Berbay is often asked many questions about social media. We recently received an email from a professional who had questions about drafting his LinkedIn profile. Read below for his question and our response.
Dear Berbay,
I’m in the midst of a career change and am updating my LinkedIn Profile. I’ve been doing research by looking at profiles of people I trust, including members of your team. I noticed two of your team members’ profiles were written in different styles. One profile is in the third person and streamlined. Is that to ensure the most relevant information is read and not skimmed? The other profile is written in the first person. Is that to make it more relatable to the reader? The latter profile also uses specific keywords and clearly delineates the duties of each position the person held. Is that to accentuate that individual’s career progression or the range of experience?
I would like my profile to read more like a story than a resume. To do that, I’m considering writing it in first person so that I can offer something new to those who are already familiar with my resume and make it easy for friends outside my current industry to read, who in turn may introduce me to other professionals. Do you think this would be an effective strategy?
Thanks,
Brian
******
Dear Brian,
These are great questions. While there is no right or wrong way to draft your LinkedIn profile, you can be strategic in how you set up your profile and how it reads.
Many people write their profiles in first person, and others write their profiles in third person. It’s a personal preference and doesn’t make much of a difference to the reader.
However, as you said, using first person may be more appealing because it conveys a story.
With regard to your summary or specialty, a good rule of thumb is to keep it concise but make sure you are still conveying the message you want to communicate. For instance, if you want readers to have a good understanding of what you do, but you don’t want them to have to read or skim a lengthy paragraph, you may want to use bulletpoints.
Overall, we think you have the right strategy, but we’d be happy to look at your complete profile and give you any suggestions we may have. Please feel free to call us at anytime to discuss your needs in more detail.
Best,
Megan Braverman
Account Manger
