Build Your Profile

This introductory section is another very important part of your LinkedIn profile. Many LinkedIn users do not know what to write in this section and omit it altogether, however, they miss a significant opportunity to engage their audience by telling a relevant career story.

This section allows you to give others context for understanding your experiences, personality, and relevant plans for the future. Similar to a short cover letter, your summary should be written in the first-person point of view and include keywords that are relevant to your career goals.

Here is a ”personality-focused” example:

Every brand has stories to tell: stories that will not only engage, inform, surprise, delight, and impact their audience, but that will also deliver on measurable business goals. I am the conduit between brand and consumer. I help clients find the subject and medium that best fits their unique identity, and then, I produce high-quality content that meets their objectives. Currently, I am a content strategist at Alliance Media, where I have collaborated with companies such as Tiffany & Co., Burger King, and Netflix. My specialties include digital media, consumer behavior, brand awareness, and omni-channel marketing campaigns.

Here is a “results-focused” example:

I am a freelance multi-disciplinary graphic designer who has delivered creative and engaging solutions across brand identity, print, packaging, and digital media. In 2013, my online brand campaign for the Dorsey Children’s Hospital won a GDUSA award, one of the most prestigious honors in the graphic design industry. My work has also been featured in Creatique Bloq, Compound Magazine, and on the Creative Review blog. Skills: logo design, web design, branding and identity, typography, and UI design.

Here is a “personality and results” hybrid example:

Every brand has stories to tell—stories that will not only engage, inform, surprise, delight, and impact their audience, but that will also deliver on measurable business goals. I am the conduit between brand and consumer. I help clients find the subject and medium that best fits their unique identity, and then I produce high-quality content that meets their objectives. Currently, I am a content strategist at Alliance Media and I welcome connections from new partners or industry professionals.

Key Accomplishments:
• Successful multidisciplinary collaborations with premier brands such as Tiffany & Co., Burger King, and Netflix.
• Graphic design work featured in Creatique Bloq, Compound Magazine, and on Creative Review blog.
Knowledge and skill areas: digital media, consumer behavior, brand awareness, omni-channel marketing campaigns, logo design, web design, branding and identity, typography, UI design, packaging, CSS, HTML, InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator

In this section, list all of the significant experiences that you have acquired. Consider your LinkedIn as your “extended resume” in that there is no page limit, and thus there are fewer restrictions on what should or should not be included. You can go as far back in time as you need, however, it is typically best to limit high school experiences to two or three at most. Though there is no official limit, you want to do your best to keep your profile visitors engaged.
 

Include Descriptions

Unlike the established rules on a resume, formatting the details of your experience has various options on LinkedIn. At a minimum, it is good to include descriptions of each role, rather than omitting the descriptions altogether. 

Descriptions can be brief (i.e., 1-2 paragraphs) and can either be written as complete sentences using personal pronouns (i.e., “I” and “My”) or as bulleted statements, like the descriptions on most resumes. Because of the similarity to resumes in this aspect, it is typically acceptable to copy and paste the bulleted statements from your resume to your LinkedIn profile, if you need to create a profile quickly. Regardless of the format that you choose, maintain consistent writing conventions throughout all of your experiences.
 

Add Rich Media

Include any media files (e.g., documents, presentations, images, or videos) that capture your accomplishments from an experience. This could include scans of award documents, samples of projects, photographs of you performing relevant work, and more. The adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words” applies well to this situation.

Whether you are currently enrolled at UCSB or you have graduated, your education should always be filled out on your profile.

Beginning with your college education, enter each of the institutions you have attended in order from most recent to most distant. Include the dates that you have attended, as prompted by LinkedIn. Make sure that you spell your degrees and majors accurately and note that a “Bachelor of Arts” degree and a “Bachelor of Science” degree are spelled as such. 

Optionally, you can add more details about the institutions you have attended, such as any minors or emphases associated with your degrees, activities or societies with which you have been involved, and honors or GPA you have earned. Note that some of this information can be placed in alternative sections on your profile that feature it with greater emphasis, so consider the different sections that are available.

The skills section provides you with another opportunity to include relevant keywords on your profile. There is no official rubric system that justifies whether you do or do not have a skill on LinkedIn, so as long as you are confident that you can explain more if you are asked about it in the future, you can probably trust your internal judgment.

To get started with this section, enter a handful of skills that you believe you have and add more as you continue to grow professionally. Take a look at other peoples’ profiles--particularly profiles that represent a related field or major--for inspiration in identifying the types of skills that you have.

When skills are featured on your profile, people in your LinkedIn network can “endorse” you as a sign of support that you have this skill. While this is not intended to be a popularity contest, it can be a positive sign when a prospective employer visits your LinkedIn profile and sees that trusted people within your network have endorsed you.

LinkedIn offers additional ways to interact with skills and develop them further; explore all that this feature has to offer by clicking on skills to see more information.

Another powerful section of your LinkedIn profile is for recommendations. Similar to the “verified reviews” we see about companies and products in our daily consumer life, this section provides you with an opportunity to increase the likelihood that a prospective employer will trust that you are a quality candidate.
 

Similarities to Letters of Recommendation

You can think of a LinkedIn recommendation as a miniature letter of recommendation from someone who knows you well in a formal manner -- a letter which stays on your profile at all times. You can ask for recommendations from anyone in your LinkedIn network, which can include professors, TAs, supervisors, coworkers, classmates from group projects, and other professional connections. You can even write recommendations for others, which is typically viewed as a positive gesture as long as reciprocity is not expected (e.g., do not expect others to write you a recommendation in return for a recommendation you wrote for them).

Requesting recommendations on LinkedIn is also similar to requesting letters of recommendation for more formal scenarios, such as graduate school applications. You typically want to provide advanced notice along with a tailored message; you can apply many of the same principles and strategies for success.

If you are trying to convey a certain theme or “personal brand” on your LinkedIn profile, a recommendation that addresses this theme can be effective. You can help to focus your LinkedIn recommendation requests by asking your recommenders if they would be willing to write about their observations of you performing a specific task that shows the skills or experience you want to emphasize on your profile.

Learn More

Develop your plans for requesting LinkedIn recommendations by reviewing our tips for Letters of Recommendation. Many of the same principles apply.
 

LinkedIn offers you many types of accomplishments to highlight, including publications, certifications, patents, courses, projects, honors and awards, test scores, languages, and organizations. Not all of these will be relevant to your experience or your career goals, so you do not need to include all of them. Choose the ones that are most relevant to you and add them to your profile to show your unique attributes.

Pay special attention to projects, as an area of accomplishments that can be built out strategically to emphasize relevant work you have done. A “project” is any time-based assignment within one of your experiences, courses, or research initiatives. Similar to a resume, you can include projects to customize your profile toward your target audience.

Your LinkedIn profile offers this section as a means of indicating any professionally-oriented interests you have. This can be another way to show your engagement or dedication to a field or industry, without requiring prior experience in the area. Consider how the interests that you choose could impact someone’s impression of you, and choose the ones that represent yourself intentionally.