LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members. As a platform designed to connect professionals, LinkedIn allows members to display information about their industry and profession. LinkedIn has standardized industry and job category selections that members can add to their profiles.
Why does LinkedIn use industry categories?
LinkedIn uses categorized industry and job data for several key reasons:
- Allow members to easily display their industry and profession
- Help members search for and connect with other professionals in their field
- Enable categorized browsing of company pages and job postings
- Provide useful data to inform LinkedIn’s algorithms and analytics
By categorizing member data, LinkedIn can better facilitate professional networking and insights based on industry and roles. Standardized categories allow members to clearly and consistently present their professional profiles.
What are the main industry categories?
LinkedIn has over 90 standardized industry categories members can select from. Industries are grouped into larger categories for simplified browsing. The main industry categories on LinkedIn are:
- Business Services
- Consumer Goods
- Education
- Energy & Mining
- Finance
- Government & Public Services
- Health Care
- Media & Communications
- Non-Profit
- Retail & Consumer Products
- Technology
- Transportation & Logistics
Within each main category are more detailed, specific industries. For example, under Technology are industries like Computer Software, Internet, Semiconductors, and Information Technology & Services.
Business Services
The Business Services industry category includes:
- Accounting
- Business Consulting & Services
- Business Supplies & Equipment
- Commercial Real Estate
- Distribution
- Human Resources
- Information Services
- Legal Services
- Management Consulting
- Marketing & Advertising
- Outsourcing/Offshoring
- Professional Training
- Staffing & Recruiting
This covers a wide range of corporate services and consulting focused industries. Key areas like Accounting, Marketing, and Recruiting have their own dedicated subcategories.
Consumer Goods
Consumer Goods includes industries related to manufacturing and selling products directly to consumers:
- Apparel & Fashion
- Consumer Electronics
- Consumer Goods
- Consumer Packaged Goods
- Cosmetics
- Food & Beverages
- Sporting Goods
- Tobacco
- Toys & Games
From clothing to electronics to food and beverage companies, Consumer Goods covers the gamut of physical products bought by everyday customers.
Education
The Education industry categories reflect teaching institutions and roles:
- E-Learning
- Education Management
- Higher Education
- K-12 Education
- Vocational Training & Development
This covers primary, secondary, and higher education as well as vocational training. E-Learning has emerged as a newer Education subcategory.
Energy & Mining
Energy and Mining groups together industries involved in natural resources:
- Coal & Consumable Fuels
- Exploration & Production
- Mining & Metals
- Oil & Energy
- Utilities
This category ranges from fossil fuel companies to mining operations to electric utility providers. The focus is on natural resources and energy industries.
Finance
Finance covers industries in the broad financial services sector:
- Accounting
- Banking
- Financial Services
- Insurance
- Investment Banking
- Investment Management
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
From retail banking to insurance providers to investment firms, Finance encompasses all manner of money management industries and roles.
Government & Public Services
The Government and Public Services industry options include:
- Defense & Space
- Government Administration
- Government Relations
- International Affairs
- Judiciary
- Legislative Office
- Military
- Public Policy
- Public Safety
- Security & Investigations
This covers industries working within government, politics, law enforcement, the judicial system, and public policy. Government relations and lobbying groups are also included.
Health Care
Health Care is an expansive industry category:
- Biotechnology
- Health Care Services & Hospitals
- Health, Wellness & Fitness
- Medical Devices
- Medical Practice
- Mental Health Care
- Nursing
- Pharmaceuticals
This ranges from biotech to hospitals and clinics to fitness and wellness companies. Medical Practices and Nursing also have dedicated subcategories.
Media & Communications
The Media and Communications grouping consists of:
- Broadcast Media
- Marketing & Advertising
- Motion Pictures & Film
- Music
- Newspapers
- Online Media
- Performing Arts
- Printing & Publishing
- Radio
- TV Broadcast
This encompasses broadcast media, print media, online media, marketing, film, music, and performing arts industries.
Non-Profit
The Non-Profit industry options are:
- Civic & Social Organization
- Fundraising
- Non-Profit Organization Management
- Philanthropy
- Religious Institutions
This covers non-profit organizations, philanthropic foundations, charities, fundraising groups, churches, and other mission-driven entities.
Retail & Consumer Products
Retail and Consumer Products includes:
- Consumer Electronics
- Consumer Goods
- Consumer Services
- Retail
- Supermarkets
This overlaps with the wider Consumer Goods category but focuses specifically on retailers and consumer services companies versus manufacturers.
Technology
Some of the many Technology subcategories are:
- Computer Games
- Computer Hardware
- Computer Networking
- Computer Software
- Consumer Electronics
- Information Technology & Services
- Internet
- Semiconductors
- Wireless
Technology covers an extensive range including software, hardware, networking, consumer electronics, semiconductors, wireless, and internet technologies and companies.
Transportation & Logistics
Transportation & Logistics industry options include:
- Airlines/Aviation
- Logistics & Supply Chain
- Maritime
- Railroad Manufacture
- Trucking/Road Transportation
This covers the key transportation industries including aviation, trucking, rail, maritime shipping, and end-to-end supply chain and logistics.
How many industry options are there in total?
In total, LinkedIn has over 90 granular industry categories across the 12 main industry groups. The full breakdown by number of categories is:
Industry | Number of Categories |
Business Services | 13 |
Consumer Goods | 9 |
Education | 5 |
Energy & Mining | 5 |
Finance | 7 |
Government & Public Services | 10 |
Health Care | 8 |
Media & Communications | 11 |
Non-Profit | 5 |
Retail & Consumer Products | 5 |
Technology | 10 |
Transportation & Logistics | 5 |
How are job categories structured on LinkedIn?
In addition to industries, members can display standardized job titles and categories on their LinkedIn profiles. Job titles indicate a member’s current role, while the broader job categories classify roles by common functions.
Some of the major job categories on LinkedIn include:
- Administrative
- Arts & Design
- Business Development
- Consulting
- Customer Service
- Education
- Engineering
- Finance
- Health Care Services
- Human Resources
- Information Technology
- Legal
- Management
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Media & Communications
- Military & Protective Services
- Operations
- Program & Project Management
- Research
- Sales
- Science & Biotechnology
These categories cover a wide range of professional functions found across various industries. For example, human resources, marketing, finance, and operations roles can be found at most major companies regardless of their core industry.
The job categorization allows LinkedIn members to identify similar roles and titles when searching profiles and job listings. Standardized titles and categories make it easier to navigate by function across LinkedIn’s professional network.
How can members customize their industry and job categorization?
When adding their industry and job title on their LinkedIn profile, members can:
- Select from LinkedIn’s standardized categories
- Enter a custom industry or title if none of the defaults fit their exact role
- Select up to 3 categories to indicate multiple focuses
- Control which category appears as their “primary” displayed industry
This flexibility allows each member to accurately and fully represent their professional background. The combinations of custom and standardized categories let members showcase details unique to their exact career niche.
Members can also reorder the display sequence of their job titles and categories. The primary, most relevant, or most recent role can be pinned to the top.
As members move through their careers, they can easily update their industry, job titles, and display order right on their profile settings. Keeping these professional details current helps maximize LinkedIn’s value in showcasing each member’s background.
How do industry and job categories aid professional networking?
The standardized categories create a structured database of professional data spanning LinkedIn’s huge member base. This enables powerful industry- and function-specific search and discovery features.
Several examples of how industry and job categorization underpins effective networking on LinkedIn include:
- Searching profiles – Members can search profiles by industry, job category, company, school, and other attributes.
- Finding connections – You can browse your connections by their industry and job categories.
- Joining industry groups – Groups specifically for professionals in given industries or jobs foster targeted discussions.
- Following companies – Members can discover and follow companies by their industry to track news and jobs.
- Tagging skills and interests – Members can supplement their profile with tags indicating skillsets and interests relevant to their industry.
- Content recommendations – LinkedIn’s algorithm recommends content based on industries and categories of your connections.
Overall, the industry and job categorization creates more robust filtering, search, and discovery for professional networking. Members can more easily connect to relevant contacts, companies, groups, and information matching their professional focus.
How do industry insights use profile category data?
LinkedIn uses the industry and job data from member profiles for data analytics and insights:
- Determine top companies hiring for given roles
- Analyze regional differences in industry makeup and trends
- Predict trends in hiring, networking, and content consumption by category
- Benchmark professional salaries based on role, industry, and region
- Show how members’ career trajectories cross between industries and jobs
- Allow more granular targeting for advertising based on industry and job
The categorized profile data powers LinkedIn’s proprietary professional insights. These analytics inform content and product recommendations to better serve members.
For example, members may see articles about salary trends in their city and job area or the top skills required by the top companies in their industry. These insights add value whether members are looking to hire, get hired, network, or research industries.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn uses over 90 standardized industry and job categories applied to member profiles across the platform. This categorized professional data better enables networking by interest area and informs analytics about industry trends. While members can customize these profile details, the overall categorization provides crucial structure to LinkedIn’s platform. Industry and job categorization underpins the targeted insights and networking possibilities of the world’s largest professional network.