How to up your Linked game — in 7 steps
7 steps to put you on headhunters’ radar screens
A winning LinkedIn profile gets people’s attention. Like a puppy picture. But more solid.
Some of the best engineers in Europe have never applied for a job. Instead, these people are found on Linkedin by headhunters.
Tiago‘s LinkedIn won him a job in Germany
Meet Tiago, a Microsoft Dynamics engineer from Brazil. Tiago found his job in Germany with the help of a headhunter.
How to be like Tiago, and get seen by headhunters?
Follow these simple 7 tips to pimp your LinkedIn profile:
Tip 1: Apply our CV advice
Bring your LinkedIn profile to an up-to-date, professional level. This includes a good one-liner and a short description of your stack. Take a look at this profile of Omar, an Imagine Fellow.
Tip 2: Translate your bio.
With bio, we mean the text starting below the “connect” button. Translate it also into German. Use Deepl for translation — it’s awesome. You then have an English bio and below that also a German version. Check out Tiago’s profile.
Tip 3: Precisely describe your current job.
Make sure to paint a clear picture so that a headhunter can easily understand your role, the technical challenge you solved, and the nature of the product being built.
Take a look at Youssef’s profile — it’s very well crafted. He said he “focused it on the hard technical stuff.” What did he do? First, he describes the product and his role very clearly. Second, he clearly explains that he was part of a European/ Egyptian team. He lists the outsourcing company’s client as an employer while making clear he was working remotely. Third, he drops relevant keywords: “code reviews”, “estimating feature requests” and again his stack as the last bullet point.
Tip 4: List your skills.
List the 10–20 most important languages, frameworks, and environments in your stack in the separate skills section offered by LinkedIn. Collect endorsements from former colleagues. These skills are searchable and make you more easily discovered by headhunters.
Tip 5: Select a competent and likable photo.
A book should not be judged by the cover, yet most of us still do. The same holds for the photo on your LinkedIn profile. Choose a picture that makes you look credible, competent, and likable. Judging one’s own photos is hard. Choose a few and ask your friends, or use photofeeler (free).
Tip 6: Be active in the right groups.
Find the big global groups where the best developers hang out (if they even do that on LinkedIn). Initially, just read. Then start to selectively comment. Do not self-promote. Contribute to the discussion. Headhunters often hang out in such online groups and look for talent.
Tip 7: Add German/French/Spanish language skills (if you have some).
For Germany in particular, knowing a little German goes a looooong way. Start learning a few words (like hello, goodbye, thanks — the basics) using Duolingo. List your German as “elementary”. If you enjoy German, check out our guide to learning German.
If you follow these 7 tips you will appear on the radar of more headhunters. It took Tiago only 2 weeks before the first headhunter came knocking at his door step.
We hope you will be as lucky as Tiago. But, luck is not a strategy. Do not wait to be found. That’s why we tell you to also go the traditional route and directly apply for your dream job in Germany. Here is how.
That’s it. We hope you enjoyed the read. Now it’s time for action. As always, we are rooting for you. Keep us posted.
— Your friends at Imagine
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