Making Best Use Of Your LinkedIn Profile

expat network

Making Best Use Of Your LinkedIn Profile

With more than 500 million users in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is a great tool for building a professional network, getting yourself noticed by recruiters and promoting yourself within your industry.

By CV Knowhow Senior CV Consultant – Jen David

You’ll first need to set up your profile. Treat this as you would a CV – keep it professional and well presented. If you want to share pictures of your kids / holiday / night out, save them for other social networks.

Complete as many of the available fields as you can. Give details of your responsibilities and achievements in the experience section and write a compelling, engaging introduction for your summary. Although your profile should reflect your CV, it’s common practice to write a LinkedIn profile in the first person as opposed to the third person you would use in a CV.

Having completed your profile, you need to start building a network. The key here is to add as many colleagues and professional contacts as you can. By all means add your mum if you must, but remember that the point of LinkedIn is to build a professional network to support your career progression, not to duplicate your friends lists from other social media sites.

Don’t be afraid to ask your new network to endorse or recommend you on LinkedIn (and don’t forget to offer the same for them in return). In much the same way as a traditional reference, endorsements and recommendations add credibility to your profile.

You can also join groups and follow companies of interest. This is a great way to stay ahead of trending topics and news from your sector and to get the latest information on businesses you’re targeting for a new job. You might even want to write articles of your own, thereby showcasing your knowledge to a wider audience and engaging with more people in the industry.

When you’re ready to begin your job hunt, LinkedIn can notify you of vacancies in your field. You can tailor these to better suit your precise requirements by updating you career interests. Recruiters are also able to search for potential candidates, so make sure your profile contains the relevant keywords to enable them to find you.

Finally, review your security settings and update your contact details. If you’re hoping to be found by a recruiter, the least you can do is make sure they can actually see your profile.

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.