How to Optimize a UX Writer LinkedIn Profile
Want to optimize your LinkedIn profile to look like a professional UX writer? You came to the right place.
LinkedIn is the biggest business-oriented networking platform geared towards professionals. Its evolution has been impressive to notice, and the website now boasts more than 740 million members in over 200 countries. A whopping 87% of employers and recruiters use LinkedIn on a regular basis to find candidates, and to date, companies have hired about 35.5 million people they connected with on LinkedIn.
Your LinkedIn profile is accessible to recruiters and is one of the first things they will look at. Since these profiles are quite popular with hiring managers, you should invest time to create a standout profile that is both optimized and up-to-date. Here is our guide you can follow to optimize your UX Writer LinkedIn profile to become successful today and beyond.
Steps to Optimize a UX Writer LinkedIn Profile
The LinkedIn profile is the foundation of your personal branding that lets you manage the narrative of your professional story and gain connections that will help you achieve your career objectives. On a regular basis, the platform adds features to give you novel ways of signaling your skills and motivations. In this section, we’ll cover some major steps and areas to focus on to help you optimize your UX writer LinkedIn profile:
Make a Strong First Impression With Your Image
Your LinkedIn profile picture is the first thing that draws the attention of hiring managers and recruiters. It is natural for us to look at images first. Since it is one of your most important assets, make sure that it leaves a positive first impression. Having no professional photo can become a reason why your invitations get ignored. Below are some tips to follow to get an optimized LinkedIn profile photo:
- Use a Professional Headshot – According to LinkedIn, profiles having headshots enjoys 14 times more views than those without a profile picture. As profile pictures appear as small thumbnails on LinkedIn, your photo should include only your head, neck, and top of your shoulders. If you upload your entire body, your head will appear quite small, and viewers may find it difficult to recognize you. So, upload a professional-looking, headshot-type photo for your LinkedIn profile.
- Wear a Professional Dress – Since LinkedIn is a professional career and business platform, your photo should show you in a way appropriate for your industry. Wear clothes that represent you. In general, this includes wearing a dress shirt for men, a nice blouse, coat, or dress for women, or a formal suit for either gender. Go for solid dark colors like black, blue, green, etc.
Avoid picking anything having a pattern that is busy. Women should avoid wearing anything that is revealing. Dressing in a professional way also involves avoiding wearing a lot of jewelry or makeup or making distracting hairstyles. - Choose a Recent Image – Avoid uploading an old photo of yours, no matter how attractive you look. Use a recent picture so people will feel nothing different when meeting you in person. It is strange to meet someone in person who looks years older than their online pictures.
- Keep It Simple – The first rule is to include only your photo. There is no need to use a photo containing company logos, landscapes, words, or phrases. Also, avoid including photos of you with others like friends, family, or pets. So, stand against a solid-colored, light background. Note that we are discussing the LinkedIn profile, so your goal is to show your professional image to networking connections and prospective employers.
- Be Consistent – Consistency is crucial when developing your professional online brand. So, it is ideal to use the same image for all your professional and social networking profiles. With this, it gets easier for recruiters to find and recognize you on different platforms.
- Follow the Standard Size – A picture that shows your face in a clear way ensures your recruiters and network trust who you are. Use the headshot with your face taking up 60% of the frame. For the optimum image quality and fitting, keep your profile picture at least 400 x 400 px. You can upload a larger picture also, and LinkedIn will resize it, but make sure the size is around 4 MB, and the file type is GIF, JPEG, or PNG. LinkedIn gives you the freedom to add, edit, remove, or change your photo at any time.
- Use Professional Software – If you are unsure whether your profile picture is good enough, you can use available tools to get real feedback on your photo. This process takes a couple of hours and gives a good understanding of the image quality. Many tools are available for free.
Here is an example of a strong and clear profile photo:
Be Smart With Your Profile Headline
If you are passionate about networking and creating a personal brand, you must make your profile headline creative and descriptive. The profile headline has a purpose – it summarizes, in a clear and concise way, what you do or will do in your career. This sets the tone for everybody who visits your profile and sets you apart from other UX writers.
The profile headline appears in your LinkedIn invites, messages, activity, etc. It is quite useful in grabbing the recruiter’s attention since there is a lot of supply of potential talent. LinkedIn provides you with a 220-character space under your name to represent yourself. So, instead of making it a job title, treat this space to advertise yourself as a UX writer.
Following is what you should follow while writing the profile headline:
- Add a unique job title that is creative and informative.
- Clarify everything: who you are and what you do.
- Consider your audience – hiring managers, employers, etc.
- Use keywords and phrases in a natural manner about your area of specialization, such as UX Writer or User Experience Writer. It is useful to add relevant keywords since LinkedIn’s internal search engine can find them.
- Include titles that focus on your skill set instead of unclear words, such as Superstar. For example, UX Writer with four years of experience rather than Ninja UX Writer Superstar.
Here is what you should avoid doing with your headline:
- No need to act clever – get to the point.
- Avoid calling yourself UX Writing Enthusiast – Such a title has no importance in the eyes of a recruiter and is a waste of space.
- No need to use multiple emojis as it gives an unprofessional impression.
- Avoid advertising that you are looking for a UX writing job, as it makes you look desperate. There are better ways to share that you are looking for new work opportunities.
An example of a good headline is as follows:
Make Getting in Touch With You Easier
There are hundreds of profiles with the same name on LinkedIn, which can cause great confusion to the recruiters looking for a particular person. For this, LinkedIn lets you customize your profile URL. You can learn how to do that here. So, instead of having a random arrangement of numbers and alphabets that LinkedIn assigns you, you can change your profile URL to your name or match it with your portfolio website.
It is your chance to customize and add a touch of personal branding to your link. Tailoring your link is a simple way to ensure that when people are searching for you, they will find you. In addition, it looks quite professional to have your profile URL customized. In particular, it is useful for people with common names.
You can also take advantage of LinkedIn’s ability to make contacting you much easier. Within your contact information, you can also add links to your website and portfolio. This way, you’ll make it easy for hiring managers or recruiters to find all the important information they are looking for in a single place. You can also provide a link to your resume here. There are other options also of adding a resume to the profile, which we’ll cover later in this post.
To add a link, click the edit icon on the top right of your profile. Scroll to the bottom and click Add website under the Website section. Paste the link of your portfolio in the first field and write the text for the link in the text field. The following image shows you how to enter a link to your portfolio:
You can also provide your email, contact number, address, and links to social profiles, but as it is optional, add them at your discretion. Here is a nice example of how to provide useful contact information, including a customized profile URL:
Give Your Sweet and Short Introduction
The first and foremost thing about the LinkedIn introduction is to have one! It is quite a surprise to see that many people leave this space blank when creating their LinkedIn profiles. The About area is an opportunity for you to describe yourself and your work. The story you tell and the insights you provide to the readers are important. Instead of adding a long text about your passion, hobbies, or favorite TV shows, write a short paragraph about why you chose your field. Cut right to the good stuff to pull your readers in.
You get 2000 characters to emphasize your value to the reader. Include the right buyer-centric keywords so that your target audience can find you and access your content. Some relevant keywords are UX writing, user research, content design, content style guide, product design, voice and tone, user flows and journeys, personas, etc. Describe what makes you different from other UX writers, the verticals of your interest, and your work experience.
At present, a new trend is emerging in LinkedIn – it is putting a focus on your future goals and ambitions than listing past achievements. Consider using this method, and instead of giving a narrative of your past, offer a glimpse of your future or what type of experience your potential clients will have. Adding this is also a good idea if you are at the early phase of your career or in the process of switching careers.
Here is what this section should cover:
- A nice overview of who you are
- What you can do for potential clients
- A clear call to action (CTA)
Following is a nice example of the About section from the profile of a Senior UX Writer at Google, Jennifer Reilly:
Upload a Customized Resume to Your Profile
LinkedIn is an effective platform to get your name out there, given that you are familiar with the best ways of including your resume when applying for new job applications. Your LinkedIn profile and resume complement each other if both are well-crafted. While your profile presents a wider picture of yourself, your resume is a concise and fact-based document tailored for a specific job position like UX writing.
Uploading your resume or even case studies here will help employers determine if you are qualified for a UX writing job. The platform lets you attach your resume in different ways to help you attract recruiters and show them what services you can bring to the table. So, upload a customized resume to your optimized LinkedIn profile to create traffic to your profile. You can add your resume to the profile by creating a new post and clicking on Add a document option at the bottom of the window. While uploading your resume, you can also write a description and some relevant hashtags.
To add your post with your resume to your list of featured materials on your LinkedIn profile, click the three dots at the top of your post and select ‘Feature on top of profile’. You’re all set.
Show Your Brief Work History
The Experience section on your profile is where you highlight your work experience, both your current and past positions. Try your best to explain your role and responsibilities and work methods. Employers, recruiters, and hiring managers focus on this section to find out about your past job duties. How much you want to go in-depth when writing your experience is up to you, but here is what you should do for the optimization of this section:
- Add Company Name – For each experience, enter the name of the company you worked for. If LinkedIn has that company name, the company logo will show up in this section.
- Enter the Job Title – Mention your job title, and use UX-focused keywords to help recruiters with advanced search.
- Add the Location – Enter the location of your company.
- Define the Time Period – Mention the time duration (starting and ending time) you were in that role.
- Write Description – Use this section to give an overview of what your job entails. You can use bullet points to describe your duties. Make use of action words like managed, saved, led, etc., when mentioning your responsibilities.
- Mention Achievements – For each role, provide information about any awards or notable achievements.
- Attach Media – You can also include links to projects, videos, or presentations that have any association with a particular job position. Take advantage of this feature to put focus on your professional development and achievements.
Here are a few tips to follow when filling out this section:
- Keep each of your work experiences short and sweet.
- List your work history in chronological order.
- It should look similar to your resume.
- Avoid listing all of your previous jobs if you have a long work history or if they are irrelevant to your current industry.
- Focus on the employers and experiences that benefit you the most. Also, list your greatest achievements and areas of focus.
- Check for spelling and grammar. According to a survey, 83.3% of recruiters cited typing and spelling mistakes as the most annoying thing, followed by poor grammar. Use present tense for your current and past tense for previous positions.
The Experience section on the LinkedIn profile should look like this:
Mention Your Education and Skills
Listing education details on LinkedIn is similar to listing education on your resume. While your overall work experience and skills matter the most in the UX industry, a number of people and recruiters in your network may have curiosity regarding your education. If there are limited education details on the profile, it might impact your credibility as the recruiters will feel that you are hiding something from them. Profiles with a filled Education section are seven times more likely to get noticed by recruiters.
LinkedIn contains three separate sections to showcase your education – general education, certifications, and courses. Formal education is an optional requirement for job applicants and a nice-to-know if it exists. For every institute, you attended, mention its name, your degree, total years, and GPA. If you have other activities linked to the school, list them also. In case of test scores or awards, mention them also.
Here is what the Education section on LinkedIn should look like:
People with certifications added to their LinkedIn profiles get up to a six times increase in profile views. Now, the platform lets you add the certification in a pretty easy way, and you should explore this feature to gain a competitive edge. For example, if a recruiter is looking for someone with experience in UX writing, you can stand out by showing your certificate in a manner instead of just listing User Experience Writing as one of your skills.
The following list of licenses and certifications gives a good impression of the UX writer:
LinkedIn also lets its users enter volunteer experiences if they have any. Such experiences add color and personality to your resume and offer the hiring manager an idea that you are a well-rounded person who chooses to spend time giving back. Also, you can add relevant skills like user experience, content strategy, content management, creative writing, user experience writing, web content writing, etc., and ask people in your network to endorse you. Instead of listing a wide variety of skills and having nobody to endorse them, it is better to list fewer skills relevant to UX writing and gain endorsements.
The following example shows the best way to put your volunteer experiences and skills on your LinkedIn profile:
Broadcast Your Location
We recommend you to list yourself in or close to the city where you would like to work, no matter if you live somewhere else. Recruiters will search by location to narrow down their candidate pool, so if you plan to move to Sweden, there is no harm in listing that as your location. Just make sure to clarify it during the interview process. Filling out your location allows for better search results and helps take your online network offline. So, make sure you enter your location like the following example so that hiring managers or recruiters find you.
Request Recommendations From Connections
LinkedIn recommendations are becoming quite popular these days. In general, professional recommendations are testimonials that give a quick, visual sense of the experience of working with you. Since LinkedIn is a professional networking tool, it is great to have recommendations from clients that you worked for in the past or tutors from any of your UX certificate programs.
Following is a great example of recommendations from the UX Writer, Marina Posniak’s LinkedIn profile:
So, use this feature to your advantage. Reach out to your clients and colleagues to ask for recommendations. There are two ways to get recommendations: you can send a request to a LinkedIn contact and ask them for a recommendation or write a recommendation to an acquaintance and get one written back to you. When a recruiter sees that other people have put their reputation on the line to vouch for you, they feel confident in your ability as a candidate.
Use the Creator Mode
Today, a growing group of content creators creates content on LinkedIn, including articles, statuses, comments, and more, to start conversations. No matter if you run a blog, write UX articles, or publish long-form posts on LinkedIn, you should benefit from the content you produced by setting up your profile for creator mode. The LinkedIn creator mode presents a great opportunity to increase your visibility on the platform. It is the best choice for you if you want to grow an audience and cultivate the following to build your personal brand and UX writing services through your content.
Here is what this feature does:
- This feature changes the Connect button on your profile to Follow, helping you grow your audience.
- It lists the number of followers on your profile, along with topics (hashtags) you post about the most.
- It highlights the posts to help you prioritize showcasing your content over work experience and establish your voice with potential followers visiting your profile.
- It gives access to the LinkedIn Live feature, which helps build and nurture a community of followers.
- It gives access to a newsletter feature, which means whenever you publish a LinkedIn article, subscribers receive push and email notifications.
You can see the above-mentioned changes in the profile in the following example:
Showcase Your CTAs and Portfolio in the Featured Section
As in the screenshot of Melissa’s profile above, you can add a featured section to showcase your portfolio links such as a sample UX microcopy, resume, a consultation link, and other resources to help you stand out. To add a link or work samples in the Featured section on your profile.
- Tap your profile photo from the homepage, then View Profile
- Tap Add section
- Tap Recommended and select Add featured from the dropdown
- Select the type of work sample you’d like to feature
- Tap Save or Done
On my LinkedIn profile, I went ahead and added several of the certifications that Technical Writer HQ provides. This way if someone clicks on any of these featured links, they get taken right to the certification pages on Technical Writer HQ to sign up for the course.
Narrow down the persona who you need to get in touch with and provide the links here that will make that happen by showcasing your value.
Closing Thoughts
Recruiters use LinkedIn on a regular basis to find potential UX writing candidates for open positions. That means you should invest time in polishing your UX writer LinkedIn profile. A solid UX writer LinkedIn profile combines elements of a strong UX writer cover letter and resume. By understanding which major profile areas matter the most and focusing your time on those sections, you can better maximize your results and boost your chances of being noticed by the recruiters. So, follow these steps to see what difference it can make and how it aces your LinkedIn game.
