I'm quite an active user on LinkedIn and find it very useful to connect with other leaders in my industry.
It's also a great place to get to know another person on a professional basis.
Your LinkedIn profile is like your online resume, and when used well, can tell other professionals who you are, your qualifications, what you've achieved so far, how well connected you are and even how you are perceived by others in your industry.
On the other hand, a poorly written profile can give a terrible impression because it shows how little you care about making an impression on others.
So when I see these 6 mistakes people make on their LinkedIn profiles, it really turns me off and makes me wonder why they bother connecting with me at all.
Here are 6 reasons why I will not add you on LinkedIn.
1.
Not using Title Case for your name I really don't get the carelessness of this one.
It's so easy to just press the Caps Lock and write "Firstname Lastname" instead of "firstname lastname".
The use of the latter tells me how little you care to even write your own name respectfully.
What hope do I have that you will respect mine? 2.
No photograph Who are you? Male or Female? What do you look like? Who should I expect to see if and when we meet? The lack of a photograph tells me that you are either not serious about networking or that you lack confidence.
Both of which make me reluctant to connect with you.
3.
No profile headline What do you do? If I have no idea why I should connect with you, why would I add you in the first place? And Heaven forbid that I should add you and you turn out to be one of those male or female "escorts".
How do you think that will look to the rest of my network when they see who I've added to my list? 4.
Incomplete profile If you can't be bothered to spend even half an hour completing the most pertinent parts of your profile, like the Summary and Experience sections, why should I bother doing business with the likes of you? Taking a little trouble over it and presenting a completed profile with your certifications and maybe a few recommendations, tells me that you are serious about how you come across to others and are hence a reliable person to connect with.
5.
No connections Haven't bothered to add even your Gmail contacts to your LinkedIn profile? That just tells me that you're not here to network.
So what are you here for? I prefer to add people who are here to connect and participate, and who can help me connect to others, which leaves you out.
6.
Spamming me If you send me a request for a recommendation or a survey and I don't know you from Adam, you're on my Spam list forever.
Send me mass emails and you'll suffer the same fate.
Write me a well-written message telling me why you want to connect and what you hope we can do together and I will respond to you with the same courtesy.
So if you've committed one of these LinkedIn sins, it's not too late to clean up your act.
All it takes is a little elbow grease, a decent photograph and some time spent writing up a great profile that will do you credit in your LinkedIn networking efforts.
It's also a great place to get to know another person on a professional basis.
Your LinkedIn profile is like your online resume, and when used well, can tell other professionals who you are, your qualifications, what you've achieved so far, how well connected you are and even how you are perceived by others in your industry.
On the other hand, a poorly written profile can give a terrible impression because it shows how little you care about making an impression on others.
So when I see these 6 mistakes people make on their LinkedIn profiles, it really turns me off and makes me wonder why they bother connecting with me at all.
Here are 6 reasons why I will not add you on LinkedIn.
1.
Not using Title Case for your name I really don't get the carelessness of this one.
It's so easy to just press the Caps Lock and write "Firstname Lastname" instead of "firstname lastname".
The use of the latter tells me how little you care to even write your own name respectfully.
What hope do I have that you will respect mine? 2.
No photograph Who are you? Male or Female? What do you look like? Who should I expect to see if and when we meet? The lack of a photograph tells me that you are either not serious about networking or that you lack confidence.
Both of which make me reluctant to connect with you.
3.
No profile headline What do you do? If I have no idea why I should connect with you, why would I add you in the first place? And Heaven forbid that I should add you and you turn out to be one of those male or female "escorts".
How do you think that will look to the rest of my network when they see who I've added to my list? 4.
Incomplete profile If you can't be bothered to spend even half an hour completing the most pertinent parts of your profile, like the Summary and Experience sections, why should I bother doing business with the likes of you? Taking a little trouble over it and presenting a completed profile with your certifications and maybe a few recommendations, tells me that you are serious about how you come across to others and are hence a reliable person to connect with.
5.
No connections Haven't bothered to add even your Gmail contacts to your LinkedIn profile? That just tells me that you're not here to network.
So what are you here for? I prefer to add people who are here to connect and participate, and who can help me connect to others, which leaves you out.
6.
Spamming me If you send me a request for a recommendation or a survey and I don't know you from Adam, you're on my Spam list forever.
Send me mass emails and you'll suffer the same fate.
Write me a well-written message telling me why you want to connect and what you hope we can do together and I will respond to you with the same courtesy.
So if you've committed one of these LinkedIn sins, it's not too late to clean up your act.
All it takes is a little elbow grease, a decent photograph and some time spent writing up a great profile that will do you credit in your LinkedIn networking efforts.