LinkedIn Profile Writing Guide
The Basics
For the skeptics in the crowd asking if they really need a LinkedIn profile, the short answer is yeah, you probably do. Even if you really don’t plan on using it actively for posting or job searching immediately, we’d still argue you need to get in on the action. Recruiters and hiring managers are using LinkedIn every day to reach out to candidates, and if you don’t have a profile, you aren’t going to hear from anyone. It’s also a great way to connect with past colleagues and classmates that you might not otherwise connect with on a social media platform, and nurture that network. Not sure how to get started with LinkedIn? Here is a setup guide from LinkedIn if you are starting from scratch!
If you already have a profile, here is a guide on where to click to start editing your existing profile.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what you should add to each section to make your profile stand out!
Profile Photos
We’d highly recommend adding a photo. Actually, we’d almost insist that you need one! Statistics show that LinkedIn members with a photo receive far more engagement: 21 times more profile views, 36 times more messages, and 9 times more connection requests.
Some things to keep in mind when selecting or taking a photo for your profile:
It doesn’t need to be a professional headshot! A smartphone photo taken by a friend (or let’s face it, your tech savvy child…how do they know so much!?) is fine!
Dress according to your industry. How would you show up to work on a day when you might be looking extra spiffy for a meeting with the executive team? That’s probably a good look for your profile photo! In some jobs, that might call for a suit, but in other industries you’d be coming to work in a (really nice) t-shirt.
Your face should take up most of the frame, with a simple, neutral background. Since you should be the primary focus - don’t include a distracting background, or use poorly cropped group photos from your trip to Las Vegas with other people in the shot.
Background Photo
This can be a great addition to further tell your story. It could be a photo relevant to your company or industry that will add interest and customize your profile even further.
Pronouns
Linkedin has the option of adding pronouns. We feel it’s important to normalize adding these to social profiles, and sharing pronouns in a professional context (like adding them to your zoom meetings, etc).
That being said, it would be naive to think that our identity or allyship doesn’t sometimes come with consequences. We’ve heard that some folks feel that having pronouns on their Linkedin profile or resume has impacted their job search. While it’s totally illegal to discriminate against someone based on gender, it still happens all the time. People you’ll encounter in the hiring process still have biases, but we feel strongly that you want to work for a company that aligns with your values - if you wouldn’t be welcomed in an organization, you don’t want an interview anyways.
Headline
You want the headline to reflect your overall “mission” in your career, what you post or talk about a lot on LinkedIn, or what you might be networking with people about, all in a short 120 characters.
Most people go with their job title, or job title & company. If you are looking for a new role, we’d suggest that you add a “unique sales proposition” to your headline that reflects where you are going next that might not be accurately portrayed in your current title. For example, if you are seeking a leadership position in healthcare, and different companies call the level of role you are seeking a manager, director and lead interchangeably, choose language like “Health Care Leader” instead of your verbatim job title.
There are several “formulas” out there for a “perfect” headline, pick one that serves your reasons for using LinkedIn in the first place:
Job Title | Keyword describing your top skill | Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
(Title) | (Company) | Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
(Title) at (Company) – Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Summary
So, LinkedIn is professional, but it’s still social networking, so the summary can have some more personality and flair than a traditional resume summary. This is the first thing folks will read about you, so you want to tell your story and convey your personality in 2000 characters, as well as what you are looking for (a job, what you sell or offer in your business, or what you talk about on the platform).
For job seekers, you’ll want to share your skills, experience, and a bit about how you ended up where you are today.
For recruiters, HR folks, or leaders who are hiring on the platform, your summary could also share the types of roles you hire for and why someone would want to work for your company.
For freelancers, salespeople, and businesses that have services or products to offer, you’ll want to share your pitch on what your unique offers are, who you work with, what types of results you offer to your clients, and how folks can get into contact with you to work together.
Need some inspiration? Here are 14 amazing summaries to get you started.
Experience
In a nutshell, the Experience section of your LinkedIn profile is your online resume. When formatting your LinkedIn profile, it is important to include employment (current and past), education, and industry. Add your past roles with 3-5 bullets demonstrating your key accomplishments, with quantifiable results.
Remember that this is ultimately a social networking site, and this is going to be publicly available information. Do a quick review to make sure you don’t have any information shared in your job descriptions that you can’t speak about publicly, that you haven’t named client names that would be inappropriate to share, or that you aren’t under an non-disclosure agreement around any of the details, facts, or figures.
Linkedin has added the option for career breaks, to normalize the reality that most humans have taken time off during their career to care for children or parents, to deal with a health issue, due to a layoff, to return to school, or for a gap year. A how to guide can be found here.
Education, Licenses & Certifications
Make sure you’ve filled this out fully, adding in your relevant educational experiences and other licenses and certificates.
Keep it concise! Avoid the urge to add every project or academic paper you wrote in your undergraduate program 15 years ago - it’s irrelevant today, and just adding clutter to your profile.
Skills
You have the option to add up to 50. We often see that folks have a lot of outdated technical skills from the past, but haven’t updated their skills as they’ve progressed. Be sure to add skills that demonstrate where you are today - including interpersonal skills, leadership skills, management acumen. Make sure you’ve demonstrated a full picture, outside of just technical skills.
Once you’ve added skills, they can be endorsed by your 1st degree connections. For more on how this works, here is a guide from LinkedIn.
Connect with your professional network - and curate carefully
Be mindful that you don’t always want to connect with everyone - folks who might spam you, harass you, or otherwise be online trolls - block, avoid, etc. It’s not worth the “network growth” to add folks for the sake of a larger network.
Connect with folks you genuinely could benefit from exchanging information with. Networking is reciprocal, about giving value to others (first and foremost!) and receiving it in return. Think about how your connections, posts, and activity on the site is ultimately adding value to your professional network and life.
Need some support writing your LinkedIn profile?
We write LinkedIn profiles for our clients, and offer this an add-on services with all of our resume writing packages.