Efficiency, Product Management Today Event. Register here [free]

  • March 8th 5 - 6:30pm PST: UXR Case Studies & Job Interviews (Students and Alumni only)

  • March 15th 5 - 6:30 PM PST: Live Info Session about Ask Like A Pro with Alumni. [free] NEW DATE!!

  • March 27th 3-5:30pm PST: First live workshop for the Ask Like A Pro WI22 cohort.

  • April 7th & 14th: Ask Like A Pro Data Security and Privacy Policy spotlight events [Students and alumni only]

Speak up, get involved, share the love

And that’s a wrap!

We try to alternate between a theme and UX/UXR jobs, events, classes, articles, and other happenings every few weeks. Thank you for all of the feedback. Feedback is a gift and we continue to receive very actionable input on how to make Fuel Your Curiosity more meaningful to you.

What do you think? We're constantly iterating and would love to hear your input.

Stay curious,
- Michele and the Curiosity Tank team

PS: Don’t forget to take a minute to follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me if you’re already following! I’d also appreciate skills endorsements in the topics above if you have some experience working or learning with me. TIA!