---
tags: Module 10
---
# LinkedIn

Now that we know how recruiters look at our profile, it's time to start building!

Let's go through each section step by step.

 
## 1. Public URL
Before we do anything with our profile, let’s give it a nice URL.

- Click on “Edit Public Profile & URL” - this appears on the top right of your profile (see image below).
- There, we can change our URL to whatever we want. Our recommendation: https://www.linkedin.com/in/firstname-lastname/


Whilst we're there, we can also edit our profile's visibility. We recommend making it fully public so your profile is indexed and can be found by everyone.


 
## 2. The Headline

After our name, this is the first piece of information visible to other LinkedIn members. It is also a part that heavily influences our keyword ranking. We want to make sure that people immediately know what you do by throwing a single glance.

- Tailor the headline to the position and industry you are looking for.
- Use the keywords you found during the previous activity.
- You can use whatever you're comfortable with, but we recommend following this structure:

:::info
**[Role] - [Core skills]**

- Example A, keep it simple:
**Sales Development Representative | SaaS B2B**

- Example B, add some skills:
**Sales Development Representative | SaaS B2B - Prospecting, Qualifying, Social Selling**

- Example C, variations:
**Business Development/Sales Representative | SaaS B2B**
:::

 
## 3. The About Section
Ahhh yes, the "About" section a.k.a. your bio a.k.a. the tough part.

**What are we supposed to write here about ourselves?!**

Within a few sentences, we want to clearly convey what we're doing, what our mission is, and what it is that we’re looking for.

- Look for 3 examples of SDR's and their bio's for inspiration.
- Have a look at your personal branding statement.
- Write your bio!

Your bio is tough to write as it requires distilling your core message into a few phrases. It's also an iterative text - it should change as your career evolves. Your bio is uniquely yours. We will give you some tips, but we also want to give you enough space to express yourself. Here it goes:

- **Keep it short and sweet.** People won't read anything that is too long. By default, LinkedIn shows only the first three lines of your profile summary before readers have to click to see more. This works out to around 290-310 characters.
- **KEYWORDS!!!** It's always a good idea to mention our key competencies from your personal canvas. We try to stick to between 3 and 5 of those. Also, we want to include the same skills that you have already mentioned in your headline (if any).
- **Make it personal.** The more authentic, the better. This is the perfect place to talk about your career path so far, your accomplishments, and explain what you're looking for and why you're so great at it.

Need more inspiration? Here are some topics you can cover:
- What are your goals and ambitions?
- What are your guiding principles?
- Why are you passionate about your current job or industry?
- Were there any specific pieces of wisdom that you learnt from past jobs?
- Is there any unique knowledge you’ve brought into your industry from other life experiences?
- How can you help companies with X and Y?

Here are some examples for inspiration we like:

- [Shane Shua](https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneshua/) (a little long, but great core message)

- [James Brown](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-brown-42469716b/) (Humor breaks the ice. Short and to the point)

Find any more cool ones? Share with us on slack!
 
## 4. The Experience Section
- Explain your core functions and responsibilities and mention results.
- 3-4 bullet points maximum.

Read the following article "[Best practices for your experience section](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140709061710-108230503-12-tips-to-improve-your-work-experience-section-on-linkedin/)" and create your experience section.

### Now for the million dollar question...
**What if our previous experiences are unrelated to what we're doing now?**

In reality, no experience is ever completely "unrelated" 🙂 Every single one of our experiences in the past has taught us something. And this "something" is what we want to explore a bit more.

- What overlap is there between past jobs and now?
- What transferrable skills do I have?

For example, if you have ever worked with customers, consulted clients, done project management, managed a team, or worked with people in another function, then you have gathered skills that are valuable in any position!

Add that experiencee and highlight activities which you believe have transferrable skills into sales.

**Front-desk Manager**
- Extensive customer-facing experience
- Developed a customer-oriented mindset taking aproactive approach to solving peoples problems
- Employee of the month / Average NPS of X.

**Starbucks Barista**
- Extensive customer-facing experience
- Managed a team of X people and developed leadership skills to boost motivation
- Learnt the value of teamwork and coachability as keys to improvement
- Focused on delighting customers through personal interactions leading to XX% more salees

## 5. Education
Finally, we get to showcase our achievements here at Hyrise!

- First of all, add any certificates, courses or university degrees you already have. Keep it short and to the point. Remember to optimize for keywords where possible.
- Add Hyrise Academy as an **educational experience**. Here's a blurb you can copy paste:

:::info

- 300+ hours of real-world experience selling B2B SaaS products.
- Researched and developed ideal target personas and customer profiles for **[company X]**
- Learnt and applied core prospecting activities: cold calling, cold emailing, social selling
- Performed discovery calls using SPIN selling techniques, PAIN funnel and BANT qualification framework
- Learnt how to conduct world-class demos with clients, how to do effective follow-ups and how to send proposals and close deals
- Gained extensive experience using diverse CRM's and outreach tools: **[these change, so add any that you've used actively in our program!]**)
:::

 

## 6. Skills & Endorsements
Essentially, this section includes all of our capabilites.

But how do recruiters see this?


As you can see, the recruiter tool blocks out all your profile endorsements. This means recruiters won't see for what skills you've been endorsed and if people have left you a recommendation. In order to see those, one would need to return to the basic LinkedIn profile view.

Furthermore, all your skills have been assembled in a neat little overview that is easy to scan.

## Which skills do we add?
First of all, let's differentiate between soft skills and hard skills.

1. Soft skills: At most, we want to add 3-5 strong soft skills that represent our personality best. For this, we can review our exercises from your personal branding canvas
2. Hard skills: Here we can go crazy! We will add all tools/technologies you know how to use, have experience with, or even know just a little bit.

### 😁 The Hyrise Trick
All recent grads are in the same boat - we have a lot of skills, but no endorsements!

There is an unspoken agreement regarding skill endorsements at Hyrise: if you endorse a classmate they will endorse you in return. 😉

- Add your soft skills.
- Add your hard skills.
- Find your squadmates and other alumni/employees and endorse them for their skills. If you get endorsed, make sure you endorse your endorser!

 
## 8. Open to Opportunities
Make sure you mark yourself as open to receiving offers. This let's recruiters know you're looking for employment.

- You have the option to activate it and select types of offers that interest you like city, type of contract, etc.
- You also have the option to "Choose who sees you’re open". We recommend opening up to everyone so that the green circle shows in your profile picture too!


 
## 9. Choose a Great Picture
LinkedIn can explain it better than we ever will, so read the following article "[Choosing the right picture](https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2014/12/5-tips-for-picking-the-right-linkedin-profile-picture)" and upload a suitable profile picture.

Chosen the right one? You can get your picture analyzed [here](https://www.snappr.com/photo-analyzer/)!

p.s. don't worry if your score isn't perfect, the tool is quite strict 🧐 but it might give you some ideas on where to improve.
 
## Next steps...
You're all done!
- Have someone (a friend, a colleague...) proof-read your profile and check for spelling and grammar mistakes.
- Once you're happy with the result, submit your profile link below for review!

Now, onto your CV... 👇

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