Building your professional online profile is necessary for anoyone on the job market.  For most people, this means creating and maintaining a LinkedIn account.  Unless you are seeking a position that requires a portfolio of work (like Github), LinkedIn is the right place to start your professional branding.

LinkedIn is the gateway to professional networking and often the first stop for many employers when vetting potential new employees.  You always want a potential employer to land on your professional profiles first, rather than non-professional social media accounts.  Pro tip: make your non-professional social media profiles private or inaccessible through a simple Google search.  Let your LinkedIn profile take the spotlight.

LinkedIn is a great resource to showcase additional information on your resume. Use first person speech and bullet points to highlight your achievements.

As your building your profile,  connect with former classmates, relatives, family and friends.  Typically, once you start accumulating connections, LinkedIn will make suggestions based on these connections. You might be surprised to see how many people in your life are connected to professionals who can get your foot in the door.

Include a recent picture of yourself, contact information for hiring managers, personalize your LinkedIn profile link, and request recommendations from your classmates, teachers, or mentors.

Building your profile also means increasing your visibility. Comment and interact with posts, including birthdays or career milestones. The more that you interact with the LinkedIn community, the more relevant your profile becomes.

Here are some other great ways that you can build a robust profile:

• Increase your visilbity by sharing updates with your network
• Make your public profile visible
• Find and join relevant LinkedIn Groups with people who have the same professional interests
• Follow thought leaders through the Network tab on your homepage. In addition to suggesting connections, LinkedIn will also suggest influential people in your desired industry.
• Use relevant keywords on your profile that could help a recruiter or hiring manager in their search.

For more ways to build out your profile, follow this LinkedIn guide here.