Creating a Snappy, Professional LinkedIn
A good, polished LinkedIn profile is essential during the job search, especially in the tech industry. Your LinkedIn will often be the first thing that potential employers, recruiters, and useful contacts look at as they try to evaluate your professional credentials.
Elements of Your LinkedIn Profile
Summary
The summary is one of the most important parts of your LinkedIn, especially as a job-seeker. It's also the most difficult to write. Unlike the rest of your LinkedIn, it's a chance to inject some individuality and personality into your profile. Ideally, you want it to be unique, eye-catching, professional, and personal all at the same time (see why it's the hard part?). There's room to be creative and flexible in the summary, though -- it can be long-ish or short, include images, bring in a variety of pieces from your background -- whatever tells your story the best. Here are a couple examples that show how widely summaries can vary:
Charles:
"I'm a curious puzzle-solver who enjoys poring over server logs and error messages. I have a passion for software that sews together the desktop and mobile experiences. I'm an enthusiastic teammate and a patient communicator. I have a near-compulsive desire to explore the unfamiliar. My favorite languages are Ruby, JavaScript, and Korean."
Theresa:
"Simply put, I love to code. The sleuthwork of identifying the source of a bug (especially when the error message is less than helpful). The zen-like state of refactoring tests in a massive codebase. The excitement of implementing a long-anticipated feature. The consistent vacillation between questioning and understanding.
I have a reputation for asking great questions, shipping quality code, being a strong pair and working well across teams."
Majd:
"People ask me what I do. Here's the list:
- Software Developer (Rhumbix)
- Mask Maker (Arté Masks)
- Thespian (Golden Thread Productions)
- Mentor (Dev Bootcamp)
- Capoeirista-in-training (Capoeira Angola Quintal)
- Acrobat-in-training (Circus Center)
That wraps up the career and hobbies. I had a 10-year theatre career before I went to a coding bootcamp and revamped my lifestyle. I'm the kind of guy who focuses on many pursuits at once, but really dives deep into all of them. Triple Aries, Triple Sagittarius, and Mars in Gemini, for people who like astrology."
Marc:
"I’m a passionate software developer with the innovative and creative mindset of an entrepreneur. I have experience building dynamic web applications in JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, and HTML/CSS.
I love the battle of developing an idea into existence, and forging the bridge between conceptualization and a tangible, impactful product. Programming has been my outlet for problem-solving and creative expression."
Another note: you can include images in your summary. Some folks include screenshots of their projects, which is a good way to showcase your work right off the bat.
Profile Picture
Use a picture that's friendly, but professional. Don't use a photo in which you are drinking, partying, or dressed inappropriately (if you wouldn't show up to Apply Academy in the clothes you're wearing in the picture, find a different one).
Experience
You can be a bit more expansive with your previous experience than in your resume. Include any positions that fall into any of the following categories:
- Positions that involved software development
- Positions that involved quantitative/technical work or research
- Positions in which you were a supervisor or had a lot of responsibility
- Positions that you held for >1 year
- Positions that showcase any unique talents, skills, or knowledge that you have
As with your resume, include a brief summary of the position and 3-5 bullet points describing your responsibilities. When possible, get endorsements on LinkedIn from coworkers and supervisors from the positions you include.
Projects
You can use the same bullet points that you use in your resume, but you have a little more flexibility on LinkedIn -- instead of limiting yourself to 3-4 projects, list everything substantial, polished, and complete that you've worked on (on the side or for work). You can (and should) include screenshots as well to show off your work, and you can be slightly more verbose when you're describing your project than you are in your resume.
Education
Include anything post-high school, even if it's not a degree from a STEM field. List them in chronological order. It's not necessary to include informal/online education unless it was part of a certificate/degree program or was relatively formal in nature.
Skills
This is the place to showcase all of the technical skills. List your strongest skills first followed by other programming skills, followed by any non-programming skills that you have. Make sure that your settings on LinkedIn allow your connections to endorse your skills, and also take some time to endorse the skills of other students in your cohort (they'll likely reciprocate if you do so!).
Volunteer Experience
Most employers won't pay much attention to the volunteer section of your LinkedIn, but it can have significant benefit if a recruiter, CEO, or hiring manager shares your passion for a particular cause. It's an immediate personal connection that you wouldn't otherwise get.
One potential pitfall of the volunteer experience section is that certain causes are controversial. If you did organizing work around a hot button political issue, you may turn off an employer who falls on the other side of the issue. Use your best judgment -- if you're comfortable being "out" about supporting a particular cause/organization/community, then by all means include the experience on your LinkedIn.
Publications
If you have any academic publications such as research papers, a thesis or dissertation, etc., definitely include these. Anything STEM-related should go at the top of your publication list. Other publications such as poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, etc., is fine to include as well, but make sure it's writing that you'd be fine with a potential employer reading.
Building Your LinkedIn Network
It's to your advantage to have a broad network of connections on LinkedIn. Once you've polished your profile, start connecting! Your connections should include:
- Your Apply Academy classmates and instructors
- Former colleagues and supervisors (with some rare exceptions -- if you've been fired or left a job on bad terms, it's not worth connecting)
- Former professors, teachers, advisors, and other school contacts
- Friends, especially those who work in tech, live in a city you're interested in working in, and/or who have an extensive professional network
- Family members
- Networking contacts that you've met at meetups or elsewhere
When in doubt, connect. Don't refuse connections, either, except in rare cases (spam, people with job titles you personally wouldn't want to show up in your connections, etc.). Don't stop connecting when you land a job. Your network will be especially important when you're searching for your next job, so keep broadening and building.
Leveraging Your Network
If you already have a network on LinkedIn (even if it's not huge), leveraging it in your job search can be very effective. Here's how you can go about it.
Step 1. Identify a company you're interested in. Let's go with Pandora, for instance. Go to the company's page, and look at the How You're Connected box:
Click "see all" -- this shows you all the ways in which you're connected through your network to someone who works at Pandora.
Step 2a. If you have a first-degree connection who works in a tech-related position (software developer, product manager, designer, etc.) and who you know well enough to reach out to directly, great! Send them a polite message asking to buy them coffee or lunch and chat about the company. Mention that you're on the job market. They'll likely know that you're looking for a referral to the company; if they don't offer it, politely work it into your conversation.
You may also have a first-degree connection who does not work in a tech-related position. For these folks, reach out and ask if they'd be willing to introduce you to one of the software developers. Let them know you're doing research on companies and that you're on the job market.
Step 2b. If you don't have a first-degree connection, take a look at your second-degree connections. Go through each of these connections and evaluate two things:
How well do you know the connection in question? Could you count on this person to go to bat for you, give you a solid recommendation, and facilitate an introduction to their connection at Pandora? If so, rate them a 1. If you think they might be willing to give you an introduction but you're not sure, rate them a 2. If the connection is fairly distant or someone who definitely wouldn't be able to recommend you, rate them a 3.
How closely does your connection's Pandora connection match the position you'd like to apply for? A software engineer, engineering manager, or other member of the technical staff gets a 1. Someone who'd probably work closely with the engineering staff, such as a product manager or a designer, gets a 2. Someone totally outside of engineering, such as an administrative assistant, gets a 3.
Now, take some action! Evaluate the numbers you got above, and choose the best pair. Obviously, the best is a 1 and a 1 or a 1/2 -- someone who works at the company you're interested in who can recommend you to someone who works as a software developer. If you don't have a 1/1 pair, choose a 1/2 or a 2/1 pair. Message your connection and ask for an intro:
"Hi Nina,
Long time no see! I'm writing to ask a favor. I saw that you know Tuhin Chakraborty, who works as a software engineer at Pandora. I'm currently on the job market and I'm really interested in working at Pandora. Would you be willing to set up an introduction for us? Thanks!
Scott"
Pairs with worse ratings than 1/2 or 2/1 aren't usually worth trying to leverage, but use your judgment.
Step 3. Iterate. If you don't have the network just yet to use it in this way, don't worry -- you will eventually, and you can come back to this strategy when you're ready.
Some Examples of Great LinkedIn Profiles
Here are some solid examples of LinkedIn profiles:
Optional Video
If you're new to LinkedIn, it may be worth spending an hour learning about the platform. You may consider yourself "new" if you have
- less than 50 connections
- sent 2 or fewer messages through the platform
- never joined a LinkedIn group
- not listed or endorsed any LinkedIn Skills before
This 60-min video presents LinkedIn to engineering students at Columbia University.