Memorandum: LinkedIn Best Practices

To: Team 5, ENGL 301 Writing Team

From: Kashish Garg, ENGL 301 Team 5 Member

Date: February 22, 2022

Subject: Ten Best Practices for Using LinkedIn as a Professional Networking Site

With the increasing ubiquity of the internet, popular websites such as LinkedIn are important for developing your career and expanding your professional network. Below is a summary of my research regarding best practices for using LinkedIn as a professional networking site.

1. Including a professional headshot as a profile picture will help show that you are employable and will increase the likelihood of recruiters opening your profile (Crant 22; Jensen; Rangel 127).
2. Using keywords relevant to your profession throughout your profile will optimize placement in search results and have your profile become more visible to recruiters (Jensen; Rangel 126-127).
3. Creating word clouds (through word cloud websites) from relevant job postings or LinkedIn profiles will help you identify keywords (Jensen; Rangel 127).
4. Using the summary (or about) section of your profile to highlight key strengths, skills, and work history as opposed to what you want to do in the future (Jensen).
5. Organizing the summary section of your profile into short paragraphs and bullet points will increase engagement and readability (Jensen; Rangel 129).
6. Including an email address to be easier to reach and increase the likelihood of being contacted by a recruiter (Crant 22; Jensen).
7. Reordering the different sections of your profile to best express the narrative of your career story (Crant 22).
8. Avoiding the oversharing of non-relevant information (Crant 22) and avoiding the use of your headline to mention nonwork hobbies (Jensen).
9. Using LinkedIn as more than just an online resume; LinkedIn can also be used to connect with similar people, expand your network, and learn about job prospects (Crant 22; Jensen).
10. Participating in LinkedIn Groups will expand your network and help become more visible and desirable to recruiters (Rangel 130).

LinkedIn is a popular website essential for establishing your career and broadening your professional network. I hope you all find the above practices help create attractive profiles and inform you of the diverse opportunities that LinkedIn provides. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at gargkash@student.ubc.ca if you have any questions or are interested in discussing these topics further in-depth.

Works Cited

Crant, John. “Using LinkedIn to Boost Top Financial Careers.” The Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, vol. 25, no. 3, 2014, pp. 19-23. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcaf.21935

Jensen, David G. “The Keys to a Powerful LinkedIn Profile.” Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2017. https://www.science.org/content/article/keys-powerful-linkedin-profile

Rangel, Lisa. “WRITING a LINKEDIN PROFILE to get FOUND by RECRUITERS.” Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, vol. 30, no. 2, 2014, pp. 126-132. https://www.njstatelib.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Writing-a-LinkedIn-Profile-to-get-Found-by-Recruiters.pdf