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Are You Optimizing Your LinkedIn Contact Information?
This might seem like a no-brainer, but many people who believe they’re not getting anything out of LinkedIn have forgotten to make themselves accessible – and in the simplest way possible.
When you first joined LinkedIn, you might have been asked what you want others to know about contacting you. Here’s where you may have included an email address or phone number – or perhaps failed to specify any contact data at all!
In addition, you might not have realized that you can use this section to add more keywords and increase your hit rate on terms related to your job goals.
Follow these tips to ensure that you’re not missing out on potential messages or interactions:
Verify your existing Contact settings.
To see what’s already in your contact information, view your Profile’s “Advice for people who want to contact you” subsection (under "Additional Information").
To change the information in this area, go to "Settings" (hover the mouse near your name at the top), then look for "Email Preferences" on the bottom left-hand side.
Select “Types of messages you’re willing to receive” and you’ll see a box called “Advice to People Who Are Contacting You.” Here, you can add not only basic contact information, but entire paragraphs full of data on what you offer and the best way to get in touch with you.
Add contact details to the paragraph in your Contact section.
Why add data in the “Advice to People Who are Contacting You” area? It’s actually a great place to display your email address or phone number (along with Twitter, Facebook, blog, or website links).
Doing so will allow other users to get in touch with you directly – circumventing LinkedIn’s typical requirements for direct contact (belonging to a shared Group, using a costly InMail message, or issuing a Connection invitation).
Add Contact data in other sections – with keywords.
You can use the same information in other sections of LinkedIn to increase your hit rate – ensuring your Contact data is obvious, while gaining increased traffic to your Profile.
Unfortunately, information added to your Contact section is NOT accessed by LinkedIn’s search algorithm, but you can use parts of your Summary or Interests for this purpose, with text similar to this example:
In my role as Senior Database Architect, I’ve led IT projects for the Professional Services division of IBM, as well as worked with Accenture on major data warehousing and business intelligence projects.
My experience crosses Oracle, Hyperion, Teradata, and SQL Server, and I enjoy collaborating with senior developers working in Java and C#.
I welcome inquiries at jan_wilson42@gmail.com or 555-433-1212.
As you can see, adding this data into Summary or Interests will help boost traffic on the keywords used, and give potential Connections another way to see your contact data quickly.
Use Summary, Interests, or other sections to add your name and common spellings.
Trying to stand out among other users when you have a common name – or a commonly misspelled name – can be challenging.
If you add both the correct and misspelled versions to these other sections (which, as mentioned above, are indexed by LinkedIn, while your Contact paragraph is not), you’ll get a better hit rate among users with the same name.
I’m discussing potential CFO and Financial Director opportunities with employers in manufacturing and hospitality, and welcome Connections.
Thank you,
Susan Kennedy Smyth, CFO
(Susan Smith - Susan Kennedy - Susan Kennedy Smith)
Bottom Line
Be sure to take an occasional look at all the contact settings on your Profile, especially if you may have changed this section at some point.
You may have forgotten to open up your Profile to others searching for you, or failed to make it easy for recruiters to get in touch with you for a job opportunity.
More information
See the "Adding Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile" for people who have their names misspelled frequently by people who don't know them well or who have poor memories.
© Copyright Laura Smith-Proulx, 2013. All rights reserved. Used With Permission
Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Director of An Expert Resume, is an award-winning executive resume writer, national columnist, author, LinkedIn and SEO enthusiast, and past recruiter. Laura is author of How to Get Hired Faster: 60+ Proven Tips and Strategies to Access the Hidden Job Market. Connect with Laura on Twitter at @ResumeExpert and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/laurasmithproulx.
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