3 Reasons Why You Should Have a LinkedIn Profile In All The Languages You Speak

I read a few months ago that 64% of LinkedIn members are international. I'm fluent in English, Spanish and conversational in Portuguese, but up until recently I only had a profile in English. After realizing that most people on LinkedIn are not in the U.S., I finally caught the vision on why creating LinkedIn profiles in all the languages you speak is important. Here are my top three reasons.

1. Opportunities, opportunities, opportunities- If you're interested in doing business in another language, creating a profile makes it easier for opportunities to find you. Don't limit your international exposure on LinkedIn to people who speak just English. Within a few weeks of adding a profile in Spanish, I saw a noticeable increase in views to my profile from Spanish speaking countries.

2. It's easy- Check out this article about the steps to set it up, it's not complicated. It could be time consuming to translate your entire profile, so as a first step, I recommend translating your headline and a quick summary. Here are examples below.

3. Actions speak louder that words- It's easy to say you speak another language, but having a profile in that language goes a long way to show that you are serious about doing business in that language. Also, it proves that you can actually write in that language.

I learned Spanish in non-business context, so while I’m fluent and comfortable, my business vocabulary is not that strong. Make sure to have someone proofread what you write in another language, especially if you're not a native speaker. Hope this helps you get motivated to create a profile in another language.