CareersAidey Talent6 min read
LinkedIn is no longer optional. It's the first place recruiters look, the first place clients vet you, and increasingly the first place AI agents read about you before a human ever does. A weak profile costs you opportunities you'll never know existed.
Here's how to build one that compounds.
1. Treat your headline like a billboard
You have about 220 characters and three seconds.
- Lead with what you actually do, not your job title. "Customer Support Lead helping SaaS teams hit 95% CSAT at scale" beats "Customer Support Lead at Acme."
- Include the keywords your industry recruiters search for. Vague headlines don't surface in results.
- Refresh it whenever your focus shifts. Stale headlines signal a stale career.
2. Write a summary that sounds like you
The About section is your story, not your resume.
- Open with one specific sentence about the problem you solve and who you solve it for.
- Spend the middle on proof — outcomes, scope, the kind of work you do best.
- Close with what you're looking for next, or what you want people to reach out about.
- Write in first person. Be confident without performing. Cut anything that could appear on someone else's profile.
3. Make your experience section earn its space
- For each role: company, title, dates, one line of context (what the company does, team size, scope), then 3–5 bullets with outcomes.
- Quantify wherever you can. Numbers translate across industries; adjectives don't.
- Use the same language and keywords as the jobs you eventually want. The algorithm rewards alignment.
- Don't leave gaps unexplained. A short, honest note ("career break — caregiving", "self-directed study") is stronger than a mystery.
4. Curate skills like a portfolio
- Pick the 5–10 skills you actually want to be known for and pin them to the top. The remaining slots can fill in supporting detail.
- Request endorsements from people who've actually worked with you on that skill. Mass endorsement exchanges are visible and look hollow.
- Add an example in the Featured section for each headline skill — a project, a deck, an article, a case study.
5. Use media, recommendations, and Featured deliberately
- Pin two or three pieces of work to Featured: a presentation, a published article, a project, a video. Make sure the thumbnail looks intentional.
- Ask for recommendations from one manager, one peer, and one direct report or client. That trio of perspectives is more persuasive than ten variations of the same voice.
- Give recommendations first. They almost always come back.
6. Show up in the feed without becoming an influencer
You don't need to post daily. You do need to be visible.
- Comment thoughtfully on 2–3 posts a week in your industry. Real expertise compounds in the replies.
- Share a short observation or lesson once a month. Specific beats hot-take.
- Engage with people whose careers you respect. Networks grow from generosity, not broadcasts.
7. Optimise the basics most people miss
- Custom URL. linkedin.com/in/yourname, not the 17-digit default.
- Banner image. Anything intentional beats the default blue. A simple brand colour with your tagline is fine.
- Photo. Recent, well-lit, looking at the camera, shoulders up. No sunglasses, no wedding crops.
- Location and contact info. Up to date. Recruiters filter by them.
The bottom line
An exceptional LinkedIn profile is specific, current, and unmistakably yours. Get the headline, summary, and proof points right, show up in the feed with substance, and the platform will do an outsized amount of the career work you used to do alone.