A LinkedIn summary outline is a framework that helps guide the writing of an effective profile summary on LinkedIn. The summary is one of the most important sections on a LinkedIn profile, as it is often the first thing viewers will read about you. An outline ensures your summary highlights your skills, experiences, and goals in a compelling yet concise way. Here are some tips for structuring a strong LinkedIn summary outline.
Understand the purpose of your LinkedIn summary
Before drafting your outline, think about the goals of your LinkedIn presence and what you want to achieve with your summary. Your summary should serve as an elevator pitch for your personal brand and convey why viewers should connect with you. Key purposes of a LinkedIn summary include:
- Introducing your professional background and skills
- Communicating your career goals and interests
- Highlighting notable achievements or qualifications
- Establishing your credibility and thought leadership
- Encouraging viewers to connect or contact you
Keep these aims in mind as you develop an outline that aligns with your professional objectives on LinkedIn.
Determine your target audience
Your LinkedIn connections and profile visitors will include a diverse mix of people, from close colleagues to hiring managers to casual acquaintances. When outlining your summary, consider which audiences you most want to resonate with. For example:
- If targeting recruiters, focus on skills, experience, and career goals.
- If seeking partners and collaborators, emphasize thought leadership and domain expertise.
- If connecting with past coworkers, highlight shared experiences and relationships.
Tailor your outline language and content accordingly to speak to your priority audiences on LinkedIn.
Keep it concise
LinkedIn recommends summaries be no more than 2,000 characters or approximately 3 paragraphs. An outline helps condense information to fit this limited space while still communicating key messages. Be selective about which details to include. An outline’s value lies in organizing essential information in a skimmable, scannable way for busy viewers.
Craft an engaging opening
Just as a strong opening draws readers into an article, your summary outline should start with an introduction that instantly engages viewers. Avoid trite or generic openings. Instead, consider these options to make a great first impression:
- Open with a compelling stat or fact about your field
- Lead with a thought-provoking question or quote
- Highlight a career achievement or signature strength
- Introduce yourself by describing a passion or personal motto
The opening sets the tone for the rest of your summary. Use those critical first 1-2 sentences to wow visitors and invite them to read on.
Structure with subheadings
Effective LinkedIn summaries organize information under clear, scannable subheadings. Follow these best practices for subheadings:
- Use 2-3 subheads maximum to divide summary into digestible sections
- Keep subheads short, ideally 2-5 words
- Vary subhead wording to avoid repetition
- Order subheads to build a logical progression
- Consider verbs for actionable subheads (e.g. Accelerating success, Solving problems)
Subheadings like “Core Skills” and “Industry Expertise” make your summary easy to skim and highlight key focus areas upfront for readers.
Showcase your professional skills and experience
One of the most important sections of your summary should profile your technical abilities, specialized knowledge, career achievements, and other qualifications. When outlining this professional snapshot, keep the following guidance in mind:
- Choose skills that align with target roles and industry needs
- Go beyond generic descriptors with details and context
- Quantify accomplishments with numbers and metrics
- Weave in relevant keywords recruiters may search for
- Mention companies and brand names you’ve engaged with
Back up claims (“expert marketer”) with evidence of related success (“increased site traffic 20% year-over-year”). This section should specifically demonstrate what makes you a strong candidate.
Communicate career goals and interests
Your summary shouldn’t just look backwards at past roles. Use it to also share your aspirations for the future. Outline details that convey:
- Your dream role or industry
- Causes or issues you care about
- Types of organizations you want to work for
- Knowledge and skills you plan to build
Articulating goals shows viewers you have vision and direction. It gives recruiters insight into positions and projects you may be a great fit for next.
Close with a call to action
Wrap up your summary with a statement that prompts viewers to get in touch or connects with you. For example:
- Invite readers to connect directly with you on LinkedIn
- Suggest readers check out your website, portfolio, or online presence
- Encourage contacting you with partnership, collaboration, or job opportunities
- Offer to connect readers to others in your network
An action-focused closing builds on the summary content to help forge more meaningful relationships.
Edit for clarity, brevity, and accuracy
With your initial outline complete, the final step is carefully self-editing to refine the summary. Look out for:
- Unclear or vague language
- Unnecessary wordiness
- Jargon or excess buzzwords
- Inconsistent verb tenses
- Typos or grammatical errors
- Outdated information
- Overly self-promotional tone
Edit ruthlessly to remove anything that does not immediately serve your goals or engage readers. A tight, polished summary has maximum impact.
Sample LinkedIn Summary Outline
Here is an example LinkedIn summary outline modeled on the principles discussed:
Headline: Digital Marketing Specialist | Driving Growth through Data-Informed Campaigns
Opening: Award-winning marketer passionate about leveraging analytics to craft customer-centric digital campaigns.
Subheading 1: Proven Digital Advertising Strategist
Subheading 2: Data Analysis and Reporting Expertise
Subheading 3: Relationship Building and Client Satisfaction
Subheading 4: Seeking New Online Marketing Challenges
Closing: Please get in touch to discuss contract marketing roles or opportunities to maximize digital ROI.
This sample provides a template outlining content areas and structure. Tailor yours with details specific to your own background, skills, and professional objectives.
Benefits of Creating a LinkedIn Summary Outline
Crafting an outline is time well spent to reap the following benefits:
- Organizes ideas and details – Outlining provides structure to pool all the information you want to include.
- Presents a clear focus – A strong outline spotlights the most critical points about your profile in a scan-friendly format.
- Ensures a logical flow – Outlines map out an effective sequencing and progression of thoughts.
- Highlights strengths and achievements – An outline enables emphasizing top skills, accomplishments, and differentiators upfront.
- Keeps summary tight and concise – Outlining filters content to only the most essential facts so readers don’t get overwhelmed or tune out.
- Provides “big picture” vision – Stepping back to outline gives you the bird’s eye view of how all the parts of your summary fit together.
- Saves editing time – Outlining upfront reduces time spent wordsmithing, as you’ve already mapped out a logical narrative flow.
Taking the time to thoughtfully outline your summary helps craft more compelling, focused content that will impress and engage viewers.
Key Takeaways
An effective LinkedIn summary outline includes these elements:
- Opening that instantly engages readers
- 2-3 subheadings organizing key details
- Concise overview of professional background
- Career goals and interests addressed
- Call to action to connect with you
- Tightly edited final copy
Remember your summary exists to serve your professional brand and goals. Use an outline tailored to your needs to showcase your greatest value and make the strongest impression. With a compelling, skimmable summary, you will capture viewers’ attention and motivate them to connect.