Intro:

• Why we haven't touched resumes and CVs

In general, people want to connect with people who they think can add value to their network. Even if you don't use the best outreach message in the world, if your profile says, "This person is going up in the world," people will connect with you.

In LinkedIn, the worst thing you can do is have an empty profile. The next worst thing? Having a generic one. Like, just listing roles and companies (that no one recognizes). And using generic resume things like "proven experience in bla bla bla bla" Nobody cares.

The 'easiest' way to look impressive is to have super high credibility credentials. e.g. Jezze has MIT and Google. Ana has Bucerius Law School (it's widely known in Germany as the best university in Germany).

But what if you don't have those?

I (Chiara) don't have those. I've worked mostly in small companies that nobody would recognize. Here are some tactics I've used and you can use to still look impressive. You don't need a lot. Just one to three.

Think about your experience year by year and ask yourself the following questions:

• What have you done, even in your personal life, that's different, unique, or cool?
• In the companies you worked with, what can be 'internationally' impressive? What about your university?
  • e.g. It's the number one in its category in your country. Its investors are the top investors in Europe. You have a name brand client.
• Has a boss or colleague written something about you that clearly marks you as indispensable? Can you ask for one? Emphasize that in your profile.

I'll use my (Chiara's experience)

Demo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaracokieng/

• What have you done, even in your personal life, that's different, unique, or cool?
  • I used to be a competitive freestyle wrestler so I really emphasized that. People wanted to connect with me because of the cool factor.
  • I was featured in a NYT bestselling book
  • I did a speaking tour in the US, inc. in MIT, NYU, etc.
• What can be 'internationally' impressive? e.g.
  • I worked for OnFrontiers. It's a small startup nobody would recognize. But it's "Techstars NYC" with clients like "McKinsey, Bain, and BCG" — I used these keywords.
  • Nobody outside the Philippines would recognize my university. But I researched some stats about it and emphasized this, "UP is the top university in the country, and is the only Philippine university among the top 100 QS Asian universities. The School of Economics is a top 5% (rank 175 of 7,408) economics department in the world."
• Has a boss or colleague written something about you that clearly marks you as indispensable? Can you still ask for one? Emphasize that in your profile.
  • Mine are, "She's an animal." "She's a force of nature." etc.
  • In an online course I took, people said this about me and I wrote it in my profile, "Named by three classmates as the person who made the difference in their altMBA experience. One of the most gratifying awards I have ever received."

Let's go through your profiles one by one