Life’s good… we’ve got a job, we’re happy at said job, we’re not job searching, we’re all good in the hood…
Sure, our LinkedIn profile is a little out of date. We haven’t added our most recent job yet, but we’ll get around to it when it comes times to job search, right?
We DEFINITELY do not need to update our LinkedIn profile, right now, do we?
Wrong.
Dead. Wrong.
Keeping your LinkedIn profile up-to-date when you aren’t job searching is essential my friends…
Here are my:
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Keep Your LinkedIn Profile Updated When You’re Not Job Searching:
1. An Outdated LinkedIn Profile is Just Plain Unprofessional
We’re all grown ups here. We’ve got a great job that we’re proud of, so what happens when a colleague of yours looks you up on LinkedIn and sees that apparently, you don’t even work with them yet?
What if your boss wants to add you? Sure, it’s a bit creepy/weird if your boss adds you on Instagram (if you don’t have that kind of relationship), but it’s totally fine for them to add you on LinkedIn without your permission… then what happens?
This looks like either:
a) You are not proud to be a part of your organization
b) You are lazy
c) You don’t care about your professional brand
All three are not a great way to score points with your boss or other professionals in your network. Speaking of which…
2. You’re Always Meeting New Colleagues
Even if you’re not job searching, you never know when you’re going to meet someone new at work, or a conference, or on a call who you’ll really click with.
Obviously, it’s very realistic that the person wants to follow up and add you on LinkedIn.
Having outdated information could have them confused as to whether you’re the right person, or it could just leave a bad impression as we talked about in point 1.
3. Recruiters are Always Watching
Even if you aren’t looking for a job, it doesn’t mean a job isn’t looking for you. Recruiters are all over LinkedIn (in fact, they have a special version of LinkedIn that allows them to search for people like you when they have great new opportunities to fill).
You could be totally happy in your job, but wouldn’t you still want to be approached with other opportunities? Just to know you’ve got options just in case something happens… Just for a little confidence boost.
At very least, it will make things much easier when you do decide to search.
Keep your profile up-to-date and you’re far more likely to appear in recruiters’ watch lists.
4. It’s Soooo Much Easier to do it now
When you save all your updating for one monster revision session, it can be a little overwhelming.
If you take 10 minutes to update your profile every few months, you’ll have a much easier time remembering all your recent accomplishments and experiences.
Not to mention…
5. It Will Be Ready When You Need It!
Job searching can be stressful. If you save updating your LinkedIn profile for the day you decide to job search, you’re just adding another tough task to your already full plate.
On the flip side, if your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date, you’ll be that much more confident to start your job search instead of dragging things out in your current situation.
Your future self will thank you for updating your LinkedIn profile today!