LinkedIn’s skills page allows you to showcase your professional skills, endorse skills for your connections, and discover skills that can help you in your career. Getting to your skills page is easy once you know where to find it. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to access your skills page and edit it on both desktop and mobile.
Accessing Your Skills Page on LinkedIn Desktop
If you use LinkedIn on a desktop or laptop, here are the steps to view and edit your skills:
- Log into your LinkedIn account and go to your profile page.
- On your profile page, look for the “Skills & Endorsements” section on the right side of the page. It will be underneath the “About” and “Experience” sections.
- Click on the “Skills & Endorsements” heading. This will open up your skills page.
Once you are on your skills page, you will see all of the skills you have added and skills that your connections have endorsed you for. From this page you can:
- Add new skills by typing into the “Add a new skill” text box.
- Remove skills by hovering over a skill and clicking the “X” icon.
- Reorder your skills by dragging and dropping them into your desired order.
- Edit any existing skills by clicking the pencil icon next to the skill.
Any changes you make to your skills will be updated on your profile for your connections to see. The skills on this page act as keywords that recruiters can search to find profiles like yours, so be sure to keep it updated with your top skills.
Accessing Your Skills on LinkedIn Mobile
If you primarily use the LinkedIn mobile app, the process is very similar:
- Open the LinkedIn app on your iPhone or Android device.
- Tap on the “My Profile” tab at the bottom.
- Scroll down and tap on “Skills”. This opens your skills page.
From the skills page you can:
- Tap the “+” icon to add a new skill.
- Tap on any existing skill to edit or delete it.
- Use the reorder (up/down arrow) icon to change the order of skills.
The skills section of your profile is important for showcasing your top abilities to recruiters. Make sure to keep it updated as you gain new skills throughout your career.
Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Skills
Here are some tips to make sure your skills page makes the best impression:
- List between 5-10 skills that represent your current role and abilities.
- Include a mix of hard skills (like software, tools, certifications) and soft skills (communication, management).
- Prioritize skills that would be relevant keywords for recruiters searching in your industry.
- Add skills that differentiate you and match unique capabilities described in your work experience.
- Choose skills that represent your future career goals, not just your past experience.
- Remove outdated skills that are no longer applicable to the jobs you are applying for.
- Reorder skills so the most important and impressive are higher up.
- Customize your skills for each version of your profile if you use LinkedIn for separate languages or careers.
Optimizing your LinkedIn skills gives recruiters and hiring managers a snapshot of your offerings when evaluating you for job opportunities. Take the time to craft a strong skills profile.
Receiving Endorsements for Your Skills
In addition to adding skills yourself, connections in your network can endorse you for skills they feel you possess. This adds credibility and social validation to your listed skills.
To get endorsements:
- Add skills to your profile that your connections would reasonably be able to endorse based on their experience working with you.
- Endorse connections for their skills when you feel qualified to do so. This encourages them to return the favor.
- When requesting recommendations, consider asking the writer to mention skills you’d like endorsed.
- Engage with your network by liking and commenting on their content to stay top of mind.
Receiving endorsements signals to recruiters that you have been recognized for those skills by colleagues familiar with your work. It’s a form of social proof that strengthens your professional brand.
Discovering New Skills
LinkedIn provides several ways to discover new skills to add to your profile:
- Skills recommendations – LinkedIn will suggest skills based on your work experience and education.
- People also viewed
- Job skills – View skills listed in job postings that interest you.
- Company pages – Look at skills listed by employees who work at target companies.
- Groups – Join industry/topic groups and see common skills discussed.
- Learning tools – Take LinkedIn Learning courses to gain new skills.
Actively looking at the skills others in your profession have can prompt ideas for skills you can work toward and add to stand out.
Showcasing Skills With Projects
In addition to listing skills on your profile, you can demonstrate them through projects, samples, and examples of your work. Some ways to showcase skills actively include:
- Adding visual samples like design portfolios or writing samples to your profile.
- Linking to online profiles like GitHub or Stack Overflow where your skills are on display.
- Mentioning key projects and accomplishments under your work experience where skills were used.
- Writing LinkedIn posts to thoughtfully discuss and analyze topics related to your skills.
- Contributing insights and expertise in LinkedIn Groups to establish your knowledge.
Showing specific, tangible examples of skill application strengthens the claims made in your skills section.
Getting More Value From LinkedIn Skills
Optimizing your LinkedIn skills is about more than just profile appeal. Here are some additional ways to get value:
- Take LinkedIn Learning courses related to skills you want to develop. Document these in your profile.
- Follow Company Pages at organizations you want to work at to see which skills they look for.
- Join LinkedIn Groups centered around key skills to participate in discussions.
- Follow LinkedIn Influencers who are thought leaders related to your skills.
- Research salaries associated with your top skills using LinkedIn Salary and Pay Insights.
- Use skills when searching for jobs on LinkedIn to find openings requiring those abilities.
Tap into all LinkedIn has to offer to support your professional skills and career advancement.
Common LinkedIn Skills
While skills should be customized for your specific roles and industry, here are some of the most common skills employers search for on LinkedIn profiles:
Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
---|---|
Social Media Digital Marketing JavaScript Cloud Computing SQL Agile Methodologies |
Communication Leadership Teamwork Problem Solving Work Ethic Creativity |
Including a healthy mix of both hard skills and soft skills is key for a well-rounded profile.
Measuring Skill Proficiency
LinkedIn allows you to rate your proficiency level for each skill on a scale of Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert. Proficiency levels:
- Convey your depth of experience with a given skill.
- Allow you to stand out from others who simply list the skill.
- Are defined as:
- Beginner: Familiar with basic concepts and knowledge.
- Intermediate: Practical working application and experience.
- Advanced: Applied mastery and specialized knowledge.
- Expert: Recognized authority and strategic leadership.
- Help match your skills to appropriate job openings.
Assess your levels accurately and upgrade them as your expertise develops over time.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn skills page provides a place to succinctly summarize your professional capabilities. Maintaining an accurate and robust skills profile ensures your talents are more discoverable across LinkedIn.
Strategically optimizing your skills and earning endorsements from colleagues magnifies your credibility. Pair skills claims with tangible examples of work and expertise for added depth.
With the power to highlight your greatest assets, your LinkedIn skills deserve thoughtful attention and care. They act as a launching pad to propel your profile and career potential to new heights.