You finally took that step and created a LinkedIn profile. You figured since your resume writing was complete, the appropriate next step would be to add your resume to your LinkedIn profile so you could get some exposure online. Ever wonder why your LinkedIn profile seems to get you minimal results? If you are looking for a proven strategy that helps you with the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile, start by adding skill endorsements. LinkedIn added this new feature to help you leverage your connections into vouching for your skills that you claim to have on your resume. Skill endorsements will greatly improve the success rate you achieve in building your personal brand. It allows you to engage and strengthen your network while alerting them to any new skills you gained. This is a great strategy for using your connections to help you land your next job. In a highly competitive job market that includes tons of resumes for each job opening, your personal brand needs to set you apart on paper in your resume as well as electronically on LinkedIn. Skill endorsements help contribute to the strength of your profile, which in turn improves your chances for getting discovered for job opportunities related to your skills. And what better way to enhance your personal brand and essentially make your resume stand out even more than to have other professionals confirm that your resume content is verified.
Endorsements should be viewed as a reciprocal process. Just like you want your skills endorsed by your connections, you should strive to endorse some of your connections’ skills as well. To endorse one of your connection’s skills, all you need to do is click a box when prompted by LinkedIn. By endorsing someone else’s skills, it enables you to maintain strong connections with people in your network. You may have the opportunity to leverage these connections into helping you find other job opportunities. Networking is as crucial as writing a top-notch resume, so enhance your networking initiatives by collecting skill endorsements. This will make you a more viable and stronger candidate than your competitors.
But before you go crazy and accept every skill endorsement you receive, keep your personal brand in mind. You need to be mindful of your career goals and what types of jobs you want to pursue. Just like your resume focuses on your skills relevant to the jobs you want to target, so should your skill endorsements on LinkedIn. For example, if someone endorses you for being competent in MS Word, stop and think: would I use this skill as my biggest selling point to hiring managers? If the answer is no, then do not accept this endorsement. Try to set the bar for the skills you want to highlight by reviewing your resume and identifying the skills that are the most valuable. Add the same skills to your LinkedIn profile for skill endorsements and then your connections will follow your lead by endorsing you for those skills.
When it comes to LinkedIn skill endorsements, they are more valuable than you think. They will greatly increase your marketability in a highly competitive job market. Using skill endorsements is a sure fire way to enhance your LinkedIn profile. The end result is well worth the time you invest in building up your LinkedIn profile and obtaining skill endorsements. It has been reported that users are sending over 10 million endorsements per day. Today, make sure yours is one of them.