What You Need To Know About Credible Profiles

LinkedIn has a very robust peer evaluation system in place, to make it easier to differentiate a genuine profile from catfishers. The onus is on you to validate your profile, to ensure you appear credible to potential connections.

In order to be credible in front of your potential connections, you first have to get in front of them. Listing achievements or past work experiences do not get you there, as these are not ranked in LinkedIn’s search algorithm. Instead, the platform takes into account your listed skills, in order to match you to interested parties. Studies have shown that “members with five or more skills listed are contacted up to 33 times more by recruiters and other LinkedIn members and receive up to 17 times more profile views.”

LinkedIn publishes a yearly list to identify the top searched skills, so it’s always good to check in once in a while to update your skills. For 2020, they have identified 5 main areas:

1. Creativity
2. Persuasion
3. Collaboration
4. Adaptability
5. Emotional Intelligence

While the first four skills listed above have been a constant, ‘Time management’, a more task-oriented skill was replaced by ‘Emotional intelligence’. While task-oriented skills remain critical to our success at work, the data shows that employers value our ability to work well with colleagues. So compare that to your list of skills and see how they fit into these categories. Another way to find related skills is to scan job postings for skill sets that employers are looking for. Scrape from jobs that you are interested in, so that you will eventually be the ideal candidate profile for your dream job.

Once you have the list of relatable skills, your profile will start showing up when potential connections or employers are looking. This is the easy part, and your next challenge will be to get them to trust your profile. Your authenticity and legitimacy are what will distinguish you from many other accounts who have read the same article above by LinkedIn. Here are three simple steps you can let these people know that you are the real deal.

First, Get Assessed. 
Take the LinkedIn Skills Assessment, which allows you to demonstrate your knowledge of the skills you’ve added to your profile by completing assessments. These multiple choice quizzes are produced by subject matter experts and leaders with extensive experience in generating certification content. This assessment has also been adopted by some recruiters, who are using this to verify if a candidate has the desired skills, so why not get ahead of the curve? The badge you get once you pass the assessment definitely adds credibility to your listed skillsets.

Second, Get Endorsed. 
Linkedin Endorsement is a feature that allows your connections to validate your listed skills by simply hitting a button. These add credibility to your online resume by backing up your work experiences. One of the best ways to get started is to believe in the value of reciprocity. When you endorse someone that you have worked with on projects, they almost always come back and think of something to endorse you for. Make it a habit to connect and endorse colleagues and clients you just completed a project with, and you can count on a consistent stream of up-to-date endorsements that reflect your growing skills and strengths as your career advances. Lastly, make sure the skills you want to be endorsed for shows up in your profile as a keyword, as LinkedIn is more likely to suggest it to your connections.

Third, Get Recommended. 
A recommendation is a statement that is written by a LinkedIn member to recognize a connection. It is a proactive action, and as such is much harder to get compared to the on-click endorsement. That just means that a recommendation is taken a lot more seriously, and they are powerful in supporting what you are already saying about yourself, offering peer validation. Unlike skills endorsement, always start by approaching someone you know well for a thoughtful recommendation. Reach out in person and explain your request before sending the invitation online, so that you can better explain the type of recommendations you wish to receive if it’s for a specific job post or a more general one.

The key to standing out in the sea of profiles is to value authenticity. By making sure your profile is validated, you improve your credibility and show that you are someone that walks the talk. At the same time, it also helps your confidence knowing that you really did what you say you did!