How to Use LinkedIn’s Skills Category to Show Off Your Talents

Even if you are a college student, you can use LinkedIn to tell future employers about yourself. Your LinkedIn profile should be focused on the job, industry or business you are interested in and would like to highlight during this time in your life. Complete your profile on LinkedIn and be sure to include as much information about your education and professional experience, if any, that is relevant to your job search endeavors. Highlighting your skills is also helpful and another way to attract potential employers, so be sure to fill out the Skills category on LinkedIn as well.

Use the Skills section to list all of your skills – you can list up to 25 skills in this category. The Skills tab is located under the “More” menu on LinkedIn. You can include skills that are a part of the menu or enter your skills in your own words.

How is filling out the Skills category on LinkedIn helpful?

Filling out the Skills section may prove helpful for networking and a job search for several reasons.

• The words you enter in the Skills category may also be used as searchable keywords. Including a list of your skills is a way to help identify other people who have indicated the same types of skills in their profiles on the networking site. Because the keywords in the Skills category are searchable, recruiters and employers can also search for potential job candidates this way.
• It is a way to identify employers who are looking for potential hires with similar or the same skills you included in your profile.
• By clicking on a particular skill in your profile, the website will lead you to information regarding the demand for that skill in the current job market. It is a way to know which skills are most searched and in demand on LinkedIn. This information can be helpful in knowing who to contact to make further professional connections on LinkedIn. You can search for employers who are interested in specific skills.
• Including skills moves your profile up in the search results for each skill. Completing the Skills section is yet another way to make your profile more findable and for it to stand out on LinkedIn. It improves visibility of your profile and may enhance your networking opportunities on the website.
• Include valid skills you have, and do not be afraid to list as many relevant skills as you can or to flaunt the areas in which you are capable.

Filling out the Skills category on LinkedIn is a way to optimize your profile. It is a way to raise the rank of your profile in the search engine on LinkedIn. In addition, the Skills category shares relevant companies to the skills you have listed that you may want to contact, and groups related to your skills that you may want to join. Complete the Skills category as well as all other relevant categories in your LinkedIn profile to make the most of professional networking opportunities on the website. It could help you find a job during or after college.

Kathy Kara writes for the Institute for Coaching, a company offering life, business, and career coaching.