Technology

4 Changes To Make To Your LinkedIn Profile That Will Enhance Your Legal Skills And Visibility

With more than 700 million users on the platform, LinkedIn offers you the ability to be seen, noticed, and scouted when you are (and aren’t) job searching.

By  
on

If a new job is on the horizon for you this year, you’re probably focused on updating your legal resume. While your resume is a threshold requirement in applying for a job, it’s seen by a limited audience. In stark contrast, your LinkedIn profile is visible by hiring partners, legal recruiters, and attorneys in and outside of your practice area.

With more than 700 million users on the platform, LinkedIn offers you the ability to be seen, noticed, and scouted when you are (and aren’t) job searching. It also offers you the ability to network and connect with other attorneys who might be where you want to be 5, 10, or 15 years from now. That connectivity can have long-term benefits for you and your legal career.

As a career expert and professional LinkedIn profile writer, here are four immediate changes I recommend making to your LinkedIn profile to increase your professional visibility:

Customize Your URL And Use A Professional Headshot

Customizing your LinkedIn URL (for instance, www.linkedin.com/in/thewritingguru) solidifies your personal brand and makes it easy for others to confirm your identity (especially if you have a common name). It also takes less than 30 seconds to do.

Head over to your profile and click “Me.” Next, click on “View profile,” followed by “Edit public profile & URL” (right side of the screen). Next, click “Edit your custom URL.” Remove the unnecessary letters/numbers after your name. If you have a common name, consider inserting your middle initial into your URL. Most importantly, don’t forget to drop your LinkedIn URL into the contact information section of your resume. This enables a recruiter, hiring partner, or key executive to easily locate you on the platform.

Another important thing to remember: LinkedIn users with professional headshots get 14 times more views than those without. If you’re on a tight budget or restricted due to COVID-19, have a family member take a photo of you against a plain background and use an app like Facetune or Photoshop to retouch the photo. LinkedIn also has additional editing features available for you.

Sponsored

Create A Keyword-Driven Headline And Summary

Your LinkedIn headline and summary are of equal importance. LinkedIn will default to your most current job title and firm/company as the headline, which leaves you wasted real estate and diminished visibility. While your current job title (e.g., IP Counsel at Amazon) is important, you also want to build equity around your practice area with key specialties that will be highly searchable.

Here’s a formula that’s easy to craft and works well for LinkedIn headlines: Job Title/Target Role & Industry/Sector | Areas of Expertise or Value Add-Skills.  You can implement the formula like this: Counsel at Amazon — Intellectual Property | Trademark Transactions, Patent Protection, & Data Privacy

The summary section (now termed the “About” section) is additional prime real estate for you to share your legal career story in a first-person tone. Before you write your LinkedIn summary, look at job descriptions that match your current role and the role you want to be in next. Compare the job postings and see what hard and soft skills are mentioned. Next, think about your best skills, unique value, key career wins, and professional interests. Fuse those into your summary so it becomes a personal iteration of you rather than a generic one that can be easily plagiarized. Remember to use short paragraphs of two or three sentences for better digital readability. Consider adding bullet points as well.

Summarize Your Experience And Keep It Relevant

Sponsored

As you input your experience section on LinkedIn, keep your resume next to you and compare the job titles, firm/company names, and dates of employment. They need to align. If not, you can appear disingenuous about your employment history. Remove experience that does not pertain to your legal career trajectory. Details of your experience can be beneficial, but do not dump your resume into your profile. Remember, your resume will contain deep detail and confidential data. For LinkedIn, provide shorter descriptions (two or three sentences) focused on keywords and areas of responsibility.

Maximize Your Skills And Endorsements 

The skills and endorsements section is a highly overlooked one on LinkedIn. However, it plays an important part in your visibility and ranking on the platform. You can list up to 50 skills as well as pin your top three skills. Consider the relevant skills found in job postings that match your career target. Keep in mind that if you haven’t touched this section, LinkedIn will default to your most endorsed skills. If you created your LinkedIn profile while in law school or your earlier years in practice, you may find that your top three skills resemble things such as legal research, legal writing, and Microsoft Word. If you’re 10 or 15 years out, the top skills should be more robust and influential ones such as corporate compliance, governance, or even commercial litigation.

Don’t let your LinkedIn profile fall short of being powerful. Implement these tips to get immediate traction on your profile for your legal job search and legal brand.

Wendi Weiner is an attorney, career expert, and founder of The Writing Guru, an award-winning executive resume writing services company. Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, executives, and C-suite/Board leaders for their job search and digital footprint. She also writes for major publications about alternative careers for lawyers, personal branding, LinkedIn storytelling, career strategy, and the job search process. You can reach her by email at wendi@writingguru.net, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter @thewritingguru.  

CRM Banner

Topics

, , ,