LinkedIn Profile Tips: How to Be Found and Read by Recruiters

Recruiters use LinkedIn to search for candidates by title, skills, location and employer, then skim profiles for a few seconds. So the parts that matter most are your headline, your current role, your location, your skills and the first lines of your About section. Make them specific, use the words recruiters would search, keep titles and dates consistent with your resume and show evidence in the experience entries. A complete, accurate profile is a reasonable foundation for a job search, but it is not a substitute for applying and talking to people.

Features and settings change, so check the current options in your account.

What recruiters do with a profile

1. Search, using filters or keywords for title, skills, location and years of experience.
2. Scan the results list, which shows your photo, headline, current role and location.
3. Open a few profiles and read the top section and recent roles.
4. Save or message candidates who match.

This means you can be missed in the first step if your headline and roles do not use the terms people search. It also means the first screen of your profile has to do the persuading.

Headline

Your headline appears in search results and under your name. By default it shows your job title, but you can write your own. Include:

• The role or two you want, using standard titles.
• A specialism or domain.
• One credible detail: an industry, a tool or a result.

Examples:

• "Customer success manager | B2B SaaS | Retention and onboarding"
• "Backend engineer | Go, PostgreSQL | Payments and reliability"
• "Operations coordinator moving into supply chain planning"

Avoid empty phrases such as "dynamic professional" and long lists of buzzwords. The headline needs to tell someone what you do in a line.

About section

The first two or three lines show before the "see more" link, so they carry the weight. Open with who you are professionally and one piece of evidence, as in a resume summary. See resume summary examples. Then add:

• What you do and for whom.
• Two or three results or kinds of problems you solve.
• What you are looking for, if you want to say.
• A line on how to reach you, if you wish.

Use first person, short paragraphs and plain language.

Experience

Keep titles, employers and dates accurate and consistent with your resume. If your official title is unusual, add a common equivalent in brackets: "Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer)". Add two to four bullets or a short paragraph for each role with evidence. See resume bullet points. Include scope and results where you can.

Profiles can be a little longer and warmer than a resume, but contradictions in dates or claims are a problem. Hiring teams do compare them, particularly during verification. See resume fraud and verification.

Skills

List the skills the roles you want look for, and put the most relevant at the top. Ask colleagues who have seen your work to endorse the ones that matter. Skills here support search, so use the standard names of tools and methods.

Location and availability

Recruiters filter by location. Set it to the area you want to work in, and if you are open to remote or relocation, say so in the About section. Some accounts have a setting to signal that you are open to work. Think about whether you want your current employer to see signals, and check how the setting works before you use it.

Photo, banner and extras

• A clear, recent, professional photo, with your face visible and a neutral background.
• A simple banner image, if you wish.
• A custom profile link with your name.
• Featured items such as a portfolio, article or project, if relevant. See projects on a resume.

Photos have different norms in different countries; see photos on resumes, and remember that the resume photo question is separate from your profile.

Activity and networking

A profile you never use can be found, but an active one gets more conversations. Small steps help:

• Connect with colleagues, classmates and people in your target field.
• Follow target companies.
• Comment thoughtfully on a post or two each week.
• Send short, specific messages when you reach out. See how to get a referral.

You do not need to post daily. A few good messages beat a lot of noise.

Consistency with your resume

A quick audit

Search your own target title and location. Does your profile appear? Look at it as a stranger on a phone: do the first lines tell you what you do? If not, rewrite the headline and the top of the About section first. Then plan the rest of the search with job search strategy, and make sure your resume contact information matches.