Peer Review of LinkedIn Profile

Date: November 1, 2019

LinkedIn Profile Author: Andree Coschizza

Reviewer: Diane Keyes

PDF copy of review document: _ENGL 301 – Diane Keyes – LinkedIn Profile Peer Review for Andree

Review Template: _301 – Diane Keyes – Peer Review Template for LinkedIn Profiles

First Impressions

• Upon first read, this is a clear, concise, and full profile with a compelling variety of work and volunteer experiences conveying personality and diversity of skill and experience.

General Profile Considerations

Criteria

• Profile is made public.
• All sections of the profile are complete, including Licenses & Certificates, Skills & Endorsements, and Accomplishments (Courses, Honors & Awards, Projects) when relevant.

Comments

• The Heading section still needs to be added (see below for suggestions on Heading content).
• Generally, once you enter university, it is no longer necessary to list high school experience.

Profile Sections

Pictures

Criteria

• Profile picture is clear and professional.
• Banner picture is included for added personalization of profile.

Comments

• Profile picture is well-chosen: clear and conveys personality. The jean-jacket-like shirt portrays a more casual atmosphere; if a more business atmosphere is standard for your field of work, consider choosing more business-style clothes.
• Banner picture is well chosen and attractive. It conveys a light atmosphere which is welcoming.

Headline

Criteria

• The Headline communicates the author’s current position, interests, and/or aspiring work and position.
• Key words relevant to attracting the desired position or field are used.

Comments

• Consider adding a Headline as it lets readers know right away what your area of work is, your current job position, and/or the position you are looking for.

Summary ‘About’ Section

Criteria

• Highlights the author’s passions, skills, qualifications, and aspirations.
• Key words relevant to the desired audience, job title, or field of work are used.
• Captures the author’s personality.
• The first 300 characters (which appear when individuals visit a profile) hook the readers’ attention with a personal story or include the most important elements the author wishes for potential employers or collaborators to know.

Comments

• This section clearly conveys personality and the inclusion of non-academic interests (dancing, etc.) provides a more human flavour.
• The first 300 characters convey the essential information including position (undergraduate student), field (physics and kinesiology), and skills (problem solving and interpersonal skills etc.).
• When writing ‘my passions include design, creativity and all things STEM related’ consider being more specific by elaborating on what kind of ‘design’ (computer or visual design) and ‘creativity’.
• When writing ‘In collaboration with graduate students and professors, we investigate the properties of material structures at low temperatures and optimize growth parameters to see interesting effects’, consider being specific by replacing the words ‘interesting effects’ with what phenomena are being expressed through these experiments. Here technical terms could be used if you are interested in working with physicists in the future as these words will show up in employer’s searches.
• Removing the smiley face 🙂 will increase professionalism.

Experience & Volunteering

Criteria

• Each entry includes a few skills developed through each work or volunteering experience.
• Specific examples are provided to bolster claims to these developed skills.
• Role titles and responsibilities are listed.

Comments

• A wide variety of experiences were listed which build a very strong profile – very impressive!
• Role titles are included and descriptive.
• Good use of technical terms from the field of physics.
• Ensure skills as well as tasks/responsibilities are included for each experience and volunteer position (for example, include skills gained or used through the PHYS 100/101 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant position).
• Some entries are very short (1 sentence) so consider adding a little more information for these entries.

Tone

Criteria

• Presence of author’s personality.
• Professional yet friendly (or, to match your target field).
• Diversity of words used (not an over-reliance on buzzwords).
• Field-specific terminology used.

Comments

• Personality is conveyed strongly in the ‘About’ section and shows in the diversity of work and volunteer experience.
• Some physics-specific terminology is used to match the field of work.
• Buzzwords are not over-used.

Grammar & Style

Criteria

• Correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
• Entries are listed consistently either chronologically or by relevance.
• Formatting (for example, style of bullet points) is consistent and clear.
• No more than 3-5 bullet points used per entry.

Comments

• Try writing in ‘you’ attitude to reduce the number of times the word ‘I’ is used particularly in the ‘About’ section.
• Ensure proper capitalization:
  • For example, ‘I’ is not capitalized in the sentence ‘During this role i worked with “Maker Girls”…’ in the ‘Instructor’ experience.
  • For example, consider capitalizing the first word of each bullet point in the list of responsibilities in the ‘Server’ experience with Bridges Restaurant.
• Good use of bullet points when listing responsibilities.

Closing Remarks

This proves to be a strong LinkedIn profile that lists an impressive diversity of experiences which are described clearly and concisely. In sum, a few suggestions when editing the profile include:

• Ensure proper capitalization.
• Add the Heading section.
• Make sure skills as well as tasks/responsibilities are included for each experience and volunteer position. Use bullet points when needed to make it easier to read.
• Elaboration on very short (1 sentence) entries is encouraged.

LinkedIn Profile URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andree-c-4a0725105/