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I’ve been bugging my cousin, Cathy Burns (not her real name), to create a LinkedIn Profile because I think it’s a necessity for anyone who may be in the job market someday.

Unfortunately, her first name could also be spelled, ”Cathi” or ” Cathie” as well as ”Kathy,” “Kathi,” etc. and her last name could be spelled “Byrnes” as well as “Burns.” To make it more complicated, she’s been married twice, so some people know her with her maiden name, Cathy Miller, and some people know her with one (or both) of her married names, Cathy Sullivan and Cathy Burns.

So, how does someone find Cathy Miller Sullivan Burns on LinkedIn if they are looking for her to make a connection?

This is a MAJOR PROBLEM for my cousin!  And for most of us, too.

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When she created her LinkedIn Profile, she naturally spelled her current name properly. Anyone who knows her well (or who is holding her business card) will spell her name correctly in a search for her on LinkedIn and will find her.

More on Social Media: Social Media Home How to Get Started with Social Media Top 6 Employer Magnets Activate & Manage Your Avatars More About LinkedIn: LinkedIn Basics Leveraging Your LinkedIn Profile Effective LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Applications and Your Profile How to Be Found by Recruiters in LinkedIn Search Value of Growing Your LinkedIn Network Adding Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile

Cathy has added this paragraph to her profile so that her Profile will appear in the search results when someone is searching through LinkedIn for her -

Other variations of my name – these are the variations that people may use to find me on LinkedIn and elsewhere: Cathi Burns, Cathie Burns; Cathy Byrnes, Cathyi Byrnes, Cathie Byrnes; Kathy Burns, Kathi Burns, Kathie Burns; Cathy Miller, Cathie Millier, Cathi Miller; Kathy Miller, Kathi Miller, Kathie Miller; Kathy Sullivan, Kathi Sullivan, Kathie Sullivan; Cathy Sullivan, Cathie Sullivan, Cathi Sullivan.

Then, when someone searches for “Kathie Burns” or “Cathie Byrnes,” LinkedIn will also show “Cathy Burns” in the search results because that spelling is included in her profile.

If your parents were creative in naming you, which should be great personal branding, by the way, you should also include more conventional spellings and even other misspellings. You can add a paragraph to your Profile which you label, “Misspellings” or “Other Spellings” and include those variations of your name in that paragraph.

The good news for women is that by including name variations from earlier in their lives, they increase the probablility of connecting with friends from your past (high school or college, first job out of college or after the kids were old enough, etc.) to find you in LinkedIn.

Good luck with your job search!

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Posted Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 4:41 pm in Job Search, Social Networks.