Ready to dive into the world of LinkedIn? Here’s how to set up a personal LinkedIn account.
There are hundreds of millions of people on LinkedIn, so plenty of reasons to have a personal LinkedIn account. You can build your personal brand. You can network with those hundreds of millions of people. You can stay relevant and current by following people and networking with those who are relevant to your business. You will, of course, also need to have a personal account in order to set up a page for your business. It’s a simple process, and we’ll outline the steps below.
A step by step guide to creating a personal LinkedIn account
On your desktop, go to linkedin.com/register/join. You will be prompted to input your email address and create a password. Ensure you use your true first and surname here. Pseudonyms are not permitted on LinkedIn.
You will be taken through a brief security check, to verify that you’re a real person, before moving on to the next stage.
Next, input your country, your current postcode and location.
Next add in your job title, employment details and current or most recent company. If you’re a student, follow the student prompts to add your current course and educational institution.
You will then be sent a verification email with a code; input the code and click the ‘Agree & Confirm’ button.
You then should be asked a few questions about your current job needs; you’ll be able to state whether you’re currently looking for a new job or not - this information is held privately.
You will be asked to sync your email contacts - this is optional and you can skip this step if you choose.
LinkedIn will now make connection suggestions based on the information you have provided, particularly people who work in the same sector as you. You can also search for people that you know. You can skip this step if you choose, and find people to connect with later.
Don’t forget to add a profile picture, so that people know who you are!
On the next screen you will be given a QR code to log into the app; you can scan this code or ask LinkedIn to text you the link instead.
Take some time to explore the feeds and accounts that LinkedIn suggests for you. The focus for this platform is on building your network.
Click ‘Finish’, and you will have completed the first steps of your LinkedIn profile.
To add more details, go to your profile and click on the pencil ‘edit’ icon. You might find it simpler to add in basic information about yourself initially, but do go back into your profile to expand on all the points you’ve added so that networkers and/potential recruiters can find out all about you with ease.
Need more help?