Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important showcases available. By tailoring it, you enhance your brand by emphasizing key information.

There is a standard template for a LinkedIn profile, but you can move sections around within the template. And for most sections of your profile, you can move around the listings within that section.

Marketing concept: Personal Branding on Red puzzle pieces background, 3d render

 

 

Repositioning Sections of Your Profile

Click on the icon with the up and down arrow at the top right of a section, and drag that section to wherever you want it to appear in your profile.

For example, I clicked on that icon in my Certifications section and moved it from its original place in the template, dropping it in just above the Education section.

My rationale was emphasizing my more relevant (and more recent) training in social media over my formal education. This simple move enhances my credibility as a social media tutor and trainer.

Here are a few more examples of how repositioning sections within a profile draws attention to the most relevant aspects of your experience and/or expertise:

  • A project management professional wants to emphasize the kinds of projects they have led in both paid and volunteer positions. This person might move the Projects section so it appears right after (or even before) their Experience section.
  • Someone who takes time off from work to care for a child or an elderly parent and gets involved in some community organizations during this period could move the Organizations section higher in order to emphasize these contributions. In fact, if they held leadership roles in these groups, they could also include these positions in the Experience section, drawing more attention to their involvement in that organization. Also, people within these organizations can write them a recommendation for their contributions in their volunteer leadership role.

 

Repositioning the Order of Items within a Section

Another way to customize your profile is to reposition the different elements of a specific section. You can do this for every section except the Past Positions in your Experience section and the listings within your Courses section.

For example, I added my training in online marketing and social media at the Colorado Free University to my Education section. The new information was automatically listed at the bottom of this section.

However, I wanted it to appear higher in the listings. So I clicked on the gray bar to the left of this section and dragged it up, placing it just below my M.A. in Health Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I didn’t put it at the very top, as I want to have my UW degree to remain there.

 

How About You?

How have you tailored your LinkedIn profile? How has doing this made a difference for you in terms of landing a job, expanding your business connections, or in other ways?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers' Social Media Tutor

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.