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Shout it from the rooftops

This old tome from the heydey of newspapers easily can be applied to today’s LinkedIn profile. Here, as in a news article, the headline is of utmost importance.

Your LinkedIn headline can go a long way to whether or not you get found by recruiters and hiring managers. But to be done right, there are some “tricks of the trade.”

Why a headline?

With LinkedIn, just as in journalism, the headline is there to entice you to read the rest of the article. If the headline is intriguing, the reader will keep on reading.

In examining LinkedIn, to begin with, you have to accept the fact that your entire LinkedIn profile is not just an electronic resume. It’s not just your resume online. Think of it as baring your professional soul.

Just as with any headline to any news story, your headline needs to “grab” your audience. As you would peruse a newspaper (or magazine), when you spot an intriguing headline, you’re going to stop and read more.

If your headline is merely your most recent job title – e.g. “Director of Operations” – will that alone pique anyone’s interest to read more? Or, in today’s digital job-search world, would that cause any search engine to select your profile as one the searcher should read? Probably not.

But, if it’s worded in such a way as to highlight your accomplishments or play to one of your strengths, now we’re talking. This may take some doing as you labor to keep it simple – what you do and who you do it for.

“B2B sales growth.” “Cost-cutting specialist.” “Manufacturing performance improvement.” “Seasoned revenue generator.”

That’s not to say that you should ignore your title all together, but it’s these kinds keywords that will make you stand out (visually and digitally) and emphasize what you’re bringing to the table. The title is all well and good, but the keywords are the critical components that will get your headline found.

More tips.