We’re all busy trying to decipher the online CV platform and since its launch in 2002, the proliferation of LinkedIn has been incredible.

For me, it completely transformed my business by revolutionising the recruitment industry and transforming the market.

Whether you’re looking for work, checking out the competition, putting your name out there, keeping up with influencer musings like these (or all of the above), LinkedIn has it covered. In fact, it is an essential tool for career development and everybody should have an account!

Recruitment is my forte and I’ve spent the last decade looking at potential employee LinkedIn profiles. It’s from this thorough research that I’ve come to recognise some of the more common mistakes which are easy to make but even easier to avoid.

Profile photo blunders

This one gets me every time. I’ve come across some crackers in my time and I’m still astonished by some of the choices people make. Some of my favourite include;

The mirror ‘selfie’ – Remember, this isn’t Instagram and I’m not sure potential employers and colleagues are the right audience for your casual selfies. This pose is a complete no no – it’s unprofessional and makes you look like an amateur. If you’re really adamant this is the one for you, at least make sure you give the mirror a clean and your room is looking tidy in the background…

The where’s Wally approach
This always baffles me. Group photos are definitely not for LinkedIn – it makes your profile look messy and I definitely don’t have time to try and figure out which one could be you. People viewing your profile want to feel as if they’re getting to know a little more about YOU, not your group of friends. This is your only opportunity to sell yourself as an individual – a group photo removes that element of individuality.

The family man
As much as I love my family, they don’t need to be plastered on my LinkedIn profile. It’s great to see family is clearly important but this is a professional network and employers, employees and competition are looking to find out more about your work accomplishments, not how many children you have. This is your online CV, not a family photo album.

The good time girl – Sociability is a great attribute to have BUT there’s nothing more unprofessional than a photo of you from a night out looking a little glaze eyed with a drink in hand. Your picture represents the first impression a future boss will have of you – think before you upload.

The avatar – Although I understand you don’t want people judging you purely on appearance, leaving your profile picture as the universal avatar also connotes a bad impression. Firstly, it makes people think you’re not very tech savvy and you don’t know how to upload a picture, secondly it means your profile lacks personality and thirdly it can make your profile look like a ‘fake’ account.

People always seem to forget that LinkedIn is a professional network and that’s exactly how you should be presenting yourself – uploading a blurry photo of you at a party probably isn’t your best choice.

Checking out your competitors

Unlike Facebook and Twitter where you can scope out the competition without getting caught, LinkedIn notifies you when somebody views your profile. This causes many people to browse potential employers, candidates, employees and competitors haphazardly, oblivious to the fact every time they view a profile, a notification is sent.

But it’s not all bad news – you can manually change this in your settings to set your profile to anonymous every time you check out a profile. So if you're job seeking and looking at the same person's profile twice a day or if you don’t want your competition knowing you’ve been scoping them out, you should probably make this change (and save yourself some embarrassment!).

You’re not personalising connection requests

I look at all my connection requests but the ones accompanied with the generic ‘I’d like to add you to my professional network’ message are the least likely to get my attention.

I think it’s really important to personalise your requests if you want to make a good first impression. So when you want to connect with somebody, take the time to write a short, personalised message – it will make you seem more personable and the recipient will be more inclined to accept. Not only this, it also makes your request look less ‘spam-like’ and will encourage the person you’re connecting with to read and engage with your message. Everybody likes reading a personalised message, nobody likes to read something which is noticeably generic.

There are lots of other aspects to think about when you’re creating your LinkedIn profile – for example ensuring every section is up to date with relevant experience – but these three things will help you on your way to making the most out of your profile. Get it right and unlock some serious career potential.

James Caan CBE
Serial Entrepreneur and Investor in People with Passion
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thank ya

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Vital info here.