The 31 Best LinkedIn Profile

Tips for Job Seekers

Life’s too short to hate your job.
FIND A NEW ONE

by
THE MUSE EDITOR
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When you’re not looking for a job, it can be easy to ignore your
LinkedIn profile. Sure, you add people you meet at networking events
as contacts and accept requests as they come in, but everything else?
Eh, you’ll get to it when you need to.
While we definitely don’t recommend this approach (hey, the recruiter
from your dream company finding you and offering you a job? It could
happen), we get that there are times you need a total LinkedIn
overhaul. And for those times? We’ve got you covered with our list of
these 31 best LinkedIn profile tips.

Here, we’ve compiled everything you need to know—from crafting a

stunning summary to selling your accomplishments, projects, and
skills—in one place. Read on for expert-backed ways to make your
profile seriously shine—and start getting noticed by recruiters.

1. Put in the Time to Make it Awesome

Simply put, the more complete your profile, the better the odds that
recruiters will find you in the first place. So, completeness is
important from that standpoint. It’s also important after a recruiter
has found you and decided to click on your profile: He or she wants to
know what your skills are, where you’ve worked, and what people
think of you. So, don’t get lazy—fill out every single section of your
profile. The good news? LinkedIn will actually measure the
“completeness” of your profile as you work and offer suggestions on
how to make it stronger.

2. Get a Custom URL

It’s much easier to publicize your profile with a customized URL
(ideally linkedin.com/yourname), rather than the clunky combination
of numbers that LinkedIn automatically assigns when you sign up.
How to get one? On the Edit Profile screen, at the bottom of the
gray window that shows your basic information, you’ll see a
Public Profile URL. Click “Edit” next to the URL, and specify
what you’d like your address to be. When you’re finished, click
Set Custom URL.

3. Choose a Great Photo

Choose a clear, friendly, and appropriately professional image, and
pop that baby up there. Not sure what “appropriately professional”
means? Take a look around at what the people in your target
company, industry sector, or business level are wearing. Match that.
(Pro tip: “If you can show yourself in action, do it,” says a blogger who
experimented with multiple LinkedIn photos to see which garnered
the most attention.) “A photo can go a long way to convey passion,
energy, charisma, empathy, and other soft skills that are hard to write
about.”

4. Write a Headline That Rocks

Your headline doesn’t have to be your job title and company—in fact,
especially if you’re looking for jobs, it shouldn’t be. Instead, use that
space to succinctly showcase your specialty, value proposition, or
your “so what?” The more specific you can be about what sets you
apart from the competition, the better.

Read More: Does Your LinkedIn Headline Suck?

5. Use Your Target Job Descriptions to Your

Advantage
Take a look at the job descriptions of the positions you’re after, and
dump them into a word cloud tool like Wordle. See those words that
stand out? They’re likely what recruiters are searching for when
they’re looking for people like you. Make sure those words and
phrases are sprinkled throughout your summary and experience.

6. Don’t Waste the Summary Space

“Ideally, your summary should be around 3–5 short paragraphs long,
preferably with a bulleted section in the middle. It should walk the
reader through your work passions, key skills, unique qualifications,
and a list of the various industries you’ve had exposure to over the
years.” Career Horizons

Read More: 5 Templates That'll Make Writing the Perfect LinkedIn

Summary a Breeze

7. Use Numbers Right Up Front

“Much like the rest of your resume, you’ll want to highlight past
results in your summary. When possible, include numbers and case
studies that prove success. Social media consultant and speaker
Wayne Breitbarth, for example, quickly establishes credibility with his
audience by stating in his summary’s second sentence: ‘I have helped
more than 40,000 businesspeople—from entry level to CEO—
understand how to effectively use LinkedIn.’ Never underestimate the
power of a few key stats to impress a reader.” American Express
OPEN Forum

8. Be Warm and Welcoming

“The summary section is your primo opportunity to showcase the good
stuff about you, with your target audience in mind. Give ’em a little
chance to get to know you. So what do you think the first impression
is going to be if you craft your summary like some long, pompous
speech? Or worse, craft it in the third person? They’re going to think
you’re pretentious. And it’s going to be hard for that reviewer to get a
feel for your personality and style. Be you here. Keep the brand
message in line with all of your other professional marketing
materials, but realize that LinkedIn is a platform designed for
interaction.” JobJenny

9. Avoid Buzzwords Like the Plague

What do the words responsible, creative, effective, analytical,
strategic, patient, expert, organizational, driven, and innovative have
in common? They’re some of the most overused buzzwords on all of
LinkedIn. Come on—we know you can be more creative!

10. Treat Your Profile Like Your Resume

Your resume isn’t just a list of job duties (or, at least, it shouldn’t be)
—it’s a place to highlight your best accomplishments. Same goes for
your LinkedIn profile: Make sure your experience section is fleshed
out with bullet points that describe what you did, how well you did it,
and who it impacted.

Read More: How to Turn Your Duties Into Accomplishments

11. But Use the First Person

You shouldn’t use the first person on your resume, but it’s actually
fine to do so on LinkedIn (think “I’m a passionate development officer
who raised $400,000 for cancer charities last year,” not (“Jackie
Stevens is a passionate development officer...”).

12. Get Personal

“Your profile is not a resume or CV. Write as if you are having a
conversation with someone. Inject your personality. Let people know
your values and passions. In your summary, discuss what you do
outside of work. You want people to want to know you.” Forbes

13. Show Your Achievements

Recruiters spend countless hours scouring LinkedIn in search of the
high performers. And when they find them, they contact said high
performers. Knowing this, you’ll serve yourself well to market yourself
as a high performer in your summary and experience section (think
action words, accomplishments, talking about times you’ve been
promoted or hand-picked for projects).

14. Include a Current Job Entry, Even When

Unemployed
“If you've only listed the past positions you’ve held in the experience
section but show nothing current, you’ll probably get missed in most
searches. Why? Because most recruiting professionals exclusively use
the current title box to search for candidates; otherwise they’d have
to sort through thousands of candidates who held a certain role (for
example, graphic designer) as far back as 20 or more years ago. The
simple workaround, if you’re unemployed, is to create a dummy job
listing in the current section that includes the job title(s) you're
targeting—‘Full-Time Student/Financial Analyst in Training’—followed
by a phrase like ‘In Transition’ or ‘Seeking New Opportunity’ in the
Company Name box." University of Washington

15. Add Multimedia to Your Summary

“A picture truly is worth a 1,000 words, especially when it comes to
showcasing your work. LinkedIn lets you add photos, videos, and
slideshow presentations to your profile summary. So instead of just
talking about your work, you can show examples. Or show yourself in
action. Or share a presentation. Click ‘Edit profile,’ scroll down to
your summary, then click on the box symbol, then ‘add file.’” Business
Insider

16. And Your Work Experiences

You can do the same thing for each of your work experiences. So, use
this to your advantage: Add your company websites, projects you’ve
worked on, articles you’ve drafted, or anything else that can provide a
more multimedia look at your work.

17. Add Projects, Volunteer Experiences, or

Languages
Do you speak Mandarin? Have a project management certification?
Volunteer for Dress for Success every weekend? Adding these
“additional” profile features (listed on the left when you’re editing
your profile) is a great way to showcase your unique skills and
experiences and stand out from the crowd.

18. Request One LinkedIn Recommendation a Month

When someone says, “You did a great job on that project!” ask him or
her to take a snapshot of that success by writing a recommendation
on LinkedIn. And don’t be afraid to specify what you’d like the
recommender to focus on. Getting generic recommendations
that say, “Lea was great to work with” aren’t very helpful—but
something specific, like “Lea’s contributions on the project
enabled us to increase forecasted savings by 5% over our
original plan” will really showcase your strengths.

19. But Make Them Strategic

“Make a strategic plan for your recommendations,” says Nicole
Williams, LinkedIn’s career expert. “Approach different people and
suggest particular skills or experiences you would like them to
highlight.”

20. Don’t Be Afraid to Pick Which Recommendations

You Show
Let’s be honest, not every LinkedIn recommendation you receive is
beautifully written or even relevant to your professional success.
Luckily, the platform now sends you recommendations before they go
public, and you can decide to add them to your profile, dismiss them,
or simply allow them to languish in their pending status. You can also
manage recommendations that are already on your profile by clicking
the “Edit” icon on that section and toggling to “Show” or “Hide” each
one. If it’s close but not quite right, you can also request revisions
from the person who wrote it.

21. Manage Your Endorsements

Endorsements can be a great way to show off your skills—as long as
your profile isn’t overloaded with too many to really send the right
message. The secret to making them work for you is keeping your
skills updated: As you transition between careers, develop new skills,
or take on new responsibilities, drop outdated skills from your profile
and add the ones you really want to be known for. Now, when
connections land on your page, they’ll only see the most relevant
skills.

22. Update Your Status

Just like on Facebook, you can update your LinkedIn status as often as
you wish. So, do! Update it professionally and strategically (share the
article you just wrote, not what you ate for lunch today), ideally once a
week. Your entire network will see your updates, both in their news
feeds and in the weekly LinkedIn network updates emails they
receive.

23. Become an Author

All users can write and publish their work on the platform. Share your
perspective about what’s going on in your field, weigh in on a recent
industry development, or show off your skills as a writer. It’s a great
way to get noticed.

Read More: LinkedIn Has Added a Publishing Platform: Here’s Why

That Matters

24. Or Add Your Blog

If you have a WordPress blog, consider using a plugin such as Social
Media Auto Publish or WP LinkedIn Auto Publish to automatically
publish your new posts to LinkedIn.

25. Be a Groupie
LinkedIn Groups are an incredible resource—and they can do wonders
for your job search. By joining groups relevant to your profession or
industry, you’ll show that you’re engaged in your field. But more
importantly, you’ll instantly be connected to people and part of
relevant discussions in your field—kind of like an ongoing, online
networking event.

Read More: 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of LinkedIn Groups

26. Have at Least 50 Connections

Having 50 or fewer connections on LinkedIn tells recruiters one of
three things: 1) You are a recluse who knows very few people, 2)
You’re paranoid about connecting with others, or 3) Technology and
social media are scary to you. None of these are good. We’re certainly
not suggesting you need to be one of those weirdos who wears your
“abnormally large number of connections” like a badge of honor, but
you really should have at least 50-100 people with whom you’re
connected as a starting point.

27. But Don’t Add People You Don’t Know

If enough people reject your request and say they don't know you,
LinkedIn can shut down your account.

28. Don’t Go Overboard

With all the bells and whistles LinkedIn has to offer, and without
being limited by the 8.5x11" confines of your resume, it can be
tempting to, well, go nuts. And while details are good, there’s
certainly a thing as too much. Step back, take a look at your profile,
and see how it looks to an outside person. Is it enticing—or
overwhelming? Edit accordingly.

29. Keep Your Job Search Under Wraps

“Many people don't realize that LinkedIn does have privacy settings—
for a reason. ‘When you're out looking for a new job, and are actively
engaged in your current job, you want to be discreet,” [Nicole]
Williams explains. ‘A telltale sign to an employer that you’re leaving is
that you overhaul your profile, connect with recruiters, and have an
influx of new people. You can tailor your settings so that your boss
doesn’t see that you’re looking for opportunities.’ The privacy settings
are easy to find: Just sign in, and then select ‘settings’ from the drop-
down menu, where your name appears in the upper right-hand
corner.” LearnVest

30. Make Sure People Can Find You

Don’t forget to add your email address (or blog, or Twitter handle, or
anywhere else you’d like to be found) to the contact information
section of your resume. You’d be surprised how many people leave
this off!

31. Be Excited
At the end of the day, the most exciting people to hire are the people
who are the most excited about what they do. So, make sure your
LinkedIn profile shows your enthusiasm. Join and participate in
groups related to your field of expertise. Use your status line to
announce stuff you’re doing related to your field. Share interesting
articles or news. Connect with the leaders in your industry. Fly your
cheerleader flag.