LinkedIn & Social Media Guide for Job Hunting

Make sure your online presence supports your CV

You’ve got your CV ready.
Now it’s worth spending a little time making sure that what an employer finds online gives the same professional impression.

The good news is that creating your LinkedIn profile is easy once your CV is finished — most of the information you need is already there.

And while you’re at it, take a quick look at your other social-media accounts too.

Turn Your CV into Your LinkedIn Profile

CV writing companies will charge as much as £50 to create your LinkedIn profile!
But all they do is copy and paste directly from your CV!
So, do it yourself, and save the cost.

You don’t need to start from scratch.
Your new CV already contains your Professional Profile, Employment History, Education, Skills, Qualifications and Achievements.

In most cases, it’s simply a matter of putting each part into the equivalent section on LinkedIn.
Simply follow the step-by-step instruction, below…

Your Professional Profile → LinkedIn “About”

Your CV‘s Professional Profile gives you an excellent starting point for your LinkedIn About section.
You can use much of the same wording, although LinkedIn can be a little more conversational.

For example:
On your CV:
Motivated Business graduate with experience in customer service and administration…

On LinkedIn:
I’m a Business graduate with experience in customer service and administration…

You don’t have to rewrite everything.
The important thing is that your CV and LinkedIn profile tell the same story.

Employment History → LinkedIn “Experience”

Add each job separately.

Copy across your:

  • Job title
  • Employer
  • Location
  • Dates
  • Responsibilities
  • Achievements

Your CV has already identified and professionally described the most useful parts of your experience, so there is no need to reinvent them.

Education → LinkedIn “Education”

Copy your school, college or university information into LinkedIn’s Education section.

Include the qualification, subject, institution and relevant dates.

Again, keep it consistent with your CV.

Key Skills → LinkedIn “Skills”

Use the Key Skills section of your CV as your starting point.

Add the skills most relevant to the type of job you are looking for, with your strongest and most important skills taking priority.

Qualifications & Certificates → “Licences & Certifications”

Add relevant professional qualifications, certificates, training and licences.

If something doesn’t fit naturally here, it may be more appropriate under Education.

Achievements & Awards

If your CV includes useful awards, scholarships, competitions or other achievements, add these to the appropriate section of LinkedIn too.

You don’t need to include absolutely everything.
Concentrate on information that strengthens the professional picture you are presenting.

Add a Good Profile Photograph

Use a clear, recent photograph where you look approachable and suitably presented for the type of work you want.

It doesn’t have to be an expensive professional photograph.
A clear photograph, uncluttered background and friendly expression are usually all you need.

Check Your LinkedIn Headline

Don’t waste the space underneath your name.

Instead of simply:
Student
or:
Looking for work
consider something more useful:

Business Graduate | Customer Service & Administration | Seeking Entry-Level Opportunities

Your headline can quickly tell a recruiter what you have to offer and what sort of work interests you.

Personalise Your LinkedIn Address

LinkedIn allows you to have a cleaner public profile address.

Something like:
linkedin.com/in/alex-morgan
looks much better on a CV than a long address containing unnecessary numbers and characters.

Before You Start Applying — Check Your Other Social Media

Your CV isn’t necessarily the only information an employer may see.

A recruiter or employer may search your name online or look at publicly available social-media profiles before deciding whether to progress your application.

So look at your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and any other public accounts through the eyes of someone considering employing you.

Ask yourself one simple question:
Would I be comfortable with the person interviewing me tomorrow seeing this?

If the answer is no, do something about it.

Have a Quick Clean-Up

Look through publicly visible photographs, posts, comments and tagged content.

Pay particular attention to:

  • photographs showing you extremely drunk or behaving badly;
  • sexually explicit or seriously inappropriate content;
  • offensive, abusive or aggressive comments;
  • posts attacking previous employers, managers, customers or colleagues;
  • photographs or posts suggesting illegal behaviour;
  • public arguments and hostile exchanges;
  • highly contentious political or social commentary that could distract from the professional impression you want to create;
  • offensive jokes or material that may have seemed amusing several years ago but doesn’t represent you well now.

This doesn’t mean pretending you don’t have a personality, opinions, or a life outside work!

It simply means recognising the difference between private life and information you’ve chosen to make available to anyone who searches your name.

Check Your Privacy Settings

You don’t necessarily have to delete your personal photographs and posts.
Instead, check who can actually see them.

Facebook, Instagram and other platforms allow you to control the visibility of much of your content.

Make sure that photographs and conversations intended for friends aren’t unnecessarily visible to the whole world.

And don’t forget old posts.
Your social-media history may go back years.

Check What Other People Have Tagged You In

It isn’t only your own posts that matter.

Look at photographs and posts in which other people have tagged you and check whether these are publicly visible.

If necessary, remove the tag or adjust your settings.

Google Your Own Name

This takes about a minute and can be surprisingly useful.

Search your name and, if necessary, add your town, university or employer.

Look at the results and images that appear.

You’re seeing roughly the same public information that somebody researching you may find.

If something embarrassing, misleading or outdated appears, investigate whether you can remove it, make it private or update it.

Check the Small Things Too

Even if your account is private, people may still be able to see things such as your:

  • Profile photograph
  • Username
  • Biography
  • Cover photograph
  • Public comments
  • Public posts

A jokey username you created when you were 14 might not create quite the professional impression you want at 24.

Don’t Sanitise Yourself Out of Existence

There’s no need to turn every social-media account into a corporate brochure.

Being involved in sport, travelling, spending time with friends, volunteering, pursuing hobbies, or simply enjoying life can all show that you’re a normal, rounded person.

The goal isn’t to appear perfect.

It’s simply to make sure there isn’t something publicly visible that needlessly gives an employer a reason to question your judgement or professionalism.

One Final Check

Before you begin sending applications:

  • CV: ready.
  • LinkedIn: complete and consistent with your CV.
  • Facebook and Instagram: privacy checked.
  • Old public posts and photographs: reviewed.
  • Google search: checked.
  • Contact details: professional and up to date.

And just one other thing: if you have a silly email address, simply get a new free one @gmail, or wherever.
You don’t want to be spelling out your email address like: umpa-umpa-stickitupyerjumpa@zestypestyemail.com

Your CV gets you noticed.
Your LinkedIn profile backs it up.
Make sure the rest of your online presence doesn’t undo the good work.