If you’re busy applying for jobs, it’s common practice to include a link to your LinkedIn page for prospective employers to get a better feel for your background. If you currently have a profile URL consisting of your name and a long string of numbers, you probably would like to have something a bit more professional looking (as well as easy to remember!). Today, a contact of mine noticed my custom LinkedIn URL and asked for me to help them set up theirs. Even though it’s a simple process, finding where to go can be tricky if you don’t know where to look. Hopefully this quick guide will help.
Starting from your profile page, look for your current URL right below your picture. As you can see below, My custom URL is my full name, something that is consistent across my social sites. The reason for this is it makes it easy for connections to find me on other social sites.
Click One:
Here, you’ll want to scroll over your current URL. When you do, you’ll see a gear wheel pop up to the right of the URL. Click on that gear.
Click Two:
When you click on the edit (gear) button, you’ll be brought to your pubic profile settings. From here, your page may look a bit different but the important section is the same, ‘Your public profile URL’. Since I’ve already created mine, I only have the option to edit. If you do not currently have one set up (they do prompt this when you create an account so you may have one and not realize), yours will read something along the lines of “Create your Custom URL”. Click on that and type in your desired username. Keep in mind this has to be unique so your first choice may not be available.
Click Three:
Once you’ve done that, click Save and Voila! See, only three clicks and you now have a great URL to include in your signature, resumes, etc.
Bonus tip:
Not sure what to use for your custom URL? I thought my colleague, Patricia, was pretty clever to put ‘recruiter’ in her URL since her name is so common. This will make it easier for her to be discovered by those looking for a top-notch recruiter to help them with their next job move.
Using your LinkedIn URL on a resume? Here’s one thing you should NEVER do – unless you want a hiring manager to hit a 404!
