The social media platform “LinkedIn” has become a staple for many people this day and age to professionally connect with others and also serves as a great tool for company recruiters to find qualified people they might want to hire for their job. As such, the importance of this platform is such that if you’re interested in finding a job, it is important for you to be in it and more importantly, not do things that could potentially misrepresent you in the eyes of other professionals and potential recruiters. One of these mistakes could just be shy of making you not get a job.
Here are some of the things you stop doing immediately if you’re on LinkedIn
Do not list any former employer as your current one
This is a common mistake that happens quite often to people that may have just left a job for whatever reason (layoff/firing, resignation, etc.). When that happens, some people forget to go to their LinkedIn and update their status as no longer working for a certain company. If you don’t change your status, potential recruiters may think you’re still employed and not consider you, so make sure your LinkedIn is up to date to whatever your current employment situation is at any moment.
Be mindful of the people that endorse you and who you endorse
One of LinkedIn’s most interesting features is how someone can go to your profile and endorse you positively in a specific skill you may possess. Sometimes an endorsement can mean the world to someone if an recruiter is looking for people with specific skills for a certain job. While that is good and all, it is always important that you don’t have any random endorsements from people you may not want. Recruiters can go down a rabbit hole to see the people endorsing you, and if they seem questionable, they might question if your endorsement actually is legitimate. Same goes to who you endorse. Don’t endorse anyone just out of an act of kindness. Make sure the person you endorse is someone you know and that you know he/she is really skillful in that area. You don’t want a false endorsement backfire on you.
Do not put a cluttered picture as your profile picture
Sometimes people just love the idea of an elaborate profile picture where someone’s face is behind a cool backdrop. It is common to see that in platforms like Facebook/Instagram/Twitter, and it’s ok there. It is not ok in LinkedIn. Because this platform is geared more towards professionals, you have to make sure the picture is a clear, clean picture of your face and that your background is simple and not cluttered. A white background tends to be the most effective in these cases.
Also, whenever you can, it will be good to change your picture every couple of years if you start noticing that as you get older you’re looking different than your original picture. That way you keep your LinkedIn account up to date with how you currently look these days.
