LinkedIn recently launched its largest desktop redesign ever. The new updates, which give the desktop experience a much-needed facelift, reduce clutter across the board, including on company pages, feeds, and even your personal profile. But, just like your kitchen junk drawer, cleaning and organization works best when you eliminate all of the random stuff that creates clutter.
There is no better time than the present to spring into action and spruce up your LinkedIn profile. Here are four things you should immediately remove from your LinkedIn account:
Old Recommendations
Who doesn’t enjoy receiving words of praise from their colleagues? We all do, but it’s important to consider that recommendations that are older than the first iPhone may undersell you as a viable job candidate. A great example that showcases this point is a professional who spent nearly three decades in accounting but is transitioning to a new career in journalism. Even though complimentary of your skill set in accounting, those old recommendations do little justice to spotlight your newfound journalism talents and accomplishments, so consider hiding or replacing them with new ones.
While you don’t have to trash every old recommendation out there, you may choose to keep reviews from a notable person or someone who sings your praises as the best professional in the universe. To make a good impression with potential employers on LinkedIn, you should actively seek new recommendations from professionals who can attest to the quality of your current skill sets. Remember, LinkedIn is not an online resume, but instead a platform to wow those professionals who visit your profile.
Unendorsed Skills
For many professionals, endorsed skills are their sanctuary on LinkedIn, which makes selecting the maximum allowed number of 50 skills enticing. In many cases, loading too many keywords into the skills section will flop, leaving you with a number of unendorsed skills that create clutter. Again, it’s important to spruce up this section regularly to draw new endorsements.
Irrelevant or Dated Professional Experiences
Sure, you are still proud of your first college internship in 2006, but is your LinkedIn profile really the right place to drive down memory lane? Save it for Facebook and remove dated or irrelevant positions from your profile immediately. Details from older professional experiences actually detract attention from more recent and relevant skills and positions on your profile. Sell yourself as the ideal candidate for the position through your past two roles and condense or remove anything that is more than 10 years old.
Dull Accomplishments
One advantage of LinkedIn’s new desktop overhaul is the condensed grouping of the old Projects, Honors & Awards, Patents and others into a more cohesive “Accomplishments” section. This innovative change plays a critical role in eliminating tons of bulk from your profile. This newly organized section does come with a trade-off: all accomplishments in this section now compete for attention. Make sure you review carefully the information you list in this section. For example, if you are not fluent in French, it’s unnecessary to tout the one semester of French you took in college. Additionally, you can cut out any mention of college test scores and GPAs, which likely are no longer relevant. Lastly, it’s best to remove expired certifications and links to portfolios of publications that are no longer valid.
Springing into action and removing these bulky items will empower you to build your best personal brand and impress future employers.
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