You’ve probably heard that having a solid presence on LinkedIn can help advance your career by expanding your network and attracting new opportunities. However, writing and updating your profile might cause you to second-guess yourself as you try to fill out each section perfectly in the hope of impressing the right prospective employer.
LinkedIn Headline
Unless you rewrite it, it defaults to your job title
- You might opt to foreground a few key terms, interests, or areas of expertise
- “The headline is the first thing recruiters see,” says Kevin Ligutom, who looks through LinkedIn as part of his job.
LinkedIn Education section
Listing your degree(s) matters, as does where you got them
- If your degree is still in the works, include when you expect to finish it
- Apprenticeships and trade certifications are worth highlighting
- Be more detailed about the skills you’ve gained from the work you’ve been doing
LinkedIn Skills section
This section tends to be a keyword catcher.
- If there are things you’re good at and want to do more of, this means you’ll pop up more often when people search for you on the site. However, be careful not to pigeonhole yourself.
LinkedIn About section
Sum up what motivates you and key qualities that make you stand out
- One or two paragraphs or a handful of bullet points might suffice
- If you’re feeling ambitious, give some backstory
- What makes your work meaningful and compelling? Why do you feel called to it? What do you have that other candidates don’t?
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Improve readability and effectiveness
LinkedIn Experience section
This is where you detail the various jobs you’ve had over the years
- You can tweak the way you describe your experiences to emphasize what’s most relevant to your current interests
- Use the present tense for anything you’re still doing and switch to the past tense for everything else
