Your LinkedIn profile sucks. Trust me. I’ve seen thousands of them.
The biggest mistake many LinkedIn users make is they think their LinkedIn profile is a replica of their resume, which is the farthest from the truth.
I’m going to walk you through how to create a great LinkedIn profile summary that is interesting and most importantly, gets people interested in you! We’re just going to focus on the profile summary section on LinkedIn. I’ll use my profile as an example.
Write a summary statement that is accurate AND interesting.
“Robbie Abed is an innovative marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience in the industry…”
Are you bored yet?
I am, and that sentence is all about me.
LinkedIn gives you 2,000 characters to provide a comprehensive window into who you are and what makes you tick, not just as an employee, but as a person. I mean, a 2,000 character-long bio on the internet is just a step below a full memoir. Am I right?
Your summary needs to sell you, but it needs to do it authentically.
Start at the beginning. Share your values. Have a sense of humor. Be a real, living, breathing person with goals, ambitions, fears, interests, skills and hobbies. After reading your summary, your viewers should feel like they’ve just met you for a friendly chat over a cup of coffee.
Your summary should cover the 5 bases:
1) Value statement. This should be your very first sentence, and you better make it good. You don’t have to focus on what you’re currently doing: the point is to tell the reader exactly what they’d get out of working with you.
I help miserable people see the light in their career. I also help executives elevate their career through branding and recruiting.
2) Why I do what I do. Now that you’ve got their attention, use a couple of paragraphs to tell your story. Where have you been? What do you stand for? Use stories and anecdotes to keep things human and engaging.
Transitioning from IT to Digital Marketing & Career Advancement was one of the toughest transitions of my life.
I went through a life crisis trying it figure it all out. Going through a life and identity crisis while your bank account also depends on the answer is something I hope you never have to go through.
I went from being an expert in “IT Consulting” with 9 years experience to becoming a “Marketing Director” and “Career Advancement Expert” within 2 years.
I not only destroyed the ceiling that was preventing me from advancing, I positioned myself to never let a ceiling control my career and my life again. I’ve never felt this free in my entire life.
My goal is help you learn from my mistakes.
3) Interesting facts. This is the main advantage of LinkedIn over a traditional resume: you can tell the reader anything you think they need to know. Perhaps you have expertise that isn’t covered by your qualifications, or want to branch out in a direction where you have no formal experience. This is the place for things that don’t fit under a bullet-point list.
INTERESTING FACTS
I wrote the book conservatively titled, "Fire Me I Beg You."
LinkedIn chose one of my posts as one of the best articles in 2014. My articles have accumulated over 3 million views with 4 posts over 400,000 views.
I built a strong professional network in Chicago with growing startups, investors, and successful entrepreneurs by taking 250 coffee meetings in 400 days.
The CEO of Deloitte Consulting loved my resignation letter so much that he sent it to the entire company. My writing has been featured in the New York Times, Business Insider, Forbes, CBS News and Lifehacker.
I stalked James Altucher for 4 years. The result? He invited me to participate in his award winning podcast.
I built an email list of 10,000 people in 5 months using LinkedIn.
4) How I can help you. Time to lay it on the line. This section isn’t just about telling the reader what you can do, but emphasizes that you’re willing to do it for them. You need to let them have the Holy Grail: give out your email address.
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
If you think I can help you, please email me robbie@firemeibegyou.com. I read every email
I include the line: “Email me at robbie@firemeibegyou.com. I read every email.”
That last little statement says two things: that you get a lot of emails, and that you make time for the people who send them to you.
5) Special skills. This section plays two parts: first, telling people what you do. Second, providing terms that will show up in keyword searches.
SKILLS
Digital Marketing, LinkedIn Coaching, Story Teller, Chicago Author, Chicago Speaker.
In conclusion.
LinkedIn summary section is powerful. Don’t mess it up!
P.S - I also highly recommend this book on Amazon if you’re looking to use LinkedIn to build relationships and get job offers.