This post was published earlier on LinkedIn

On LinkedIn the caliber of posts and interactions has been rising steadily over the last few years, and I'd like to share with you what I've found to work for me.

If you are like me, chances are you are not as good at self-promotion as some of the wizards you see online. They are everywhere you look nowadays.

You may say to yourself:

“I did it, it is done, what is there to talk about?”

"I've done as much as anyone else out there..."

Often times we have accomplished many things without realizing we have and these things deserve mentioning.

So how do we get the word out, when it comes to our accomplishments?

Below is what I learned from other job-hunters, articles, resumes, and interview workshops. These learned skills worked for dozens of my friends, as well as myself.

It turns out after studying what others are doing, in its simplest form, can be summed up in the following 3 steps:

1) look at what you accomplished 2) break it down into its smallest components 3) list every component of the accomplishment as a separate entry

So what do I mean?

Let’s break down a real example and use that as a template for any future LinkedIn entries.

LET’S SAY THAT YOU:
Hired 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive.

Well, did you interview them? Chances are you did and you probably interviewed a lot more than just 12 people, so that is our first item to break out:

  • Interviewed 50+ individuals for sales position

Did you assess their qualifications? Most likely you did, so these are our second and third items to break out:

  • Assessed qualifications face-to-face
  • Processing 100+ resumes

Finally, didn’t you get your co-workers input? You probably did, so that is your fourth item to break out:

  • Listened to feedback and implemented changes that improved sales force efficiency by 20%

Basically, keep asking yourself questions of what it took to accomplish the end goal, which was to Hire 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive. If you hired people you have really done a lot. Don’t just say, “I hired some people”

As a good friend of mine said to me: "The most insightful piece of advice that should be shouted in Bold, red flashing text, (well, bold at least), is to provide a specific, measurable example of how you changed something, and add a timeline."

After using the 3-step method above, we could end up with the first example below:

EXAMPLE 1
“Hired 12 sales people for a large local marketing drive”

Possible breakout:

  • Interviewed 50+ individuals for sales position
  • Assessed qualifications face-to-face and by processing 100+ resumes
  • Listened to feedback and implemented changes that improved efficiency of the sales force by 20%

Take a look at a few more examples below to get the hang of it.

EXAMPLE 2
“5+ years of engineering experience in cloud computing”

Possible breakout:

  • Continuously assessed best cloud solution for the company based on required user functionality
  • Over a 5 year period, analyzed required specifications to custom build server solutions
  • Optimized database calls based on user feedback to double processing speed and shortened loading times by 70%

EXAMPLE 3
“Drove a taxi for 12 years in the Greater New York Area”

Possible breakout:

  • Provided transportation/service for 12 years
  • Successfully serviced 2,000+ clients
  • Proven safe driver with exceptional driving skills
  • Expertise in optimizing travel routes in the Greater New York Area

ISN’T THIS ALL A BIT SILLY?
Some may say we are ‘hyping’ the message (building it up to make ourselves look good) and that it may be silly that we have to break things out and explain further. But in all fairness, others are not inside our head and often times they cannot connect the dots. This must be done for them. Break down the effort, list every component and describe each thing you did. You’ll be surprised to find out how much work goes into it.

So where did I learn this? I looked at other LinkedIn profiles. One profile stood-out in the way he captured accomplishments and listed them in a manner that was easy to digest.

Guy Klages is an old friend that I hired in a previous company. He has a good profile, that you can go through and learn from. Knowing Guy, I’m sure he’d also be happy to connect with you. He is an author who has written some excellent articles that can further help you understand more of how to write a good LinkedIn profile.. I know I learned a few tips from his profile. You can find one of Guy's articles here: 13 Active Ways to Make Employers (or Clients) Find You on LinkedIn

A FINAL TIP
Before you start making drastic changes to your LinkedIn profile, turn off broadcasts. This will ensure everyone does not receive multiple email notices from every change made to your profile.

HOW TO TURN OFF ACTIVITY BROADCASTS

  1. Hover over your photo/name in the upper right
  2. Click "Privacy & Settings"
  3. Re-enter your password
  4. In the "Profile" section, click "Turn on/off your Activity Broadcasts"
  5. Deselect the checkbox
  6. Then turn it back on for the final change (optional)

Thanks for taking the time to read through this article. Hopefully it can give you further ideas on how to improve your own LinkedIn profile.

See my profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/morrisfrancis as an example (feel free to add me), and let me know if you have any questions in the Comments section below.

After applying these tips to your profile, check out my next article “How to Approach a Stranger at a Networking Event - Networking Quick Tip 1”

PS. Let me know if you have any specific topics you want addressed on Networking.