Being found on LinkedIn just might be the key to your career search. According to Jobscan, 87% of corporate recruiters use this platform to find and source candidates. Every sixty seconds, 120 people join LinkedIn. There are nearly 600 million users worldwide (and 133 million in the U.S., the largest participating country according to Kinsta). Pew Research says that over 50% of college graduates use LinkedIn, but are you using it to your best advantage? For my clients, my career coaching emphasizes personal branding—because how you present yourself online is the key to creating interest, interviews and opportunities. Here are 15 ways to improve your presence and your personal brand on LinkedIn:

1. Make Friends Fast: If you don’t have over 500 connections, you’re kinda invisible on LinkedIn. Reach out and get connected! Professionals need more than 500 connections; it’s like table stakes at a poker game. Without 500 connections, you’re not really playing to win.
2. Picture This: maybe people aren’t connecting with you because you don’t have a profile pic. Stop watching Avatar and get yourself one. Drop in a selfie with a neutral or white background, where you are dressed for work. So if you are a surfing instructor, that swimsuit on the beach is perfect! But for Linda in accounting, board shorts are probably a bad idea. The picture should be a “two button” shot (look down at your shirt and count two buttons – that’s the bottom of the frame right there). Don’t use a wedding photo, dark selfie or a picture from the stadium where you’re surrounded by your friends. Think professional and pick a pic that shows who you are.

Source - Read More at: www.forbes.com