Recently I gave a LinkedIn presentation at Syntra Oudenaarde for Real Estate teachers. I really want people to learn & benefit from my workshops so I checked all their profiles on LinkedIn to be able to give them personalized tips. While checking their profiles I noticed a common LinkedIn mistake that also a lot of people within my network are making. It has to do with the “Professional Headline“.

Apparently a lot of people forget to update their headline when they switch to another job.
Make sure that when you leave one company, and start at another that you select “I currently work here” when you add your new position. Once you selected that box, another option will appear “Update my headline to:”

Screenshot of "Add a Position" on LinkedIn

When you are a Consultant like me, it’s the other way around => when you add an assignment, and you still want your Professional Headline to indicate that you are a consultant make sure to un-select “Update my headline to”, or you might miss out on opportunities cause people will think that you are an employee of a company instead of a consultant. Next to that people will congratule you with your new job, while you’re still doing the same. Happened to me as well 😉