7 Must-Know LinkedIn Tips That Get You Noticed

Learn 7 essential LinkedIn tips from Andrew LaCivita to build your brand, get noticed by recruiters, and improve your job search success.

Key Takeaways

Having a strong LinkedIn profile significantly increases your chances of being noticed compared to relying solely on ATS.
LinkedIn success requires a balance of static profile setup, active engagement, and strategic use of platform tools.
Simple actions like using a clear selfie headshot and customizing your profile URL can improve your professional brand.
Posting content and interacting with others on LinkedIn signals activity and can lead to more job opportunities.
Building and nurturing your network on LinkedIn is crucial for introductions and recruiter visibility.

What the video covers

Andrew LaCivita shares insights from over 20 years of LinkedIn experience as a corporate professional, recruiter, and career coach.
He highlights common mistakes users make on LinkedIn and explains why many are not getting noticed by employers.
Statistics reveal only 3% of candidates are seen through applicant tracking systems (ATS), while 8% get noticed via LinkedIn.
LaCivita introduces a three-pronged approach to LinkedIn success: static profile information, dynamic activity, and tracking mechanisms.
He emphasizes the importance of a good LinkedIn profile, including a clear headshot and well-crafted headline.
Dynamic engagement such as posting, commenting, and writing articles boosts visibility and signals activity to the LinkedIn algorithm.
The video covers practical tips on profile optimization, branding, and networking strategies to increase job opportunities.
Andrew also discusses the value of customizing LinkedIn URLs and using the features section to showcase achievements.
He encourages viewers to use LinkedIn newsletters and long-form posts to maintain a strong presence.
The video aims to help job seekers and professionals leverage LinkedIn effectively to get noticed and advance their careers.

Chapters

Why is having a LinkedIn profile more effective than just using an applicant tracking system?

According to Andrew LaCivita, only about 3% of candidates are seen through ATS, while having a well-optimized LinkedIn profile can increase your chances of being noticed to about 8%, even if you are not actively job searching.

What is the three-pronged approach to LinkedIn success mentioned in the video?

The approach includes maintaining static profile information (like your photo and headline), engaging dynamically through posts and comments, and using tracking mechanisms to stay informed and connected on the platform.

Do I need a professional headshot for my LinkedIn profile?

No, Andrew recommends a clear selfie where you look directly at the camera. The key is to let people see your face clearly to make a good first impression.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

I want to talk about LinkedIn. I have been using LinkedIn for over 20 years. I was an early adopter in 2003 when I was a corporate professional, and I used it as a corporate professional. As an executive recruiter, when I opened up Milewalk in 2004, I've been using it heavily as an executive recruiter to identify job candidates and as a career coach. Over the last decade, I've also been helping people on how to use the platform to better build their brand and get noticed by employers. I see people making tons of mistakes as far as how they're using the platform, as well as they're wondering why they're not getting noticed.

Speaker A

recruiter to identify job candidates and as a career coach over the last decade I've also been helping people on how to use the platform to better build their brand and get noticed by employers and I see people making tons of mistakes as far as how they're using the the platform as

Speaker A

One of the things we're going to do today is I'm going to give you five tips on how to use the platform effectively. I've got a couple of bonus tips in there, so I want to just give you an idea of some of the key features that you've got to get right now. One other thing that I want you to know about why this is so important: I know that a lot of you that are here with me right now are job searching, and it's important for you to be building your network so that people can help you either introduce you to new opportunities or maybe you want to get noticed by recruiters or potential hiring officials.

Speaker A

bonus tips in there so I want to I want to just give you an idea of some of the key features that you've got to get right now one other thing that I want you to know about why this is

Speaker A

I know that that's important, but one of the things that you might not know is over those years as an executive recruiter from, let's say, 2005 up until probably about 2019, we had interviewed Milewalk, my executive search firm, had interviewed a lot of job candidates. Whether we talked to them for 20 minutes or whether we presented them to our clients, every single person that we talked to, and we had gathered more than 12,000 data points — we probably had closer to nearly 16,000 data points — but of the 12,000 data points, we would ask individuals, "How did you find your most recent job? How did you find your previous job?" Not what made you change jobs, but how did you find that job? What was the medium by which you were able to get that job?

Speaker A

officials and and I know that that's important but one of the things that you might not know is over over those years as an executive recruiter from let's say 2005 uh up until probably about 2019 we had in interviewed mile walk my executive Search fir had interviewed a lot of job candidates

Speaker A

One thousand of the 12,000, so 8%, said, "I was contacted by somebody on LinkedIn," whether I was looking or not, and they ultimately got engaged with them and they gave me a job. So 8% of people minding their own business were contacted by someone who gave them a job. Now, I've given you statistics about the ATS, what I call the applicant trashing system, where we've run surveys over that 15-year stretch between '05 and '19, where we would survey thousands of hiring officials, people in HR as well as recruiters, and we would ask them about a number of different things related to the people they recruited, how many candidates they interviewed, and so on.

Speaker A

ask individuals how did you find your most recent job how did you find your previous job and your previous job not not what made you change jobs but how did you find that job what was the medium by

Speaker A

One of the things we asked them was how many of their individuals they hired came through their career portal, the ATS, which I call the applicant trashing system. Other people call it the applicant tracking system, but the round number, the statistic was, we view about 3% of the candidates that basically put their information into the system. So you've got a 3% chance of being seen — that's not hired, being seen — if you're putting your resume into the applicant tracking system. I would tell you you've got about an 8% chance of being found by minding your own business and doing nothing if you have a good LinkedIn profile and brand setup.

Speaker A

them and they gave me a job so 8% of people minding their own business were contacted by some someone who gave them a job now I've given you statistics about the ATS what I call the applicant trashing system where we've run surveys over that 15-year stretch between ' 05 and and and

Speaker A

Okay, do you understand that? That is an absolute gut punch right there because when you think about those odds, how many more times do you have getting noticed on LinkedIn than all that hard work that you're doing, spending all that time trying to put your resume and your cover letters and your information and your work history and your salary expectations and all of that information into an employer's corporate portal? So I just want you to understand the level of importance of having a good LinkedIn profile.

Speaker A

their individuals they hired came through their career portal the ATS which I call the applicant trashing system other people call it the applicant tracking system I but the but the round number the statistic was we view about 3% of the candidates that basically put their put their information

Speaker A

Now, one of the things that I would say, this is part zero, is I have what I call the triangle. I just call it a triangle. You could call it, you know, Andy's three-pronged attempt, but I don't hear a lot — actually, I haven't heard anybody talk about LinkedIn in this manner. There's a lot of good LinkedIn instruction out there, and there are a lot of good career coaches and LinkedIn coaches who talk about how to use the platform. So I'm not saying that, but I'm trying to give you different ways to have it register with you of what I think is the right formula to be successful on LinkedIn.

Speaker A

and brand setup okay do you understand that is a that is an absolute gut punch right there because when you think about those odds how many more times do you have getting noticed on LinkedIn than than all that hard work that you're doing spending all that time trying to to put your

Speaker A

I look at it as a three-pronged approach. There's static information — that's things like your profile — and I'll talk about those in a few minutes, but basically, you set the stuff up once. You set it up once. I got a headshot from, I don't know when. You could tell it has a little less gray hair in it, but you know what I mean. You put the picture up, maybe you put your headline up, you fill in your companies and your roles, but you're not tinkering with that a lot, right? It's fairly static.

Speaker A

I would say this is part zero is I have what I call the triangle I just called it a triangle you could call it you know Andy's three-pronged attempt but I don't hear a lot actually I don't I

Speaker A

Then you've got dynamic information or dynamic activity stuff that does change. Maybe you're posting, maybe you're writing articles, maybe you're commenting on people's activity. Right? Dynamic, so you're using the system to let the system know, "I'm an active engager of this. I'm responding. I'm contributing." Maybe some of you are top voices. I'm not a top voice because I don't take any time to comment on the daily inquiry I get from LinkedIn that says, "Would you please comment on this?" So I just don't have the time, but some of you do. I love it. If you want to get to be a top voice, fantastic, do that.

Speaker A

have it register with you of what I think is the right formula to be successful on LinkedIn and I look at it as a three-pronged approach there's static information that's things like your profile and I'll talk about those in a few minutes but basically you set the stuff up once you set it up

Speaker A

And then there's a tracking mechanism. So how do I use the tool to set it up so that I'm being fed information and I can actually have the information that I want to see? Now, one of the things that we're going to do today is I'm actually going to pull up my LinkedIn profile, and I'm going to talk with you about how I would use the platform. But there are key things that I want to drive home as they relate to the static portion of what I think is an effective way for you to set up your profile to give yourself an opportunity to be found by the people you would like to be found by, right? That you would like to find you.

Speaker A

your your companies and your roles but you're not you're not tinkering with that a lot right it's fairly static then you've got Dynamic information or dynamic activity stuff that does change maybe you're posting maybe you're writing articles maybe you're commenting on people's activity

Speaker A

I'm going to give you some bonuses on the tracking. That's what we're going to talk about today. So tip number one, and some of this I'm not expecting to blow you away today. I want to bring some things to the forefront of your mind and talk philosophically about why I want you to do this. Okay, first thing is your dang billboard. People, dang billboard. What's the billboard? What's your one-second test? When somebody is trying to find you on LinkedIn, what do they see? They see your head, your headline, they see your cover photo, and they see your face, right?

Speaker A

comment on this so I just don't have the time but some of you do I love it if you want to get to be a top voice fantastic do that and then there's a tracking mechanism so how do I use the tool to set

Speaker A

I'm telling you that while you think, "Well, I'm just not going to put a lot of effort into doing this, and I'm going to leave a blank photo as my cover, and I don't really care about what the picture looks like, and is the headline really important?" I'm telling you that this is your chance to make a first impression. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that none of this stuff — which is not true — but none of this stuff matters to you being found. If somebody clicks on your profile, what do you want them to see?

Speaker A

my LinkedIn profile and I'm going to talk with you about how I would how I would use the platform but there's key things that I want to drive home as they relate to the static portion of what I think

Speaker A

I had to obsess over my book cover because people judge a book by its cover. I'm sorry, that's life. They do. Yeah, I'd love for you to flip open the zebra code and start reading the first few pages, but you just don't have that kind of time. Even if you did, you'd already drawn a conclusion from the cover, right? Who's tracking with me? Do you understand that this thing here, the face, the smiley face? You do not need a professional headshot. You do not. You need a selfie. I don't care if you go like this, snap, just be looking at the camera. Let them see your face. Let them see your face.

Speaker A

to give you some bonuses on the on the tracking that's what we're going to talk about today so tip number one and some of this I'm not I'm not expecting to blow you away today I want to bring

Speaker A

some things to the Forefront of your mind and talk philosophically about why I want you to do this okay first thing is your dang billboard people dang billboard what's the billboard what's your 1 second test when somebody is trying to find you on LinkedIn what do they see they see your head uh

Speaker A

your headline they see your cover photo and they see your face right and so I'm telling you that while you think well I'm just not going to put a lot of effort into doing this and I'm going to

Speaker A

leave a blank photo as my cover and I don't really care about what the picture looks like and is the headline really important I'm telling you that this is your chance to make a first impression and let's just say sake of argument that none of this stuff which this is not true but none

Speaker A

of this stuff matters to you being found if somebody clicks on your profile what do you want them to see I had to obsess over my book cover because people judge a book by its cover I'm sorry that's life right they do yeah I'd love for you to flip open the zebra code and

Speaker A

start reading the first few pages but you just don't have that kind of time and even if you did you'd already drawn a conclusion from the cover right who's tracking with me do you understand that this thing here the face the smiley face you do not need a professional head shot you

Speaker A

do not you need a selfie I don't care if you go like this snap just be looking at the camera let them see your face let them see your face if you want to have a background that's fine if

Speaker A

you don't want to have a background that's fine dark shaded I think mine's gray yours could be white it doesn't really matter but I think that you need to be looking straight at the camera so they can identify you say hey hello it's me welcome to my page welcome to my profile

Speaker A

you are going to love meeting me kind of thing and people will draw conclusions and remember those that are searching on LinkedIn they have a scroll down of little faces right that's what they see and they see your headline in a search in a search retrieval so this this is it really does

Speaker A

matter and it it it does make a great impression if you have a shot that is of your face where they can see it don't be wearing sunglasses don't be hiding behind your dog's face that kind of stuff

Speaker A

the billboard back here this part the cover photo I think it's helpful to have something thematic and it's okay if you don't but have something and if you're going to say well Andy I don't I just want to have something generic then have something that goes with the color of your skin or your eyes

Speaker A

or your hair or something that just makes you look better and then the and then the third thing is the headline this does really matter it it should it should give them an idea of who you are and

Speaker A

what value you contribute and yes I would think about keywords uh what what would be people be searching for now if you go to my LinkedIn profile and it says I help make this world a better place one career at a time that's because that's what I do and it's okay I'm a business owner and I'm

Speaker A

not obsessed with people finding me on LinkedIn that isn't what makes me sales it isn't what lets me help you build a great career but for you as a job Seeker who wants to be found I want you to give yourself every advantage that you can so that's number one okay that's that's the

Speaker A

first thing number two I would like to thank my career coach friend Sarah Johnston if you do not know her you should she is a LinkedIn Queen among other things and she's an executive resume writer I think she coaches on interview uh interview coaching as well I just love her and um and and

Speaker A

she actually even endorsed the H high or the zebra code book I gave her an advanced copy she was nice enough to review it give me her feedback give me a quote so I'm forever grateful for her but

Speaker A

she is a fantastic coach and one of the things I love about her newsletter if you're not on it I would subscribe it's uh briefcase coach.com I think is her URL she's easy to find she probably got like a million followers on LinkedIn uh she I love her newsletter every week or so I think it's

Speaker A

about every other Wednesday or something like that she puts out a newsletter and one of the things I love about her newsletter is there I can always count on there's some data in there and one of the things that she did back in January or let's call it maybe toward the end of the year where she

Speaker A

end end of 2023 into 2024 is she did a LinkedIn survey and there was about 5,000 respondents and I'm going to give you some stats that I lifted from her newsletter from that from uh the data that she curated and one of the things she said about summaries LinkedIn about summaries is that

Speaker A

85% of people read the first line uh 32% so let's call it a third actually read the whole summary and 56% so over over half liked reading about fun facts in the profile now those of you that go to

Speaker A

the Andy School of resume writing and those of you that go to the Andy School of LinkedIn workshopping you know that I want you to put your high value uh ads up in the summary I want you to

Speaker A

you get a chance to control The Narrative of what what people are reading in your LinkedIn profile the the corporations that you worked for and the jobs that you held there's somewhat you have some limitations because you worked for who you worked for and you did what you did and you contributed

Speaker A

the value that you can contributed and I want you to put that in the experience section but in the summary section not only do you have a chance to control the story about you get people to read and understand you in manner you want them to not their interpretation but spoon feed them much like

Speaker A

I say to you about the career profile which is at the top of the resume but the other thing is this gives you a chance to show some personality she said 56% like the fun facts I like fun facts when

Speaker A

I read that right you always hear me say well don't put hobbies and this other stuff on your resume well the LinkedIn about summary you can toss some of that in there right so have some fun with this I believe she also said I don't have the actually hang on I might even have it no I

Speaker A

don't have it in front of me but I think something like over 85 or maybe not um 80 some OD percent liked reading it in first person so mine is not in first person because I want it to be found by

Speaker A

Mr Google that's another thing about the summary uh Google likes your LinkedIn summary it actually does I've tested this on mine and others so so think about the keyword you're putting in think about the story you're telling this is some place for you to actually spend some time I'd probably

Speaker A

spend the most time in the summary section of my LinkedIn profile getting it just right okay so that's number two we'll give Sarah a shout out go follow her and if you do say Andy lasita told me you're the bom okay next thing don't make me start singing the Carly Simon song You're So

Speaker A

Vain who show a hands it's okay because this is a safe place does not have a LinkedIn vanity URL do you know what I'm talking about when I say vanity URL let's take a pee this is Andy's page

Speaker A

hopefully Andy I I try to get rid of all the pops and the bells you can see my face you can see my headline right I got in there career and Leadership coach I verified myself so you know

Speaker A

I'm not a nut the zebra code is what we're pushing right now cuz it's awesome and you should have a copy but over here up in the right was that say Andrew laita are you Jane Doe right are you Jane uh Suzy doe or something like that I would give yourself a vanity URL because number

Speaker A

one it looks better number two the search Google will like it better right anybody who's Googling you this this URL comes up way at the top when you Google me all right now I understand that some of you might have similar names to other people but it just simply looks better and I know a lot of

Speaker A

you like to put your LinkedIn URL in your resume that's cool I'm good with that right that's no no problem it just looks better uh when you have a when you have a vanity URL and the and it's

Speaker A

just simple you just go up you click the little icon this pops up and you're able to and you're able to edit that so I just want you to again it's it's showing that you care about what's inside the

Speaker A

profile and the way in which you're presenting yourself when somebody actually finds you so make it make it pry all right next thing skills now the skills you you have an opportunity to put like 50 skills in your profile you probably know this but you can pick a handful and put them up at

Speaker A

the top so when you want to when you want to pick out skills now mine's a little different because I provide services but up at the top in the about section there's top skills you see this probably you see this right here right uh Executive coaching leadership coaching virtual Mentor

Speaker A

publish offer and so on I put up what I wanted people to see immediately when they when they get to my profile you might have different ones which call out the skills of where you're what you're a subject matter expert of but the most important thing to know about when you when you

Speaker A

get these skills is that they need to be endorsed I think they need to be endorsed by a minimum by a minimum of five people for them to truly to truly uh count in the search and once you're endorsed

Speaker A

by a by a handful of people for a particular skill it will count when somebody is searching for those skills on LinkedIn when they're using linkedin's search features so just make sure that you're you're doing that number four number five is I would also say kind of that as seen in

Speaker A

you know you see how people say a lot of as seen in Wall Street Journal as seen in Forbes blah blah blah well you can have your own as seen in in the features section do not blow this off and the one

Speaker A

big mistake that I see people making because I get this comment a lot is well Andy uh I don't really have anything that I'm that I'm featured in or anything that I've done and that I'm going to say

Speaker A

I'm going to call BS on that because all of you have created created valuable things in your life are you a project manager do you have a project management methodology that you have curated massaged used to run do you have a a standard 90-day plan that you do to start up a sales

Speaker A

team anything that you've created anywhere that you've been cited any article that you've written on LinkedIn go write one write mine uh let's see I want to uh you know I was in a couple of those link L uh programs the career talks Andrew Seaman and I uh did a did a couple together U where I

Speaker A

was a you know I was I was his guest I have a newsletter you all can have a LinkedIn newsletter you can pop it up there I have a website if you're a freelancer maybe you have a website I already

Speaker A

mentioned I have a zebra code book club you can click this and learn more about it kind of thing but you could have anything and and don't worry about well is somebody going to steal my work sanitize it who cares they're not you I could give other career coaches the blueprint for actually

Speaker A

running a successful career coaching business but that's not going to make any difference they still actually have to execute it so what you're it's more important for you to Showcase what you know but it's another opportunity for you to put keywords in it's a it's an ability for you to say

Speaker A

this is my work look how awesome this is look how generous I am I believe in abundance here again the abundance thing we're talking more about this tomorrow but do not blow this off Max it out take advantage this matters not to mention the featured stuff can be circulated on LinkedIn you could

Speaker A

forward that you could share it you could when you create a long form post it's going to go on your profile it's going to stay on your newsletter of which all of you can do right and it gives you a

Speaker A

chance to circulate something all right wait those are five and I know I promised five but you know I have nine semesters of higher math an electrical engineering undergraduate student I earned my my bachelor's in that and I still don't know how to count right because I got some more tips there's

Speaker A

a few things I want to show you so those five that I just called out which were really more like 10 uh they those are key static elements now now we don't I didn't go through the rest of the profile

Speaker A

and there's a lot more to it but to me those are those are five that are going to give you a really good bang for the buck so if you are if if you are enjoying this make sure to click the like button

Speaker A

make sure you subscribe let's go into the bonus round okay so number one for those of you that go to the Andy School of job search challenging where you're targeting bosses and you're targeting companies and you're targeting recruiters and teammates and HR people and all kinds of folks

Speaker A

who can actually give you a job not like the A ATS not like the applicant trashing system one of the things that I I want to know is and and and go you can go in the chat and give me the high sign

Speaker A

or whatever are you following everybody you reach out to the follow feature is your best friend what do I mean Andy you tell me to send three messages a day to people emailing bosses emailing teammates emailing your connections trying to trying to get somebody to connect with who can get you into a

Speaker A

role I want you to do that but every single time you send a message you should go over to LinkedIn and click the follow button on their profile to see what they're doing what they're sharing so that you can monitor them so that's that's one tip and that will that will put their their posts

Speaker A

in your feed and if they're active you're going to find out a lot of information about them and what they're doing now one other little bonus tip I want to give you which I think is pretty sweet I saved this this one for last is I want you to deliberately monitor stuff so what a lot of

Speaker A

do is you search for jobs and you you do all this stuff that is is agonizing and so one of the things that I want to show you is just a and this is just an example but you can you can do this to

Speaker A

your heart's content but you're going to set these searches up once and you're going to let them run so I want you to let's let's say you're you're you're you're job searching right you go to the search bar you hit the search bar up up pops up Pops this array of stuff I want you to go to posts

Speaker A

click posts what are you looking for I'm looking for jobs I'm looking for let's just take the past week I'm looking for jobs posts about jobs who do I want to find well what companies am I following are you following Apple I don't know do you want to go work for Apple do you want to go work for

Speaker A

Google let's just take those show me the results and then what happens is you're going to get posts of people who are talking about jobs and companies that you want to work for and then what you can do

Speaker A

is look for okay so Stephanie Ang is hiring okay great hey there I'm on the lookout for all right somebody's looking for work you want to find people who what are hiring are alerting you about hiring are alerting you about jobs just took a new job and so on what you can do is

Speaker A

you can build your own company follow list with simple Search terms on on LinkedIn and you can just let this run and come here and just refresh it so that's another one where you you should be setting up the monitoring aspects of what you're doing so when going back to the triangle here

Speaker A

going back to the triangle there's the static information that we talked about kind of those there's a lot more that I'm going to that I'm going to be teaching in my LinkedIn Workshop but to give you a taste that's the kind of stuff that you should be thinking about there's the dynamic

Speaker A

stuff which we didn't really get into how you post how you comment how you do all those other things create articles and things of that nature that are going to show the system that you have activity and then there's the tracking so so I just gave you an example or two of how to track

Speaker A

right you could follow people that's great you could you could set up uh filters uh so that so that LinkedIn is basically giving you reports of sorts and so so those are th those to me are seven really good tips let's recap them make sure your billboard is in order it matters it says a lot

Speaker A

about you remember Sarah's got these great stats uh that she pulled together from 5,000 people but I have always and long thought that the summary is probably the the the second most important stuff after the billboard and then the third element is Vanity URL that's very simple you got skills make

Speaker A

sure you're getting endorsements so that you can put your top skills at the top of of your profile and that the search engine will love it make sure you take advantage of the features and then put those reports together so that you are more passively tracking what's going on all right if

Speaker A

you enjoyed that click the like button make sure you're subscribed I've got a lot more coming up April depending on when you're watching this April 30th May 1st and May 2nd uh in a LinkedIn Workshop that I'm going to be doing you can check that out on the myok academy site if you're here with me

Speaker A

live we're going to the chat if you're watching me on the recording I will see you next week

Topics:LinkedIn tipsjob searchcareer coachingexecutive recruitingLinkedIn profilepersonal brandingapplicant tracking systemnetworkingLinkedIn engagementprofessional development

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