There was always ongoing competition in the labor market, and it got even tenser in recent years. Take a look at your LinkedIn feed; you can probably see some posts about the newly earned certifications. How to announce certification on LinkedIn?
Well, there are some ways to do so; you can post about it or add it to your profile. But should you do that? What are the benefits?
To announce a certification on LinkedIn, go to your profile and click on the "Add profile section" button. From the dropdown menu, select "Licenses & Certifications". Fill out the details of your certification, such as the name, issuer, and expiration date. You can also add a description and any relevant media, such as a certificate or badge. Once you've saved your changes, your certification will be displayed on your profile and shared with your connections.
LinkedIn is a social network like Instagram and Facebook. Still, instead of entertainment, it is focused on professions, jobs, employment, etc. it has more than 840 million users (by the time of writing this article). If you have a look on it, you will probably see people try to bold their experiences, talents, and skills in their profile.
Adding a certification to LinkedIn is one of the ways you can do this.
There are thousands of certifications, if not millions that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.
Some certifications prove that you’ve passed some tests for an acquired skill like Google Ad words or AWS, or there are certifications that only verify that you’ve spent some certain hours in a class, conference, etc. they do not prove that you have any special skills or anything else like the certifications from LinkedIn learning.
A strong profile can get you some perfect job offers and certifications are one of the elements that make your profile stronger.
Besides, if you claim that you have some skills (exceedingly soft skills), you can prove your claim with a certificate that you’ve added to your account. This section can play a very important role in your job-seeking process.
Many recruiters get attracted to the certifications candidates add to their profile and who knows how many of them decide to connect with LinkedIn users based on their certifications? You’ve earned a certification? Just add it to the licenses & certification section of your profile.
How to Announce Certification on LinkedIn?
There are some ways to do this, but we will call them steps because you need to follow all of them to take the best result of announcing the new certification.
Step 1: Adding the certification
The first step is adding your certification to LinkedIn to ensure people can see its credibility and issue and expiration date.
- Log into your account,
- open your profile and click on the “Add Profile section”.
- Select “Add Licenses & certifications” in the opened box and then enter the certification details correctly, considering the document’s information.
- Then enter the certification URL.
- You can either find a valid URL in the website that issued the notary, or if it is a PDF document, you can just upload it to your google drive and then copy its link.
- Just right-click on the certification, select “Get Link” and copy and paste the Link to the URL box.
- After all of that, you can hit the “Save” button.
Step 2: update your skills section
Skills are a very important part of your LinkedIn profile. A lot of recruiters count on this section a lot.
Usually, they review this section right after the experiences section. So don’t forget to update this part with the new skills you are certified for.
Step 3: make a post about your certification
The second and final step you need to follow to announce your certification is to post something about it aside from the picture of your certification.
Why do you need to make all that fuss about a document? Because it will appear in your connections feeds, and then if they like it, it can appear in your 2nd connections feeds as well and so on.
More people see a post compared to when the certification is just added to the Licenses & certifications section.
You can tell people a lot of things in that post. Things like why you decided to spend your precious time on this course or take this particular test, your significant takeaway, and things you’ve learned.
The effects it had on your way of thinking and solving problems. You can talk about if you recommend it and to whom you recommend it to take.
You can also tag and mention some of your instructors to increase the credibility of your post. If you posted your course progress before, don’t forget to mention that you’ve completed it. Don’t forget to add the relevant hashtags and keywords to your post.
The benefits
Certifications prove your skills and can add value to your profile as a job seeker. Recruiters might look for different criteria when they are searching LinkedIn for candidates, but the ultimate question is, “can this candidate add value to my business?” and that is precisely what certifications do! There are three main benefits to adding them to your LinkedIn profile, aside from completing it and documenting skills.
Elevate the interview quality:
Employers try to evaluate you, your skills and characteristics, and the things you can add to their company during interviews, so that is crucial to stand out among so many other applicants and be certified officially to do some things and have some unique skills, one of the most important ways to shine.
Your skills showcase
It’s not very odd if you cannot express your every skill and the things you can do for a company right in the interview.
A lot of us have that problem. That’s why adding the certificates to your resume and profile can be very beneficial. There is no need for extra words because the resume talks for you.
The character
Having professional certification in your profile is remarkable and attractive by itself, but the benefits don’t end here.
The certifications can have a very good effect on the employer, and they show your passion for learning, discipline, curiosity, maturity, etc., all the most critical characteristics for employers.
The best certifications to impress the recruiters
This one depends on the job you are applying for or the industry you are working! But still, there are some certifications that are very attractive to a lot of recruiters.
Soft skills certificates
- Google Certifications (Publisher, Analytics, AdWords, etc.)
- Salesforce
- hub spot’s Inbound Certification
Role-specific certification
- Human Resources Certifications (PHR, SPHR, SHRM)
- Project Management Certifications (PMP)
- Sales Certifications (Challenger sales, Spin Selling, Sandler Training)
- Help Desk/Desktop Analyst Certifications (A+, Network+)
- Network Certifications (CCNA, CCNP, CCIE)
The last word
Certifications are a very important part of your profile. They can encourage recruiters to contact you, and they are official proof of the skills you claim to have.
You just learned how to announce certification on LinkedIn, so if you are searching for your dream job, don’t forget to add these certifications to your LinkedIn profile.