How to Set Up Your LinkedIn Profile (Ultimate Guide)

What if your LinkedIn profile could land your dream job without sending out a single application? Hi, I'm Kevin, and today we'll learn how to make that happen by creating a LinkedIn profile that gets you noticed by recruiters, hiring managers, and potential clients. We'll walk through it all step by step. Let's dive in. Now, if you're anything like me, you probably created your LinkedIn profile many years ago, tossed up a random photo, slapped your job title in there, and never touched it again. But here's the thing, your LinkedIn profile isn't just some boring online resume that collects digital dust. It's actually your personal brand, your online billboard, working 24/7 to promote you, even when you're busy doing things like baking cookies. Every time someone Googles your name, whether it's a recruiter, a hiring manager, or maybe just someone you met at an event, chances are your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things that they'll see. And get this, LinkedIn's search algorithm is constantly scanning profiles to recommend people for jobs, projects, and also networking opportunities. That means if your profile isn't optimized with the right keywords and the right story, you're basically invisible. Let's get to work on transforming your profile together. First off, log into LinkedIn, and you'll land here on the main home screen. To edit your profile, up on the top navigation bar, click on the Me icon. Right here, you see the option to view your profile. Click on that and that should open up your profile. And yes, this could use some work. The first thing someone will see on your LinkedIn profile is your photo. That's their first impression. Think of your profile picture like the packaging on a box. If the box looks messy, blurry, or maybe even half eaten, probably going to skip it, right? The same goes for your LinkedIn photo. You want something that's professional, but also approachable. You don't need to hire a pro photographer, just grab your phone. Stand near a window for good natural light and then snap a picture. Make sure you have a clean background. You also want to make sure that you're centered in the frame, your face is clearly visible, and this one is important, make sure to smile. You want to look like someone people actually want to work with. You'll want to avoid group photos, vacation selfies, or even cropped party pictures. Let's avoid that one. Here's a fun one you can try. Once you take your photo, head to chatgpt.com and simply paste your photo in. Then you need to type in your prompt. I’ll say transform this photo into a professional LinkedIn headshot. I'm building this profile for my job at the Kevin Cookie Company, so I'll provide some additional context. Feel free to go through and read it. Once you enter in your prompt, let's send it through. All right, let's scroll down and see how it turned out. (Laughs) Look at that, very cool. If you're happy with the output, simply hover over and then you could download a copy of the photo. As a quick tip, if you want the face to more accurately represent your face, you can even upload multiple photos from different angles and the results then tend to look even better. To update your photo on LinkedIn, you simply click on your photo. When I click on this, I get a dialog. Here I can see my old blurry photo. We need to replace that. So right down below, let's click on Add Photo and here we have two different options. You could use your webcam or you could simply upload a photo. Now I already have that photo that I created with ChatGPT, so let's click on Upload Photo and over here, I'll select my photo and there I see it. Now I could choose the crop of this photo. I think this looks good. You have a few different options over here to zoom or straighten the photo. You could also apply different filters and even make some additional adjustments. But overall, I think this looks great. Down below, let's click on Save Photo and check that out. That looks a lot more professional and on brand for my job as a master baker. Next up, the banner image. That's the big rectangle behind your profile picture. Now, most people just decide to leave this blank but it's prime real estate to show off a little bit of your personality and also your work. To update your banner image, in the top right-hand corner of the banner, click on the camera icon and then select Add Cover Image. We have different options. We could upload a photo and down below, you could also choose from one of these preset options and honestly, they all look fairly nice. But I have something very specific in mind. Now I work at the Kevin Cookie Company, and I think maybe a picture of our factory would be very fitting. I'll click on Upload Photo and let's go with this one right here. Here's our cookie factory with one of the boats going through the Chocolate River. That looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll show a little bit of the boat right here. Again, we have different options to refine the way the image looks but I like this right here, so I'll click on Apply. Right up on top, I can now see the new image of the Chocolate River and the boat going through. Now, let's say you're in marketing. Maybe you want to show off a campaign that you worked on. Maybe you work in tech, and it might make sense to include, let's say a cool shot of you speaking at a conference or you could go simple. Just go with a nice clean background, maybe in your favorite color. The key is to make it yours. Something that makes people stop and think, "Oh, this person actually put some effort into their profile." That'll help you stand out compared to all the other people on LinkedIn. Next up is the headline. That's this text that you see right here. LinkedIn gives you 220 characters for this section but what do you think most people do? They simply put in their job title, just like I did, the Master Baker at the Kevin Cookie Company. Now, there's nothing wrong with that but it's kind of like labeling a cookie as a baked good. Now technically that's true but it's not making anyone's mouth water. Your headline is prime space to show off what you actually do and who you help, not just where you work. So why don't we edit this? To edit your headline, over here, let's click on the pencil icon and here we can now edit the intro. Let's scroll down just a little bit until we see the section titled headline. Let's highlight this existing headline and let me enter in something new. Master Baker making 10,000 cookies a day, faster, fresher, better at the Kevin Cookie Company. Now, I think the previous version sounded like a title. This one right here sounds like someone you'd want to hire. Here's the formula that I use to write out the headline. First off, list out what is your role? I'm a Master Baker. And then how do you help? Well, I make 10,000 cookies a day and those cookies that I make are faster, fresher and better and then who do you help? I help at the Kevin Cookie Company. If you use those three different items, you'll find that your headlines are much stronger. Once you make your headline changes, in the bottom right, let's click on Save. Next up is the summary or what's also referred to as the About section. I like to call it the story behind the cookie. Most people decide to just skip this entirely or they fill it up with corporate buzzwords that just don't make any sense. This is your opportunity to tell people what you're about and why they should care. Let's look at an example. Back on my profile, we see a section here for Add a Summary or what's also referred to as the About You section and read this text right here. It says members who include a summary receive up to 3.9 times as many profile views. If you want people to notice your profile, that seems like a really good idea. So right here, let's click on Add a Summary. Right up above, let's type in some text and then let's break down how I structured it. I li

clients. We'll walk through it all step by step. Let's dive in. Now, if you're anything like me, you probably created your LinkedIn profile many years ago, tossed up a random photo, slapped your job title in there, and never touched it again. But here's the thing, your LinkedIn profile isn't

just some boring online resume that collects digital dust. It's actually your personal brand, your online billboard, working 24/7 to promote you, even when you're busy doing things like baking cookies. Every time someone Googles your name, whether it's a recruiter, a hiring manager,

or maybe just someone you met at an event, chances are your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things that they'll see. And get this, LinkedIn search algorithm is constantly scanning profiles to recommend people for jobs, projects, and also networking opportunities. That means if your

profile isn't optimized with the right keywords and the right story, you're basically invisible. Let's get to work on transforming your profile together. First off, log into LinkedIn, and you'll land here on the main home screen. To edit your profile, up on the top navigation bar, click

on the me icon. Right here, you see the option to view your profile. Click on that and that should open up your profile. And yes, this could use some work. The first thing someone will see on your LinkedIn profile is your photo. That's their first impression. Think of your profile picture like

the packaging on a box. If the box looks messy, blurry, or maybe even half eaten, probably going to skip it, right? The same goes for your LinkedIn photo. You want something that's professional, but also approachable. You don't need to hire a pro photographer, just grab your phone. Stand near

a window for good natural light and then snap a picture. Make sure you have a clean background.

You also want to make sure that you're centered in the frame, your face is clearly visible, and this one is important, make sure to smile. You want to look like someone people actually want to work with. You'll want to avoid group photos, vacation selfies,

or even cropped party pictures. Let's avoid that one. Here's a fun one you can try. Once you take your photo, head to chatgpt.com and simply paste your photo in. Then you need to type in your prompt. I’ll say transform this photo into a professional LinkedIn headshot.

I'm building this profile for my job at the Kevin Cookie Company, so I'll provide some additional context. Feel free to go through and read it. Once you enter in your prompt, let's send it through. All right, let's scroll down and see how it turned out.

(Laughs) Look at that, very cool. If you're happy with the output, simply hover over and then you could download a copy of the photo. As a quick tip, if you want the face to more accurately represent your face, you can even upload multiple photos from different angles

and the results then tend to look even better. To update your photo on LinkedIn, you simply click on your photo. When I click on this, I get a dialog. Here I can see my old blurry photo. We need to replace that. So right down below, let's click on Add Photo and here we have

two different options. You could use your webcam or you could simply upload a photo. Now I already have that photo that I created with ChatGPT, so let's click on Upload Photo and over here, I'll select my photo and there I see it. Now I could choose the crop of this photo. I think this

looks good. You have a few different options over here to zoom or straighten the photo.

You could also apply different filters and even make some additional adjustments. But overall, I think this looks great. Down below, let's click on Save Photo and check that out. That looks a lot more professional and on brand for my job as a master baker. Next up, the banner image. That's

the big rectangle behind your profile picture. Now, most people just decide to leave this blank but it's prime real estate to show off a little bit of your personality and also your work. To update your banner image, in the top right-hand corner of the banner, click on the camera icon

and then select Add Cover Image. We have different options. We could upload a photo and down below, you could also choose from one of these preset options and honestly, they all look fairly nice. But I have something very specific in mind. Now I work at the Kevin Cookie Company,

and I think maybe a picture of our factory would be very fitting. I'll click on Upload Photo and let's go with this one right here. Here's our cookie factory with one of the boats going through the Chocolate River. That looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll show a little bit of the boat right here.

Again, we have different options to refine the way the image looks but I like this right here, so I'll click on Apply. Right up on top, I can now see the new image of the Chocolate River and the boat going through. Now, let's say you're in marketing. Maybe you want to show off a campaign

that you worked on. Maybe you work in tech, and it might make sense to include, let's say a cool shot of you speaking at a conference or you could go simple. Just go with a nice clean background, maybe in your favorite color. The key is to make it yours. Something that makes people stop and

think, "Oh, this person actually put some effort into their profile." That'll help you stand out compared to all the other people on LinkedIn. Next up is the headline. That's this text that you see right here. LinkedIn gives you 220 characters for this section but what do you think most

people do? They simply put in their job title, just like I did, the Master Baker at the Kevin Cookie Company. Now, there's nothing wrong with that but it's kind of like labeling a cookie as a baked good. Now technically that's true but it's not making anyone's mouth water. Your headline

is prime space to show off what you actually do and who you help, not just where you work.

So why don't we edit this? To edit your headline, over here, let's click on the pencil icon and here we can now edit the intro. Let's scroll down just a little bit until we see the section titled headline. Let's highlight this existing headline and let me enter in something new.

Master Baker making 10,000 cookies a day, faster, fresher, better at the Kevin Cookie Company. Now, I think the previous version sounded like a title. This one right here sounds like someone you'd want to hire. Here's the formula that I use to write out the headline. First off,

list out what is your role? I'm a Master Baker. And then how do you help? Well, I make 10,000 cookies a day and those cookies that I make are faster, fresher and better and then who do you help? I help at the Kevin Cookie Company. If you use those three different items,

you'll find that your headlines are much stronger. Once you make your headline changes, in the bottom right, let's click on save. Next up is the summary or what's also referred to as the about section.

I like to call it the story behind the cookie. Most people decide to just skip this entirely or they fill it up with corporate buzzwords that just don't make any sense. This is your opportunity to tell people what you're about and why they should care. Let's look at an example.

Back on my profile, we see a section here for add a summary or what's also referred to as the about you section and read this text right here. It says members who include a summary receive up to 3.9

times as many profile views. If you want people to notice your profile, that seems like a really good idea. So right here, let's click on add a summary. Right up above, let's type in some text and then let's break down how I structured it. I like starting out by talking about who I am. Hi,

I'm Kevin. Then I like to talk about what I do. I'm a master baker, passionate about creating moments of joy through simple quality cookies, and then I have some additional context. Then I think it's also a nice touch to talk about why you love doing what you do. And the reason

I bake cookies is I love seeing how people react. They'll eat a cookie, and they'll smile. Maybe it forms a memory. Maybe they share a moment with others. That's what keeps me baking.

Now, all in all, something to keep in mind is you want it to be conversational. Remember, you're telling your story. This isn't a legal contract. Also, if you're struggling coming up with text, feel free to also use a tool like ChatGPT or maybe other AI writing tools,

and that could really help you get a really strong summary. Once you're all done entering in your text, in the bottom right-hand corner, click on save. Back on your main profile page, let's scroll down a little bit, and here we can now see the about section. If I click on see more,

you can see all of the texts that you included. This is looking really solid. We're now moving on to the experience section. This is where you show what you've actually done, and most importantly, the impact that you've had. You'll find the experience section right underneath the about

or the summary section. Here we see experience, and currently mine is a little sparse. It simply says that I'm the master cookie baker at the Kevin Cookie Company with no additional details. Let's change that. Right over here, let's click on the pencil icon to edit this. On this next screen,

let's once again, click on the pencil icon to edit it. On this screen, you can type in all the details like the title, the employment type. This is a full-time job, the company, the organization, and also the dates. You could go through and fill in all of that. But one of the most important

items is the description or what you actually do at this job, and let's break down how I recommend structuring this. In this section, you could write out a paragraph or you could also use bullet points. It's really up to you. Personally, I prefer bullet points because I feel like it's just

a little bit more concise. First off, I'll insert a dash for the first bullet point. And I like starting out with what I do. I'm the lead baker. Then I like to answer the question, who do I do

that for? Well, it's at the Kevin Cookie Company. Now, the most important part, we need to list out the outcome. So, I'm the lead baker, but what do I actually get done? Well, I help produce over 10,000 cookies daily, ensuring every batch meets our high standards for freshness, consistency,

and quality. You want people to read this and stop and say, I want to work with this person. If another cookie company looks at this, they may see that this is a very high quantity and also with very high quality. Let's now add one more bullet point that follows this same exact structure.

Once again, I'll start with what I do and who I do it for. Well, I built the Kevin Cookie Company's Cookie Club from the ground up. Now, keep in mind, if I were to stop right here, you might ask, well,

was it successful? Did anyone sign up? And so that's why it's so important to always list out the results. So here I'll enter in -- we grew to over 100,000 monthly subscribers with an industry leading 98.5% retention rate. Again, that outcome makes it so much more powerful. Now,

of course, I could go through and I could add more, but I think for now, this is good enough.

Keep in mind, you want this to be your highlight reel. You don't want it to be your entire story.

Once you're done entering in your key points, down in the bottom right-hand corner, let's click on Save. Next up is skills and endorsements. Now, this might seem like a small part of your profile, but it's actually one of the easiest ways to boost your visibility on LinkedIn. Within the

experience dialog, right here we have the option to add a skill. LinkedIn lets you pin three skills at the top. So, you want to make sure that they reflect what you want to be known for. So here at the Kevin Cookie Company, I work on developing recipes. So right here, I'll select that as one of

my skills. Let's add another one. I also focus on food production. So right here, let's select that and let's add one more. I'll put down food quality control. Then I'll select that. By selecting these different skills, you're telling the world what you're good at. And it also helps you

get discovered when people search LinkedIn for these different areas of expertise. Of course, you could select whatever skill you want. Who knows if you're actually good at it. On LinkedIn, you can also have people endorse you for these skills. You can ask, let's say your customers,

maybe partners or maybe coworkers to endorse you for these different skills. It basically serves as social proof that you are in fact good at these different skills that you've selected here.

Once you're all done selecting all these different skills, in the bottom right, let's click on save.

Next up is recommendations. This is one of the most powerful ways to build trust on your LinkedIn profile. This section lets other people like coworkers, clients, or maybe partners share what it's like to work with you. If people love working with you, you should share that. It's like

having five-star reviews right on your profile. To add recommendations to your LinkedIn profile, we need to add a new section. To add new sections, right here, let's click on add profile section and we have lots of different options for sections. If you expand the recommended

category, right here we have the option to add recommendations. Let's click here. Right up above, you can now type in the name of a person who you would like to provide you with a recommendation.

Before you can type in someone's name, you also have to be connected with them on LinkedIn. Now for my role here as the master baker at the Kevin Cookie Company, maybe I should reach out to our head of operations or maybe one of our customers or maybe even a coworker or a team member.

Now, this type of social proof makes your profile so much more powerful. Now you might be wondering, if you type in someone's name, will you just get the recommendation? Maybe, maybe not. You should probably also reach out to that person and request that they provide a recommendation.

One good strategy, give them a recommendation first, then ask if they could write one back and in most cases, they'll be happy to do that. There are lots and lots of different sections that you can add to your profile on LinkedIn, but if you nail the ones that we've covered today, you'll

already be ahead of most of the other profiles out there. By default, LinkedIn gives you a messy address like what you see here at the bottom of the screen. Of course, we could do better. Over on the right-hand side, you can see your current LinkedIn profile address, and no one will remember

this. This thing is so long. Let's click on the edit icon and right here, let's click on the edit icon again and then I can highlight this text and type in a custom URL. Let's just type in the Kevin

Cookie Company and then click on save. That'll be a lot easier to remember. Your profile is great for first impressions, but posting updates is how you stay top of mind for your network, and it also shows that you're engaged in your industry. Every time you post, more people see your name and also

what you're working on. That could lead to new connections, new opportunities, or maybe even new business. To add a post on your profile page, scroll down a little bit and here we see activity.

You could tell that I don't have any activity yet, so let's change that. Right over here, let's click on create a post. You might be wondering, well, what should you even post about? Well, here are some easy ideas. Maybe it's a recent project you finished, maybe a customer win, maybe something

you learned about, or it could even be behind the scenes look at what you do. All of those are great topics. Now at the Kevin Cookie Company, we recently hosted a corporate appreciation event at David's Donut Den, and we supplied the cookies. So over here, I could talk about that experience.

This is good content that I could share with all of the different people in my network.

In the bottom right, let's click on post. And look at that, it's been posted successfully. Right over here, let's close out of this view. If we look right down below, here we can see our first post. That looks fantastic. Currently we

have zero followers, but I think as long as I continue posting and sharing valuable content, that'll quickly change. Let's now go all the way to the top. This profile is looking fantastic.

We have a beautiful banner, we have a photo, we have a very powerful headline. If we scroll down, we have a nice about us section, a post, and then we've also listed out experience and skills. If you made it this far, you are well on your way to having a top performing LinkedIn profile.

Now you might be looking for new opportunities, so to finish things off, right over here, we have the option that says open to, let's click there. Within this menu, you have a few different options, but let's say that you want to land a new job. Let's click on this option at the

top. Within this view, you could define the type of work that you're looking for, job title, when you're available to start, as well as the type of employment that you want. And then down below, you can also let your entire network know whether you're looking for a job, or as another option,

you could also limit that to recruiters only. Once you turn this on, you should have companies start reaching out to you. In the top right, let's close out of this view. And there you have it, a LinkedIn profile that actually works for you. If you found this video helpful, please let me know

down below in the comments. Also, please consider subscribing and I'll see you in the next video.