LinkedIn is a platform designed for professionals to connect, share, and collaborate.

In this lesson, you will learn how to leverage the platform to build and maintain a professional profile and network, stay informed about industry trends and opportunities, get recognition and improve your professional development.

Optimize your profile

  • Use a professional and clear profile photo. It's the first thing people notice. Check our toolbox below for AI solutions to help you with the visual assets.

  • Craft a compelling headline that quickly conveys your professional identity or current role.

  • Consider it a super-short pitch - a concise and engaging summary that highlights your skills, experience, and career goals.

    Optimize for Search by including relevant keywords in your headline, summary, and experience sections to make your profile more discoverable.

  • If you don’t have any work or education experience yet, focus on skills instead - whether learned through personal projects or school assignments, they are all relevant. Read more below on how to use LinkedIn to learn and acquire skill certificates.

    If you already have experience, provide detailed information about your work experience, including key achievements and responsibilities. Remember to include links to the web pages of companies, educational institutions, organizations, as well as proof of certificates.

    If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s good to set-up a company page for your business and refer to it in your own profile.

Build a network

  • Connect with colleagues, classmates, companies, mentors, and professionals you genuinely know, want to know, or have interacted with. Personalize connection requests with a brief message.

    Participate in LinkedIn Groups related to your industry or interests to expand your network and engage in discussions.

    Avoid sending out sales pitches as connection requests. Create a relationship with the person first, involve business later.

  • LinkedInis a social media, and arguably the best place to engage, if you got some spare time in a day.

    • Sharing content - industry-related articles, insights, and personal updates to showcase your expertise.

    • Liking and commenting your network's posts by liking and commenting to stay visible and foster engagement.

    • Recommending and Endorsing the skills of your connections and write thoughtful recommendations for colleagues.

    Reminder, that LinkedIn is a professional space, so tune your behaviour accordingly.

  • Request and provide recommendations and endorsements to strengthen your profile and build credibility, as well as help others out by showing appreciation for their professional abilities. You are more likely to get future work and referrals from people to whom you have provided recognition.

  • Attend and share virtual or in-person networking events. They’re a great way to get new connections. You can afterwards share your experiences on LinkedIn, whether through personal post, or reposting content from the event organizers.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning can help you acquire new skills and/or receive certification for skills you already have.

The platform is based on self-paced transcribed and translatable video lessons, regularly updated with new courses and content to reflect the latest industry trends and technologies, often before formal education institutions.

The courses are developed by industry experts and professionals in fields such as business, technology, creative skills, and more. The platform recommends courses based on your listed skills and professional titles, and can help you curate a learning plan for acquiring entire skill-set based on a job description or offer you’d like to reach.

Upon finishing a course, users can obtain a certificate of completion, which can be shared on their LinkedIn profiles. This is a valuable way to showcase newly acquired skills to their professional network.

Users can go for skill assessments, that allows validation of existing proficiency in specific skills. Completing assessments can enhance the visibility of your skills on your LinkedIn profile, and grant you with worldwide recognizable certification.

It’s possible for companies to offer a premium plan for their workers, so make sure to ask!