FOOLISH THINGS TO AVOID IN LINKEDIN

LinkedIn is a place where one can demonstrate his/her experience and expertise and can also build relationships in industries. It is a platform for organizations to showcase their work to prospects. But it isn’t just enough to join LinkedIn. It is yet important to know the ins and outs of the platform. After all, one wants to get more views and attract new leads. Statistics say that nearly 95% of the recruiters use LinkedIn. If one is looking for a change or networking, a little attention can boost in a long way.

However, it is often found that we don’t realize what mistakes we are doing. Here are some foolish things to be avoided when building a
professional profile on LinkedIn.

• Using an inappropriate profile photo: Being a business consultant, it is not acceptable that you put a picture of one of your vacations in a beach or a farm. The picture should always have job-related attire.
• Keeping your profile outdated: LinkedIn is a platform that helps you connect with others, your clients will want to see your recent information that talks about your current role, what you are looking to do, what you are up to. LinkedIn always wants your updated profile.
• Not sharing what other people post: It’s important that you invest some of your time on others by liking articles that they have posted. Finding good information and sharing it is important because it makes you appear in the news feeds of people, thus bringing more attention to you frequently. This makes you an active as well as a participatory member in the network.
• Assigning yourself fluff titles: calling yourself with fluff names can make you sound foolish, not clever. This does not consider you seriously. Therefore, add aspects to your job that are factual and viable at the same time.
• Only commenting on posts but not tagging people by name: By tagging people’s name you encourage your contact. Commenting should contain a thoughtful response with the name of the person tagged in it. This helps in a free flow of your goodwill.
• Avoid spelling mistakes: know which word you want to use and make sure it’s the right one. Avoid writing in Queen’s English. Using the wrong word prevents you from getting across the message you want to send.
• Readable and clean wall: always try to post things that are attractive and readable. Try to avoid verbosity and put appropriate white space and bullets.
• Staying on top of your inbox message: LinkedIn is all about building relationships so do not let any inbox get out of control. If someone is making time to message you then you should message them back which shows that you care too.
• Being selective about the connections you accept: it is very important to connect with the selective people because it represents the type of person you are. Don’t accept all the requests. Make sure you know who they are and what is their credentials.
• Do not send too much request: Sometimes, it gets annoying. Be selective at the time of sending a request to the people to connect with.
• Keep managing your visibility: selecting people who can see your profile because your profile is important. Customize your profile setting to set a limit on how much of your profile information can be displayed. Try to turn off or turn on the section of the profile that you want to be visible on search engines for the public.
• Read a person’s profile before sending them request: LinkedIn is a place where you meet with a professional person so check the person’s profile briefly before sending them a request by which you get better exposure.
• Don’t lie: LinkedIn is a platform that helps you connect with others, so no one wants to see a fake person. That’s why put all the correct information regarding yourself.
• Do not use the logo as your display profile image: LinkedIn is a professional networking site that connect people to people not people to a logo. So put your original display image and if you want to add your company’s logo then make a company page, not a personal page.
• Self-promotion: LinkedIn is primarily built as a networking tool so try to promote yourself but don’t be self-obsessed. Try to engage people by posting a good post on your wall.

As making mistake can teach you a lesson but repeating those mistakes can ruin your image. People and recruiters check every detail of yours before hiring you. Whether it is a part-time job or a full-time job, the recruiter checks every single detail of yours. So make your profile attractive and eye-catchy.

Submitted By: Arpita Tiwari| Pragati Vig
(PGDM Batch 2019-21)