I see the same mistakes every day on LinkedIn, mistakes that can really hurt users. This is ironic, because people use their time on the site to bolster their professional reputations, but they just hurt themselves. Are you committing any of these LinkedIn crimes?
A picture is worth… You know the rest. If you have a picture up on your profile, how does it look? Does it say confident, friendly, accessible professional? Or does it say something else? I am not going to bore you with a list of don’ts, but ask yourself this question: If I had to submit a resume with a picture, would I feel comfortable using this one? If not, take it down right away. Oh, yeah, don’t use a glam shot by Deb (Napoleon Dynamite fans will know what I mean).
Don’t tell us about dinner. Unless you were at a professional networking dinner and met some great people, keep it to yourself. “Depressed. Made mac & cheese and watched a Lifetime movie” is for Facebook, not LinkedIn. The same goes for being tired, having to pick up your dry cleaning, or anything else you wouldn’t talk about when trying to impress strangers.
Details, details. I have talked about this before, but I continue to see it: Spelling, grammar and errors in judgment about content. You are being judged by the quality and content of your posts on the site and anything that links to it (WordPress, Twitter, etc.) Be careful, edit closely and be sure that what you say is helping you build your online persona.
If you are making these mistakes, take sometime this weekend to fix your profile. It will be time well spent.
Work: Getting It & Keeping It 