How to Achieve All-Star Status on LinkedIn

Regardless of where you are on this scale, your goal should always be to get to All-Star status. It’s not very difficult to do, but it will give you a huge edge over your competition when it comes to getting jobs on LinkedIn.

The 8 essential elements you need for LinkedIn All-Star status 

#1 - LinkedIn Profile Picture 

Having a high-quality profile picture is crucial to getting All-Star status on your LinkedIn profile. In fact, LinkedIn users who include a photo receive 21X more profile views than users without one.  

Your picture is your first impression.

When I was studying as a psychology major, I was shocked when I read a new study from researchers at the University of York. The researchers found that it only takes 33 milliseconds for someone to make a first impression of you when they look at your profile picture. 

This impression includes evaluating your status, attractiveness, and trust. 

The best way to build that attraction and trust is by having a brightly lit picture that clearly shows your face and has a positive energy to it. 

#2 - Headline 

Your goal with your headline is to appear in more searches and stand out from everyone else who appears in those searches. There are many ways to craft a headline that’s not boring or basic, and Bogdan actually wrote a great post on it for my blog here: 7 Worst LinkedIn headlines to avoid (and how to write a great one)

Here’s an example: 

5+ years in Marketing | Recognized as Top 10 in my company | Helping businesses grow their social media to increase sales 

#3 - Industry & Location 

This step is probably one of the easiest ways to get closer to All-Star status. When editing your profile, make sure to enter your country, zip code, and your industry. 

These areas tell the recruiters where you reside and what industry you’re in. A lot of recruiters will search for job candidates on LinkedIn using the industry and location settings, so if you leave this blank, you’ll be left out of the results.

 #4 - Experience 

For the experience section you will need to include your most current position plus two prior positions. 

According to Forbes, LinkedIn members with current positions are discovered 16X more in recruiter searches and their profile views increase up to 29X.  The bullet points here, just like on your resume, should be achievement-based and targeted towards your desired job or field. 

(Bogdan: Here’s a short video from our Accelerated Resume Course about how you can improve your bullet points.)

#5 - Skills 

To achieve All-Star status, you need to include at least 5 skills in your skills section. In fact, LinkedIn reports that users with five skills or more are contacted up to 33X more by recruiters. 

Adding skills to your LinkedIn profile may sound easy, but you want to be smart about the skills you choose. Of course, you’ll want to include skills that you’re good at, but it’s also important to add skills related to the keywords employers are using to find candidates. 

An easy way to find which keywords go with your role is simply by looking through 5-10 job postings on LinkedIn. After awhile, you’ll start noticing certain words popping up over and over again that you can use for your skills section. 

#6 - Summary 

Out of all the sections in this post, this might be the hardest section to nail down. It may take you some time and energy to craft a compelling summary, but this is your opportunity to market yourself to employers. 

I personally recommend a three-part Summary:

1. An opening statement that summarizes your work experience and your most impressive and relevant skills. Make sure to include relevant keywords here to increase your chance of appearing in recruiter’s searches.
2. A few bullet points focused on your achievements, rather than your duties. You can quantify your achievements with numbers and even start your bullets with an action or “success verb” to prove your value.  
3. A closing statement about what types of opportunities get you excited and what kind of roles someone should get in touch with you for.

You can also include a letter of recommendation, a testimonial from a coworker/ boss, or any additional items that back up your job title. 

#7 - Education 

The biggest benefit of adding this section is that it gives you an opportunity to connect or be found by fellow alumni since you will have built-in connections. This section is also especially important if you’re a recent graduate or a student.

Read more about: “Job hunting tips for college graduates and students”

#8 - Connections 

To reach All-Star status you need at least 50 connections. You can connect with others by sending them an invitation or by accepting their invitations. You can also jump start your connections by allowing LinkedIn to match you up with people from your email address book. 

Another way to start is simply by using the search feature to find companies you used to work at and connecting with your ex-coworkers. Establishing connections and interacting is a core part of LinkedIn and the platform will reward you in search results if you have more connections. 

Getting to LinkedIn All-Star Status

I know this may look like a lot of work to you, but the good news is that only 51% of LinkedIn users have fully completed profiles so this is an incredibly easy way to stand out. 

 If you have any trouble implementing these steps, don’t worry there is help - don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or just need some motivation =)

To learn more about me and what I do, visit my website below. You can take my career quiz and read the testimonials. 

www.cultivateprofessionals.com

Read more resume and interview best practices on The GHYC Blog.