Alpha Bits

Information, insights and advice regarding today’s IT and pharmaceutical recruitment landscape. 

How Often Should You Update Your LinkedIn Profile?

Today, your resume isn’t your only tool for landing a different job. Often, if you’re on the hunt for scientist jobs near me, your LinkedIn profile is also a critical asset in your goal of securing new opportunities.

Your LinkedIn profile can act as a comprehensive supplement to a traditional resume. Additionally, it can be used to entice recruiters and hiring managers to reach out to you directly. Thus, allowing you to learn about new opportunities passively.

If your LinkedIn profile is going to boost your career, you need to ensure you update it at the right times. If you aren’t sure when you should make changes. Here are some typical moments when making an update is wise.

After Each Accomplishment

Once you have a new achievement, the details about your accomplishment can fade from your memory quickly. If you wait until your next job search to try and add that information to your LinkedIn profile. You may have trouble reporting what occurred accurately.

By updating your profile after each accomplishment instead, you ensure that you can capture the critical details while they are fresh in your mind. Overall, this approach increases information accuracy and allows you to guarantee that you don’t forget about an outstanding achievement that could boost your career.

When You Add a New Skill

Similarly, it’s smart to update your LinkedIn profile whenever you acquire new skills. This ensures your profile reflects what you currently bring to the table, which may be crucial for passive job seekers who are open to opportunities but not actively seeking them out.

Semi-Annually or Annually

Ideally, you also want to review your LinkedIn profile semi-annually or annually, depending on how quickly emerging trends influence your field. This gives you the opportunity to make changes based on shifting hiring manager expectations, changes in your industry, or arising LinkedIn profile trends.

Additionally, it allows you to boost the relevance of what you’re sharing. You can remove details that don’t align with your preferred career path or alter the priority of various points to better align with objectives that may not remain constant over time.

Well Before You Launch a Job Search

While it may seem like giving your LinkedIn profile a major overhaul right before a job search is wise, that isn’t always the case. If you’re currently employed, there’s a chance that your manager or colleagues will notice all of the updates. Should that occur, they may assume that you’re planning to launch a job search, and that isn’t always ideal.

It is possible to mitigate the risk by turning off profile update notifications, though that isn’t a foolproof way to sidestep the situation. However, if you update your LinkedIn profile frequently, the fact that you are making changes likely won’t stand out. Plus, you’ll only need to make minimal adjustments, as the bulk of the content is accurate and well-positioned based on your goals, further reducing the impact of pre-job search updates.

Land Your Next Consulting Role

Ultimately, all of the times above are ideal for handling LinkedIn profile updates. If you’d like to learn more or are planning a job search, the staff at Alpha Consulting can help. Contact us today.