LinkedIn Etiquette

I apologies for the two weeks delay on this article, it was due to being actively busy KFUPM Career Day, and starting my CIPD Training.

LinkedIn is undeniably a great tool, I use it on a daily basis  and unfortunately I notice some behavior that is not suitable for such a professional platform. I will divide them as follows:

• Profile Etiquette:

• Profile Picture:

When it comes to profile pictures, please avoid the following:

• No Photo:

Not having a profile picture on LinkedIn is the most important thing to avoid. Any viewer to your page will most likely move along.

• Poor Lighting, Pixellated, Far Pictures (unrecognizable):

Dark, pixellated, show that you are unprofessional  also, it shows that type of work that you might be delivering to the company

• Passport Photos:

What I mean with passport pictures is the boring sad-looking photos, try to avoid such photos, you want the recruiter to be happy that he/she saw you, not depressed.

• Party Photos:

NEVER post such photos, especially if you are smoking/drinking in them. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t mind your parents and grandparents seeing it, it would be acceptable to post it.

• Political/Religious Photos:

As a general rule, never mix personal with business.

• “Selfies”:

The self-portrait are photos that are obviously taken from your laptop or by holding your arm out and snapping a picture and the are extremely unprofessional

Now, here is what to try to do:

• Professional Photos:

These can range from hired photographers to your friend taking a professional looking photo of you.

• Event Photos:

If you had the opportunity to attend an exhibit or a conference and had someone take a photo of you there, this can be an ideal photo to be used on LinkedIn

• Location Photo:

I have noticed this with operational employees. they would ware the coveralls of their company and take a photo in location of their work. For your safety avoid unsafe acts and behaviors.

• Tagline:

I know that the urge is to put your current job title and company, but it is always better to have a catch phrase approach to the tagline, also, avoid “Looking for a new opportunity”.

• Summary:

In the summary try to avoid overwriting and over-complicating, short and simple is the target.

• Experience:

I always prefer the “Responsibilities & Accomplishments” approach, also, as always NEVER lie. It is suggested to post photos of yourself with your team in the company, whether it was at a company picnic or any other occasion.

• Education:

Additional information may include being class valedictorian, or being part of a club.

Other fields seem self explanatory, I urge you to put all relevant information so that you get a better chance of being noticed.

• Posting Etiquette:

Now that your profile is set up, it is a good idea to post using LinkedIn, but note the following:

• LinkedIn is a professional platform, it is unwise to post redundant material on there.
• LinkedIn is NOT Twitter, posting more than 5 posts can be considered as spamming by most LinkedIn users.
• Try to focus on your sector, business, and region.
• Share other articles and relevant data with your connection using the share button or by liking other people’s posts.

• Connections Etiquette:

When connecting with other people, do not solicit, I personally hate this, if you have a service and you are connecting to people then sending them messages, that only means that you are trying to avoid paying for sending an InMail.

It is perfectly normal to ask recruiters about job leads, but avoid irritating them.

I also suggest that you change the settings to make the connection visibility set to “only me”, that is mainly to avoid sharing your contact list with marketers.

• Group Etiquette:

• When it comes to groups, I suggest joining groups that relate to your sector, business, and region.
• Keep it professional.
• Start discussions related to the group.
• Join a discussion.
• ALWAYS by respectful to others