If you don't understand a thing about LinkedIn

After refreshing your Instagram 386 times and yet another pointless visit to Facebook, it's LinkedIn's turn. Since my graduation (not lying), I posted a message again and my page went wild. Messages, likes, profile visits, connections; suddenly LinkedIn turned out to be the medium where everyone hangs out (ever heard of LinkedIn-flirting by the way?). Logical of course, because the networking drinks have been canceled.

I had good news to share fortunately, because thanks to you we hit 1.1 unique readers in May, but LinkedIn seems more important than ever right now. In this crazy period, many people are losing their jobs, but many are also gaining insights about the job they have. It's the perfect moment to dust off your LinkedIn and get it running again, but how do you do that? Because after scrolling through the timeline, where you're presented with a new world of interesting articles, my knowledge stops. I looked it up for you.

1. You have something like a headline
This is besides your name and photo the very first thing that gets noticed about you. It's actually your handshake and the first seven seconds in which people form an opinion about you. You could see it as a personal slogan. How silly is it if there’s something there where all inspiration has been squeezed out? Oh, personal annoyance: please leave the emojis out of this sentence for God's sake. We're on a business platform. Jokes are allowed, they stand out among the umpteenth senior consultant. How do you formulate a good headline? Think about what you want people to know about you. Is it your position or what you're good at or that you're looking for a new job?

2. The photo
Besides a thousand-and-one studies on photos on Instagram and the influence of selfies, the LinkedIn photo is also a grateful subject. Look at the camera, don’t look at the camera, look professional, but God forbid no selfies. Everyone has something to say about what is wise. Actually, most researchers say you should go for a photo of your face, where you look into the lens. And whether that’s that one photo above a cocktail in a bar or that sudden glance into the camera where you look attentive yet intelligent, I’ll leave that up to you.

3. Stand out
Be active on LinkedIn, but not so much that people think you have nothing to do all day (even if that might be the case). Post updates that you find interesting, it can be your own work but also an article that gave you an insight. It says something about you and who you are. Furthermore, it’s smart to have recommendations from the right people. Think of managers, directors, and partners you’ve worked on projects with. Feel free to ask for this from people you’ve collaborated with. Or give recommendations yourself, there’s a good chance you’ll get them back. And suddenly LinkedIn also seems to work according to the principle of ‘like for like’, only then business-like.