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"Create Economic Opportunity For Every Member Of The Global Workforce"
- Unit: Professional Development
- Module: LinkedIn - Building A Professional Network
- This is a LEARNING Activity : Lesson #1 - First Impressions
- LinkedIn - First Impressions - Slides
- Last Revised: June. 8, 2021 - Authored: Dec. 28, 2020
- Original Author: Jim Burnham - TopClown@STEAMClown.org
- Content License: Distributed as Open Source. See Rights & Usage
Overview and Introduction:
Overview and Introduction:
First Impressions are just that… First Impressions… Make it Positive.
We tend to evaluate each other quickly. It may be part of our "lizard" brain, where as we encounter something or someone new, we need to evaluate them as a friend or foe rather fast.
These first impressions are influenced by a number of factors... We judge and are judged by our facial features, body type, how attractive or intelligent we are perceived to be... even our voice, and how we sound is in that first impression calculation.
We tend to have a hard time overcoming our initial perceptions and impressions. Even when we are presented with new data and new information, it's hard to change that sticky first impression.
This module, while focused on your LinkedIn profile, is more about understanding:
How we are perceived
How to continually be aware of how we present ourselves
At the crucial first meeting
First introduction
First connection
We get one chance, so let's figure out how to do it right
Sponsor Shout Out
Sponsor Shout Out
I would like to thank Digi-Key Electronics for their generous support of my classroom and curriculum development. Digi-Key has Kits, Lab resources and Lesson materials ready to support each of the Labs and Lessons presented here. Each Lesson or Lab will have convenient links for all your electronic component needed to complete the hands on activities.
This is a DigiKey sponsored Podcast about LinkedIn First Impressions and covers most of the following Tutorial. Give it a listen.
Learning Objective:
Learning Objective:
Module Scope:
- Introduction to the creation of a LinkedIn Profile
- Description of best practices for creating a LinkedIn Profile
- Present Tips and Tricks to build a professional LinkedIn Profile
- Understand the psychology of "first impressions"
- Able to create and present the best LinkedIn profile possible
- Appreciate the importance of the LinkedIn Profile and how it affects interactions with your professional network
Prior Knowledge:
- Basic understanding of how to use Social Media
- Basic Resume and Cover Letter skills
- Awareness of our own individual personality and characteristics
- PC, Laptop or Other device to access the LinkedIn application
- Each lesson will have specific items needed to complete the labs and tasks
Prerequisites:
Prerequisites:
No explicit prerequisite course work or coding knowledge is required, but students are expected to have a good understanding of basic computer principles.
Caution & Safety Considerations:
Caution & Safety Considerations:
Primer: "Aaron, I can imagine no way in which this thing could be considered anywhere remotely close to safe. All I know is I spent six hours in there and I'm still alive... You still want to do it?"
As with any activity, please make sure you are using appropriate safety equipment. If you are coding, make sure you stand up and stretch every hour or so, Please consider any safety issues connecting to a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, computers and other electronic equipment.
Essential Questions:
Essential Questions:
What are my skills and characteristics?
How do I present then in the best "light", so that I make the biggest impact on a first impression?
Key Academic Vocabulary or Concepts:
Key Academic Vocabulary or Concepts:
What is “LinkedIn”
First Impression
Professional Profile
Networking?
First Impression… Make it Positive:
First Impression… Make it Positive:
We know that first impressions are very important, so it is important to be aware of how we present ourselves during that first contact, introduction or meeting. We need to be aware of our own strengths and our weaknesses. We need to "manage" how other might perceive these characteristics. Don't think we are trying to "Trick" someone... We need to present ourselves honestly, but we can always put more focus on our strengths and limit scrutiny of any possible weaknesses.
We need to present ourselves so that our best skills are accentuated, so that the person we are trying to impress, see these skills and says, "I want that skill on my team" or "I have been looking for someone with that skill". Show them what you excel at, rather than what you might need to learn better.
Everything from what we are wearing, how confident we seem are we enter a room, how we shake hands, or make eye contact, can be adjusted to create a better first impression. It is important to be aware of how we comes across to others during a first meeting.
Why First Impressions Matter?
Why First Impressions Matter?
If you go to your LinkedIn profile page you will see an example of what the rest of the world "see" when they search for and land on your page. You will have an opportunity to pick a Profile Picture, and a Headline.
You will also be able to pick a Banner or background image... and finally a longer section called "About". We will explore each of these four items as we build your professional LinkedIn profile.
In this lesson we are going to focus on the first 4 sections of a LinkedIn Profile. Your profile picture, your headline, a banner or background and the "about" you short biography.
LinkedIn Profile Image:
LinkedIn Profile Image:
A Picture on a social media platform is a first impressions. This image let's other see how seriously you take your online presence. A professional headshot should tell the world you are serious, competent, and accurately represent the image you are trying to present.
Remember that this is LinkedIn — not SnapChat, Instagram or Facebook.
It's true... We tend to hate pictures of ourselves. We tend to not like the focus on ourselves. But, our LinkedIn profile picture is an exception that we should put some real effort into.
We all probably have social media pictures that we think represent our unique individualism... While we want to stand out with our profile picture, sometimes our favorite manga or anime avatar is not the best option... Nor is the picture a friend took while at the last New Years party...
Side Bar with Mr Burnham:
Side Bar with Mr Burnham:
Yes, it's all about what your goals are... for example, my profile picture currently on LinkedIn is a little goofy...
Mr. Burnham in a Space Helmet But I'm not trying to get a job, and at this point in my career, I really don't specifically need to impress some one... But that could all change as a new opportunity came up, or if I was trying to connect more professionally with a grant funding organization, or if I was going to try to get a new job...
I'm not saying that you can't be spontaneous or funny... but as a high school or new college grad, and at this point in your career, it's probably better to be more conservative. While you may think that it "sucks" to have to fit into a conservative bubble, and you may think that "I'm not going to sell out and not be me"... Trust me, that's still how the world is, and you still need to do stuff to impress or influence key decision makers in your life. Get some "rad" skills and experience, and then you can experiment pushing back norms and conventions.
Tips for taking a good Profile picture:
Tips for taking a good Profile picture:
Use your cellphone, and take a professional looking headshot
Find a background that matches your skin tone
Wear nice attire and smile!
LinkedIn allows you to edit your photo. You can change it whenever you would like
Check out these tips: 5 Simple Steps to a DIY Professional Headshot
More Tips for taking a good Profile picture:
More Tips for taking a good Profile picture:
Avoid eye obstructions (e.g., sunglasses, hair, glare, shadow)
Squinch the eyes ← It's all about the Squinch!
Accentuate the jawline ← It's all about the Jaw!
Smile with teeth, but don't laugh
Dress formally with conservative colors
Use a photo of the bust (head and shoulders) or torso (head to waist) but not face-only or full-body
Avoid over manipulated photos with obviously high saturation or with decreased brightness
It's all about the Squinch! (Links to an external site: YouTube)
It's all about the Jaw! (Links to an external site: YouTube)
As you think about your picture and the photographic composition, these are some additional characteristics you should pay attention to. Maybe search for more YouTube videos on the following photography topics:
Face
Smile
Jawline
Squinch
Composition
Zoom
Rule of Thirds
Background
Editing
Brightness
Contrast
Sharpness
Saturation
Color Temperature
Just a Few More Links About Profile Pictures:
Just a Few More Links About Profile Pictures:
Linked In Headline:
Linked In Headline:
A LinkedIn headline is the section at the top of your LinkedIn user's profile where you can describe what you do in 120 characters or less. This brief description appears next to your name in search results. It should entice readers to click your profile to learn more about your experience and background.
At this point you are a student, and probably don't have much work experience... Use your headline to "Let the world know what you're excited about and the cool things you want to do in the future" <-- only 91 characters... you can go up to 120... so use them!!!
Your Headline should be way more than your name, and current job or school... It should be your "Elevator Pitch". What is an Elevator Pitch? "A succinct and persuasive sales pitch" Make no mistake, you are trying to promote yourself in the best possible light, and you only have a 120 character Headline to do it in.
Your headline is what people see over and over. Make sure it communicates the right message to your target audience. When someone looks at your profile, the first text they see is your name and headline.
Don't waste the 120 characters:
Don't waste the 120 characters:
You have 120 characters to use with your Headline. This is where you fill it with keywords of the Job or career you want. Headlines are searched by bots and other employer tools...
Key Words / Power Words:
Key Words / Power Words:
Remember, this is your "Elevator Pitch". You just have a minute, maybe a few seconds to catch someones attention. The more Key Words / Power Words you can add appropriately, the better. Don't just stick them in, but rather make them fit your narrative... the "story" you are trying to tell in the 120 words... 95% of recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn to search for candidates. If your headline is not optimized, it's possible that you're missing out on job opportunities. If you are looking for a job or want to connect with a specific organization, use key words from that industry. Stay Tuned: Power Words will be the topic of a later lesson.
Highlight Your Accomplishments:
Highlight Your Accomplishments:
Don't say you are an expert, but rather prove your work... show, point to things you have done... If you have some portfolio content, point or reference that. You headline is the perfect place to slip in a key accomplishment.
If you have any awards or certificate or special training, this is a good place to add it as a key word phrase... We will see where you can expand on these more later, but getting them worked into your Headline is awesome.
If you are in any organizations, charity groups, won any awards, again, the Headline is a place to talk about it in a Keyword phrase format.
Side Bar with Mr Burnham:
Side Bar with Mr Burnham:
I wanted to communicate a few key ideas:
What my current Job is "Mechatronics Engineering Instructor"
Something fun to spark imagination of what my class is like (aka: Fire Breathing Robots)
I wanted to communicate that the school is a "Public High School", not a Private school
Then I sneaked in that I was "2019 Teacher of the Year"
I also communicated that I'm active in education conferences, and have been a
"Workshop Instructor & Speaker"
Who is Your Audience? Write To Them
Who is Your Audience? Write To Them
Think about your audience. You are writing your Headline for them. Highlight the skills you want to show them you have. Describe what you do... or if you don't do it yet, but want to describe you want to to it... "Aspiring Aeronautical Engineer, with key word skills in..."
Do You Provide Value?
Do You Provide Value?
You always want to show a future employer that you can add value. The best way is to highlight where you have added value in the past. You may not have lots of work experience, but maybe you have done something to save money at your current job. Maybe you recommended that they change some process that saved the company time or money...
Maybe you have a unique skill. can you speak another language? Have you tutored someone in Math? Have you worked as a summer camp counselor? Do you walk dogs for money? "Self Employed Dog Walking Entrepreneur"
Even working in "Fast Food" can be turned into a skill... most future employers will not really care that you worked at Jack in the Box, but they might be interested that you have a skill like being, "Recognized for Inventory Management in Stressful Fast Food Industry"
Let's Look At Some Examples:
Let's Look At Some Examples:
Here are some great links to explore and see some great examples of LinkedIn Headlines.
Some Examples Of How The Headline Shows Up:
Some Examples Of How The Headline Shows Up:
Here is another reason why you want to tune your headline. It shows up when ever you post. If you make s post, your connection network will see your Profile picture and Headline.
If you comment on someone post, your Profile picture and Headline show up... So everyone who follows or are connected to the person post you commented on will see your headline too...
When You Post or You Comment On A Post:
When Ever Your Profile Picture Shows Up:
More Comments:
Commenting on An Article:
Here is a comment of and article, Which is a great way to get exposure and Network. People recognize when you are actively following them and paying attention to what they are posting. It's a great way to grow your network.
Banner or Background
Banner or Background
LinkedIn lets you put a banner as a background image as part of your profile. You will see many LinkedIn profiles where this image space is not used or blank. Don't waste this space.
Many People invest lots of time focusing on their career accomplishments in the “Experience” section. But sometimes what they forget it to optimally take advantage to the background Banner.
Side Bar with Mr. Burnham:
Side Bar with Mr. Burnham:
While this is not the best, I have an "electronics" background and my STEAM Clown logo, so it does give my Alter Ego some visibility.
The Banner images is a chance to promote your personal "brand". You will see many LinkedIn users use this image to promote and communicate more information about them.
There are dimension requirements for the background image in LinkedIn. Using a image editor create a background image that is 1584 x 386 pixels.
Remember that your LinkedIn Profile picture will cover over the bottom left side of your image. Make sure to not put any important information there. If you want to include text, it is best to include it in the top middle portion of your background image. Play with it... it may take a few tries to get the text where you want it and not getting cut off or behind you profile picture.
How To Maximize Your Branding With The Banner
How To Maximize Your Branding With The Banner
OK, what should you have in the Background Banner Image? This is a space to let you shine.
You should carefully consider the imagery you feature on your LinkedIn profile Banner. This is an image that profile visitors see first, creating that important first impression of your reputation and personal brand.
Your LinkedIn background banner photo should reinforce who you are and visually support the written portions of your profile. You can put some imagery in the banner and then later in the About section, you can use text to expand on it.
The idea is to capture your target audience with an image or graphic that makes them think "interesting, I want to know more about that...". This Banner graphic should highlight your skills, values, achievements... It should "brand" your professional identity.
Choosing a unique image is a great way to help you stand out from the crowd. While your profile photo should be professional and conservative, your background photo is a way to show off your brand and your personality.
“Your background image is a perfect place to highlight social proof or achievements,” says Shashank Shalabh, CEO of Omnidigit. “LinkedIn is all about branding. With the right messaging, both visual and text, you can create a better impression.”
We will learn about Creating Banners & Backgrounds in a later lesson, but here is a few examples showing something unique. Shashank is posting a "Quote" for you to aspire to. Rosemary is showing you that she is into Robotics and Coding... and maybe you are too, so you will click on her profile to learn more.
About You Section: It’s your personal story.
About You Section: It’s your personal story.
It’s your personal story. Answer these three questions:
Who are you?
What do you do and/or want to do in the future?
Why are you passionate about what you are doing?
In this "About" summary, you get a chance to tell about you in your own words. This is where you tell a little more about any accomplishments. Are you president of your chess club? Did you get an award for a Science or Engineering project? Have you met an Astronaut? When and How did it affect you? If you speak a 2nd language, and you may have mentioned that in your headline... Here is where you can explain how you actually know a 2nd language. There might be an interesting story. Can you juggle or ride a unicycle?
Again, Think About Your Target Audience:
Again, Think About Your Target Audience:
Many LinkedIn users, simply rehash their work experience. Don't do that. You have to think about your current LinkedIn Networking goals. In fact you should take some time to write them down. Maybe we will do that later... hint hint, future assignment...
For now, think about the following:
“Who Are You”
What Can You Do...
Some Additional Personal Color
As you tell about your self, and where you may have worked, make sure to include relevant skills and traits. If you worked some place that did web design, spend most of your time talking about how you learned to write HTML or CSS. Employers don't really care about the "Where", but rather the "How" and what skills you learned.
More About Power Words:
More About Power Words:
If your Headline or About is not optimized, it's possible that you're missing out on job opportunities.
If you are looking for a job or want to connect with a specific organization, use keywords from that industry.
Add Key Words / Power Words Appropriately
Don't just stick them in, but rather make them fit your narrative...
The "Story" you are trying to tell in the 2000 Characters
95% of recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn to search for candidates.
Pretend You Are In An Interview:
Pretend You Are In An Interview:
A good way to create some text for your About Summary, is to pretend you are getting interviewed and answer some questions about yourself. Then you can start to collapse it into some cool information about you.
Final Words and Resources:
Final Words and Resources:
Think about that future job you want to get... then think about any experience you have had that would help you. If you worked in a related field, then you can say where you worked, but then spend time describing what you learned and how it would help a future employer... Future employers don't really care that you worked some place similar to their company, they really care about if you learned or got skills that will help them if they give you a job...
Dig Deeper:
10 LinkedIn Profile Summaries That We Love (And How to Boost Your Own)
10 Creative LinkedIn Summary Examples & How to Write Your Own
How to Write a LinkedIn Summary (About Section): Examples and Tips
Personal Branding And Making An Impression:
What's Next?:
What's Next?:
If you stick around, we are going to dig much deeper into these topics of Headlines, Profile Pictures, Banners and your "About" sections. Then we will learn about how to promote your Education, Experience, Honors and Awards. What have you built? Projects? Yes we will learn about how to high light these. Do you Volunteer? Are you part of a Club or Organization? Sure, that's another topic you should promote. After we have completed this "LinkedIn Check List", hen we will learn about how to grow and expand your Network... What I call the "Race to 500". So stick around. Jump back to my LinkedIn Lesson Overview to see more of these lessons or click "Next" below.
License - "Be A Hero"... Distribute Your Content As Open Source... That Is What I'm Doing...
License - "Be A Hero"... Distribute Your Content As Open Source... That Is What I'm Doing...
The content on this site may have been pulled from other open source sites, but typically the interpretation and presentation is primarily the Intellectual Property of Jim Burnham, - TopClown@STEAMClown.org at www.steamclown.org and the Student curriculum can be found under the specific Mechatronics Engineering Units section of this web site.
If you do use my material, and make changes, I would appreciate getting a copy... because if you are making changes, it means that you think there is a better way to teach this… and I would really appreciate understanding that. Please send me feedback on my Questions or Feedback form. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions or comment.
You also should keep and include my STEAM Clown Logo and Copyright in any derivative works you create. I would appreciate if you would include one of these images found on my Steam Clown License page and link it to www.steamclown.org
If you do use my material, and make changes, I would appreciate getting a copy... because if you are making changes, it means that you think there is a better way to teach this… and I would really appreciate understanding that. Please send me feedback on my Questions or Feedback form. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions or comment.
You also should keep and include my STEAM Clown Logo and Copyright in any derivative works you create. I would appreciate if you would include one of these images found on my Steam Clown License page and link it to www.steamclown.org
Teachers - Unit, Module and Lesson Plans
Teachers - Unit, Module and Lesson Plans
If you are a teacher and want to connect and teach this LinkedIn module, discuss how I teach it, give me feedback, please contact me at TopClown@STEAMClown.org
To access this Lesson Plan and the Teacher collaboration area, you will have needed to connect with me so I can Share the content with you. Please go to the Teachers & Partner Page, check out my Licensing and fill out my Collaboration and Curriculum Request Form. I'll review and then grant you access to the requested areas and lesson plans if they exist.
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