In my previous article, "How LinkedIn can help your ACCA career", I mentioned why is it important to join professional networks (especially Linkedln) and stay ahead of competition. But starting at Linkedln requires some professionalism and some manners that you must know to avoid a blunder.

One Picture worth Thousand Words

One of the very first things that people do when they go to a profile is look at the photo. They want to connect what the person looks like with their profile. Not including a photo is a big mistake. Not utilizing a profile photo can create a negative perception of you as a professional. (Please also avoid group photo as an alternate – make sure it is a single photo of yourself)

LinkedIn is a professional social media site, not a personal one (Like Facebook). Your photo should be clear and you should be recognizable.

A good and professional picture can help you in long run. Always remember, many people will only investigate further into your profile after a seeing a small photo of yours (in search results)

Devil is in the Detail

Your profile certainly should not have the level of detail that your ACCA resume has; however, it should have enough detail for others to get to know you a little bit. There are some key areas that will give you the opportunity to add keywords easily into your profile. The first area is your summary. It is a good idea to begin your summary with your 30-second elevator pitch (your name, what you do, what type of ACCA career you are looking for). You need to make sure that the beginning of your summary really grabs your readers. You can, of course, use that same pitch when you are at face-to-face networking events, with fellow ACCA colleagues.

Another area that is worth including is your employment history (if you have one). Or if you work as a trainee, are a PQ ACCA accountant, or work for a not-for profit organization, anything that give your readers a perception that the person in the profile is an active member of society.

People not only want to know what you are doing now but they also are interested in what you did in the past, which got you to where you are now. If you don’t include this information, your readers may wonder what you are trying to hide. You should take the opportunity to include keywords in your job descriptions.

Who is Your Friend?

People can judge you on your acquaintances and friends. LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups. Make sure that you join only groups that are, in some important way, relevant to what you are doing and your ACCA career. Once again, this is not an informal social networking site like facebook, this is more professionally geared, and you should only link to groups specifically to do with your future ACCA career.

Many potential employers and business associates judge a person with the groups he/she joined. For instance, if someone is an ACCA student then he/she should have groups related to ACCA. Another added advantage of joining relevant group is your networking with the people of same industry. (Believe me… it really helps you in long run)

Who is Recommending you?

Getting recommendations on Linkedln is extremely important. Pitching yourself won’t be effective (unless you are a high flying entrepreneur) so make sure there are people who can do this on your behalf and let people know your credibility.

There is no limit on the number of recommendations and no such standards exist as how many recommendations should be better for the profile. A person with 5 contacts and 2 recommendations is more credible than someone with 100 contacts and 5 recommendations. You can see the math.

Your past employer recommendation will help you in a long way.

To surmise:

• Get a professional photo on your LinkedIn profile

• Enter relevant and informative detail in your profile

• Join ACCA based groups on LinkedIn, geared for your ACCA career and ACCA studies

• Get recommendations from others