January 17 2022
Top 10 LinkedIn tips for Lawyers
Legal Career Tips
Mosawer Moneer
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LinkedIn is more than just a regular social network - it’s a CV, networking platform, and point of contact all rolled up into one. It’s a potent professional combination that has made LinkedIn the fourth most used social platform in the world. There are just over 67 million people in the UK in 2022, and 31 million of them use LinkedIn.
Like it or not, LinkedIn is now synonymous with professional life. This is especially true of the legal industry, where curating your LinkedIn profile can be a great way to receive exciting work opportunities without needing to apply. If you don’t want to miss our
Here’s our Top 10 LinkedIn tips for Lawyers:
1) Make your area of legal expertise immediately clear.
This is typically put into the ‘Headline’ section of your profile as a super concise summary of the work you do. Whether you’re putting “Corporate Lawyer” or “Senior Commercial Litigator”, it shouldn’t take anyone reading your profile more than 2 seconds to know the work you do.
2) Completely fill out your work experience.
LinkedIn hosts your work experience like a CV does - but the format of both differs greatly. A LinkedIn profile can host your entire work experience, so it’s well worth filling out your full work history. Even if you don’t include a full Description for each role, just listing your Title, Company Name, Start Date, and End Date can make you look a lot more professional.
3) Offer good detail on your main roles.
There’s naturally going to be certain roles you want to highlight more than others. The Description for each of your main roles should have 3 - 4 key bullet points on what your responsibilities and accomplishments were. Remember - the more specific you can be, the better! For example, if you worked for PWC as a Commercial Lawyer, you should cover the kind of agreements you dealt with.4) Include “keywords” relevant to your practice area and skills.
Most recruiters (including Flex Legal) use “keyword search” to find people that have the experience they want. Optimising your profile by including industry-specific keywords can result in new opportunities coming your way. There’s a great practical guide here on keywords and how to use them!5) Make your amount of PQE immediately visible.
Anyone who has worked in the legal industry knows that post-qualification experience is a blunt metric for measuring legal aptitude. However, the legal industry still relies heavily on PQE to approximate the skills of legal professionals. Whether you’re a junior or senior lawyer, make a point to include your PQE at the top of your profile.6) Include up-to-date contact details on your profile.
Let’s say your profile is viewed by a recruiter wants to offer you the opportunity of your dreams. You’d want that call, wouldn’t you? Include a Phone Number and Email Address in the Contact Info section of your profile. If you’d prefer an instant messenger, LinkedIn also supports contact details for Skype, Google Hangouts, and more.7) Specify your current location.
Even in the new era of hybrid-working, Location matters. Your location can be another way for new opportunities and contacts to find you. Your Postal Code is never publicly visible, but your Country/Region and City/District should be. Alternatively, you can be a bit crafty and list the location you’re looking for roles in, no strictly where you’re currently based.:format(webp)/f/91079/326x306/a22a27e369/open-to-work "Open to Work on LinkedIn")
8) Customise your “Open To” section.
At the top of your profile, you can specify the kind of opportunities or services you’re Open To, including Finding a New Role, Hiring, and Providing Services. This alters how “searchable” your profile is and can make it more easy to find by the people you want to hear from.Better yet, if you edit your Profile Photo and select the Frames option, you can customise your profile photo to include an ‘Open to Work’ banner around your picture so you stand out. Be warned though - this will be visible to all your current connections - so have a think about how public you’re prepared to be with your job search!
It’s also worth Following any companies you are interested in working for (such as Flex Legal, for example). This makes you easier to find for them, and can prime LinkedIn to notify you if they post roles on their page.
9) Import your email address book to find existing contacts you already know.
LinkedIn estimate that for each new connection you make, an average of 400 new people are within your social reach. A simple way to cultivate a wider LinkedIn network is to offer a one-time upload of your existing email contacts via the My Network button on your profile. You can find a guide on how to do this here.10) Respond to messages!
This one is very self-explanatory, but make sure you check your Messages at least once a day. When you flag your profile as open to work, recruiters will make a point to send you roles. Many of these roles will be time-sensitive, so don’t miss out by not responding!Additional Resources:
- Follow Flex Legal on LinkedIn - Not to bang our own drum, but Flex Legal posts insightful legal content (and interim legal roles) multiple times a week! Why not give us a follow?
- How to become an interim lawyer - Transitioning to interim legal work can offer you more variety, more time working on passion projects, and offer a better life/work balance.
- How to Network Remotely - Making new connections and networking is obviously hard to do when you’re seeing less people. So here’s our guide to networking during remote work!