Hillary Clinton’s Top Skills and Interests? New LinkedIn Profile Fails To Reveal

Presidential contender Hillary Clinton joined LinkedIn Thursday morning, since reportedly she’s seeking a new job. But her profile page is missing an element that some say is crucial to effectively using the social network -- she lists no skills.

LinkedIn profiles that include skills receive 13 times more profile views than members' profiles that omit them, LinkedIn engineering manager Mathieu Bastian reports. A recent update by LinkedIn allows all users to search by skills, and therefore their inclusion can affect a user’s search rankings. They also provide a way for hiring managers -- in Clinton’s case, the American people -- to quickly grasp a candidate’s credentials. Additionally, the ability to endorse another member’s skills is one of the ways users actively engage in the network.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner lists 26 professional skills on his profile, ranging from Business Strategy (99+ endorsements) to Awesomeness (6 endorsements). Virgin Group founder Richard Branson simply includes Entrepreneurship.

Clinton isn’t alone in her neglect of the skills section. Her competitors in this job hunt -- Rand Paul, Ted Cruz (props for including Recommendations), Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina -- and the person whom she hopes to replace also lack a skills section. Ben Carson and Bernie Sanders don’t have LinkedIn profiles, yet. None of the candidates list Interests, though it is debatable how effective those can be on a résumé.

Clinton did fill out her professional experience and included both of her degrees and her publications. When she first broadcast her résumé to the world, however, she made a glaring typo -- an error some hiring managers have said could jeopardize a job seeker’s chance. ABC News reported that Clinton listed her term as first lady from January 1993 to January 2000 rather than to January 2001. The error has since been corrected.

So what’s the purpose of Clinton’s use of LinkedIn? She kicked off her use of the network by posting a story about small businesses on LinkedIn Pulse, the site’s content section. Indeed, the network itself has been pushing its publishing tools, most recently with the release of detailed analytics, as a way to spread business news and career advice to a professional network.