Hiring or looking for a job? Upgrade your LinkedIn profile to stand out

When most people find themselves unemployed or are looking for a career change, they head to a job board. But have you heard of LinkedIn? It’s a social media platform with a twist.

LinkedIn also offers excellent options for those looking to hire employees who don’t want to wait for a sea of faceless applications to pour in. It provides prospective employees unique ways to stand out and gives companies a fresh way to look for new talent. Tap or click for smart things you should be doing with your LinkedIn profile.

Job seekers are looking for a way to outshine their competition, while those looking to hire want to make sure they are finding a good fit. Let’s look at ways to make your LinkedIn profile stand out.

Add a video to your profile for a personal touch

LinkedIn has a feature to highlight your skills: Personal video. Commercial videos and advertisements have become increasingly popular in today’s social media climate, and now you can add one to your LinkedIn profile.

Everyone has a story that led them to their career path, and now you can highlight yours. With this feature, you can add a Cover Story to showcase your specific skills and background while highlighting your personality. If you are looking for a job, this video feature is a great way to shine.

If you are looking to hire someone, this feature allows you to get a personal look into prospective employees’ lives, something you don’t get with just a resume.

Hiring? Stand out as a company

LinkedIn isn’t just great for job seekers. It’s the premier platform for companies to find qualified candidates fast. In fact, it’s the platform we use to find new talent.

But how do you stand out as a company in such a fierce market? There are a few things you can do to outshine other employers.

  • Have a detailed “about us” section. Be sure to answer basic questions like where you are based, what you offer and your company values.
  • Post meaningful content highlighting your brand. Keep it light-hearted and entertaining to draw prospective employees’ eyes.
  • Create a showcase page. This allows you to maintain a LinkedIn-style blog where you highlight your brand daily.

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Block porn on X

The social network X (I still think of it as Twitter) has always had its seedier corners, but now Elon Musk has officially said porn is OK on the platform. And to keep your, uh, activity private, they’re now hiding likes, too. Coincidence? Yeah, I don’t think so.

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🔒 Use Facebook or Instagram? Meta changed its two-factor authentication rules to automatically “trust” any devices you’ve regularly used its apps on over the last two years. Disable this. Log in to either platform, then go to your Settings and click Account Center > Password and Security. Tap or click Two-factor Authentication to turn it off.

AI is running for mayor

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A guy tried getting ChatGPT elected as the mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, but voters shut that down fast. Google secretly scraped $5 billion worth of data, moped thieves stealing AirPods Max, and Chick-fil-A is launching a streaming platform.

I got a kick out of this: Football player Travis Kelce’s dad is banned for life on X. He posted (on Facebook!) about the hypocrisy of arms dealers in Yemen selling weapons on the platform when all he really did was follow sports reporters. X hasn’t given him a clear reason — just a generic Terms of Service violation.

Trivia

What percentage of divorces are blamed on people reconnecting or finding new loves on Facebook? Is it … A.) 7.5%, B.) 14.29%, C.) 22.43% or D.) 33.91%?

Find the answer here!

38,366,479 people

Playing on gaming platform Steam at once, a new record. What’s popular right now? Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, PUBG, Final Fantasy 16 and Banana, among others. Banana is, I kid you not, just clicking on a JPEG of a banana. I don’t get it. I just don’t get it.

🐔 Chick flicks: Chick-fil-A is dreaming up its own streaming platform. Step 1 is family-friendly content like game shows, followed by original series, animation and other licensed content. If it works, think of all the advertising bucks and data they’ll get their hands on.

400,000 products

On Amazon could put your life in danger. The U.S. government now says Amazon is responsible for dangerous products sold on its platform, including faulty carbon monoxide detectors and flammable kids’ PJs, and it has to inform you if you’ve bought one. Shocker, Amazon’s already appealing.

🔒 Over 200 PC models are at risk: This affects millions of PCs. Secure Boot keeps your PC from booting on sketchy software but is now completely useless. Why? An employee posted the platform’s four-digit password online. Acer, Dell, Gigabyte, Intel and Supermicro PCs are all vulnerable. If you’re downloading software, use a sandbox. I’ll let you know when there’s a patch.

Remember that hot site Cameo? The platform that lets folks pay for celeb shoutouts is stone-cold broke. The former $1 billion unicorn can’t afford to pay a $600,000 fine after violating the FTC’s rules for celebrity endorsements. New York and 29 other states involved will have to settle for splitting $100,000. If you want to buy a Cameo, better get it now.

🚨 Don’t buy pills on eBay: Some SKALD diet pills on the platform tested positive for meth in a random drug screening. Watch out for brands like PhenQ, Govvi WOW! and Phentamene XT, too; they could be fake or tainted with banned ingredients that cause heart attacks … or worse. Talk to your doc instead.

Trivia

What does the “P” in HTTP stand for? Is it … A.) Protocol, B.) Platform, C.) Portal or D.) Princess?

Find the answer here!

53% of kids under 12

Remember ads they’ve seen on YouTube better than ads watched on any other platform. That’s two times better than TV ads! Even crazier, 60% of teens watch the full ads on YouTube instead of skipping. You can thank Google’s world-class ad targeting.

$167 per hour 

For freelance data analysts. Freelancing platform Upwork says data analytics is far and away its most in-demand skill set in 2024. The numbers speak for themselves. The next frontier for data pros? You guessed it: Using AI to crunch numbers faster.

Like it or not, on X, the likes are gone

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Why did the social media platform decide to ditch the like button? I’ll give you the scoop.

What could possibly go wrong? An anonymous message board app wreaked havoc at a Vermont high school. It only took hours for the convos to go from lighthearted fun to hardcore bullying, sending teens in tears to their guidance counselors. The company has pulled the school from its platform for now (paywall link).

Hard pass: Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wants to bring AI clones to the platform. “Digital twins” will attend meetings on your behalf and even make decisions, freeing up your schedule and maybe leading to shorter workweeks. Uh, no. Digital Kim is not making decisions for Real Kim.

70% more searches

For “star bathing.” Yep, that’s a new term you need to know. Campsite booking platform Hipcamp is seeing more guests looking for a site under clear skies so they can become one with nature. It’s a little out there for me.

Trivia

Which platform is winning the streaming wars, with the largest share of viewers? Is it … A.) Prime Video, B.) Netflix, C.) Hulu or D.) YouTube?

Find the answer here!