When people find you in searches on Linkedin, or when you are being active within the Group discussions or in Linkedin Answers; the first thing they see is a little box that has your name, your photo (assuming you’ve chosen to add one) and a ‘headline’ or as I often call them a ‘baby bio’.  

Unfortunately what most people do is to leave their job title in their headline and there is nothing LESS likely to attract attention than something that doesn’t say anything because I have no idea what the company is that you work for unless it happens to be a major global brand and even then I may think that you won’t be the person I need to connect with because you probably aren’t going to be interested in little old me!

However, you do have the option to change it and change it you should.This is a bit like the mine profile you might find on Twitter so you need to make it engaging, interesting and absolutely about WHO you are, not WHAT you are.  In fact, if you can make it easier for people to know how you will help them, so much the better.  The alternative, is to do as I do and focus on your skills, abilities and areas of interest.

My headline/baby bio used to read “Social Entrepreneur, Internet Mentor, Speaker, Writer, Diva, Blogger & Founder of The Hysterectomy Association”. I’m not entirely sure that it wasn’t the DIVA that got the attention, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

I changed it recently to “Author of Linkedin Made Easy, Social Entrepreneur, Social Media Strategist, Speaker & Hysterectomy Association Founder” which is more in line with my own personal goals and objectives; in other words I’m looking to expand on my writing (and yes I’m just finishing off my first novel) and I want to do more professional speaking too.

1. To edit your profile, click on Profile in the top navigation bar
2. This defaults to the edit pane
3. Click on the little ‘edit’ button next to the headline and make your changes in the box marked ‘Professional Headline’.  Don’t forget to hit SAVE and you’re done
4. If you are stuck for something to say, why not have a look at what others in your industry say in theirs!

For those you who are interested, yes I did originally write this post on my personal blog which you can find at Woman on the Edge of Reality