Do you know how many people apply to a single job post?
250.
Often, the company will only hire one person for the job, meaning 249 people will return to the unemployed market. The numbers could be higher if you visit online job platforms like Upwork or FlexJobs.
Ouch.
Employment isn’t a zero-sum game where the ratio of hired to declined is 1:1. That’s why job creation is always a key election issue. There aren’t enough jobs to significantly reduce the unemployment rate.
(Courtesy of Trading Economics)
The job market is highly competitive.
Whether you’re applying for a 9-to-5 job at a brick-and-mortar office, an online project posted on Upwork, or a position listed on LinkedIn, you’re not alone.
Hundreds, even thousands, of people are targeting the same jobs as you. The difference between landing the job and returning to square one might come down to one thing.
Your online profile.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to make an online profile that rocks. You can apply our tips and get noticed by recruiters and potential clients who frequently scout online job sites and social media, especially LinkedIn, for talent.
Key Takeaways
- Recruiters don’t wait for resumes to land in their inbox or for applicants to fill out a contact form. They’ll take a proactive approach and visit popular online job sites and social media platforms to find talent.
- In a highly competitive job market, you’ll need to create an online profile that stands out and gets the attention of recruiters and potential clients.
- An effective online profile can open doors to career opportunities. If a recruiter or a client is impressed, you might be surprised with a wonderful and financially rewarding offer when you least expect it.
- Give your online profile a boost by staying active on LinkedIn, cleaning up your social media accounts, and by investing in a website.
What Is An Online Profile?
An online profile summarizes and organizes your professional qualifications and key personal information in a digital format.
Think of your online profile as your marketing brochure or a brand label on a product. The information is presented in a manner that effectively showcases your strongest qualifications to potential employers.
You can create an online profile on job sites and social media, which are the usual browsing grounds for recruiters.
Companies post job ads, but they don’t wait for resumes to get emailed or for contact forms to get filled out by applicants. Recruiters will cast a wide net to capture talent by visiting job communities, freelancer sites, and social media platforms.
If the job market is competitive for you, the talent market is competitive for recruiters.
10 Tips To Write An Online Profile That Gets You Hired
Having a superstar online profile will help you achieve a key first step in landing a job:
Get noticed!
Here are 10 tips on writing an online profile that does the job and gets you hired. Use our tips when creating an online profile on a job or freelance site, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms.
1. Choose the Right Image for Your Profile Picture
“First impressions last” is a popular saying in marketing. It means packaging influences the first impression a consumer makes about the product. A product’s visual appeal could entice a consumer to purchase it.
The same can be said about your online profile picture.
Your choice of your online profile picture can create a good or bad first impression.
No, recruiters won’t judge you based on your appearance. It’s a recruitment job, not a beauty contest.
Recruiters are impressed with professional-looking profile pictures. Getting a professional photographer to shoot your profile picture is a good idea, but you don’t have to.
Here are five tips on how to produce a professional-looking online picture.
- Look straight into the camera. Angled shots are great for social media but not for employment opportunities.
- Give a sincere smile! It’s not a government-issued ID where facial scanners are used. Let your personality shine through in your profile picture.
- Your face should be the primary focus of the picture. The background shouldn’t be distracting. We recommend using a plain white background.
- Wear business attire or relaxed formal wear.
- The profile picture must be at least 250 x 250 pixels.
💡Bonus: A few don’ts that seem obvious but are still done by some job applicants.
Don’t…
- Digitally alter your picture.
- Use an avatar.
- Take a full-body shot.
- Use your pet’s headshot.
- Use accoutrements like a hat or sunglasses.
- Pixelate your image.
2. Include a Compelling Description of Your Job Title
“Web Designer.”
“Content Writer.”
“Software Developer.”
Everyone uses these job titles because they’re accurate and straight to the point.
They’re also boring, lack creativity, and are unconvincing.
Get out of your comfort zone, flex your creative muscles, and include a compelling description of your job title.
- Job Title: Web Designer
Description: Web design wizard, I’m a digital magician who can create powerful websites for e-commerce, business, portfolio, blogs, and booking engines, to name a few. - Job Title: Content Writer
Description: Digital wordsmith who can craft optimized content that can get your websites found by search engines. - Job Title: Software Developer
Description: Experienced in front and back-end software development and project management, allow me to guide your business through the digital age.
The italicized words are industry jargon or terminology. These terminologies function as keywords that are readily associated with each job title.
💡Pro Tip: The job description is your UVP or Unique Value Proposition. The UVP is a short statement that highlights your strong selling points.
It should answer the question, “Why am I the right person for the job?”
3. Write an Engaging Bio
Your LinkedIn profile will require a bio. Upwork encourages freelancers to upload a short introductory video.
Recruiters aren’t just interested in what you can do. They’re also interested in learning who you are. In this age when work culture fits matters, “who” might be more important than “what.”
Here are four helpful tips on how to write an engaging bio:
- Tell a story. Share tidbits on why you chose this career path. You can share an experience that served as a wake-up call or “aha” moment and made you realize your career calling.
- Sell yourself. Identify common pain points in the industry and explain how you can resolve them. Again, think UVP.
- Imagine having a conversation with someone for the first time. How would you introduce yourself? What impression would you like to leave on the person?
- Keep the introduction short, bright, and light. A well-written bio should ideally consist of three to four sentences. Maintain a positive tone and an optimistic outlook.
An introduction video should be under one minute long. Look professional. Wear traditional office attire. Make sure you’re well-groomed. And most importantly, smile!
4. Keep Your Work History Comprehensive… But Relevant
You’re applying for the open position of Digital Marketer.
Should you include the two years employed as part of the kitchen crew of McDonald’s when you were in college?
No, because working at McDonald’s isn’t relevant to the job of a Digital Marketer.
When writing your work history, only include experience relevant to the position you’re applying for. However, when writing about your duties and responsibilities, be comprehensive.
What do we mean?
Here’s an example:
Digital Marketer
MaxxTraxx Digital Ad Agency
February 2022 to January 2025
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Designed, developed, implemented, and managed digital marketing campaigns for MaxxTraxx’s key accounts, such as UniTech Solutions, Cherry Blossoms Cosmetics, Springfield Consumer Products, Roswell Communications, Bella Food Group, and Kings Corner Sporting Goods.
- Selected and organized digital marketing teams for each campaign.
- Created workflows, process flows, and Quality Assurance tiers for the digital marketing campaigns.
- Presided over meetings with clients; handled campaign presentation, presented goals, KPIs, and timelines, and responded to client inquiries.
- Scheduled bi-weekly meetings with the various digital marketing teams to gain insights on progress and provide updates to clients.
- Prepared, submitted, and discussed campaign analytics to clients.
In our example, we led off each description with action words… verbs!
Verbs make your descriptions more dynamic. We also used the past tense because it’s previous work experience. If you’re currently employed, write in the present tense.
The first job description presented a list of key accounts handled by the applicant. Recruiters only scan descriptions. You have to impress them immediately.
We organized the duties and responsibilities section into a step-by-step guide outlining what a digital marketer typically does in a day. The goal is to help the recruiter understand the candidate’s perspective.
💡Pro Tip: Write job descriptions that are comprehensive yet easy to understand. Use a conversational tone that stands out. List each responsibility clearly with its own bullet point.
5. List Your Professional Licenses and Certifications
A professional license qualifies you to practice. Certifications validate your work skills. Always include them in your online profile.
- Upload a copy of your professional license and certifications.
- Make sure your professional license is updated.
- Only highlight relevant certifications.
Job sites have a default format for an online profile. You can’t change the structure or the order the information is presented.
We believe professional licenses and certifications give you a big advantage over less credentialed applicants. Some online job sites place licenses and certifications toward the end of the profile creation process.
Don’t take chances that the recruiter overlooks your licenses and certifications. Go ahead and be redundant!
For example, mention your professional license or completed certifications in your job title or bio.
6. Keep Your Educational Attainment Section Relevant
There’s the “R” word again.
“Relevant.”
Including irrelevant information in your online profile might distract the recruiter from the important information. Likewise, you don’t want to include information that might be perceived as a red flag.
More isn’t better. Sometimes, less is best.
The recruiter doesn’t need to know where you spent primary school. You can mention your high school years, but focus on higher education.
Here are three tips on how to write an effective educational attainment section:
- Mention the course you graduated from and include the indicative years.
- Highlight achievements such as honors, awards, and special citations.
- Were you part of the student council and other organizations? Include the information.
💡Pro Tip: Only indicate your Grade Point Average if it’s 3.5 or higher.
7. Provide Testimonials From Employers and Clients
Testimonials are powerful influencers because they provide evidence of your qualifications.
Upwork encourages freelancers to upload client testimonials. A recommendation letter from a prominent industry figure, an employer, or a client can influence a recruiter’s decision in your favor.
How can you maximize the full power of a testimonial?
- Provide the full name, designation, and business/trade name of your client.
- Include a picture/headshot of your client or the employer representative.
- If the review or feedback was from another website, include the link.
💡Pro Tip: Request a testimonial from your client and ask permission before uploading the client’s business information. You can ask, but for security reasons, many clients won’t have contact information listed on third-party websites.
8. Include Your Rates (If Required)
Online job sites will require you to post your hourly rates or preferred salary. This can be a tricky proposition because you might price yourself out of contention.
Here are two things to consider before listing your rates:
- If you have no work experience, check the rates of other freelancers. Take note of the rates charged by other first-time freelancers.
The rule is: Don’t price yourself out of the market.
Land your first client, prove your worth, build your portfolio, and secure positive feedback. In time, you can comfortably and justifiably raise your rates.
- If you have work experience, BUT this is your first time working as a freelancer, charge your usual hourly rate.
For example, if in your brick-and-mortar job you were paid $25 per hour, indicate the same rate on your online profile.
You can justify your rate with work experience, professional certifications and licenses, and by providing testimonials from your previous employers and clients.
LinkedIn won’t require you to disclose your salary, and you won’t have to. Based on your position, tenure, industry, and company, recruiters can estimate your salary or hourly rate.
9. Complete the Recommended Profile Improvements
Online job sites will recommend improvements to make your profile more attractive to potential employers.
Here are five examples of commonly recommended improvements:
- Upload your work portfolio.
- Include links to reviews of your work or social media mentions.
- Include social media links.
- Include acquired technical training or education.
- Upload copies of awards and citations.
These online job sites frequently analyze data on the performance of freelancers. They know why some freelancers get noticed more than others. It’s additional work to get hired for work.
If you’re not receiving attention from companies, the job site may email you with suggestions to enhance your online profile.
Don’t send the email to the trash bin. Take a few minutes to review the suggestions and see if you can apply them to your online profile. These steps could direct you toward a new career path.
10. Build a Strong Online Presence
The work isn’t over once you’ve followed our tips and completed your online profile.
Now, the work shifts toward building a strong online presence.
- Focus on LinkedIn
Recruiters prefer to use LinkedIn because it functions as a professional networking channel.
Stay active and post business/industry-related content at least once a day. Frequently engage in community discussions. LinkedIn has a blog feature. Publish a blog weekly.
- Clean up your social media accounts
67% of employers use social media to screen candidates, and 54% have eliminated candidates because of their social media posts.
Delete posts that might give recruiters a negative impression.
For example, posts against your employer, contentious political discussions, inappropriate exchanges with community members, controversial opinions, and disturbing or unflattering images.
- Invest in a website
Having a website is an investment in yourself. You don’t want the attention of recruiters and potential clients diverted to others. When you have a website, the spotlight is on you!
We recommend having web pages for blogs, a work portfolio, and client testimonials.
Going DIY on a website isn’t a good idea. You might end up with a website that isn’t mobile responsive, slow, and confusing to users. These mistakes can be a dealbreaker.
For your investment to yield dividends, have your website built by a professional web design agency.
💡Pro Tip: Include the links to your social media pages and website in your online profile.
Always keep the information updated!
Conclusion
Recruiters are no longer confined by four walls.
They search various social media platforms and online job sites to gather, assess, qualify, recruit, and ultimately hire individuals who best match the requirements of open positions.
In this Age of the Internet, job recruiters and clients are actively pursuing talented people daily. You might not have to wait for them. They will come to you.
And they will hire you if you have an impressive online profile!
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