How to Gain Visibility as a Tech Freelancer

I constantly get recruiter reachouts from big tech companies and top AI startups- even when I’m not actively job hunting or listed as “Open to Work.” That’s because over the years, I’ve consciously put in the effort to build a clear and consistent presence on LinkedIn- one that reflects what I do, what I care about, and the kind of work I want to be known for. And the best part? It’s something anyone can do- with the right strategy and a bit of consistency. If you’re tired of applying to dozens of jobs with no reply, here are 5 powerful LinkedIn upgrades that will make recruiters come to you: 1. Quietly activate “Open to Work” Even if you’re not searching, turning this on boosts your visibility in recruiter filters. → Turn it on under your profile → “Open to” → “Finding a new job” → Choose “Recruiters only” visibility → Specify target titles and locations clearly (e.g., “Machine Learning Engineer – Computer Vision, Remote”) Why it works: Recruiters rely on this filter to find passive yet qualified candidates. 2. Treat your headline like SEO + your elevator pitch Your headline is key real estate- use it to clearly communicate role, expertise, and value. Weak example: “Software Developer at XYZ Company” → Generic and not searchable. Strong example: “ML Engineer | Computer Vision for Autonomous Systems | PyTorch, TensorRT Specialist” → Role: ML Engineer → Niche: computer vision in autonomous systems → Tools: PyTorch, TensorRT This structure reflects best practices from experts who recommend combining role, specialization, technical skills, and context to stand out. 3. Upgrade your visuals to build trust → Use a crisp headshot: natural light, simple background, friendly expression → Add a banner that reinforces your brand: you working, speaking, or a tagline with tools/logos Why it works: Clean visuals increase profile views and instantly project credibility. 4. Rewrite your “About” section as a human story Skip the bullet list, tell a narrative in three parts: → Intro: “I’m an ML engineer specializing in computer vision models for autonomous systems.” → Expertise: “I build end‑to‑end pipelines using PyTorch and TensorRT, optimizing real‑time inference for edge deployment.” → Motivation: “I’m passionate about enabling safer autonomy through efficient vision AI, let’s connect if you’re building in that space.” Why it works: Authentic storytelling creates memorability and emotional resonance . 5. Be the advocate for your work Make your profile act like a portfolio, not just a resume. → Under each role, add 2–4 bullet points with measurable outcomes and tools (e.g., “Reduced inference latency by 35% using INT8 quantization in TensorRT”) → In the Featured section, highlight demos, whitepapers, GitHub repos, or tech talks Give yourself five intentional profile upgrades this week. Then sit back and watch recruiters start reaching you, even in today’s competitive market.

I've grown my LinkedIn audience to over 95,000 followers. Here's a breakdown of what you should do if you’re trying to build your brand on LinkedIn: 1) What is your end goal? Before you begin, define your goal. Do you want to become a thought leader in your field? Are you trying to land clients? If so, who is your ideal client? Speak to those people: What are people in your field looking to learn that you can teach? Create content that answers their questions. 2) What should you post? When starting out a lot of people feel imposter syndrome. To combat that feeling, document what you're learning. It gives you permission to teach on the timeline in an honest, guilt-free way. And there are always people behind you who will benefit from the information you share: Follow the 3 Es. Your content should be: • Educational • Emotional • Entertaining Educational is 'How To's' Entertaining is memes + personality Emotional is “choosing an enemy” or sharing a strong opinion. Next comes scheduling: It's a good idea to batch your content. Create a week's worth of content. Then schedule it all in Buffer, or Publer. Batch creating your content allows you to enter a flow state and avoid context switching. 3) Engagement You have content and then you have "distribution"—generating traffic. And one of the best ways to generate traffic is through engagement: Go to industry experts in your field and comment on their posts. They’ll sometimes hit you back. If they don’t, that's okay. You could always reach out to them and create more of a connection. But commenting on their posts serves an additional purpose: As thought leaders, they get a large amount of traffic on their posts. So you get exposure to people in their audience regardless. The combination of great content + engagement is where the magic happens. 4) It’s called a personal brand for a reason If you only talk about technical ideas you may only hit experts in your field. Your ideal clients aren't usually industry experts, that's why they'll hire you: So keep your content personal. Talk about elements of your life as well. It builds trust with your prospects. It shows them you’re a real person. 5) Networking Build real connections. I'd rather build fewer deep connections than collect a bunch of shallow acquaintances. Social media is a game changer for this: It allows you to find like minded people. You might not find people like this in your local neighborhood, but here on LinkedIn it's easy. Thanks for reading. Enjoyed this post? Follow Jordan Nelson And share it with your network.

Building a LinkedIn personal brand can mean pushing through months of zero engagement. Your first posts will flop. Friends might judge you. Growth feels like failure. But the payoff is 100% worth it. Here's the strategy that actually works for getting off the ground. 1. Master these 5 hook formulas (steal them). "In [timeframe], we went from [A] to [B]. Here's the playbook:" Gets 3x more clicks than generic openings. Also crushing it: "I turned down [big opportunity]. Here's why:" and "Everyone thinks [common belief]. The data says otherwise:" and "[Big company] does X. We do the opposite. Our results:" NOTE: there's no right or wrong answer for a great hook, but these will put you on the right track. In any case, spend an outsized amount of time on making it as interesting as possible. 2. Lead with expensive mistakes and hard-earned lessons. How you lost your biggest customer. Why you fired your co-founder. The feature that almost killed your startup. Before: "We scaled to $10M." After: "We burned $2M building the wrong product because we ignored user feedback. The pivot that saved us:" Stakes create urgency. Failure creates trust. 3. Write posts worth $10,000. People should feel like they owe you money for reading your posts. Imagine a founder DMs you and says "Your post about our marketing strategy saved us $500K - thank you!!” That's the bar. Share the framework you'd charge for. The lesson that took years to learn. The templates you use internally. If you wouldn't pay $500 to read it, do NOT post it. 4. Get uncomfortably specific in your content. You think being technical/specific limits your reach. Wrong. When you're uncomfortably targeted about the exact pain points your market experiences, you resonate DEEPER. Don't say "scale your startup." Say "here's the exact board deck slide that got us our Series B." Technical specificity creates momentum. Generic advice creates crickets. 5. Aim for 2-3 great posts per week. No more. Don’t post daily. Even 5x per week is possible, but very brutal to do well (especially starting out). Quality at 2-3x/week beats noise at 7x. If your posts aren't resonating with the right people, your content is too generic. Go more specific. — You might post 47 times before anyone important notices. But if Post 48 gets someone from Harvard Business School asking to share your story in their class, that’s all that matters. The difference? Specificity. Stakes. Actionable advice that your target market can steal. Most quit posting on LinkedIn 3 weeks in because their generic ChatGPT advice isn’t getting them any attention. The ones who DO get momentum and quality followers share the exact frameworks and expensive mistakes they use to win in their market in their day-to-day work. Which kind of creator will you be?

Cold applications don’t work. Not for most people. Not even for the “perfect” ones. We’ve all heard the advice: tailor your resume, apply early, and follow up. But here’s the reality for recent grads: – 90% of applications get ghosted – Only 2% lead to interviews – 0% lead to offers (Data from 300+ business.com interns, 80% of whom met all qualifications) I tested it myself. With a Bulge Bracket investment banking offer, four internships, VC investor experience, and multiple leadership roles in top clubs—I cold-applied to 50+ positions where I was ranked a "top" applicant. After two weeks? Only one replied. And it was a paid VC “training” program… that I had to pay to join. This isn’t just my story. It’s everyone I know. Friends with 4.0 GPAs, name-brand internships, research, double majors—students who’ve been grinding since freshman year. Still nothing. For international students, the stakes are even higher: No job = no visa = go home. Or pay $$$ for grad school with no certainty after. So what now? Everyone talks about networking as the solution. But the truth is: simple cold-call networking isn't enough. People need to know you before you even apply. That means building a personal brand. And no, I don’t mean becoming a LinkedIn influencer. I mean: – Sharing your work publicly – Owning a niche – Publishing a project or portfolio – Letting your voice and values show up online Visibility > perfection. People can’t refer you, help you, or hire you if they don’t know you exist. Right now, almost no students are doing this. So if you’re building something meaningful—if you’re learning, growing, and putting in the work—don’t keep it to yourself. Your personal brand is just as important as the work you’re doing. Make sure people can see it.