LinkedIn Top Tips 2025

Jobseekers-Empowered

Your LinkedIn Profile

It is crucial to have a LinkedIn profile to develop your personal branding and have visibility, when job searching or when employed. Ensure you update your profile regularly, alongside your CV, as both are of equal importance with LinkedIn being your visible online CV.

Your LinkedIn URL

When you have set up your profile page, you will be assigned a unique URL to your page. It is a good idea to personalise this from the one generated which is lengthy and looks untidy when placed in your CV or social media links. This is an easy fix so follow these steps:

Steps to customise your public profile URL

●      Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage

●      Click View profile 

●      Click Edit public profile & URL in the right rail

●      Under Edit your custom URL in the right rail, click the Edit icon next to your public profile URL

●      Type the last part of your new custom URL in the text box

●      Click Save

Open to Work Frame

If job seeking it is advised to add an ‘open to work’ frame over your photo to allow your network to know you are looking for work. They can then message or tag you to opportunities they know or hear about from their network. There is a stigma for some who use this frame as they worry they are perceived as ‘desperate’ so the advice is do what you feel comfortable with. You could create your own frame, as some have done, via a graphic and upload the picture, if you feel you want to be inventive. LinkedIn may add to their frame options going forward but currently there is either the green frame for jobseekers or the purple frame for those hiring. To action either frame you literally click on your photo and select.

Open to Work Settings

In your settings check the toggle options to select who sees you are open to work. For example, you can be in a job but want to notify your interest in jobs casually or confirm you are seeking a new role immediately – these options will allow your profile to be found in recruiter searches. You can therefore be the radar for any opportunities without your employer from knowing but ensure you select the correct toggle option!

Your Photo

You want a photo that looks professional so do not upload holiday photos when you were on the beach, drinking, family photos, pets or photos where you have to split the image. Options are to pay for a professional photo or take a photo from your phone – just ensure you ask someone else to take it. Some companies may organise professional photos to be taken for their website when you join, which is ideal if that option is available. LinkedIn have a long article explaining their take on what to think about!

Background Image

When starting a new job you will connect with your colleagues, they may even send a connection request before you start! It is best to check what company logo or image they are using for their background so do the same. If you are seeking a job, as LinkedIn is a worldwide platform, you can choose a background image related to your location or chosen career, just don't leave it blank as it shows a lack of effort. First impressions are everything and LinkedIn is widely used by everyone for anything career related so perfect your profile!

Your Profile Heading

Alongside your job title, if you are working currently, you are provided with a few lines in which to encapsulate how you want to convey who you are, specific educational achievements, who you are as a person and what you are passionate about. Do your own research to get some ideas on what other people have stated. Some are a bit out there so, again, think about how you want to come across to others!

About

This section allows you to expand in detail on your past experiences and ambitions so requires time and thought.

Skills

You can also select relevant skills to display but you need to use these in your work experiences to validate you have these skills.

Networking

Once you have a LinkedIn profile you can follow companies of interest so you receive their posts, providing company and industry news and opportunities for events or vacancies. You can also network and engage with relevant posts of interest, sign up to any free webinars advertised, and build your own network. There are groups you can request to join – some are ‘private’ and some are public. You can also create a group of your own! AI technology willl also engage with you to suggest posts or people to follow based on your activity and interests.

Posting on LinkedIn

Although standards have slipped, it is advised not to think about LinkedIn as any other social media platform and keep posts and communications with a professional mindset. You will see a tendency for people to use it like Facebook and post very personal updates. Just remember what professional impression and branding you want to convey when you considering posting a comment or sending a post.

Fonts and symbols

LinkedIn do not have options to use bold, italics, different fonts or emojis but there is a way! Ensure you save this information to use when you want posts to stand out and show you have made the effort.

Top Tip

To convert any text to other fonts and/or use bold/italics then simply go to this link and copy and paste back to your profile. https://lnkd.in/eT8HYvX. If you wish to add any bullet points or icons go to this link: https://lnkd.in/ebB5RuR 

LinkedIn Recommendations

LinkedIn provide an opportunity for recommendations to be requested by anyone you worked with or provided a good service for. It is highly recommended to request and obtain these and over time you can build up a series of ‘mini references’ on your profile. Seek to obtain these (which is via an easy request from your page) at suitable times after completing work experiences or jobs. (People can also send these without a request but this is less usual). These can help advance or speed up any potential recruitment opportunities that present themselves, if not now, in the near future, as you can easily refer a recruiter or potential employer to review these. It is very difficult to prove your worth on paper so these recommendations can at least help through genuine feedback which is linked to the person who sent the recommendation.

LinkedIn Learning

Whilst job searching set aside time to do something different, such as learning opportunities via LinkedIn Learning and Coursera - these utilise AI technology to guide you on suggested courses tailored to you. Once completed a course you can post your successes to your network and add to your LinkedIn profile! Tell everyone what you accomplished in a post and summarise what knowledge you obtained! Grow your network through shared interests.Note the differences between both course links:

Certificates from Coursera are accredited. You can purchase courses individually, subscribe or access some content for free. LinkedIn Learning has 17,000 courses to choose from with a strong focus on professional development. LinkedIn Learning certificates are not accredited.

LinkedIn - AI new job hunting tools

Check the latest AI technologies being implemented via LinkedIn as summarised with additional tips and advice:

Algorithms tailor suggested jobs of interest through analysing your profile and job preferences. It is therefore vital to mirror your updated CV to your LinkedIn profile, ensuring you have captured the right keywords. This additionally supports your matches when you apply directly to companies.

Interview Practice is available via AI-powered analysation tools, such as HireVue, that processes your physical and vocal responses to questions asked, scoring you based on your responses as set by the software's criteria. These tools are expensive so are only implemented by larger companies to speed up their selection process and receive mixed reviews.

Two examples, providing a positive and negative on the views of those who have completed the process are below: Reviews with HireVue

Positive Review

My first reaction when I received the email was "screw that", especially when I heard about the AI scoring. But I bit the bullet and it did result in a real interview and (eventually) a job offer. Its an awkward experience and everyone involved understands that. If its for a job you really want then don't over-think it and just do it. Nothing to lose.

Negative Review

I found it extremely uncomfortable because I knew I was not talking with a person that had emotions, conversational nuances, or technical knowledge - I was just having a one-sided conversation with an algorithm. While I'm usually really good in interviews, I found myself struggling to keep preaching for 5+ minutes to a program that I knew ultimately wouldn't score me fairly. I also had to play some logical games at the end to score my "intelligence". In the end, I did not get a follow-up and found the whole experience to be quite discomforting. I've now decided to not pursue employment with any agencies that require a "pre-interview" based off of AI-powered analyzation software, specifically HireVue. I do not care if they use an automated sorting process for my resume, I understand the need for such sotware; but I now draw the line at one-sided video "interviews". If you actually are interested in me as a candidate, do your job and actually afford me a real interview.

If you are seeking a human to provide you with interview coaching or a CV Refresh, CV Production or an Employability Package, please note we will work with you on your LinkedIn personal branding, as part of any service taken, and write any content required.

For a free consultation email jobseekersepowered@outlook.com

www.jobseekers-empowered.co.uk