6 Tips for Making Your Professional Nurse LinkedIn Profile Shine

By Laure Justice, Contributor

If you're looking for your next nursing job, this is a great time to polish your professional nurse LinkedIn profile. Make sure your profile shares your story and specific information about your career and accomplishments. This gives recruiters a sense of who you are and your capabilities.

Six important details for your professional profile on LinkedIn

Take advantage of these easy tips to make your professional nurse LinkedIn profile stand out when you're ready to find your next nursing assignment. Start gently and choose one to try, or go all out and combine several of the suggestions for maximum effectiveness.

1. Post a professional photo

While a picture of you playing ball with your pooch or cuddling your cat may show your personality, a professional headshot will do more for the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile. Casual photos and actions shots are best saved for scrapbooks, framing or fun social media sharing. LinkedIn is a professional networking site, so choosing a photo that lets potential employers see your professional side is a winning decision.

2. Add a headline that states who you are

You can set the headline on your LinkedIn profile to say anything you want it to say, and it's one of the first things recruiters see. That makes it an opportunity to get a hiring manager's attention. You could make it fun and playful, or you could put your job title and the last place you worked. One tip is to look at the keywords recruiters enter when looking for someone exactly like you and make sure those words are in your LinkedIn profile's headline.

3. Look at job descriptions and postings

Job descriptions and nursing job posts provide a lot of valuable information you can use when preparing your LinkedIn profile. Look for common themes and recurring words that are directly related to the nursing profession. Make a list of the words that relate directly to the work you do. Places to find these descriptions include the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the LinkedIn job boards. You can also get some great ideas by looking at the job listings here on the OnwardHealth Care website.

4. Include keywords about nursing

After collecting a list of nursing-related keywords from reading job postings and descriptions, make sure those words are scattered throughout your profile. Then, when recruiters are searching the LinkedIn website for workers with those skills, your profile is more likely to be pulled for review. Using the terminology recruiters are hunting also helps them picture you performing the required tasks and helps confirm your level of expertise.

5. Call out your successes

Add some quantifiable, or measurable, successes to your profile on LinkedIn. When you add details, like numbers, statistics or any excellenceawards you've received to your profile, it gives hiring managers something concrete to cite as a reason for considering you for an open position. Sharing this information in your profile may feel like bragging or being vain, but it isn't. It's actually just a practical matter of helping recruiters decide whether you're a potential fit for an open job.

6. Talk about me, myself and I

A lot of online profiles are written in third person, so it looks as if someone else is talking about you. However, on LinkedIn, it's more effective to write your profile as if you are talking directly to someone. Imagine what you might say to a hiring manager when sitting across the desk during an interview. You probably wouldn't say, "She won a Circle of Excellence award for..." You would be more likely to use a personal, conversational tone and say something like, "I won a Circle of Excellence award for..."

Use these tips when writing or refreshing your profile to make it stand out so recruiters can find you through LinkedIn. You can also proudly share your updated LinkedIn profile with potential employers, and find your next nursing job through Onward Health Care.