How important is your LinkedIn profile? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Setting aside actual promotional efforts on the site (e.g., posting), how important (or unimportant) is it to have a polished LinkedIn profile if you're in, or soon to be in the job hunt? I'm currently in the process of getting a headshot so I can have the bare minimum of what I figure is acceptable, if you're going to bother having a profile at all. It seems like a good idea, given the new level of remoteness that's been foisted upon us.

Obviously there's no one unified answer to this, so all opinions and tips are welcome, particularly if you've witnessed this making a difference in a hiring decision.

[TigerIsBack]

Setting aside actual promotional efforts on the site (e.g., posting), how important (or unimportant) is it to have a polished LinkedIn profile if you're in, or soon to be in the job hunt? I'm currently in the process of getting a headshot so I can have the bare minimum of what I figure is acceptable, if you're going to bother having a profile at all. It seems like a good idea, given the new level of remoteness that's been foisted upon us.

Obviously there's no one unified answer to this, so all opinions and tips are welcome, particularly if you've witnessed this making a difference in a hiring decision.

I get postings on linkedin primarily about in-house roles, but it wasn't particularly helpful to me back when I lateralled. (or maybe it at least just didn't hurt me if people looked at my profile on there during the interview process)

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a V10/top 10 AM100 firm, have had recruiters try to poach me, and have often been complimented for my LinkedIn. One recruiter specifically told me that she prefers LinkedIn for recruiting and got the impression that I keep mine updated (I do), and so she contacted me through there even though normally she would have to rely on email. I'm anonymous, so rest assured I'm not bragging and have nothing to gain from mentioning their comments.

I'm only sharing this because I think LinkedIn does matter more than people think. If I want to know about a lawyer, besides their firm profile, first pla[ce*] I'll check is LinkedIn.

Edit: Spelling.

[Anonymous User]

You definitely need to keep your LinkedIn up to date, because people will look you up. I don't think there's much of an expectation to actually post any content, but it's not a good look if someone comes across your profile and it still says "1L at X Law School."

[Sackboy]

You definitely need to keep your LinkedIn up to date, because people will look you up. I don't think there's much of an expectation to actually post any content, but it's not a good look if someone comes across your profile and it still says "1L at X Law School."

I see people who, despite having added their law school information and now work at a biglaw firm, still have things like B.S., Economics @ Ohio State, Junior.

Take the 1-3 minutes it takes to proofread your LinkedIn profile.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a V10/top 10 AM100 firm, have had recruiters try to poach me, and have often been complimented for my LinkedIn. One recruiter specifically told me that she prefers LinkedIn for recruiting and got the impression that I keep mine updated (I do), and so she contacted me through there even though normally she would have to rely on email. I'm anonymous, so rest assured I'm not bragging and have nothing to gain from mentioning their comments.

I'm only sharing this because I think LinkedIn does matter more than people think. If I want to know about a lawyer, besides their firm profile, first pla[ce*] I'll check is LinkedIn.

Edit: Spelling.

Can you give any more info about what people find good or helpful with your linkedin? Like I have my picture, schools, and firm on mine. Is that good? Or are you adding more deep dive info into the types of legal matters you deal with?

[2013]

I think a generic page is the way to go.

[andythefir]

I see it as an ability to control your own first google hit. Especially if you’re in a government job or some other situation where you may or may not have any web presence.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a V10/top 10 AM100 firm, have had recruiters try to poach me, and have often been complimented for my LinkedIn. One recruiter specifically told me that she prefers LinkedIn for recruiting and got the impression that I keep mine updated (I do), and so she contacted me through there even though normally she would have to rely on email. I'm anonymous, so rest assured I'm not bragging and have nothing to gain from mentioning their comments.

I'm only sharing this because I think LinkedIn does matter more than people think. If I want to know about a lawyer, besides their firm profile, first pla[ce*] I'll check is LinkedIn.

Edit: Spelling.

Can you give any more info about what people find good or helpful with your linkedin? Like I have my picture, schools, and firm on mine. Is that good? Or are you adding more deep dive info into the types of legal matters you deal with?

It's great that you have your pictures, school, and firm. Except for people without religious or deeply personal convictions, the failure to include photos of oneself on LinkedIn usually doesn't make sense. It might if you're very elderly and want to avoid age discrimination, or a minority trying to avoid race discrimination. But employers/recruiters will see you at interview, so why hide these things? It may even help you and potential employers avoid wasting time if they would have skipped you on the basis of appearance/age anyway. And yes, it's good that your education and firm are on LinkedIn: education and employment are meant to be on LinkedIn.

Regarding your question about what recruiters have found helpful, as another user said, people use LinkedIn to look up professionals. So, as one example of what I do that's helpful, everything on my page is public so that people looking me up have full information. Why put anything on LinkedIn with the expectation it cannot become public or with the intent that it be private? This fully public set up makes it easy for recruiters to see all of my past roles, education, and employment, instead of skipping over me because they need a connection request to get access to more.

Also, I don't mention matters that I'm working on (my firm prohibits this), but I use at least one sentence and never more than three for each role. You want employers to get the gist of what you have done and the legal nature of it, but not be bored or decide to skip you profile because it's too long. I suspect that this made it easy for one recruiter to reference nearly every role on my profile during a phone call, either because he found the role interesting (and said so) and/or wanted to hear more about it.

Finally, another user mentioned typos/outdated information regarding early things like undergrad or law school education. It is SLOPPY to have multiple (I think any) typos on LinkedIn, when it's essentially your virtual resume. Either delete information if it's too much for you to bother proofreading, or make it presentable and accurate. No one needs a notification that you're celebrating your 5th anniversary at a position that you actually left three years ago, but didn't bother to update even though you still use LinkedIn.

Again, I'm anon because of the things I'm saying about my LinkedIn, my recent conversations with recruiters, and V10/AM100 top 10 firm might be enough for me to be recognized by someone.

[notinbiglaw]

Hm. Not sure about policy about recommending site/apps so I won’t mention name specifically in post.

There is an app/site where you can post your pictures and let other people rate the pictures (old school hot or not but with sub scores) based on what you say the photo is for. The idea is you let people rate many pictures and you can pick one for LinkedIn. I picked one where I was rated highly on professionalism,competence, and just above average on friendliness.

You can rate other people’s pictures or just pay the site to get their currency that allows your pictures to get rated.

[notinbiglaw]

I keep my LinkedIn up to date as matter of course so that when I need to look for jobs, my current employer doesn’t find it suspicious.

I have had recruiters from firms send messages specifically mentioning that they are looking for someone with my experience in a very specific area of law (like a sub niche of a niche of, think something like dealing with the FTC on both antitrust issues and regulations over radio spectrums in bankruptcy of a communications satellite operator kind of specific)

[LBJ's Hair]

Hm. Not sure about policy about recommending site/apps so I won’t mention name specifically in post.

There is an app/site where you can post your pictures and let other people rate the pictures (old school hot or not but with sub scores) based on what you say the photo is for. The idea is you let people rate many pictures and you can pick one for LinkedIn. I picked one where I was rated highly on professionalism,competence, and just above average on friendliness.

You can rate other people’s pictures or just pay the site to get their currency that allows your pictures to get rated.

I assume most people use this site to build their Tinder lol

[Pomeranian]

LinkedIn has become very insufferable lately. It reminds me of Facebook where the only people who post are kissasses from high school. I basically just use it now as a web hosted resume.

[Anonymous User]

For lateral opportunities, LinkedIn is important as many recruiters reach out to you through LinkedIn and not your firm email. Some of the recruiters that reach out to me on LinkedIn do often introduce me to opportunities I'm interested in. I myself lateraled through a recruiter that reached out to me on LinkedIn.

I don't think posting a profile picture is that important though. If you do have a picture you could use, post it, but if you have to take a selfie now to post a picture, then don't do it.

[Anonymous User]

Litigation associate at a V50 satellite office. I don't have one and plan to keep it that way.