LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool in your journey to get a data job. Think of it as an “active resume”. It’s a landing page where people come to see what you are about before they talk to you. It can even be a place where recruiters can find you. So optimizing this space can give you the upper hand when trying to break into a crowded job market.

So what makes a good LinkedIn profile?

Let’s break it down into 5 key areas (psst.. and a bonus at the end)

1. Profile Picture/Headshot

This is the first thing people see when they see you post, when they find you in a search, in DM’s, and in connection requests. And yet people either don’t have a profile picture or it’s quite frankly, bad.

You don’t need to overcomplicate it! It’s actually pretty easy to get a good picture. Take mine for instance, I used my iPhone 12 and had my wife take my picture in our backyard. Do these and you’ll have a great picture:

- Put on a nice shirt

- Wait for a sunny day

- Use a smartphone

- Smile!

That’s literally all you have to do.

2. Banner

A banner is the first thing people see when they come to your profile. Even before your title or profile picture. Plus, it takes up a large section of the profile. Use it to your advantage!

Now there are two ways you can go here (either way it’s still better than what most people do)

First, the simple way. Head over to a place like Canva and search for LinkedIn Banners to get a template that looks professional (I love simplicity). Put some text in showcasing the skills you know like Excel, SQL, Tableau, etc…

The second way (this way takes much more effort but really drives people to where you want): You can follow the simple way but add on to it by taking another picture of you smiling and put it in your banner! You can go the extra mile by having a picture of yourself pointing down and say “Check out my portfolio”.

3. Link

An absolute must for every profile is a link to where you want people to go to. This can be your Tableau Public link, a personal landing page, or your portfolio (like the free one you have hosted on Maven Analytics!)

Bonus: This is a marketing tactic but use a link shortener that has tracking capabilities and see if different link titles convert better than others.

4. Featured Section

The Featured Section of your profile is the “meat” of your profile. This is the area you can direct people anywhere you want. So you can send people to blog posts you have written or any resource you have put together. Better yet, put your portfolio here as well because this is the most important thing to show when you are a job seeker.

5. The About Me Section

This is a great place to show who you are and give yourself a nice introduction. But instead of having an AI-generated basic intro, use this place to share your story and put some personality into it. Make sure you have good keywords in here as well.

Take it another step further and link your portfolio site here as well. You can never have it in too many places.

If you cover all of these areas, your profile is going to look fantastic and well put together. Remember, your profile is an “active” resume meaning, things constantly change and you need to keep this up to date as well.

BONUS

There is one important thing to mention that the majority of people will not do. This part helps your profile as well as your overall presence on the platform. It shows you are active and helps give insights of who you are as a person.

The most critical part to anyone’s journey is to post on LinkedIn. I cannot stress this enough. Posting alone has gotten me more recruiter calls. Not only that, it opened up a world of opportunities. I mean look, I’m writing a blog for one of the best ed-tech platforms you could be on. This all happened with posting my experiences on LinkedIn.

I look forward to seeing some really cool profiles (feel free to tag me!)

Make sure to attend all the really awesome events in January and come say hi to the one I’ll be a part of!