Critical Retirement Step – The LinkedIn Profile Update
If you are retiring or separating and you have any interest in a civilian position, you probably need to update your LinkedIn profile. My profile was reasonably up-to-date and accurate, but as you’ll see it didn’t incorporate many of the best practices of a professional profile. Here is a brief story of my LinkedIn profile update…
First, I got some feedback from the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). I think MOAA is a great organization. They lobby for military and veterans, they keep you informed about what is going on (many of the articles on MCCareer.org are from MOAA), and they offer a lot of services you may need, like LinkedIn profile reviews! I value my MOAA membership so much that even though basic membership is free, I’m a lifetime member.
The MOAA professional that did my LinkedIn review is Pat L. Williams, PhD, PHR, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Program Director, Engagement and Career Transition Services. She was very thorough, as you are about to read. Here is a summary of her feedback.
The e-mail she sent me made these points:
- Keep your profile up-to-date.
- Make sure your background photo is appropriate. If you Google for LinkedIn background photos, you’ll find thousands you can use. She though my photo was fine as it advertised my blog (and was my may to make sure the DoW social media disclaimer is there).
- Maintain a relationship with your contacts by sharing and liking their posts on the site. It just takes 2-3 “touches” a year.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. That is why they are on the site, to cultivate and maintain strong professional networks. Today 80-85% of people get their next job via networking!
- Participate in MOAA’s LinkedIn Career Networking Group, which has 47K professionals/participants.
But the money was in this document:
You really need to read the above document if you want the full flavor of the review. Some highlights include:
- You can get 1 year of LinkedIn Premium for free if you are military affiliated (active duty, reserves, veteran, spouse). Here is an article that discusses the value of LinkedIn Premium.
- I needed a new headshot, so I had some professional headshots done when I was home on leave for Thanksgiving. I tried the AI tools, but the free ones didn’t work well for me. I just paid $100 and got them done by a local photographer. Boom!
- My headline needed to be revised. “CEO of US Naval Hospital Guam” was what it used to say. This was my attempt to follow current DoW guidance and not used military titles like “Commanding Officer” or “MTF Director.” Instead, it now says, “Chief Executive Officer | Experienced Senior Healthcare Executive Specializing in Medical Education, Communication, and Leading with Humor | Educating Physicians to Develop Their Careers | Veteran”.
- My LinkedIn profile URL had a bunch of random letters and numbers after my name. It now is https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-schofer/. This looks much more professional on a resume or CV.
- I already had a lot of connections and activity from blog posts I was posting on LinkedIn, so I was good there.
- I needed to rewrite my summary.
- I had 7 skills, but I now have the maximum of 100. These took me a whole weekend to add. Skills are what gets you to pop when recruiters search for people.
- I now belong to a few groups.
- I have liked all the companies I’m interested in working for and have job alerts set up for them.
Seriously, download the Word document above and give it a look. It was a thorough review.
There were other LinkedIn resources shared including a multiple webinars on LinkedIn branding on this page, but they all require you to be a premium MOAA member (not the basic free membership).
She also tipped me off to a former Army Sergeant Major and LinkedIn expert named Michael Quinn who offers “The Ultimate LinkedIn Cheat Sheet” and “How To Set Up an Effective LinkedIn Profile” on his LinkedIn profile. The are both good resources I’m working through.
If you are a MOAA member and want a resume (more to follow on that fun) or LinkedIn profile review, Pat said to e-mail transition@moaa.org. If you want to join, and remember that basic membership is free, you can read all about joining MOAA here:
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 