Connect To Opportunity on LinkedIn

Whether you're just starting out in your public health career, taking it to the next level, or simply changing to something new, your LinkedIn profile can help you bring your career story to life. In this post, we have put together some videos to help you explore how to build a profile that tells the story of your career journey, with some key points.

We'll look at how to choose a profile photo, create a custom headline, introduce yourself in your summary, show impact and results with rich media and work experience, and finally, how to incorporate skills, endorsements, and recommendations into your story. Are you ready? Let's jump in.

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Note: We understand you may be busy to go through all of this, so if you would like a professional to update your LinkedIn profile we recommend TopCV, which offer some great packages, alongside CV and cover letter writing. You can take a look here.

An Introduction to LinkedIn

Key Points:

Introduction

• Why use LinkedIn
• Your profile is your story
• Profile photo, headline and industry
• Profile summary
• Experience
• Skills, endorsements, recommendations

Before Getting Started

• Make sure you have a LinkedIn Profile setup
• Review your privacy and security settings
• Review your account settings to your liking

Why Use LinkedIn

Key Points:

Why use LinkedIn

• Professional Social Network Platform
• Build a professional brand
• If an employer Google’s you
• Directory of contacts
• Research companies and it’s employees
• Opportunity to network

Your profile is your story

• Includes content such as photos, videos and presentations that bring your work to life
• Showcase who you are, the work that you do and the impact that you’ve made
• Focus on bringing your work accomplishments and career journey by making people feel something

Quick Tips

• Always write in the first person narrative
• Be concise and to the point
• Use bullet points to emphasise key skills, accomplishments and results
• It is not a CV, so it shouldn’t look like one
• Visibility settings

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Photo, Headline and Industry

Key Points:

Use Your Profile to Build Your Brand

• “The sum total of all experiences someone has with you based on value you bring and promises you make”
• Differentiate yourself from others who are in the same industry
• Stories and examples of your work
• Add videos, photos or quotes
• Key traits, skills and values that define you - creative, trustworthy, collaborative

Use Your Profile to Build Your Brand

• Get help from others, such as your colleagues
• What words would you describe the work that I do?
• What are the top 3 words you would use to describe the work I created for you?
• Ask a few different people

Create a Photo That Represents You

• According to LinkedIn data, people with a profile photo receive up to 9 times more connection requests
• High quality, good lighting and a neutral background
• It doesn’t have to be professional - use your phone and use the LinkedIn photo filters

Standout Headline

• Your headline is the short one-liner that appears under your name within your profile
• If you don’t update your headline it will auto-default to the most recent position listed within your work experience
• Your headline is an opportunity to: represent your professional brand, differentiate yourself
• Create something customised, compelling and representative of you
• Your role
• Industry keywords
• Unique skills or passions
• Get ideas from key leaders in Public Health
• Example: “Transforming patient care” OR “Improving the health of Scotland”

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Create Your Profile Summary

Key Points:

Create Your Profile Summary

• Elevator pitch
• Concise, speaks your mission, motivation, key skills and your experience
• Showcase career accomplishments and aspirations
• Introduction to who you are, what you do, why your work matters and your contribution

Who Are You?

• “You’re an inspiring leader who aims to improve the health of underserved communities”
• “You’re a public health academic, whose goal is to change practice in public health”
• “You’re a public health communications manager who connects people to information in order to tell a story”

What Do You Do? Why Does it Matter?

• Do you lead a group or public health practitioners making a difference to the local community?
• Or do you run a sexual health department lowering the risk of STI’s in young people?
• Or do you use public health intelligence to gather, analyse and interpret information for decision makers?

Create a Summary That Introduces You

• Your summary is the first thing most people look at
• 40 plus words to showcase your unique skills
• First person narrative
• Media

Showcase Your Accomplishments

Key Points:

Showcase Your Accomplishments

• Describe what you do in your day to day role
• BUT… even better would be to include:
• Results
• Impact
• Change
• Add in 1-2 sentences to describe the organisation. Use the Organisation’s vision or mission statement

Bring Your Profile to Life with Media

• Visual content, such as videos, photos, presentations and websites that show examples of your work
• Bring your work to life
• Add to your summary and experience sections
• Your organisation may have brand/media assets that you can share publicly

Adding Skills and Getting Endorsed

• Showcase your abilities, strengths, expertise
• Build credibility
• Once you add a skill to your profile, it can be endorsed by your professional community (first degree connections)
• Strengthens profile
• Settings

Use Recommendations

Key Points:

• Build credibility on your profile through recommendations
• Who do you want to ask?
• Customise your recommendation requests
• Example:
• “Hi Helen, as I’ve just completed and launched the new school initiative, I’m wondering if you’d be willing to write a recommendation for me?”
• “I know you have limited time, so I wrote the first draft. Feel free to change anything and add your voice and overall tone...”

Next Steps

We hope that you have found this helpful. However, we understand you may be busy or need extra help. We recommend TopCV, which offer some great packages, which includes LinkedIn Profile help alongside CV and cover letter writing. You can take a look here.