LinkedIn is one of the most popular methods used by people in business to advertise themselves to potential customers and is especially useful to recruiters looking for potential clients and candidates to make those all-important placements. Recruiters can easily search through the millions of profiles for candidates who may have the skills to fill their roles or to find the particular hiring managers within the prospective clients they want to contact. However, having an incomplete profile or displaying the wrong information can work against a recruiter and reduce the confidence in the candidate or client in being able to fill the role.

As keen networkers within the staffing and recruitment industry, TBOS staff see many recruitment consultants profiles daily and we see that many have a great social media presence and others make the similar mistakes which could stop them from being taken seriously.

Below is a list of some of the key mistakes we see on a regular basis on LinkedIn profiles:-

• LACK OF CONTACT DETAILS

The whole point of being a recruitment consultant is that you would ideally like your clients and candidates to be calling you with jobs and applications but there is still a large number of profiles that do not have a telephone number or email address for anyone to contact them. The other key mistake is profiles which show “Contact me through LinkedIn” under “Advice for Contacting” but if you don’t have InMail facilities this makes it very hard for you to be contacted by candidates or clients.

• DISPLAYING DATE OF BIRTH

LinkedIn has many additional fields it can show on your profile which aren’t necessarily key to showing your skills and capabilities as a recruiter. One of the main ones is displaying the date of birth on your profile which could be seen as a security risk for any business and as most IT experts will tell you, it’s not a good idea for this information to be public knowledge.

• STILL WORKING FOR OLD EMPLOYER

Keeping your profile updated on a regular basis is not too difficult with LinkedIn and when you move to a new position it is always advisable to update your details with your new company and contact details. However, there appears to be a lack of attention to this process and you will often find that profiles show people working for multiple employers as they have not closed off their old position plus they are still displaying old email addresses and contact numbers for their previous position.

• SUMMARY DOESN’T SAY WHAT YOU CAN OFFER

When someone visits your LinkedIn profile, the first section which is often read is the Summary. Populating this with key information on your skills, experience and what you can offer is imperative so that people who view your profile get an understanding of what services you provide and how you can help fulfil the clients and candidates needs.

• KEEPING THE PROFILE PROFESSIONAL

LinkedIn is equivalent of Facebook for business minded people and as such keeping your profile professional is important to give that same impression to the business community. Having a profile picture which reflects your business attitude and keeping the information displayed the same as you would to a potential employer or client can have a positive effect on you and the business you work for.

The staff at TBOS are always keen to give a good impression to our potential clients and reviewing our LinkedIn profile and other social media presence is something we look at on a regular basis. As advances in other forms of social media rise it is important that as a business and as a representative the company you work for that you ensure you are giving the best impression to make the most of these tools.

For more information on how TBOS uses social media or how we can help you manage the back office and accounts needs of your agency please do not hesitate to contact us.