I am not above stalking someone on LinkedIn to see what they’ve been up to. Even if “last spoke” was thirty years ago. (Real example. No regrets.)
If I haven’t met you somewhere first — in person, in someone’s comments, anywhere — I always check your profile before accepting a connection request. No exceptions. Ever.
I also have my settings configured so you can’t see I looked. (At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.)
Be honest: you do this too.
Everyone lurks. The recruiter checks you out before the interview. The prospect checks you out before the call. The new connection checks you out before they accept. The hiring manager checks you out before they decide.
None of them tell you they did. All of them do.
Which means your LinkedIn profile is what’s being evaluated when you’re not in the room. And most of the time, you don’t even know you’re being evaluated. Your profile is either making the case for you or making the case against you. There is no neutral.
If your profile isn’t doing the work, you’re losing opportunities you’ll never hear about. The job that never called back. The intro that never got made. The conversation that never started.
If you want to fix that, Optimize is the full strategic framework for every section of your profile. If you’d rather know what’s specifically broken on yours first, a Profile Audit is fifteen minutes for $147.
(h/t to Leah Vernon for asking the question that prompted me to admit I do this.)