As a Talent Acquisition Recruiter on the GigNow team, one of the tools I rely heavily on when sourcing for top contractor talent is LinkedIn. A well-crafted LinkedIn profile tells us more of a story regarding your expertise and interests than a typical resume would communicate. As you would imagine, a LinkedIn profile that is not updated or incomplete will likely put you at a disadvantage if you are seeking your next contract opportunity. Here are a few simple ways that you can improve your LinkedIn profile to make it stand out to recruiters who are looking to engage with top contractor talent like yourself!
1. A Profile Photo
An appropriate profile photo allows us as the recruiter to identify with you outside of just the words on your resume. There is no need to hire a professional photographer to take fancy headshots, but it would be best if your photo only included yourself and no additional people or animals (keep those photos for Facebook and Instagram)!
2. A Headline
What do you excel at? What is your area of expertise? What are you passionate about? This headline portion of your LinkedIn profile is a great space to quickly highlight your overall background. Use this area to create a one-liner regarding your experience that will provide an immediate picture into what types of roles you may be interested in.
3. Recommendations
Did you knock it out of the park during your last contract engagement? Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations from your previous managers and/or team members. From a recruiter’s standpoint, it is an added bonus to have the opportunity to review actual feedback or recommendations from the projects that you have directly contributed to.
4. Contact Information
The speed at which the gig economy moves is just one of the characteristics that sets it apart from the permanent workforce. Time is of the essence when we are trying to connect with top contractor talent and not everyone checks their LinkedIn email on a daily basis. If you are actively searching for your next gig, I suggest updating your contact information to include your personal email and/or contact number so that recruiters may connect with you more efficiently. Hiring managers move quickly when they need to bring a contractor on-board and you don’t want to miss the opportunity because you did not see our LinkedIn message for several days.
5. Open to Contract Opportunities
Perhaps this tip goes without saying, but I think it is important to highlight for those who may not be aware of this preference within LinkedIn. On your LinkedIn dashboard, under “Career Interests”, you may select various preferences with regards to what you are seeking in your next role. Within these preferences is an area where you can select that you are interested in contract roles (found under “What types of jobs are you open to?”). This is a search functionality that recruiters have access to that many contractors are not aware of within their profile preferences.
