If you haven’t been motivated so far to dig into some of your old career profiles, Spring may just be the time to do it! If you’ve already tackled your resume, then your good ol’ Linked In profile may be next.
Related: 4 tips to spring clean your resume
This is especially relevant as Linked In has just re-designed its platform, and the old way of doing things on the website could use some serious dusting off…So pull up a chair, crack open your laptop (or smartphone), and get ready for some career profile cleanup in under 30 minutes:
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Old Professional Experiences Begone! (10 to 15 minutes)
If you’re still bragging about that awesome first internship you got at that awesome company you dreamt of joining 10 years ago, consider making your bragging rights more private! Although your old professional experiences may stile relevant (and flattering), the reality is they may also her well take away from your current ones. Instead of confusing readers/prospective employers with a lengthy work history, cut it down to your two or three most recent roles over the past 7 to 10 years.
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Dust Off Your Skills Section! (10 to 15 minutes)
We can all brag about things we’re good at. However, if you happen to be listing 50 of these skills and only two of them are getting endorsed by other people who are directly confirming that you’re actually good at the things you say you’re good at, you may be dealing with an overload problem!
Those are really “dead skills” that end up cluttering your profile. So instead of piling up on the keywords in your “Skills” section, consider focusing on the ones that are actually attracting endorsements.
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Focus on your best accomplishments! (10 to 15 minutes)
It’s one thing to list all your accomplishments, including awards, honors, and other projects! It’s another to distinguish yourself by listing those accomplishments that you really want others to see and trust! Which means that expired diving certificate from high school, or that article published on that website that returns an invalid URL, must go!
Even awards from the beginning of your career which are no longer relevant to what you’re trying o accomplish professionally must be given the boot! Only focus on your best, and most relevant, accomplishments. Oh, and if your Portuguese fluency stops at high-school level, please erase…
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Ditch the outdated recommendations! (10 to 15 minutes)
So yes, it was so sweet from your Creative Writing professor to write you a (lengthy) recommendation 15 years ago…But really, if you’re now an accountant and can’t even remember said professor’s last name, it may be time to lovingly do away with the kind words…
The only exception would be if the recommendations are particularly flattering, and are so relevant to your current brand that you must keep them on, even if they’re outdated. However, you may want to either replace or do away with recommendations that are too old and don’t have the relevance they once did.
The point here is: you want to draw as precise and on-point a professional profile as you possibly can. On one hand, it’s easier to “sell” yourself when the reader can actually scan your profile and get a clear idea of who you are, minus the distractions. On the other, it’s a great exercise in “career clarity” to refine and display your real brand to the world. And yes, it shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes…
Want more tips on how to spring clean your Linked In profile? Click below for my 12 tips on cleaning up your Linked In profile:
What other tips would you add to this list?
PS: For more tips, check out my YouTube video:
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
