Activity: Update LinkedIn as your future self

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things that a potential employer sees. Your job search should start by refreshing your profile. In order to update your LinkedIn profile as your future self do these four simple tasks right now:

  1. Change your picture. Changing your picture signals that you are ready for something new. Here are some tips for profile pictures: You want to be the main focus in the profile pic, so try to keep the banner background simple (neutral colour, nature, wall). Try to find a picture where you are professionally dressed (whatever that means for your industry), alone rather than in a group, smiling, and approachable.
A woman interacts with a computer screen displaying another woman leading a virtual presentation; icons like a heart and comment bubble appear.

2. Change the description of what you've done or hope to do, summarizing you as a professional and setting you up for what you want to do next. This headline should be a short, memorable, professional statement. Use words that relate to your current academic or professional interests /goals, job aspirations, and passions. Are you sure what you want to do next quiet yet? Look at  Mapping your Current Career Path.

Illustration of a person using a laptop while sitting on a bean bag, with abstract design elements and gears in the background.

3. Get one or two friends to endorse skills that you are beginning to build so they appear closer to the top of your proficiencies lists.

4. Take an hour to add new contacts to LinkedIn. Send them a message and reintroduce yourself.

Illustration of four abstract figures with various objects: a light bulb, pyramid, clock, and location pin, on a browser-like background.

5. Learn how to update your LinkedIn profile so that it’s attractive to employers, make new contacts and learn about available positions in the Optimizing Your LinkedIn workshop- register on CLNx