LinkedIn is by far the best social media platform for showcasing your professional project management skills and qualifications. But are you taking full advantage of what it offers you and your career path?
LinkedIn, like most social media platforms, is busy. Standing out can be hard to do but it is certainly worth spending time and effort to maintain a professional profile on the site, especially when it comes to finding your next big project.
Are you highlighting your project management skills and qualifications?
Your LinkedIn profile is your shop window to potential employers, as well as being a showcase for your current employer and project. Effectively, you are creating a personal brand and to do that, you need to make sure you flag your professional qualifications and growing skill base for all to see.
If nothing else, consider your LinkedIn profile as your CV in real time, making sure you update your skills and qualifications is key to showing others how you are driving and progressing your career.
What does your profile say about you?
There is a lot of detail you can add to your LinkedIn profile but all the different sections can be overwhelming. And when you have projects to manage and complete on time and on budget, spending your downtime filling in boxes can feel like a big ask.
Here’s a quick guide on how to make more of your profile:
- Your location – giving a heads up about where you are located can help you find local work and connections.
- Your industry – project managers work across a range of industries, as you know, so don’t expect people to know you manage road building projects or are expert in IT infrastructure project management, tell them.
- Your current position – include what you are working on presently, giving information that is within the remit of the project (and clearly not giving away commercially sensitive information!)
- Previous positions – you might not want to list them all, but certainly giving your last two positions help connections form an impression of who you are professionally as well as whether you have the skills and aptitudes they need.
- Training and skills – from noting accomplishments during your project management apprenticeships to training with expert providers such as Parallel Project Training, including all of your professional qualifications are important for swelling your skills base.
Other information you may want to include
Sometimes, a job heading is not enough and so giving other snippets of information can be useful. For example, including the budget size of the project, its overall objectives or the main purpose of your role and time with the project, to how long the project lasted are all indicators to potential connections. You may also want to include some highlights of the project too.
Including photos is also a great way of bolstering your LinkedIn profile but make sure it is a professional head and shoulders shot.
Whether you are new to LinkedIn or an old hand, there is nothing wrong in giving your profile an overhaul every now and then either.
