An Automotive Professional’s Guide to

We are the UK’s best job site for the motor

industry. We’ve created this guide for jobseekers

to use LinkedIn as a personal branding tool in

their niche, with the help of our Social Media

Executive. We’ve also partnered up with CV

Knowhow, who are also experts in writing

LinkedIn profiles that get you noticed.

Looking to build up your personal brand?

Creating a LinkedIn profile is the perfect way

to do it. With more than 500 million members,

LinkedIn is fast becoming the platform for

online branding. Whether you’re job-hunting,

gathering leads, or networking in your industry,

having a professional, eye-catching LinkedIn

profile can open up a number of opportunities

for your career.

Do you want to build your visibility on LinkedIn?

Wondering which LinkedIn features will help?

Read our guide on how to build a professional

presence that showcases your work to the

people you most want to connect with.

Welcome!

Choose the right profile picture

Your profile picture should be professional,

approachable and clear. Steer away from selfies

and pictures from a night out - they don’t send

the right message.

Choose a picture with a smile, perhaps from

an event or a professionally taken photograph

from work.

Add a background photo

Your background photo is the second most

important visual on your profile, so it should be

equally as eye-catching as your profile picture.

A number of individuals using LinkedIn change

their background photos to reflect their current

workplace, but you might have a different idea.

Whatever it is, it should reflect professionally on

you and your company.

Depending on what you do, your picture could

involve anything related to your role, an event

you’ve attended/organised, or just a simple, smart

photo will suffice. Ask someone to use a high

quality camera to take the picture - blurry or badly

taken pictures could be the reason why someone

won’t click on to your profile.

Getting Started

Hot tip! Did you know that if you change your headline via your smartphone, you can add emojis?

Again, the concept should still be professional, but think of how much more your profile would

stand out in a list of other people if you include a visual.

Be creative with your headline

If you try searching for someone specific on

LinkedIn, their name, profile picture, and a headline

will be the first thing you see. Many people use the

headline section to show their job title, but think

carefully about this. If you really want to stand out,

this headline could be used for so much more.

Perhaps a strapline for your company, or a more

insightful statement about your role? One way to

make it stand out could be to include how you can

help other people.

If you are looking for a new role, bear in mind

that the headline will be one of the first things a

recruiter sees, so you should think about outlining

your experience and new goals. You only have 120

characters, so keep it short and sweet.

Build your presence (I)

Form an exceptional summary

Too many people leave this section blank but this

is the perfect opportunity to tell your story. Don’t

settle with a list of skills or job titles - there are

other areas on your profile for that.

You have to bring light to why these skills matter

and how they can make a difference to the people

you work with. This is a work of art, and the first

big chunk of written content people will see on

your profile - so make it a worthwhile read!

Here you can outline your skills, but to be sure to

highlight how you’ve used key skills.

For example: Have you used them to achieve

something? Tell an employer the difference you

and your skills could make to their business.

Promote your expertise!

If you have many more years of experience, use

this section to build up to where you are today.

Convince others that you are the best person to

help them because of what you’ve already done.

You have 2,000 characters, so you can bullet point

your skill set, but for the more crucial, relevant

parts, use the room to elaborate.

4 GOLDEN RULES for your status updates

• Use plain, well-spaced text

• Aim for 218 characters

• Avoid links to other websites

• Avoid generic stock photos

Build your presence (II)Add your skill set

The Skills and Endorsements section allows you

to showcase your ability. The audience you are

looking to target must be kept in mind for this. Stay

relevant and make sure the skills represent what

you’re doing now.

You can list up to 50 skills. When listing them, keep

in mind how a recruiter will search. Instead of just

listing ‘’Sales”, dig a little deeper (customer service,

active listening, buyer-seller agreement, product

knowledge) as a recruiter may be more likely to

search for specific skills.

Hot tip!

Get your friends, employees and fellow

connections to endorse your skills. They can

do this by heading to your profile and clicking

the + sign on the relevant skill.

More people endorsing your skills shows to

others that you are credible. Don’t forget to

endorse their skills too, it would be rude not to!

Be proactive

Setting up a LinkedIn profile is all well and good...

but if you don’t contribute to it on a regular basis,

you won’t see the results you want. Take part in

relevant discussions, and showcase the work

you’re proud of.

Engage

We’ve touched on this point throughout this guide,

but we can’t stress enough how important it is for

you to engage with others in your industry. It is,

after all, a social network.

Discussions around the automotive industry

and related topics are common on LinkedIn. Get

involved, and post your thoughts on the latest

industry news. This will help you to present

Request recommendations

While the skills section gives a quick overview of

the skills you have, recommendations from a third

party prove that you are actually capable of them.

Ask past employers, or people you know in your

industry to provide you with a recommendation on

your page. These are powerful in cementing your

professional reputation. Think carefully, whose

comments are more valuable, to your profile - a

friend or a CEO?

Make an impact (I)

Hot tip!

Did you know that if you get 13+ likes on your

LinkedIn post within the first hour, you gain

increased visibility on your post? Ask your

colleagues/team to like your post and you

can get added traction.

yourself as an industry expert who regularly shares

insights. Whatever you use LinkedIn for, the main

goals are to populate your profile, and be proactive.

Following these tips will help to establish you

as a leader within your industry, network with

the relevant individuals and/or create more

potential business.

Hot tip!

Click the search bar, and you can search for

people by their name, location and job title.

Game changer? We think so!

Make an impact (II)Groups

Ask to join groups on LinkedIn so you can be a

part of the conversations that interest you. In the

search section, you can search for groups

by name. Alternatively, you can click the Work icon

in the top right of your LinkedIn homepage and

select Groups from the menu that appears.

Click Discover at the top of the page to view

suggested groups. You can then request

membership by clicking the Ask to join button

under the group description.

Connections

If you would like to be seen as a committed

LinkedIn user, make sure you gain more than

500 connections. Once you reach 500, it simply

shows ‘500+ connections’.

Anything lower, it shows the exact number of

people you’re connected with, which could give

the impression that you don’t use LinkedIn much.

For example:

• Automotive Industry Professionals

(98,423 members)

• Automotive engineers

(44,983 members)

• Automotive industry professionals worldwide

(299,868 members)

• Automotive Management Professionals

(164,356 members)

Tom’s page

Thomas Lowcock is the Manager of our team

at InAutomotive. Over the last year or so, Tom

has grown his profile and become the face of

InAutomotive on LinkedIn. He went from 0 to

13,456 followers through building his profile and

engaging with his customers.

“LinkedIn is an excellent tool to use if you want

to build your presence online. It’s almost like

an online CV, but the best part is probably the

networking opportunities available. There are so

many groups, recruiters and companies online -

that’s a lot of people to engage with. I’d say my

biggest success with LinkedIn has probably been

down to engaging directly with customers of

InAutomotive. A company page is essential for

sharing industry news, but if you want to humanise

your brand, LinkedIn is the perfect way to do it.

Follow the simple steps outlined in this guide, and

more opportunities will appear as you expand your

network and presence.”

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn today.

linkedin.com/in/thomas-lowcock

A real example

Find a job you love | www.inautomotive.com