The Right Words Do the Work: Resources for Education Data Jobseekers (Jobseekers Series Post 3)

Your LinkedIn profile is sometimes the first thing we see before your resume. 

While most education data practitioners aren’t interested in being a LinkedIn influencer, you never know who might look you up. If you connect with a hiring manager or an SDP alumni, they may look you up before or after you meet. So whether you’re posting a weekly article or only scrolling your feed on occasion, your profile should accurately speak for you. Related to our last post on consistency, this is another opportunity to make a strong first impression and demonstrate your potential as a data leader.  

Before getting into the details, take some time to make sure you’ve refreshed the basics: is your headline still relevant? Could you use a new profile picture? Consider adding a banner related to your work, values, or geographic location if you are only seeking roles in that area.  

Maximize your impact with keywords: 

After a quick refresh and our recommended consistency check, our top recommendation for demonstrating your skills on your profile is to identify the right keywords and make them do the work. The right keywords can show alignment between you and what your potential audience is looking for. 

Your profile is an opportunity to showcase who you are and what you can do for an organization. What types of roles are you looking for? What kind of language do you see in job descriptions that you’re interested in? The skills and phrases you find in these postings are what you should be mirroring in your own "About” and "Skills” sections in your profile.  

Keywords serve another important function: helping recruiters find you. If someone is searching for candidates with your expertise, you want your profile included in their results.   

And for the doc students out there: if you are in a PhD program, make sure your start and end dates are clearly listed. If your expected graduation date isn’t visible, someone viewing your profile won’t know if you are actively on the job market or not.  

Advertising yourself as a data leader: 

Data analysis, data leadership, and education data roles are not short on opportunities for keyword alignment. Identify which keywords are in honest alignment with your expertise and include them wherever possible. This could include: 

• Extending your "About” section: LinkedIn allows up to 2,600 characters! Use the space to go beyond what makes sense in the more succinct version you might include on a resume. This can be valuable space to include details about your professional journey beyond just job titles, and the type of roles you’re looking for. 
• Building out your “Skills” section: list any relevant skills in this section AND identify up to 5 Top Skills to highlight near your Headline. Include adaptive skills, not just software and technical skills. Clean up any skills no longer relevant and prioritize alignment with roles you’re seeking.  
• Bonus items: add any relevant articles, presentations, or other links to your work.  

Maybe using LinkedIn heavily isn't your jam! These strategies can be applied to a portfolio, personal website, GitHub profile, or any other public landing page. 

Your public-facing profiles should work for you: speaking to who you are, what you want, and connecting you with the right opportunities. Use our worksheet to outline what keyword additions would increase your impact.  

We share these lessons openly because we care deeply about talented candidates finding the right roles to make a difference in the use of data in the education field. If you think you’ll benefit from this series, sign up here for updates right to your inbox: https://mailchi.mp/gse/jobseekerseries26 

 Check out the other posts in this series: 

Post 1: From “I Need a Job” to “I’m Ready for Impact” https://bit.ly/4y0US1X 

Post 2: Getting the Details Right https://bit.ly/3SrXKWH 

Resource: https://sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/keyword-identification-jobseekers