Superstar Miley Cyrus hardly needs a LinkedIn profile to promote her career. Ranked #17 on the Forbes list of most powerful celebrities, she seems to manage just fine. Still, Miley owns not one, not two, not three, but FOUR LinkedIn accounts. None seem active.
Few of us can relate to a 21 year old with a net worth of $150 million… especially one who boasts four inactive LinkedIn accounts. However, Miley’s roller-coaster career can teach us plenty about one of the most popular features on LinkedIn. I’m talking about Skills & Endorsements.
Seriously. Hear me out. As most of you know, Miley was a fairly sane, Disney Channel child star who “matured” into a complete nutcase. (This is just an opinion, albeit a prevailing one.) Miley’s recent claim to fame – the crass and aptly named Wrecking Ball music video – further wrecked her already crumbling reputation. (However, like a car crash on the side of the road, she attracted lots of gawkers… including 700 million views on YouTube.)
I believe that, one day, Miley will wise up and try to reinvent herself into a kinder, gentler spokeswoman for humanity. Maybe she’ll even fiddle with one of her LinkedIn accounts. And when she does, she’ll have a big Wrecking Ball to contend with. How will she improve her reputation when her LinkedIn connections keep endorsing her old Wrecking Ball skills?
Do you have a Wrecking Ball on LinkedIn? It’s that past career you want to leave, well, in the past. It could have been a perfectly respectable career, but you want people to stop endorsing you for it! Let’s say that after years as a salesperson, you finally land the position of Marketing Director. Do you want your LinkedIn buddies to keep endorsing you for “Cold Calling”? No! You want to be famous for “Marketing Communications,” “Social Media,” and “Strategic Planning.”
How do you brand yourself with the right endorsements? It’s easier than you think! First, let’s remove those bothersome Wrecking Ball skills:
- Hover over Profile at the top menu -> click Edit Profile
2. Scroll down to the Skills section -> click Edit on the right
3. Click the “x” on any skill you want to remove
Now, here’s the part I loooooove. Let’s add new skills and rearrange them:
- While in edit mode, enter new skills in the field that says, “What are your areas of expertise?” Add anything! You can type “Mind-Blowing Marketing Campaigns” if you wish. No one will stop you.
2. If desired, move the new skills closer to the top by clicking and dragging each one to the preferred spot.
Miley, if you’re reading this, thanks for being such a good sport. It’s the least you can do after burning your music video into my brain. Please reach out to me at (302) 273-2845 or brooke@deshoutout.com when you’re ready for some rebranding.
