The Perfect LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn has transformed significantly over its 22-year journey, especially in the last 5-8 years, morphing into what we now recognize as our digital persona in the professional world. Its significance has skyrocketed, with recruiters often encountering your LinkedIn profile before laying eyes on your traditional resume. Lacking a polished and complete LinkedIn presence can significantly bottleneck your career advancement, depriving you of opportunities that are tailored specifically for you by recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring managers.

So, what's the secret sauce to crafting a LinkedIn profile that magnetically attracts the right eyes from recruiters, HR departments, and hiring managers alike? In this piece, we dive deep into the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, offering bespoke advice to sculpt your profile into an irresistible beacon for those industry-specific opportunities.

Think about how we all search online, whether on Amazon for the ideal running shoes or on Google for the latest tech. Our search terms are diverse: "running shoes" for some, "lightweight running shoes" for others, or even "blue running shoes" for a few.

This variety in search behavior is a lesson for job seekers. Just like companies tailor their keywords to appear first in searches, you should tailor your LinkedIn profile not to attract every viewer but to specifically appeal to searches for roles that match your skills and aspirations, like an oncology sales position in a particular region.

This guide is meticulously designed to empower you with the knowledge to refine your LinkedIn profile, ensuring you're not just another face in the crowd but the candidate that stands out in targeted searches by recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring managers. The aim is simple: to decode the search algorithm and align your digital presence with the opportunities you truly desire. As we unravel the intricacies of optimizing your profile, remember, the goal is to navigate the vast sea of potential with precision, ensuring you're visible in the right searches, at the right time.

In this example (below), let's say a recruiter wants to fill a field reimbursement manager position for an upcoming dermatology launch.

The territory covers everything north of the Bay Area (all of Oregon and Washington). The company is small, so launching at a small company with limited resources would be a "nice to have" (unlike big pharma, the company has no external patient HUB).

Here's what's happening on our side as recruiters who solely rely on LinkedIn (which is a bad idea but very common)...

As a recap, we have "patient access manager" OR "field reimbursement manager" + a few geographic locations + "Dermatology." All three of these need to be on the candidate's page. Profiles that do not show all three of these will not come up.

The results on LinkedIn: 114 results—not too bad, a manageable number.

Given that the product is sold in the dermatology space- dermatology is a necessity. I decided to put it in the keywords section (it allows for a broader reach), but some may add "dermatology" to the title.

The same function can have many names in the pharmaceutical world—the classic example is sales. There can be so many titles- sales representatives, territory managers, pharmaceutical sales representatives, key account managers, clinical sales representatives, hospital sales representatives, and the list goes on.

However, in the screenshot example of a field reimbursement manager, there is less variety in this function than in sales, but there are still a few variations. I picked the two most common- "patient access manager" and "field reimbursement manager."

Most recruiters will review it manually and contact you via InMail if they are not connected to the candidate.

So now that you know what goes on behind the scenes from a search perspective- here is what I recommend when updating your LinkedIn Profile:

1. Use a common title for current and past roles (sales representative- therapeutic). If you have a second role in the same function (with a different company), use a second common title (Territory Manager- therapeutic). The same goes for a third role (at a different company) in the same function (Account manager- therapeutic).

2. Assuming the company you work/worked for has a LinkedIn page (99% do), ensure you spell it exactly as listed. The company name should auto-populate as you begin typing.

3. If you use uncommon titles- you are less likely to be found (for example, "award-winning sales representative" - don't use uncommon titles if you want to be found). Ironically I use that title on my page, but I don't want to be found by other recruiters. I don't plan on leaving my organization. ◡̈

4. Be more general in your job title, but add specifics (such as indication or brand worked on) to the description. Example below:

Title: Sales Representative- Oncology

Description:

-Promoted/Sold Keytuda in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

-Achievement 1 (105% of goal)

-Achievement 2 (#3 in the nation in 2023)

-Achievement 3 (presidents club member 2023, 2024)

-Covered academic centers in Northern California and Oregon.

-Promoted to Senior Sales Representative III within 8 months

No need to add additional fluff. Short and simple is better.

FYI- adding the therapeutic area before or after your role title does not mean someone needs to search "territory manager oncology" for your profile to appear. It will still populate when one searches "territory manager." Example below:

Adding a therapeutic area will make a more complete profile, and to be honest, when I see deep therapeutic experience listed like this, I tend to be persistent in putting the opportunity in front of the candidate who may not check LinkedIn often.

What about the "about" section?

I'd use it to summarize your career in bullet point form- for example:

• 20 years in pharma/biotech: 5 in sales, 10 in marketing (6 years in global markets, 4 in US markets), 5 in market access.

• 10 years in oncology (Head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma), 5 years in neurology (Alzheimer's, migraine, ALS), 5 years in immunology ( Rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease).

• 7 launches- drug name, drug name, drug name, drug name

• 4 years of people leadership leading teams of up to X

FYI- from the perspective of most hiring managers: Working on or selling a supportive care product, for example, nausea medication to oncologists, is not considered oncology experience. This applies to all therapeutic areas.

Should I put contact info?

Many recruiters (and others) can abuse. If you want to be notified immediately when a message comes through, you can just turn on push notifications for the LinkedIn app.

Doing the above should boost your reach to the right recruiters who do specific searches.

To my pharma network: After reviewing this article and editing your LinkedIn profile, feel free contact me for feedback. I would be happy to review your profile.

Cheers to a fabulous week,

NP