When you’re looking to impress potential employers and business peers, it can be difficult to show off your personality on the limited pages of a resume or job application. Thankfully, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity to get more personal with your network.
With room for a summary that encompasses your career highlights and the option to write recommendations for your fellow colleagues, LinkedIn can truly help showcase your personality. To help you drive deeper, more personal connections, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council detail how to put your best foot forward and let your unique self shine through.
1. Share Valuable Posts
One of the best ways to show your personality on LinkedIn in order to impress your network and potential employers is by following and sharing posts of different charitable organizations that are working to make the world a better place. By sharing what you deeply care about, it shows you possess a healthy emotional outlook and are open to change—qualities that smart employers look for when building their teams. – Richard Fong, Bliss Drive
2. Get Active
Fill out your profile, participate in relevant discussions and join the corresponding groups. Add additional certifications, guest articles of yours or volunteering organizations you’ve been a member of. Don’t merely list your college; briefly share what you’ve learned and specialized at. Unlike digital bios, being able to participate in discussions (in the form of a real social network) is one of the strengths of LinkedIn. While reviewing LinkedIn applications, I always check the recent activity on LinkedIn. Insightful commentaries and adequate dialogue carry a lot of weight in demonstrating your skills in practice and are easy to apply in the context of the platform. – Mario Peshev, DevriX
3. Write About Your Expertise
You can write and post regular articles showing your expertise. I do that on LinkedIn to talk about e-commerce as well as digital marketing and the technology trends that can affect online platforms. In addition, I can show off my writing style and tone so that prospective employees and clients can see my personality in a professional manner. Writing allows you to build connections with new readers. You can add a new perspective to the world. Writing on LinkedIn has the added benefit of showing your business specialty on a platform. Take that opportunity to display your gifts and passions. – Duran Inci, Optimum7
4. Encourage Social Proof
You can let your personality shine on LinkedIn by encouraging clients or co-workers to share social proof in the endorsements and reviews section of your profile. I believe this is an excellent way to impress potential employers and your network because you’re letting other people speak for you instead of simply talking yourself up for the crowd. When people see that other clients and professionals had a good experience working with you, they are more likely to reach out and engage with you on LinkedIn. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
5. Add Humor
A little bit of humor never hurts. I know that I connect with LinkedIn profiles where the person adds humor to their content. Some ideas are to use witty headings in your LinkedIn bio or update your photo with something creative or funny. Why not list “world-class foodie” among your skills? That’ll get the attention of the right people. Don’t be afraid to use some personality when sharing who you are on LinkedIn. While such profiles may put some businesses off, it’s probably for the best. You should look for a workplace that will celebrate your personality. So, get creative with your profile and content and the right people will hire you for it. – Blair Williams, MemberPress
6. Send Personalized Messages
Send a customized message. Introduce yourself to the employer. Tell them who you are and why you are interested in the position. Explain the skills you have and how excited you are to find a position that will be able to utilize your skills. Bullet points on a resume are great, but the reality is that we hire people, not certificates. When their personality shows through, the employer is more likely to hire an underqualified candidate who has taken the time to really show the employer who they are than a person who may have more qualifications, but didn’t take the time to say hello. – Mary Harcourt, CosmoGlo
7. Discuss Your Interests Outside Of Work
I find the most interesting and engaging candidates have hobbies and interests outside of the typical things you’d expect for the position they are applying for. It’s easy for the programmer to talk about all the classes and certifications and boot camps they’ve done, but what about them being into music? How does that apply? For example, I’ve found that college athletes who apply with us are typically driven and competitive. I’ve found that musicians are typically detailed. I’ve found that people who volunteer at nonprofits show great empathy and patience in dealing with clients and other issues. The nontraditional interests, hobbies and skills help show who you are and can also signal better job performance. – Joel Mathew, Fortress Consulting
8. Share Relevant Photos
Images and other visuals will always capture people’s attention more than text content. Even hiring managers and business owners will engage more with pictures and videos. A smart thing that you can do is to share pictures of yourself in settings that showcase your skills and personality. It could be while you’re presenting something or doing community service. I’ve seen people take screenshots of their own Twitter posts and upload them on LinkedIn. Such posts generate a lot of engagement and can be a great way to showcase who you are to interested recruiters. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
9. Highlight Volunteer Activities
Personally, I think the best way to get more personal on LinkedIn is to share your volunteerism. Not only do you learn about someone’s special interests and possible hobbies just from their profile, but they can also create great talking points—especially if you share the same interests or work with the same type of groups! Talking about volunteering can be a great ice-breaker as well. – Kristy Knichel, Knichel Logistics
