How now brown cow… embracing this critical element into a LinkedIn profile

When someone reads a news story, the “how” element sometimes isn’t as obvious as the others such as “who” and “when.” We read a story about something unsual such as a college baseball team upsetting another team in the NCAAs, and our reaction takes “How Did This Happen?”

With LinkedIn profiles, the how element, especially with novice users is such that I find it often missing.

Let’s take Morgan Garbett, a college student who is working towards a degree in engineering.

In his LinkedIn profile summary, she writes that is seeking a fulltime position after her graduation. Yet, the how element is clearly missing. If she had written “I am looking for mentors or advisors who can help me learn more about possible engineering opportunities,” at the end of her summary, she can have addressed the “How can you help me” aspect needed for her profile.

Kate Wimer, my youngest daughter, shares her “how” indirectly when she wrote this in her summary: “ am currently pursuing research into ways to translate human interaction (reference experience) into communicable online design principles for intuitive learning and discovery.”

To me, this translates into two key elements needed in the “How” aspect of a good LinkedIn summary.