Career coach: How to level up your LinkedIn game

LinkedIn is no longer simply an online CV. It’s a tool that when used strategically can enhance your reputation, pivot your career and land your dream role.

When someone Googles your name, what shows up?

In most cases, your LinkedIn profile is one of the first results, which means it’s often your first professional impression.

According to Career Development Consultant and personal brand specialist Nicola Lesley, that visibility makes LinkedIn a powerful career tool.

“If you’ve got a profile, it means you can control the content and the narrative of your career to some extent.”

Whether you’re actively job hunting, running a business, or simply maintaining a professional presence, LinkedIn has evolved into far more than just an online CV.

And Nicola says most people are currently underusing the platform.

Here’s how to make sure your profile is working for you.

First impressions count

Leveling up on LinkedIn starts with clarity.

“The first thing to ask is: is your professional direction clear?” Nicola says.

“Does your career story make sense, or does the reader have to make assumptions?” 

If your profile lacks a clear narrative, recruiters and hiring managers will fill in the blanks themselves and that won’t always be in your favour.

“The best profiles are complete,” Nicola says.

Firstly, make sure you provide a bit of detail about what you actually did in each role.

“Role titles don’t communicate what people really do, so provide a sentence or two that communicates the breadth and depth of the role and add a couple of achievements to demonstrate what you’ve achieved in your career.”

Other essentials include having a clear and professional profile photo.

“Not a cropped wedding photo and not an artistic black-and-white gaze into the distance photo. It should be a well-lit, approachable headshot where you’re facing the camera and smiling.”

Your “About” section is also critical and unlike a resume, LinkedIn allows you to add your own voice.

“Here you can talk about what you're passionate about, what you're motivated by and what you really enjoy,” Nicola says.

Build visibility before you need it

One of the biggest mistakes people make is only becoming active on LinkedIn when they’re looking for a job.

“You generally find people are more active when they’re job hunting,” Nicola says.

“But if you’re doing a little bit over time, it’s not going to be so obvious.”

To level up your career, Nicola says building visibility should be proactive and not reactive.

And you don’t need to spend hours online.

Ten minutes a week commenting thoughtfully, responding to messages, or sharing relevant content is enough to maintain your presence.

Because ideally, you don’t just want to have to apply for jobs, you want to be front-of-mind when people in your network are looking for someone with your skills.

“There might be an employer looking for a specific skill set, and if they see that in your profile, they’ll contact you.”

Post quality over quantity

LinkedIn has recently been flooded with AI content that is glaringly obvious to spot.

“It’s easy to create, so there’s too much of it,” Nicola says.

To stand out, authenticity is key.

“People still want to do business with people,” Nicola says.

That might mean sharing your own insights, reflecting on professional experiences, or even posting a short video.

“I’d recommend posting a short ‘unpolished’ video of themselves talking, even if it’s just a minute. You’ll get far more cut-through than another generic AI post.”

At the end of the day, business is human.

Use LinkedIn as a career research tool

Most people think of LinkedIn as simply a job application or networking tool.

But it’s also a powerful career research platform particularly for people looking to pivot their careers.

You can benchmark your profile against others in roles you aspire to.

“It’s publicly accessible information,” Nicola says.

“You can look at someone successful in that space and ask, ‘do I have what they have? Are there any gaps?’”

LinkedIn can also be used for industry analysis to identify trends in the job market or your specific industry.

“You can look through the feed to get a sense of job market intelligence, trends, what people are talking about in certain spaces, to keep up to date with what's current. You can follow company pages and see what they're posting about,” she says.

It’s also a low-risk testing ground. If you’re considering a new direction, you can adjust your profile and observe whether you get more views or engagement.

"There might be some keywords you're not using or enough experiences or achievements that demonstrate what you can do.”

Nicola stresses that it’s important to always be honest when tweaking your profile as once something is posted, it’s publicly accessible and potentially permanent.

“Don’t put anything on there that you wouldn’t admit to in a court of law.”

Avoid these LinkedIn red flags

There are a few common profile mistakes that Nicola says can quietly undermine your credibility on LinkedIn.

According to Nicola, this includes not having a completed profile, no headshot photo, months or years of inactivity and having very few connections.

“If someone's just got 20 connections, you think they don't really interact in the space or they don't really care what's in their profile.”

Treating LinkedIn like Facebook and posting personal updates or political or controversial commentary can also raise red flags for employers.

“In the same way you wouldn’t walk into a networking event and start talking about politics or religion, you need to be very careful about what you comment on.” she says.

“You don't want your reputation to be associated with something you might regret down the track.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t be authentic, but it’s about understanding that LinkedIn is a professional platform.

Nicola recommends updating your profile regularly, including anytime you’ve changed roles or achieved a significant outcome at work.

“If nothing's really changed that much, maybe every six months go in and have another look to see if it's still relevant.”

Consistency is key and ensures you’ll be ready the next time an opportunity comes around.

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