5 Things Definitely Not to Do on Linked In

LinkedIn is a business-oriented networking service. Its 364 million members are supposed to use it for finding new business connections and checking each other out commercially before they trade. It is bad form to twitter about on it, post selfies in your page book, or prattle on about stuff that other people already reddit. You also need to be sensitive to other cultures because its members speak twenty-four different languages. LinkedIn will definitely link you out if it can pin rude behaviour on you.

The Dumbest Things that You Could Do on LinkedIn

Some people do really dumb things in real life too, like painting graffiti under the eye of subway cameras, telling airport check-in clerks they have a bomb in their suitcase, and selling sleazy Volkswagen engines that lie under test. They do similarly crazy things on LinkedIn too, because the click of a mouse makes them feel so all-powerfully stupid that they become their own worst enemy.

1.Crazy Mismatched Photos

While you can be quirky on LinkedIn if you are a comedian looking for a gig (or perhaps even a tad salacious if you are a night owl in ahem that way) the general idea on LinkedIn is to show you take your business activities seriously, and are someone others can trust. You have to start with the right photo, because that is where we always look first. People have done even crazier things than posting this photo on LinkedIn.

So what’s the problem? Everybody likes dogs and this person is just trying to come across as cool. I will tell you what, brother or sister, this dude’s picture tells me nothing about the business they are in. In fact, they look positively poverty-stricken judging by the neglected state of the deck, and the pooches are overdue for a visit to the beauty parlour.

2.Irrelevant Stuff About Ourselves

While I will grant you the right to think you are indelibly cute – and even I was once according to my mother – there is a time for everything and everything has its place. Showing off your dashing good looks is unlikely to get you the job you want when your next boss visits you on LinkedIn. Unless, that is they are after someone to cute to wash their car.

So think carefully about your Linked-In profile. Does it go with the job you are chasing? Does it stick to business passions only? Does it speak well of your current and past positions: does it talk about the contributions you want to make in life?

3.Staying Under Cover on the Web

When I was still a nipper my nana told me, “Never hide your light under a bushel boy”. I stayed confused until I realised grandma was not talking about a burning bush. She was telling me to walk tall and achieve my full potential. The internet and the social media are a treasure house of potential. We just have to stand out from the crowd like these dancers in the Aladdin ballet and pick the jewels.

Aladdin had a jewel of a job because he had the keys to the treasure cave. Your LinkedIn profile could bring a dream employer to you too - if you work it, #hashtag it right, keyword it cutely and splash it everywhere you can on the internet that’s not completely black hat. When you include a link to it on your CV and the boss sees how many connections you have, you could move from maybe to shortlist in a nanosecond flat.

4.Mixing Up a LinkedIn Profile

A LinkedIn profile has two bits to it, namely a personal profile and a business page. I knew a fellow who got the content the wrong way round. He put his personal details on his business page and ended up looking like a one-man show that he definitely was not because he had a fleet of vehicles. Bye-bye business. Talk about a dumb blonde! Move over for the himbo of the month.

Another big mistake that people make is when they have a regular job, plus a business ticking over in the background on their employer’s time. I knew a girl who loaded her business on her personal LinkedIn page. Her boss was considering promoting her to management level and visited it to discover more about her. Guess who went from hero to zero in the time it takes to polish your nails while the boss is watching.

5.Staying Dumb in the Conversation