Tech Transfer is a small niche compared to research or teaching. A large part of being successful in this field is building relationships. Face to face interaction is one way to accomplish this. Another is through social media and LinkedIn. If you want to stand out in this market you’ll want to optimize your LinkedIn profile and do the following:
Select a Professional Headshot
This is not the place for a picture of you and your significant other, dog, favorite sunset, or anything else. Imagine an employer looking at this picture of you as the person sitting across from them at an interview. Represent yourself professionally. If not, it may be the only look you get.
Use the Headline
Don’t place your title in the headline. There’s room for that below in the job section. This is your chance to sell yourself and what you are known for from a career perspective.
Publish
LinkedIn is now a publishing platform and it is a great way to get noticed. Tech transfer requires excellent communication skills. Publishing to this platform not only draws attention to your profile and increases your reputation as a thought leader, it serves as proof that you are an expert communicator (assuming you publish quality work).
Use Keywords
Your summary should be interesting and contain keywords people would search on to find someone of your back ground. These probably include “tech transfer”, “commercialization”, “TTO”, “investment portfolio” or something like those. This is not a place to dump keywords. Incorporate them in a natural way that will help search engines and recruiters find you without sacrificing the readability.
Look at Other Profiles and Listings
You can learn a lot by reading other tech transfer professionals’ profiles. When you find something you like mimic it. (Please, no plagiarizing.) Since LinkedIn notifies the person that you viewed his profile, you may get additional views from doing so. The more views you receive, the better you place in search results on LinkedIn.
Also, look at job postings for what you do even if you’re not looking for a job. Incorporate some of the words they use in the postings in your profile. This will also help you appear more relevant to LinkedIn.
Add Details
Don’t use your profile as a place to merely regurgitate your job duties. Add in career achievements to get noticed in tech transfer, as well as the specifics of your past work like the size of the portfolio you managed or the number of research projects you oversaw through the commercialization process. Numbers shine so use them wherever possible.
Remember This Isn’t Facebook
On Facebook we love to share pics of our kids, pets, and meals. But LinkedIn is not Facebook. This is not the platform for quotes unless they are business or career related. The exchanges here should always be business-focused. If you wouldn’t say it in an interview, don’t post it on LinkedIn. Think of LinkedIn as a portfolio not a Pinterest page.
At Vortechs Group we spend a lot of time connecting with people on LinkedIn. Sadly, people ruin their chances at dream positions because they don’t use the social media tools well. Don’t let this happen to you.
