Apprehensive about showing decades of leadership experience on LinkedIn?
There’s something about putting your work online in front of LinkedIn’s 1+ billion members that might make you feel uneasy.
If so, you’re hardly alone. But you MUST provide insights on your experience and credentials in order to compete.
Here are the 5 keys to an authentic LinkedIn profile that conveys your personal brand and covers 20-40+ years of experience (without inviting age bias):
1 – Adjust your LinkedIn Headline to draw attention.
If your LinkedIn Headline contain only your current job title, you are missing one of the BEST opportunities to market yourself!
Your Headline travels everywhere with you on LinkedIn; don’t limit it to your current job (this is LinkedIn’s default value).
Why? It’s easier to see your career goal and value proposition if you describe your target job type, areas of strength, and value proposition.
Take advantage of this high-ranking piece of LinkedIn real estate by:
- Adding keywords representing your ideal job title and strongest skills (HR Strategy, Transformation, or Leadership Development.)
- Referencing an achievement like 24% YoY Profits From Product-Led Growth or New Process Improvements Saving 32%.
- Describing your industry or passion such as Patient-Centric Healthcare Quality, Software Engineering Innovation, or Global Commercial Strategy.
Using this formula turns Senior Sales Director into:
Revenue & Sales Leader. Over-Goal ARR Through Go-To Market Strategy, Forecasting, & Team Accountability. Reach Up to 78% Year-Over-Year Sales Growth in Aggressive SaaS and AI Markets.
Note the use of keywords, a job goal (describing specific industries), and an achievement conveyed using metrics.
Get more ideas and examples by reading A Fast Formula for a Powerful LinkedIn Headline.
2 – Bring your value proposition to life in your About section.
First, summarize your effectiveness as a leader with a list of your TOP career moments and achievements, such as:
- Your personal leadership philosophy and management style.
- The way you identify and resolve business challenges.
- Your record of business growth, turnarounds, problem-solving, team leadership, industry influence, revenue, or other wins.
- What others say about your work and impact.
- Your affect on company culture and employee retention.
- Accolades you’ve received for performance, innovation, strategic initiatives, growth, and other accomplishments.
Beef up your successes with metrics, such as the speed in which you delivered initiatives.
Leverage this data in your About to distinguish yourself from peers, as shown in this example:
Chief Revenue Officer: CPG, Automotive, & Retail
Fast Rise in Performance Throughout Economic Downturns & Market Changes
As CRO, I’ve developed commercial sales, pricing, and go to market strategies producing a competitive advantage and consistent growth – maintaining agility for companies experiencing shifts in consumer and business preferences.
My work creates lucrative new opportunities and margin increases from:
– Regional gross sales increases and rapid improvements in customer acquisition.
– 17% additional sales after displacing entrenched competitors in high-opportunity markets.
– Net Promoter Scores reflecting Top 1-2 rankings and new staff training programs.
My skills include supply chain strategy, project oversight, M&A, market intelligence, margin improvement, commercial strategy, team building, and turnarounds.
3 – Populate your Experience using data from recent jobs – with a twist.
Employers like to see the measures of success you’ve achieved, so use your Experience section to illustrate your impact and career progression.
Fully describe your successes from the past 10-15 years, with details such as:
- The size of teams you managed in each role and where they were located (India, Europe, US, etc.).
- Operations, projects, or businesses you led, along with their scope and size.
- The impact of your work on company culture, staff retention, cost savings, quality, and other important factors.
- Your roles in startups, M&A, new market entry, Board leadership, growth, or turnarounds.
But what about older experience? Try these strategies to minimize age bias:
- Summarize earlier roles in the About section (“As a Navy veteran, I worked in missile engineering…”) or tuck them under your oldest Experience entry (“Previous roles include Supply Chain Manager and Data Analyst”).
- These strategies allow you to show career experience from previous decades, while putting ZERO emphasis on your age.
4 – Add Skills entries; these are crucial in LinkedIn searchability.
You will need to gather keywords commonly used in your industry, which can easily be found in job postings.
For example, a COO might find Cost Savings or Process Improvement in some job descriptions, while a healthcare executive may see Accreditation or Physician Relationships repeated in different job advertisements.
Recruiters use these terms to find you!
Try to fill in as many Skills entries as relevant. LinkedIn will prompt you to “connect” each entry to your Experience, so take time for this step, too.
5 – Don’t worry about what others put on LinkedIn.
Too many LinkedIn users provide only the basics of their career history, with a short, generalized description of their work… and then wonder why they’re ignored in their search.
These tactics can frustrate others eager to learn more about your background. If you haven’t added data to your LinkedIn profile’s About, Experience, or Skills sections, there’s nothing to draw or engage visitors.
Don’t be afraid to go against the tide.
Start NOW by adding robust descriptions of your promotions, skills, success stories, and keywords on LinkedIn.
These LinkedIn writing strategies can help others correctly interpret your leadership competencies and enable recruiters to find you more readily.
Adding your top achievements and displaying your career progression will make your LinkedIn profile stand out more clearly from your competition.
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