LinkedIn Spruces Up Your Skillset – Use this in your Online Business Model
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with more than 90 million users from across 200 countries. LinkedIn profiles have enabled numerous jobseekers to find the right job and have also been instrumental in companies’ quests to find the right candidate for a specific job. It is also an excellent way for Business owners and Entrepreneurs to get the word out about what they do and network.
To date, LinkedIn endorsements were considered to be the most effective marketing tool or a resource which could establish the credentials of a professional. Most people will tell you that these testimonials or client feedback do get a lot of attention from profile scrutinizers. Recently, LinkedIn has added a Skills section to the member’s homepage. This new Skills section appears just below the educational qualifications section.
For starters, the skills section is where professionals can mention their skills or expertise. Earlier, details about specific skills, certifications or achievement were either mixed in with educational qualification or put together in the summary section which was more out of sight and not very effective. With the dedicated section where professionals can list their skills, expertise and certifications, LinkedIn is now a much more friendly resource for jobseekers, networkers and Business owners.
Every LinkedIn member should utilize this skills section to its utmost potential. What it can do has to be looked at from three perspectives.
First, this skills section enables a user to update his or her profile with all the skills and expertise they would have. It allows as many as 50 skills which is very good as you may be very talented!
Second, these skills are searchable. People can now search for certain skills and based on whether those are listed in this new section of a user’s profile, the profiles would be displayed in the search results. It works pretty much how SEO works on major search engines. With the new skills section and the existing endorsements features, LinkedIn can become an even better job hunting and networking ground for everyone.
Third, based on the skills you have put on your profile, this allows you to connect with professionals having the same skills.
The three prong benefits of LinkedIn skills are unprecedented and should be use by anyone who uses the professional network.
Now, the skills are not just one or two qualifications or only desired expertise. It can be certifications, experience of specific hardware and software, experience in training the trainers or anything, the possibilities are endless. From a ballet dancer mentioning the variety of her choreography to a programmer mastering a new skill, everything can be given importance.
And the best part, once you have the Skills on your Profile, people can ENDORSE those Skillsets which allows others to see the Social Proof of your Skillset.
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