6 Quick Tips for Writing Your LinkedIn Profile Summary
Writing your LinkedIn profile summary can be a strange process for many people, myself included. You have 2000 characters to in a sense, ‘sing your own praises’, in terms of your work experience. It was this part that I found difficult. Not due to lack of experience, but due to it feeling a little awkward having to write about what I can do. Which is exactly the reason I’ve decided to write this post. We’re going to take a look at some quick tips to apply when it comes to writing your LinkedIn profile summary, just in case anyone out there is in the same boat that I was…
Use Short Paragraphs
Your LinkedIn profile summary is the place to share who you are and what you have done. Really go for it and sell yourself! However, it’s not the place to list every single thing you’ve ever done. Just give an overview of your professional life and the main things that you have achieved. As a guideline, we recommend 3-5 short paragraphs to stay within your 2000 character limit and avoid waffling!
Avoid ‘Unnecessary’ Jargon
The important word in the subheading above is unnecessary. This is due to the fact the amount of technical language you need to include, depends on your career and previous experience. If you’re a Neurosurgeon, for example, you may need to include jargon within your LinkedIn profile summary. If you’ve worked within the local community as a bus driver, for example, it’s likely that jargon isn’t necessary within your profile summary. So, in a nutshell, don’t include jargon for the sake of seeming intellectual as you’re much harder to connect with on a personal level. Let’s take a look at tip #3.
Write Your LinkedIn Profile Summary As You Would Speak
What we mean by this is take a casual, conversational approach when writing your summary. This way, you can really express your personality through your summary. Writing in a conversational style will also make you easier to connect with as you seem approachable. If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re light-hearted, be light-hearted. Pack your summary with your personality, but keep it professional!
Use White Space
When it comes to your LinkedIn profile summary you are limited to 2000 characters, however, there isn’t a restriction on the space. This means you can use white space to break up your summary and make it easier to read. Bullet points, subheadings, and spacing all help to achieve an easy-to-read profile summary so consider using them on your own LinkedIn profile summary. Time for tip #5…
Include Keywords
You should include keywords relevant to your position and experience to make your profile more easily found and impressive. Say for example your title is a ‘digital marketing assistant’. You may want to include keywords such as; web development, PPC, SEO, email marketing, and social media in your summary to highlight your top skills and have a chance of appearing in searches.
Proofread, then proofread again
The first draft of your LinkedIn profile summary should never be the final draft, there is always room for improvement. Wrestle, jiggle and move words around to create the best version of your summary as possible! Also, ask other people for their honest opinion, if they like your profile summary, the chances are the general public and/or potential employers will too. Our last little tip within this section, and post for that matter, is to make sure there are no grammatical errors. If you can’t take the time to make sure your profile is punctuated properly, it gives the impression you don’t take as much care in your work as you could…
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. We hope that you found these tips useful and can go on to write your own killer LinkedIn profile summary.
