Why Are Some Food & Beverage Professionals 40X MORE LIKELY to Be Contacted on LinkedIn?
It’s pretty simple: they’ve achieved “All-Star” status.
In fact, professionals with a LinkedIn All-Star rating are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn. Forty times!
More than likely, you already have a profile – but if all you’ve done is uploaded your resume, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to differentiate yourself and leverage LinkedIn as a powerful, career-building tool.
So get off the bench, and get in the game. Here are six things you can do to become a LinkedIn All-Star – and get contacted by more executive food & beverage recruiters:
1. Meet the Basic Qualifications.
To qualify, your page must contain the following:
- Industry and location
- An up-to-date current position, including a description
- Two past positions
- Education
- Skills (minimum of three)
- Profile photo
- At least 50 connections
Of course, these are just the minimum qualifications. To truly separate yourself from within the All-Star pack, improve your LinkedIn profile from top to bottom:
2. Optimize your Title and Summary.
Recruiters often use LinkedIn’s advanced search features to source potential food & beverage executives and professionals. By seeding your title and summary with keywords that reflect your area of specialization, job function, industry and experience, you’re much more likely to rank well in their search results.
3. Claim Your URL.
A customized URL improves your search results, while making it easier to direct people to your profile (which is huge if you have a common name). To edit your LinkedIn URL:
- From the main menu, click “Me” and select “View Profile.”
- On the right rail, click “Edit your public profile.”
- On the right rail, click the pencil icon next to your LinkedIn URL.
- Customize your URL and save your changes.
4. Add Media.
The vast majority of us learn visually, and we all process visual information much more quickly than we do text. In this earlier post, “If You Build It, Will They Come?” we share the following tips to make your profile more visually appealing and grab recruiters’ attention:
- Review your resume for accomplishments or responsibilities that could be represented visually (put on your thinking cap to drum up some creative ideas).
- Upload selected slides from PowerPoint presentations you’ve made.
- Add video clips of speeches you’ve given.
- Link to blog posts you’ve written or positive press your company has received.
Once you decide what types of media you’d like to add, uploading it is pretty easy. Just choose the appropriate type of media from the “Link to media” option in each section of your profile. When prompted, add a short title and description. Then, when a recruiter browses your profile, he’ll see the thumbnails and titles. And if he clicks on a thumbnail, he’ll see the full version of the media you uploaded along with your description.
5. Include Volunteer Experience and Causes.
Listing your volunteer work and passion projects rounds out your professional identity. What’s more, many hiring managers view volunteer experience as equivalent to full-time work experience.
Adding volunteer work is simple. From the right rail on your profile, just select “Volunteer experience” from the “Add new profile section” drop down.
6. Garner Recommendations.
While recommendations won’t necessarily make your profile more searchable, they do enhance your credibility. So get recommendations right. As a rule of thumb, include one to two recommendations for each position you list. Beyond that, only include recommendations that are truly impressive and showcase your soft skills as much as the measurable results you’ve delivered.
Want more expert LinkedIn advice?
Check out these earlier Kinsa posts:
Get Recruiters to Look at Your LinkedIn Profile
What You Need to Know to Get on a Recruiter’s LinkedIn Radar
Pros and Cons of Including a LinkedIn Photo
Looking for your next professional or executive food & beverage position?
- Follow Kinsa’s Company Page on LinkedIn (where we post our open positions).
- Join our Group page and network with Kinsa recruiters.
- Connect with our recruiters on LinkedIn by visiting the “Contact Us” page on Kinsa.com.
- If you see a job posting that interests you on our job board, click our button “Apply with LinkedIn.” It’s an easy way to provide the comprehensive information our recruiters need to get to know you as a professional.