How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Profile... And 18 Mistakes to Avoid

by Brenda Bernstein

Recently added to the 12th edition:

✔ Updated images and instructions throughout to match LinkedIn's latest changes, including the new face of LinkedIn's messaging center
✔ Updated LinkedIn statistics to most current available
✔ Introducing LinkedIn Lookup (Mistake #6)
✔ How to send customized introductions via your mobile device (Mistake #6)
✔ New "Who's viewed your posts" analytic (Mistake #6)
✔ Tip for checking spelling and grammar errors (Mistake #9)
✔ Changes to Activity Update functionality (Mistake #12)
✔ LinkedIn SlideShare's Clipping tool (Mistake #14)
✔ New functionality for groups conversations (Mistake #16)
✔ Introducing LinkedIn's new Social Selling Index (Mistake #18)
✔ Introducing LinkedIn® Elevate (Bonus Tip #2)
✔ Updates to LinkedIn group limits (Appendix B)
✔ Additional discounts for new LinkedIn services (Appendix J)
✔ LinkedIn's new Higher Education Partners One-Click Program (Appendix K)

Reviews:
"Unless you have the rare job that requires no communication with other human beings, you will benefit from regular and careful reading of Brenda Bernstein’s advice. She will guide you through the rules of creating and using professional gateway documents: resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. Her advice for job seekers in a variety of settings is both accessible and sound. Best of all, she writes and presents with grace and humor. Brenda is a “must read” and “must consult” for people entering, re-entering, or reconfiguring their place at work." - Susan Gainen, Principal Consultant, Pass the Baton, Minneapolis, MN.

"Brenda’s “How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile” webinar was EXCELLENT! The information I received was applicable immediately and easily. Using Brenda’s insightful techniques, I transformed my one-dimensional career history into a compelling brand-focused profile that has increased my profile reviews and name search results by 20%!" - Nikki Champagnie, Career Services Professional, Houston, TX.

"Many people are beginning to truly understand the strategic networking power of LinkedIn, but it’s surprising how few have adopted good habits when constructing and maintaining their LinkedIn profiles. Personal branding and sending a concise message to people who visit your profile is critical. Brenda Bernstein’s e-book holds key profile strategies and important tips on avoiding networking pitfalls. As a LinkedIn trainer myself, it’s good to know I have a resource like this for my clients to help them after they’ve left my classroom." - Michael Phelps, LinkedIn Trainer, Milwaukee, WI

"I just love this new book! It absolutely addresses topics no one else has and that people should be paying attention to. It hits the bulls-eye on making LinkedIn work the way it’s intended! Plus Ms. Bernstein does a great job of conveying important, spot-on points in a clear and engaging manner." - Larry Megugorac, Sales Executive, Brentwood, CA

"I have read How to Write a Killer Linkein Profile a few times now, and it has truly alerted me to the power of words, the use and turn of language, and the positioning power that I can master and take advantage of as I transition into my next job opportunity. I appreciated the knowledge and hands-on expertise Ms. Bernstein has laid out in these pages and honestly wanted more at the end of the book." - Luisa Michel, CFA, Columbia University MBA, St. Louis, MO

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, Social

530 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2013

Reviews

[Shawna Hansen]

My husband was interested in this book for his job search. It's a quick read, so I sat down and walked through the 18 mistakes listed in the book to improve my own linkedin profile. This book is very easy to follow and implement. I spent less than 2 hours reading the book and making the updates to my profile. Fun and practical guide to a quick fix to your linkedin profile. Go for it!

[Laura]

This book was extremely helpful in understanding LinkedIn. Will be using it again

[Tylor Paucek]

How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile... And 18 Mistakes to Avoid contains a wealth of information. The author does a great job of pointing out mistakes that many job seekers and recruiters make with their LinkedIn profile. She then goes on to describe the problem, how you can fix it, and results to expect if you do. It is obvious that the author knows LinkedIn very well, and given her success, also knows how to make it work.

I did have two criticisms that kept me from giving it 5 stars. First of all, I feel that the title is a bit misleading. I had assumed, based on the title, that the book would help you write your profile (presumably from scratch). Then in a second part of the book, she would talk about the 18 mistakes. The truth is, the first chapter is the first mistake. Don't get me wrong. The information provided in the 18 mistakes is amazing, I was just hoping for a bit more help crafting some of the sections of my profile.

The second criticism I have is the amount of promotion the author does for her company. Most of the chapters have a plug for her company offering to fix the mistake she details. While I'm not saying she isn't entitled to promote herself in her own book, I feel that after dropping $10 on an ebook, I should get the ad free version.

TL;DR - A great resource for anyone looking to polish up their LinkedIn profile whether they are new to the platform or a veteran. Just be willing to put up with some self promotion.

[Erin]

While it's certainly not a KILLER profile (the all caps appear to be important here), this was helpful for me to get A profile started. I picked up this title primarily because it was available to check out via Amazon Prime, and I needed a LinkedIn primer. This was a good overview, and it's a new edition so I didn't have to wade through features that no longer exist. I appreciated the links throughout to actual LinkedIn profiles. I did not appreciate the frequent plugs for their "Essay Expert" services to review your resume/summary/header/whatever-that-particular-chapter-was-about.

I'm still not sure I'm quite behind the idea of LinkedIn, but for a newbie like myself I'd recommend this book as a good starting point.

[Chuan Qin]

This short book has some nice starting points such as how to improve your profile. I found these tips really useful.

However, some of its chapters are clearly outdated. For example, LinkedIn no longer supported Amazon Reading List.

To a degree I don't agree with author's argument of writing a killer profile. Say, I don't want to upload too many media files onto my LinkedIn, because I think they will mess up my LinkedIn profile, making it looks bluffed. Of course, this is up to reader's own judgement.

Overall, I love this book for its unique insights.

P.S. it is like a congregation of blogs full of advertisements, be ready for that.

[Omar]

While I'm not a "power user" on LinkedIn, I definitely use it quite a bit and I got some new info and great tips for optimizing my profile I otherwise would never have thought of.

[Tracy]

Time to put this book to the test.

[Desta Ludivine Osbourne]

A must read for any LinkedIn user

This book is full of very useful and detailed advice that I will definitely put in practice. I would definitely recommend to my friends.

[Lisa HEFLIN]

This book is amazing if you are using LinkedIn. Especially if you are not as tech savvy with LinkedIn as you want to be. The author uses clear concise language along with the step-by-step instructions on how to use the tools to give you the best possible advantage. Lots of pictures to show exactly what each step should look like helped me a lot.

While reading the book straight through is good, I found that using it as a reference as you complete your profile worked a lot better for me. I highly recommend this book. Bonus points towards the author who is willing to help and answers your questions via LinkedIn.

[Chung Shun Man]

I adopted some skills discussed in the book on my linkedIn account and I have seen an increase in the number of visitors. The book has a lot of recommendations about building an attractive and effective profile. It helps me improve my summaries and reminds me of doing things that I previously ignored (like a profile picture , number of connections) Some drawbacks, however, are that it is difficult to follow all the instructions in the book and test one-by-one. It is a book that you can expect if you want to increase your employability by bringing yourself into employers' attention.

[Toni Marić]

Only guide on Linkedin you will ever need.

This book is awesome source of information for everyone who is new to linkedin and who wants to optimize their profile. Its a little bit on the expensive side but its worth every penny. Thank you Brenda for you knowledge and for sharing it with so much explanations.

[Eric Smith]

This is an excellent book, to the point, with clear directions, and surprisingly interesting to read. Also, the author supports previous buyers by giving free updated versions indefinitely. I'm a fan.

[Dejan Simic]

Great book!

Thank you Brenda, I got an irresistible offer just by applying what you suggested in your book.Such an important tips and advices, with the link of connecting to the author personally for an improvement of your LinkedIn profile!

[Chris Harris]

A great book to help anyone improve their LinkedIn profile. There are some sections that I probably won’t use, but they were informative and would be helpful to others..
The chapters and flow are well written and build on previous concepts.

[Iva Doncheva]

Extremely useful manual, highly recommend it.

[Byron Flores]

Nice tips that I already implemented into my LinkedIn profile!

[R.B.]

Excellent tips!

[Akshay]

Helped me create better linked in profile.

[Joel Ungar]

Great Resource on LinkedIn

This book covers it all. The chapters follow a consistent structure, talking about the mistake many people make, how to fix it, and then what to expect. I’ve already made some changes to my profile and have more to come. Well worth reading.

[Yaotl Altan]

Podría traducirse el título así: "Cómo redactar un perfil de LinkedIn contundente".

Da consejos para redactar un buen perfil en la red social LinkedIn, generando así mayor impacto entre potenciales clientes que puedan necesitar nuestros servicios. Se basa también en 18 estrategias para evitar errores comunes.

Es importante que nuestra descripción contenga las palabras clave o "keywords" (en inglés) esenciales para optimizar los resultados de quienes buscan proveedorxs profesionales en Internet, además de contar con una vasta red de contactos (al menos 500). Existen más de 750 millones de usuaries de LinkedIn, de les cuales 25% se encuentran en los EUA. Por ello, para incrementar las probabilidades de que nos encuentren clientxs potenciales, es recomendable palabras que atraigan clientxs desde los primeros caracteres del encabezado.

Sirve también como manual de uso de la cuenta de LinkedIn por su gran variedad de consejos: desde cómo subir archivos hasta ejemplos con una redacción contundente para destacarse en el mercado laboral.

363 páginas

[Antonio Arch]

I highly recommend this guide to LinkedIn. It’s filled with good ideas and tips, but is remarkably succinct. In fact, it’s so tightly packed with good advice that you can probably read it and apply several of the most important parts in less than a day. Brenda Bernstein’s book should be required reading if any of these if you:
-Are looking to win at the LinkedIn game. There’s a whole chapter (#3) on this!
Want to better understand the importance of keywords (and how to use them)
-Need to address career gaps in your job history
-Are getting and staying on LinkedIn as a student or recent graduates
-Want to send connection invitations that get accepted

[Melvin Patterson]

Interesting Read

It’s hard to keep up with an ever changing platform like LinkedIn and the book does a good job of explaining the key functions and uses of the main features of LI. Also covered are some deeply hidden little LI gems worth exploring. That said, and because the platform is constantly changing, many of the features discussed are not readily apparent or not reachable by way of the instructions given. Not the fault of the author, just an artifact of tying to write an informative book on a constantly changing product.

[Luca]

Good book to follow if you want to update your LinkedIn profile. I liked her approach from the point of view of the commonly made mistakes, some of them really big. It has opened my eyes in terms of what to do, definitely what not to do and for sure how to do it. The examples plus the screenshots definitely help to visualize where to do what and where you are. It has helped me a lot.

[Nelson Gil]

Excelente guía de trabajo para actualizar su perfil

Este libro es una excelente guía para actualizar las secciones disponibles en LinkedIn pero además ofrece las ideas necesarias para aumentar los contactos con calidad.

[Kimberly Siegert]

Always good to learn new skills

This is a very well written and easily understood book that can quickly help you to up your LinkedIn profile. Plenty of support and reference material for additional information.

[Kimberley Bornschein]

Lots of great information

I'm glad I picked this up on Kindle. There's a lot of valuable information...so much, in fact, that I will definitely be reading it a second time to absorb it all!

[Cozonacci]

Real tool in improve and get the most from your LinkedIn profile

[Y T]

Gleaned quite a few gems such as improving my headlines and posts.

Do bear in mind that the book was written for mainly the US audience and some aspects may not suit your culture, e.g. promoting your own achievements may seem normal in some countries but others may want a more conservative approach.

Overall, it was a good read and I gained an improved profile compared to what it was before I read this book.