Twilio Unplugged: Level up through LinkedIn

Twilio Unplugged: Level up through LinkedIn

Over the years, branding has become the focal point for building a successful business. Organizations realized the importance of differentiating themselves in the market by sharing their unique story and the value they bring to their customers. But branding is not only for companies.

As a professional navigating this competitive job market or building your own business, defining your personal brand is a necessity to help you stand out and to connect with the right opportunities.

Building your brand on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become the central hub for professionals online, and about 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn regularly to find talent. LinkedIn is where professionals showcase their digital portfolio, network with peers and search for new opportunities.

Twilio hosted “Twilio Unplugged: Level up through LinkedIn” to share best practices on how to take your LinkedIn experience to the next level. Katrina Honor, Program Coordinator, Recruiting Events & Partnerships at Twilio and Annie Benitez Pelaez, Elastic SIP Trunking, General Manager at Twilio led the session outlining five key focus areas when building your brand on LinkedIn. 

1. Be authentic

• Take the time to discover your personal story. Identify your values, passions and how it shaped your life. Think through what sets you apart from others and the unique experiences and skills you bring to the world. Once you have a better idea of your story you can infuse throughout your LinkedIn profile.

2. Focus on the “prime real estate” on your profile

Your photo, headline and summary is the “prime real estate” on your profile and where your brand comes to life.

• Your headline is the first thing individuals see on your profile. This is your opportunity to let individuals know where you want to be next, what experience you have and what you're passionate about. Make it authentic and make it you!
• In your summary tell your personal story explaining your past and current experience and future aspirations in detail. Build on your headline introduction, use a first-person narrative and take advantage of the 2,000 character limit.
• Use keywords in your summary and headline that relate to your skills and connect to the role, industry and function you want to be in. Recruiters conduct keyword searches to find talent on LinkedIn, and if you provide the right words throughout your profile you have a better chance of showing up in their searches.
• Remember “prime real estate” is key for your brand – your photo is your visual representation, the headline entices people to want to learn more and the summary tells people what you're about.

3. Engage for increased visibility

• Your profile may not always come up in searches, so it’s important that you are active on LinkedIn to maximize your visibility. Act as a thought leader and share your perspective on topics in a post or article to spark conversations with peers.
• Seek posts or articles that you are interested in and like or comment. These can be posts from your dream company, from employees that work there or from peers that have a strong influence. When you leave a comment, individuals that are not in your network can also see it, including recruiters. If they find your comment insightful, it can lead them to visit your profile to learn more.

4. Build credibility

• Skill endorsements and recommendations will help validate your experience to individuals exploring your profile.
• List all skills you are proficient in on your profile. If you are not seeing enough endorsements, then ask colleagues to endorse the skills that they can validate.
• Recommendations are a little harder to automatically get. If you would like a recommendation, ask your colleagues and provide guidance on what you would like them to focus on. You can even send a draft for them to edit as they see fit. A great time to ask for a recommendation is right after you completed a project.

5. Network with key influencers

• When looking for your next opportunity, you have to do more than just apply to the role. Identify the key influencers at the company you are applying to, like the hiring manager, recruiter or others leaders in the department.
• Send a personalized connection request. Be transparent and concise in your message and be clear on what you are asking of them.

Tips from Twilio recruiters

After the presentation, attendees broke out into small groups with a recruiter that aligned to their career interest. Recruiters answered specific questions on how to find job opportunities, provided tips on LinkedIn profiles and shared insight to the recruitment approach on Linkedin.

Here’s some advice Twilio recruiters shared with attendees.

Continue the journey

The team hosted this event twice in one day to ensure we could reach individuals around the globe that are on their personal brand journey. There was so much information shared and relationships built. We can't wait to see how everyone builds their personal brand on LinkedIn!

Stay connected and learn more about Twilio

Check out the full event and download the resources from the Twilio Unplugged: Level up through LinkedIn event.

Want to build better technology? A better career? A better world? Join us. We can’t wait to see what you build. Visit our Careers page to explore available opportunities.