LinkedIn badges are a great way to showcase your skills, interests, and achievements on your profile. LinkedIn offers badges for volunteering, skills, courses, veteran status, interests, and much more. Badges help showcase your qualifications and what makes you unique as a professional.
If you’ve earned badges on LinkedIn, you may be wondering where you can view and manage them. LinkedIn has a specific section called “Featured” where you can see all the badges you’ve earned. You can also display certain badges directly on your profile to highlight your top achievements.
Here’s what you need to know about finding and managing badges on LinkedIn:
Where to Find Your LinkedIn Badges
All of your earned LinkedIn badges can be found in the “Featured” section of your profile. Here are the steps to view your badges:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click on the “Featured” section on your profile menu (located near the top of your profile, below your profile photo and headline)
- This will open the “Featured” section – all of your badges will be displayed here
The “Featured” section serves as a centralized location to see all of the badges you’ve accumulated on LinkedIn. It’s different from your “Accomplishments” section, which includes longer-form descriptions of your major achievements, certifications, publications, courses, projects, honors & awards, test scores, and languages.
So any badges you’ve earned across skills, interests, volunteering, courses, veteran status, and more can be found in the “Featured” section.
Types of LinkedIn Badges
Here are some of the most common types of badges you can earn and find in your “Featured” section:
Skills & Endorsements Badges
When you add skills to your LinkedIn profile and receive endorsements, you’ll earn skills badges based on reaching certain endorsement milestones. You’ll get a badge for your 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, etc. endorsement received for a given skill.
Course Certificates Badges
When you complete courses on LinkedIn Learning, you can add the course certificate to your profile. Each course certificate earns you a Course badge displaying the name of the completed course.
Volunteering Badges
If you mark volunteer experiences on your profile, you’ll get Volunteer badges displaying your hours volunteered, such as 10+, 50+, 100+, 500+, 1000+.
Veteran Badges
If you indicate your veteran status on your profile, you’ll get a Veteran badge on your profile.
Interests Badges
When you add interests to your profile, you’ll earn an Interest badge for each interest added. This showcases your hobbies and areas of curiosity.
Education Badges
You can feature your degrees on your profile to earn Education badges for your highest completed degree level.
Honors & Awards Badges
Highlighting honors and awards on your profile leads to Honor badges showcasing your achievements.
Project, Publication & Patent Badges
Adding projects, publications, and patents displays badges signaling your professional work and innovations.
Organization Badges
When you have a premium LinkedIn account, you can showcase badges for your company and organization.
Displaying Badges on Your Profile
In addition to housing all your badges in the “Featured” section, you can showcase badges directly on your profile.
By default, your 5 most recent badges will display at the top of your profile above your photo. You can customize which 5 badges appear here.
To edit the badges shown on your profile:
- Go to your profile and click “Featured”
- Hover over a badge and click the “Show on profile” toggle
- The 5 badges toggled as “Show on profile” will appear at the top of your profile
This lets you hand-pick the 5 most relevant or prestigious badges to highlight on your profile. You can toggle badges on and off to change them up any time.
Pro tip: Choose your top skills, widely-recognized courses, volunteer milestones, and credentials to maximize your profile!
Why LinkedIn Badges Matter
Here are some of the key benefits of earning and displaying LinkedIn badges:
- Showcases your expertise – Skills, achievements and interests badges endorse your knowledge.
- Provides social proof – Badges serve as social proof and validation from LinkedIn.
- Starts conversations – Badges spark curiosity and give people something to ask you about.
- Adds dimension – Badges supplement your profile, making it multi-faceted.
- Professional development – Displays your commitment to learning, growth and career progression.
In summary, LinkedIn badges give tangible evidence of your qualifications. They serve as credibility boosters that can enhance your brand and presence on LinkedIn.
Tips for Earning Profile Badges
Here are some tips to start racking up helpful LinkedIn badges:
- Show all your skills – Keep your skills updated and ask colleagues for endorsements. The more endorsements, the more Skills & Endorsements badges.
- Complete LinkedIn Learning courses – Finish courses relevant to your industry to earn sought-after Course Certification badges.
- Volunteer strategically – Volunteer for organizations that align with your professional interests and where you can utilize your skills.
- Join groups – Join LinkedIn Groups in your industry to get Interest badges for each group.
- Add honors & awards – Importing honors, awards and test scores leads to Holocaust-related badges.
- Publish articles – Writing posts, especially on LinkedIn’s Publisher platform creates badges showcasing your thought leadership.
- Ask for recommendations – Request job recommendations from managers and colleagues to acquire badges.
The more you complete on your LinkedIn profile, the more chances you have to unlock different badge types. Aim to represent all your skills, projects, accomplishments, credentials and interests.
FAQs About LinkedIn Badges
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about LinkedIn badges:
How long do badges last?
Badges do not expire. Once earned, badges remain permanently on your profile unless removed manually.
Can I delete badges?
Yes, you can delete any badges you don’t want showcased on your profile anymore. Simply go to your “Featured” section, hover over a badge and click “Remove”.
Do all LinkedIn members see my badges?
Yes, badges are publicly visible to anyone who views your profile. Badges help all visitors, not just connections, learn more about your qualifications.
Can I reorder badges on my profile?
You cannot reorder badges in the “Featured” section, but can customize the order of the 5 badges shown atop your profile by toggling them on/off.
Do badges help with LinkedIn search ranking?
Yes, earning an array of badges can help boost your LinkedIn profile’s search ranking by making it more robust, multi-faceted and attractive to recruiters.
Conclusion
LinkedIn badges provide a creative way to showcase your diverse skills, knowledge, experience and interests on your professional profile. Take advantage of the many badge opportunities LinkedIn offers by filling out your profile information completely and accurately.
A selection of eye-catching badges makes your profile stand out and acts as credibility indicators for your area of expertise. Include a mix of skill endorsements, completed courses, volunteering milestones, and credentials to maximize your brand and qualifications on LinkedIn through badges.
