Eric Cai is a statistician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He works as a senior data scientist at Acosta, where he measures the value of Acosta’s retail services for suppliers of consumer-packaged goods. Eric earned his Master of Science degree in statistics from the University of Toronto and has been a prolific writer on LinkedIn for many years; he currently has roughly 15,000 followers. He recently began a free newsletter called The Data Copywriter on Substack, where he writes about statistics, communication, and career development.
LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professional purposes. You can use it to display your accomplishments, share your knowledge, meet other professionals, apply for jobs, and participate in discussions about topics that interest you. For statisticians, it is especially useful for students, recent graduates, and working professionals to learn about the trends in our industry—especially outside academia.
To use LinkedIn effectively, the first and most important step is to build your profile. In this first article of a three-part series, I will share some of my best practices for creating the best representation of your professional self and capturing the attention of future employers and clients.
Your Profile Photo
When future employers and clients browse through your LinkedIn profile, the first and most prominent area of focus is your profile photo. Thus, it is important to have a professional photo taken of yourself in high resolution for this first impression. You should be wearing professional attire appropriate to your industry; for most statisticians, this would be business casual at minimum. You should also look straight into the camera and smile. According to The Telegraph, studies have shown people who smile have a higher chance of getting a job interview or offer.
Unfortunately, many students and junior professionals post cool, sexy, or sophisticated photos of themselves. While such photos are suitable for Tinder, Facebook, or Instagram, they are not appropriate for LinkedIn. This is the biggest mistake people make on LinkedIn, yet it is the easiest to fix.
Verification
To ensure the authenticity of your LinkedIn profile, you can verify it through one of three methods:
- Government-issued identification
- Workplace
- Educational institution
I work at Acosta, a multinational corporation established and well-known in the retail, grocery, and consumer packaged goods arenas. Thus, the easiest way for me to verify my LinkedIn profile was through a verification email to my Acosta email address. I now have a checkmark beside my name on LinkedIn, which assures other LinkedIn viewers that my profile truly belongs to me (and not some scammer, imposter, or identity thief).
Your Headline
Underneath your name, you can write a brief description of yourself in a headline. Other than your name and profile photo, this is the only tool you can use to distinguish yourself in a page of search results. Thus, take the time to maximize the character count and craft a description that captures what makes you unique and valuable. Here are several options to do so:
- Write your job title, then add your specialization (e.g., “Senior Biostatistician at Pfizer | 10+ years in clinical trials for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes”)
- List the multiple roles you hold in your professional life and separate them by vertical lines. For example, I write a free newsletter called The Data Copywriter in my spare time, so I advertise that in my headline in addition to my full-time job and work as a communication consultant: “Statistician | Newsletter: The Data Copywriter | Communication Consultant for Executives in Data and Analytics | Senior Data Scientist at Acosta”
- Write the name of your profession, then add a question to invite further inquiry (e.g., Data Scientist with 5+ years in telecommunications | How can I help you with customer segmentation, up-selling, and cross-selling?”)
- LinkedIn’s Talent Blog has 10 examples of good headlines you can adopt for your own profile.
Adding Images
Unlike a cover letter or résumé, LinkedIn allows you to use images and other visual media to highlight your professional accomplishments. In many sections (“Featured,” “Experience,” “Education”), you can upload photos, videos, PDF files, LinkedIn posts, and links to external websites. This is a good way to display the following:
- Awards
- Case studies
- Industry articles
- Academic publications
- Photos of yourself at conference presentations
- Links to your website or online portfolio of projects
- Insightful plots and tables from your past statistical analyses (while respecting privacy, confidentiality, and nondisclosure agreements)
A picture is worth a thousand words, and it can also captivate other LinkedIn users to slow down and explore your profile in detail.
Your ‘About’ Section (a.k.a. Your Profile Summary)
This is your chance to write about your professional life however you like—with the freedom a résumé does not permit. (You can write full sentences and bullet points; I encourage you to use both.) Highlight your major strengths and accomplishments. Elaborate on the unique value you bring to your future employers and clients. Weave everything together into a coherent narrative about your professional journey. If you’re stuck, check out 14 examples of how to write a good profile summary on LinkedIn’s own blog.
Recommendations
Recommendations are an underrated section of a LinkedIn profile (perhaps because they are near the bottom), but they are valuable to your credibility. I encourage you to ask for at least two recommendations from former supervisors and clients, because their attestations to your competence are the most credible. (Make sure there is no conflict of interest.) You can also get recommendations from your coworkers and classmates, but note they are less credible (because they are more likely to be your friends and exaggerate your competence as a favor).
In addition to receiving LinkedIn recommendations, you can write them for other people. I encourage you to do so in a factual, evidence-based manner grounded in examples and details about someone’s competence. I have read recommendations (especially from coworkers and classmates) that sounded overly positive and had too many superlatives; those do not reflect well on either person.
A good LinkedIn profile takes time to build—and it takes more time to refine as your career grows. Make the effort to polish it and examine other good profiles to learn from their best practices. As you look for jobs and grow your career outside of academia, your LinkedIn profile will be a great way to instantly market yourself to employers and connect with new people in your network.
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