Most importantly, the LinkedIn summary is keyword-searchable, which means a well-written and optimized summary will help your profile appear more often.
How is the LinkedIn summary different?
Although you have unlimited space for your LinkedIn summary, that doesn't mean you should write a novel about your professional experiences. A summary is just that: a summary. It should be short, succinct, and summarize your achievements as well as skills.
In many ways, the LinkedIn summary is a short story about your career. It should help recruiters understand your background and why you made the career decisions you did.
For example, if you've always loved playing with computers, you can tell a short story about how that led you to choose your current career.
However, if you have changed professions (or are changing professions), you may need to tell a different story. For example; If you were an accountant and are now a social worker, it may not be necessary to mention that you spent the first 12 years of your career as an accountant.
Put the good first
LinkedIn will only display the first 300 characters of your professional summary. That's about four sentences.
Although your summary can go beyond four sentences, be sure to create an engaging hook in the first four sentences, so that anyone who reads your summary will feel compelled to click the “see more” link.
If you're not sure how to create a compelling hook, consider including personal skills and accomplishments. For example, if you've been the top salesperson on your team for the last five years, start with that. Or, if you've increased customer retention, use those 300 characters to explain how you've achieved that goal.
Be careful with keywords
Including common industry keywords in your summary will help your listing appear in more searches. But choose keywords wisely. You shouldn't clutter your resume with keywords that aren't relevant to your skill set. And you also don't want to create a resume that is all industry language but doesn't highlight your skills.
Conversely, you also don't want to use meaningless keywords. Saying “I am a team player” is useless. Everyone says he's a team player (even when he's not).
Instead, incorporate important keywords that help explain who you are and why you do what you love. This, in turn, will help the employer understand how your skills will benefit the company.
LinkedIn Summary Example
Don't know where to start? Here is a valuable example.
I am a visual designer who enjoys helping brands connect emotionally with the public. Through the use of light, color, pattern and texture, I create more than a brand. I create an experience.
This is one of the best examples of how to make an attractive resume and that translates into getting a secure hire.
Build your skills and endorsements
The skills and endorsements sections of your profile help recruiters rank and filter candidates. Recruiters can use the filters to search for "inbound marketing" and only see profiles that mention that specific skill.
But it is not enough to claim that you have knowledge of inbound marketing. And that's where endorsements come in. An endorsement is when someone in your network says that you have that ability. However, an endorsement is not the same as a professional recommendation. Approval of a skill on your LinkedIn profile is "social proof" that you have that skill.
Although you can include up to 50 skills in your profile, that doesn't mean you have to. There's a chance that if you include as many skills as you can on your LinkedIn profile, you'll end up with recruiters contacting you for positions you're not interested in or a good fit for.
Instead, consider narrowing your list of skills down to endorsed ones and listing them as "core skills" in your skills section.
You can select your top three skills to highlight, and then use the rest of your LinkedIn profile to talk about other relevant skills you want to highlight.
Ask for recommendations
Your colleagues can write recommendations, which goes a long way to optimizing your profile.
Although recommendations sound like endorsements, on LinkedIn they don't mean the same thing. In most cases, recommendations carry much more weight than endorsements.
On LinkedIn, you can ask people to endorse your skills. However, anyone in your network can vouch for your skills at any time without being asked. When someone in your network endorses your skills, that doesn't mean the person is necessarily saying you're good or bad at that skill, just that you have it.
Instead, a recommendation is different. You have to ask people in your network to write a unique and personalized recommendation for you on LinkedIn.
Although there are templates and letters of recommendation, writing a recommendation requires more effort than checking an approval box. Because it takes more effort to ask for and create a recommendation, they tend to carry more weight than skill endorsements.
A few LinkedIn profile updates can go a long way
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile means making a lot of major (and minor) adjustments. But you don't have to do it all at once. If you start small and commit to doing a little each week, you'll find yourself with a well-optimized profile in no time.