NYU Silver
LinkedIn Guide
Tips for Creating a Strong LinkedIn Profile
Choose a profile picture that reflects how you want to be represented.
Your profile picture will be the first thing people will see when landing on your profile page. First impressions are important and you want to make sure that your profile picture is recent, front-facing, reflects how you look on a daily basis, and that your face takes up at least 60% of the space. A LinkedIn image is 400x400 pixels. Try to choose an image that is high resolution.
Resources:
NYU Photo Bureau offers FREE headshot portraits for students
Customize your URL.
When you first create a LinkedIn, you will be assigned a URL with random letters and numbers. To change this, go to your profile page. Click on “Edit public profile & URL.” Then, in the upper right hand corner, click on the small pencil icon in the box labeled “Edit your custom URL.” The format “linkedin.com/in/yourfirstnameyourlastname” is recommended, but choose a customized URL that’s simple. This way, your URL will be easier to find and search for.
Add a banner photo.
Adding a banner image will help engage your audience and grab their attention. Choose an image that helps to communicate more about you and what matters to you. To edit your banner photo, click on the round pencil icon in the upper right hand corner all the way at the top of your profile page.
Optimize your headline.
Your headline will appear below your profile photo and will likely be the first thing people read about you. It is also what appears in search results and therefore, is what employers and recruiters will see when searching for candidates for open roles.
Avoid vague or generic phrases and focus on what sets you apart from others in your field. Your headline should communicate what makes you unique and why someone should choose to work with you. Focus on your strengths, accomplishments, and unique value proposition. Additionally, keywords are important for optimizing your profile for search engines, so make sure to include relevant keywords in your headline. Think about the words and phrases that people would use to search for someone with your skills and experience.
Try this structure for writing a headline: who you are in the context of your scope of practice, what you have to offer, and what impact you hope to make in the field. Remember to keep it clear and brief (ideally 120 characters or less).
Examples:
MSW Graduate | Specializing in Treating Older Adults and their Families through Holistic Care Planning and Coordination to Enhance their Quality of Life
Community Outreach Specialist | Social Worker who Builds Bridges between Communities and Organizations through Strategic Engagement and Effective Partnerships
Child Welfare Advocate | Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of At-Risk Children and Families in the Community
Resources:
Write a summary that crafts your narrative and builds your brand.
A summary is a crucial component to your profile that can help showcase your skills, experience, and personality to potential employers, clients, or colleagues. Your summary should be written in first person ("I, me, my") and reflect your personality and voice. Focus on making a memorable impression, engaging your audience, and describing what makes you unique or why someone should work with you. Like your headline, your summary should also include relevant keywords.
Consider including the following information:
Your education, any licenses or certifications (including those in progress), and your training and experience
Any areas of specialization
The methods, approaches, and lenses you use to practice social work
How your identities, perspectives, values, and personal experiences influence your practice
What you view as the key component to building relationships with clients
Why you chose to become a social worker, what motivates you, fulfills you most, or what you love most about being a social worker
A skills section at the bottom that includes relevant keywords for your field of practice.
Try the following structure to write your summary:
Paragraph 1: Start with a hook that describes what drives you in this field. Describe your area of focus and how you practice and/or approach your social work. What are you committed to? What are your areas of expertise?
Paragraph 2: Explain what led you to social work. Then, briefly describe your social work journey by emphasizing your skills and experience in the field. Mention any highlights and/or accomplishments your are particularly proud of. What are the passions and strengths that are common threads throughout your journey? Lastly, explain your goals or the impact you hope to make in the field. What kinds of opportunities are you seeking?
You can also add a call to action such as "If you are seeking a social worker who is committed to social change, I would be thrilled to connect with you." or "Contact me to learn more about how we can work together to improve the well-being of our communities."
Skills Section: Signature Skills: Empathy, Crisis Intervention, Assessment, Strengths-Based Approach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Working in Interdisciplinary Teams
Your LinkedIn profile should be different from your resume.
Your LinkedIn profile should complement your resume, but it should not be a complete copy of it. Here are a few ways that your LinkedIn profile should differ from your resume:
While resumes use a more formal tone, feel free to use the first person ("I, me, my") in a more conversational tone on your LinkedIn that showcases your voice and personality. However, remember this is still a platform that employers and colleagues will discover, so write, post, and share in a way you would want to be remembered.
Show in addition to telling about your experience. On LinkedIn, you are able to add links and attachments to projects, presentation, and videos as well as visuals. You can also ask for recommendations and skills endorsements from colleagues that can help to increase your credibility and showcase your work from another angle.
In your experience section, don't copy and paste your resume. Use the first person voice to give a summary of each role and highlight your accomplishments and the skills you gained in each. Feel free to add things you had to cut from your resume due to space constraints. Add more detail, context, and narrative to each experience as you would in an interview.
Avoid buzzwords and focus on keywords for your field of practice.
Try avoiding overused buzzwords like ‘specialized’, ‘leadership’, ‘focused’, ‘strategic’, ‘experienced’, ‘passionate’, ‘expert’, ‘creative’, and ‘innovative.’ Communicate who you are meaningfully and descriptively as well as by demonstrating with concrete examples. Additionally, don't forget to add relevant keywords throughout your profile. The more keywords you have listed on your profile regarding your dream role, the more your profile will appear in searches.
Resources:
Ways to Leverage LinkedIn for Your Career
Don’t be shy about growing your network.
Start by connecting with people you know, such as current and former colleagues, classmates, staff, and faculty. You can also use LinkedIn's "People You May Know" feature to find other social workers in the field.
Utilize the LinkedIn alumni tool for informational interviews.
LinkedIn is literally a tool for building connections! Don't be afraid to utilize the platform's search features to connect with alumni or others in the field for informational interviews. Use the LinkedIn alumni tool and type in any search keywords to find people who share similar interests or are working in organizations of interest to you and message them to connect. Use our NYU Silver Informational Interview Guide for tips.Find and connect with hiring managers/recruiters for positions you’re interested in.
Use LinkedIn's search feature to find hiring managers/recruiters for positions you're interested in or applying to. Type the role or position title into the search bar. Then, filter the search by "Posts." Carefully look through the results to identify if any posts were posted by the hiring manager, mentions the hiring manager, or was posted by someone you could connect with that could give you more information about the position. Send a message to the person you have identified to request to connect:
Hi [Hiring manager's name],
I am delighted to know that you are currently looking for a [position title] at [agency name]. Graduating soon with my Master of Social Work and with experience in [xyz], I am interested in this [agency name] because [connecting reason]. I believe my skills and experience would be valuable to [impact you hope to make in the role]. I have already submitted my application via your online job portal. And if you have time, I’d love to discuss further how my knowledge, skills, and experience would be a great fit for this role.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Create and share content; comment and interact with posts.
Engage with content that's relevant to your field of practice by commenting with your own perspectives, liking, and sharing posts. This can help you build relationships with others in the field and increase your visibility on the platform. Interacting with content can also build your personal brand by demonstrating your interest areas as well as showcasing your expertise on relevant topics.
