I am amazed at where 2020 went?! I’m still working remotely and finding creative ways to keep my mind busy without any coworkers around (I miss them!!!). Lately, I’ve been into LinkedIn — whether it’s LinkedIn Learning, looking up different organizations/companies to follow, catching up on some of my favorite hashtags, or just seeing what everybody is up to. I also have a weird thing for checking out job descriptions just to assess what types of skills I need to equip myself with to spice things up! Since I seem to have a lot more time on my hands (LOL), I’ve made a few tweaks to my profile and decided to share a few tips on how to improve your LinkedIn profile:

Your Photo

It’s a bit bittersweet for me to post my BU grad school photo as my profile picture. You know, I casually waited a whole hour and a half in line to take this photo at our career fair. LOL. The year before I took this photo, I waited TWO hours so I immediately saw this as an improvement 🙂

I know a lot of people tend to use their graduation photos which I think is fine, but I much prefer a regular photo with a decent backdrop. It doesn’t have to be professional at all. I think iPhone photos are just as amazing!

Your Headline

When I first updated my profile to include my new post-grad role at the Department of Public Health, LinkedIn automated my headline to match accordingly. However, while I’m all about public health, I’m not ALL public health. I wanted to showcase my pride + joy, my one true love, my baby — yes, THIS BLOG!! I’ve been working on this blog for four years, and I want to show that off!

I used to be shy about sharing my blog bc let’s be real, I’m sitting here typing away, creating this online presence on top of my regular day job. Others see it as a side hustle or a passion project, but I see it as my source of empowerment and creativity.

I’ve spent countless # of hours brainstorming blog post ideas, cultivating my email list, trying to build my socials, and taking online courses to constantly be in the “know” in this industry. While I’m nowhere close to where I want to be, my ultimate goal is to at least make an impact in someONE’s life — to inspire them to live their happiest and healthiest life!

So this summer, I changed my headline to display my 9-5 on top of my very own creation! Sometimes, I know being a blogger can have a weird connotation to it, but I’m choosing to point out both parts of me bc I work on both daily.

They’re a big part of who I am, and quite honestly, I don’t think I can do one without the other.

Your Featured

This featured portion is often left neglected, but I chose to upload my grad school’s Integrated Learning Experience (ILE) to demonstrate my understanding for creating a Monitoring/Evaluation plan…. AND I chose to include my blog URL on there, should anyone care to see it.

One thing I’ve learned throughout the years is to be consistent across all platforms. If someone were to find me on LinkedIn, I’d want them to know what 9-5 I’m working as well as how to gain access to my blog, which would in turn lead to my other socials.

You can choose to upload your resume, any projects you’ve been working on, etc.

Get creative, this is your chance to humble brag about yourself 🙂

Your Experience

I like to bullet a few points beneath each role I’ve had to keep things concise. I usually copy + paste these from the job description when I applied and tweak it, but if you can’t find it, do not fret! You can still write 3-4 bullets based on your own personal experience.

I added my blog as part of my experience bc again, it’s my baby!! I also attached one blog post to the job role. It’s important to recognize the different projects in your life that have led you where you are today. Working on my blog has taught me SO MUCH, and I really wanted to exemplify those lessons!

If you’re in public health for instance, you can definitely add a marketing or business experience as well! As long as you know how to find some sort of connection, leverage that on your profile! I think we tend to stick to our industries (for good reason), but we sometimes forget every experience plays a role.

That is all the changes I implemented on my profile, but if you have any and would love to share, comment or PM me! I’d love to know!!

Also, I started this random habit of looking up CEOs/founders of companies and organizations I love. And then, I’d look them up online for their work email to get a convo going. I’ve gotten a couple of responses so far, so I think this is proof that sometimes cold messaging works?! LOL. Don’t knock it ’till you try it 😛 I’m just always interested to learn more about people, hence why I love memoirs + autobiographies so much!

Happy linking!! ;P