New feature: 100 Skills for your LinkedIn™ Profile
LinkedIn™ has once again proven to be at the forefront of professional networking and personal branding. With its recent update, the platform has significantly expanded the horizon for showcasing our capabilities, essentially doubling the potential skills we can list on our profiles. If you previously boasted 50 skills, now you can shine with up to 100. Personally, I’ve taken a deep dive and identified 68 relevant skills for my own profile.
Why This Matters
For Job Seekers:
Imagine walking into an interview, armed not with 50, but 100 arrows in your quiver. The update allows you to paint a more comprehensive picture of your professional prowess, directly impacting your attractiveness as a candidate and potentially your ranking in the job market.
For Increasing Visibility:
It’s not just about quantity; it’s about strategic visibility. A robust skill set can significantly increase how often your profile appears in searches, leading to more opportunities and connections.
Interestingly, despite these enhancements within LinkedIn™, the platform has shifted its approach regarding public profiles and Google ranking. The skills you meticulously list are no longer a factor in your LinkedIn™ profile’s Google visibility, owing to changes in the public profile format.
Navigating the Skill Landscape
Finding Relevant Skills: Leveraging LinkedIn™’s autocompletion feature is akin to discovering a treasure trove of relevant skills. Start with a broad term, and let the platform guide you through a plethora of suggestions, helping you balance hard and soft skills effectively.
Beyond Skills: Other Noteworthy Changes Since January 2024
- The Creatormode and hashtag usage in headers have bid adieu, making way for a uniform profile structure encompassing Header, About Text, Featured, and Latest Posts sections. Details: 3×3 Strategies #19.
- The visibility of profiles to non-LinkedIn™ users and Google searches has been dialed down. Essential elements like your slogan, posts, and about text are now cloaked from logged-out viewers and Google’s prying eyes. Details: 3×3 Strategies #17.
So, as we navigate these changes, one question remains – how many skills have you showcased on your profile?