In-House Counsel

Areas Of LinkedIn You May Not Be Utilizing (But Should)

These are areas of your profile or advanced search filters you may have not even thought about.

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A few weeks ago in my column, I published an article about areas of your LinkedIn profile that you should not overlook in your job search. I received terrific feedback, and I wanted to write a follow-up article providing additional advice on areas that you can utilize better on your LinkedIn profile. These are areas of your profile or advanced search filters you may have not even thought about.

The Featured Section

This is a “newer” section of LinkedIn that is now separate and apart from your about/summary section. Originally, you used to add media links to your about/summary section, but LinkedIn has since made it a separate section within your profile. You can add media links, PDFs, articles you’ve shared on the platform, as well as past posts. Some users default to showing a high visibility post that received a lot of engagement. I’m of the opinion that it’s a waste of prime real estate to do so. The featured section is a terrific opportunity to drive traffic to your law firm’s website by showcasing your firm bio or a news/case review that promotes you as well. You can drop a link to an article you’ve written for a major publication or drop a link to an article that showcases something exciting you’re doing (or have done) for your company or firm.

By linking a previous post, you’re driving traffic away from actual content about you that will ultimately provide a reader with more insight into your professional acumen and accolades. A post with high visibility does nothing to generate clicks on outside third-party sources about you, which are verifiable — promoting your past posts in your featured section is basically just saying: “Look at how many likes or clicks I get on my content.” On my featured section, you will notice my first link is to my website (people generally want info on my services) and on the rest of my featured carousel, you will see various articles I’ve written for Above the Law and additional publications, as well as articles I’ve been quoted in. The key is to vary the content, but share things that show your subject matter expertise, skill set, and achievements.

Licenses, Certifications, And Volunteer Work

The licenses and volunteer work sections are frequently overlooked but provide immense search value. Your licenses section should include the states where you are admitted to practice. Search for the state bar association in the “issuing organization” portion of the license, and make sure to include “member” for the name. If you have a data privacy certification such as the CIPP/US, be sure to include that as well. For volunteer work, if you are active in local, state, or national organizations, be sure to include those in your volunteer section. Add in a brief sentence about what you do for them. This section will provide further keyword optimization and can serve as a terrific icebreaker for conversations down the road.

Here are some other quick areas you can better utilize for searches as well as privacy options:

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Advanced Search Filters 

Let’s say you’re performing a search for general counsels to connect with on LinkedIn. You can filter that search by various categories (location, law school attended, etc.). You can even begin a search at a targeted company by seeing who is in your geographic area, who is a graduate of your law school, or who is a co-worker from a past company. LinkedIn’s advanced filters enable you to search through connections, titles, schools, current company, past company, profile language, and keywords, for example. Start using them to zero in on key people of interest that you want to connect with by industry, job title/role, or even potential company of interest. The key is to microtarget your searches so they are more concentrated and you land on the page of the right contact.

Privacy Filters

One filter I suggest turning off is the “people also viewed” filter. Otherwise, when people view your profile, on the right side of the screen, they will see LinkedIn profiles that other viewers have looked at (in some cases, this will be a competitor who is offering the same services as you/practices in the same geographic area, or potentially another job candidate). Turning off this feature will allow the focus to stay on your profile and preclude the reader from being distracted and venturing over to the other profile. To turn this feature off, head to “settings and privacy,” click “account preferences,” then “site preferences” and click “people also viewed.” Set it to “no.”

In addition to this section, you may want to consider job searching in stealth mode. If you’re heavily researching LinkedIn profiles of employees at a targeted company, and you do not want them to see you’re scoping them out, or you’re doing a cursory search for legal recruiters in your geographic area, you may elect to keep your profile on browsing in private mode. I personally have mine on private mode as I research LinkedIn profiles across the platform as part of my job search strategy training for clients (showing them how to research target contacts at targeted companies). If you prefer to profile search in private, here is how to adjust your settings: click “settings and privacy,” then click “visibility,” click “profile viewing options,” and select private mode.

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Have a LinkedIn-related question for me? Connect with me there and ask away!

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.  

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