How often should I change my LinkedIn Summary?

As I write the LinkedIn Summary for the leaders who are my clients, it is a big deal to get it done once. However, like anything online, your LinkedIn profile is not static and your LinkedIn Summary should transform.

Evaluate your LinkedIn Summary regularly

1. Does it resonate with your brand?
2. Are you showcasing the skills you want employers to find?
3. Does your LinkedIn Summary sound approachable?
4. Have you given people a way to reach you?

What does brand have to do with your LinkedIn Summary?

Your LinkedIn Summary is the first opportunity to introduce your brand to your audience in a clear message. Your LinkedIn headline should be doing that but it is only 120 characters. The summary is 2000 characters, which allows you to better differentiate yourself and your brand.

How do you showcase skills?

Leverage the summary area to support the brand message with concise examples. Show how you are an asset to your company or how you would help another company reach its goals.

You can use an example from your resume, tell a story about what draws you to your career path, or find a philosophy you follow. Are you looking for a leadership role? Identify how you lead.

Do you sound approachable?

It is very difficult to sound approachable if you write about yourself in the third person. Hopefully you wouldn’t come up to someone and talk about yourself in the third person. It would sound silly. For example, if I walk up to someone and say, “Julie Walraven is a professional resume writer who works with job seekers using unique interactive video meetings. She has helped many job seekers find career happiness.”

People would be looking around to see where Julie is because I was talking about her as if she was someone else!

Rather, I might say, “Hi, I’m Julie Walraven. As a professional resume writer, I work with job seekers using Zoom, a highly improved Skype-like video technology. This allows the job seekers to be a part of the process from start to finish as they take part in their resume and LinkedIn development.”

That feels much more personal and approachable. When you write, you should always sound approachable but not so focused on the “I” factor.

How can people approach you?

If someone connects with you, they see your contact information. However, hiring managers and recruiters may not be connected. Make it easy. Put some form of contact (email or phone) in the summary.

In addition, there are new settings allow you to set your email to everyone. This is my recommendation to ensure rapid access by hiring managers and recruiters. If you are easy to reach, you won’t get passed up.

I know we worry about spam and annoying phone calls. However, I find that robocalls and spam find you anyway so you might as well make it easy for people to reach you.

Evaluate and change your LinkedIn summary often. The reason marketers change their commercials often is that we tire of the same message. In addition, Google likes changing content so it will be likely to be seen more often if you make changes to your profile.

I write resumes and LinkedIn profiles for leaders and executives throughout the United States. My interactive process allows people to ask those questions they want answered as we work together.

Talk with me about working together

My insight on current trends in resume writing and LinkedIn is based on constant connection with the career industry. You can be confident that I will steer you in the right direction. Learn more.