Make LinkedIn right for whatever purpuse you need it.

We talk so much about “personal branding” and “growth on LinkedIn” like it is some magical thing. But nobody ever explains what to actually do, step by step, like you are a normal human with a life.

So let me just tell you my strategy the way I tell a friend over coffee.

LinkedIn has many functions, it is not just one thing.

1. It is useful for finding a job through the jobs platform, it is useful for getting headhunted, meaning people find you and reach out to you and when they reach out to you first, you suddenly have leverage, because psychologically, they already decided you are interesting. It is also useful for business, partnerships, services, clients, collaborations, literally so much.

2. LinkedIn is your personal branding. It is how you present yourself, with your personality included (AI-written LinkedIns without any personality are so monotone and so flat. They do not feel human and that is not what employers, future business partners, or people following you want to see.) If you actually want to succeed, you always start with your profile. Not posting, not commenting, your profile, you need to decide how do you want to present yourself, what is your story, what is the one factor you want people to remember...

   
   

3. Banner Your banner presents who you are. It should not be some random template that looks like everyone else, make it your, make it clear what you do and who you help.

   
   

   

4. Photo Your photo is the first face people see. People want to see who you are, because they want to connect the face to your About section. My recommendation is no sunglasses, try to smile and please just look like you. If you are bubbly and energetic, do not use a super serious photo that looks like you hate life. It creates a weird mismatch

   
   

   

   
   

5. Headline Your headline is basically your keywords and your positioning. It is how recruiters and business partners understand who you are in one line. It should not be fluffy. It should be clear.

   
   

6. About section The About section is very important, especially how you start. You need to describe your personality and your traits and strengths, and connect that with what you do. Align your personality with your occupation. Let it sound like you, not like a brochure.

Then you move to the part people care about the most.

7. Experience is probably the most important, because people want to see what you did in the previous company that you can do for them now. This is where you learn to sell your skills. With clear outcomes and what changed because of you.

8. Skills Skills matter because recruiters and hiring managers search for skills. This is literally how they find you. So you want your skills to match the roles you want, not just random skills you collected over the years.

   
   

9. Recommendations Recommendations are always nice because they are social proof. (What I would do if I were you is go to previous colleagues, former colleagues, or someone you worked with on a project and say, “Hey, do you mind if I give you a recommendation on LinkedIn?” Then after you do it for them, you ask, “Can you give me one also?” Usually they will not say no)

Now comes the part most people mess up.

10. Network Who you connect with matters. Your network is your access.

    If you are using LinkedIn mainly to find a job, you should focus on the top companies in your country and start adding people from those companies. But who you add is the most important part. I would focus on people above your level, HR and Talent Acquisition, hiring managers, and potential team leads. These are the people who can actually open doors.

11. And now Activity.

Posting on LinkedIn is a great way to help you, but you need to be smart about it.

... Comments If you comment negativity all the time, people remember that and your employer sees your comments and if you keep writing “I am interested” under job posts, you are not helping yourself. Speaking from an HR perspective, nobody hires the person who comments “I´m nterested” under a post. It does not show value, it does not show initiative, and it does not stand out.

... Posting You do not need to post every day. Post twice per week.

Every occupation has its own value and it is actually interesting when you share what you do. If you have the right people in your network, like team leads, directors, HR, hiring managers, and you start posting about your field, people will see you differently.

If you are in marketing, post about marketing. Share what you are learning, what you are building, what is working, what is not working, and your real perspective. Then when you apply for a job, the right people already see proof that you know what you are doing. You are not just saying “I am good at marketing.” You are showing it and you will start attracting people with the same mindset. You will start growing your presence naturally.

If you want to build your network faster, you can even use ChatGPT for the research part. Ask for 100 companies in your target industry and location. Then ask for 100 more. Then go through those companies on LinkedIn and start connecting with the right people inside them.

That is it. That is the real strategy. Profile first, network second, proof through content third and keep it human, because people do not connect with perfect.