Have You Missed the Step that Gives Your LinkedIn Skills POWER?

If you are like most people you’ve probably not looked at your LinkedIn Skills section in quite a long time. If that’s the case, you’re missing the step that gives your skills real power. The step is called “pinning” your three top skills to the top of your profile. Of course, even without your intervention there will be three skills at the top of your profile, but they are unlikely to be the skills you would pick as your three top skills.

The POWER move: Give your top skills top billing.

In the edit mode, deselect any of the top-listed skills that you don’t want to have in this vaunted position by toggling off the pushpin icon. When you deselect a skill, it doesn’t disappear from your skills listing, but it does move down. That allows you to select new skills for those top positions by clicking on the pushpin icon associated with a skill.

So, why is this a big deal? I have long contended that the most memorable LinkedIn profiles are created when we know and articulate the three things we want to be known for. Building your profile to emphasize these three things is effective because we instinctively remember things in groups of three. If we specifically select our top skills so that there is one skill associated with each of the three things we want to be known for, we reinforce how we want people to perceive us.

Maximize the effectiveness of your entire skills listing.

When our entire list of 50 skills (yes, that’s the best practice!) is well aligned with what we want to communicate about our personal brand, we significantly improve our ability to be found on keywords of our own choosing. The following questions are the questions I use with my executive clients to maximize their listing. It’s easier and quicker to accomplish this in conjunction with a coach who knows the skills likely to be found in the LinkedIn skills database, but with enough tenacity and persistence you can tackle this yourself. I recommend addressing each question in order.

1.  Do you have on your list of skills ones that you no longer use or no longer wish to use? Go through your listing from top to bottom and eliminate any that meet this criterion. Return to this question any time you run out of room on your skills listing. The goal is to improve the quality of the skills listed.
2. Are there skills that you use every day in your current job that are not listed? If so, add them.
3. Have you listed your “soft skills” (now sometimes referred to as your “essential skills”)? These are skills such as your ability to influence others, your communication style, and the way you work with others. If not, add these.
4. Are the skills you’ve listed appropriate to your position in the organization? For example, if you are the National Director of Sales, instead of “sales” you should select higher-level skills such as “sales management” or “sales operations.” If you find a mismatch between your position and your skills, pick new skills that align with your level in the organization.
5. Think of keywords for your industry and your role within it. These may be widely-used acronyms and other industry-specific words. Have you included these? If not, add them.
6. Re-examine your list for one-word skills. It is likely that if you use that one word in the skills search box you’ll find several multi-word skills that are more nuanced. For example, instead of “leadership,” you could choose one or more specific skills such as cross-functional team leadership, technical leadership, leadership development, executive leadership, or organizational leadership. This will help you to be found because people will use different keywords in their search.
7. Do you have 50 skills yet? If not, refer to the three things you want to be known for. Are there other similar-sounding skills that you might add to reinforce the importance of your top three skills?
8. Any time you run out of room, return to point #1 and eliminate skills that are no longer important to include.

Because LinkedIn is a search engine, effective use of your keywords is essential – and every skill in the database can be used as a keyword search term. Sound like a lot of work? Yes, it is. But when our profile is well-aligned with our personal brand, we are much more likely to be found for both internal and external opportunities that fit just right.

If this article resonated with you, I hope you’ll respond with a “like” AND a comment so I can get to know you better. 

Are you are a senior executive looking for expert personal branding and LinkedIn profile development? I specialize in working individually with people like you. Please contact me for personalized attention.

For a virtual or in-person presentation on personal branding via LinkedIn, contact me. I am a member of the National Speakers Association and am a Certified Virtual Presenter through eSpeakers.

My book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive: Promote Your Brand with Authenticity, Tact and Power is available through online booksellers.

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