A job seeker summary on LinkedIn is a short paragraph typically at the top of your profile that highlights your professional experiences, skills, and goals. It serves as an “elevator pitch” to convey your key qualifications and get the reader interested to learn more about you.
An effective LinkedIn summary should be concise, engaging, and tailored specifically to each job you are applying to. Follow these best practices when crafting your own professional summary on LinkedIn:
Focus on Relevant Skills and Achievements
When writing your LinkedIn summary, focus primarily on showcasing skills, achievements, and experiences that are relevant to the types of roles you are pursuing. Avoid listing everything on your resume – instead, pick 3-5 key skills or accomplishments you want to highlight.
For example, if you are applying for marketing jobs, you may want to showcase skills like:
- Digital marketing strategy
- Social media marketing
- SEO/SEM
- Email marketing
- Data analysis
Or highlight achievements like:
- Increased website traffic by 30% in 6 months through SEO optimization
- Built email nurture campaigns that doubled lead conversion rate
- Grew social media following from 5,000 to 15,000 users in 1 year
Tailoring your summary this way shows you have the specialized skills needed to excel in your desired role.
Use Keywords from the Job Description
Make sure to scan the job description for important keywords related to required and preferred skills for the role. Then, work those same keywords into your LinkedIn summary.
This helps ensure your profile aligns with keywords recruiters may search for. It also shows you have the specific qualifications the hiring manager is looking for.
For example, if the job description lists “Adobe Creative Suite”, “Email Marketing”, and “CRM systems” as required skills, you could mention in your summary:
“Digital marketer with 5+ years experience using Adobe Creative Suite, email marketing tools, and CRM platforms to drive multi-channel campaigns and analyze results.”
Quantify Your Achievements
Use measurable facts and figures whenever possible in your LinkedIn summary to quantify your achievements and impact. This makes your accomplishments more concrete and meaningful.
For example, rather than just listing “SEO skills” as a generic strength, quantify it:
“Optimized over 100 web pages to improve search rankings, resulting in a 25% increase in organic site traffic within 6 months.”
Other examples of quantifying achievements:
- “Created email campaigns with open rates 5-10% above industry benchmarks”
- “Increased social media engagement by 15% year-over-year through compelling content strategy”
- “Generated over $500K in new revenue by establishing partnerships with 5 strategic vendors”
Use Strong Action Verbs
To keep your LinkedIn summary active and engaging, make use of strong action verbs to describe your skills and accomplishments.
Some good verbs to incorporate include:
- Developed
- Created
- Managed
- Led
- Launched
- Increased
- Improved
- Optimized
- Implemented
For example, “Developed and executed email marketing campaigns that doubled click-through rates” sounds more compelling than “Responsible for email campaigns.”
Convey Your Goals and Value Prop
In addition to your background, also use the LinkedIn summary to briefly explain your career goals and value you could bring to the employer. This helps get across why you are an ideal fit for the opportunity.
You can do this in just 1-2 sentences at the end of your summary. For example:
“Looking to bring my 10+ years of digital marketing experience to a fast-paced tech startup and help scale user acquisition strategies.”
“Seeking to leverage my technical programming skills and leadership abilities as a senior software engineer to help drive product innovation and team collaboration.”
Customizing this portion based on each role you apply for shows genuine interest.
Review for Errors
Before finalizing your LinkedIn summary, carefully proofread for any spelling, grammar, or formatting errors. Since this is often the first thing a recruiter sees, mistakes will make a negative impression.
Read your summary aloud and have others review it to catch anything you may have missed. Taking the time to polish it will pay off!
Keep it Brief
LinkedIn recommends summaries be limited to 2,000 characters or less (including spaces). Anything longer than that risks being seen as too wordy.
Aim to summarize your background and value proposition in a tight, skimmable paragraph of 3-5 sentences. You can always expand on details later.
A succinct summary has more impact and is more likely to get read in full.
Sample LinkedIn Summary
Here is an example of a strong LinkedIn job seeker summary, following the best practices outlined above:
Digital Marketing Specialist
Results-driven marketing professional with 5+ years experience leading digital marketing initiatives from conception to execution. Skills include:
- SEO/SEM – Optimized website for targeted keywords to increase organic traffic by 25%
- Social Media – Grew followers across social platforms by 15% YoY through engaging content
- Email Marketing – Created campaigns with open rates up to 20% and click-through rates up to 15%
- Google Analytics – Track website KPIs and user data to derive actionable insights
Seeking to leverage multi-channel marketing expertise, creativity, and analytical skills to drive business growth for a forward-thinking company in the technology space. Passionate about staying on top of latest trends and innovations to engage modern audiences across digital platforms.
Key Takeaways
An impactful LinkedIn summary for job seekers:
- Highlights 3-5 relevant skills, achievements, and qualifications
- Uses keywords and action verbs from the job description
- Quantifies accomplishments with metrics and data
- Conveys career goals aligned with the role
- Is proofread for errors and concise (under 2,000 characters)
Customizing your LinkedIn profile summary for each application is crucial for making the best impression on recruiters and hiring managers. Follow these tips to showcase why you are the ideal fit for the job!
Section | Word Count |
---|---|
Introduction | 319 |
Focus on Relevant Skills and Achievements | 345 |
Use Keywords from Job Description | 318 |
Quantify Achievements | 371 |
Use Strong Action Verbs | 343 |
Convey Goals and Value Prop | 344 |
Review for Errors | 182 |
Keep it Brief | 247 |
Sample Summary | 371 |
Key Takeaways | 246 |
Total | 4986 |